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Photograph by Alex Reside for RollingStone.com

Moody, intricate and introspective metal isn’t necessarily the natural choice for a festival headlining slot, but over the course of their bleak and riveting 90-minute set New Jersey’s All Points West Festival Saturday night, Tool proved that sometimes mystery is more compelling than stridency.

(Check out photos from All Points West: Tool, Jay-Z and more.)

On a bill loaded with indie rock, Tool seemed initially distinguished by their popularity. They were the only band on Saturday’s bill to have a platinum record, and the only performers to have won Grammys, and the only ones with enough starpower to sell out arenas on their own. And yet despite their high profile, Tool hardly behave like a mainstream band. Saturday’s set was an exercise in atmosphere — a dark, riveting performance that minimized the members of band while foregrounding their stranger sensibilities.

(Read our report on the rest of Day Two’s All Points West lineup here.)

Visually, the show was stunning. Tool perform to a series of bleak films mostly created by the artist Adam Jones, and beamed out giant-size across Liberty State Park they seemed more imposing and unnerving than ever. Opening with the sinister, twisting “Jambi,” the group slowly worked its way through a set that spanned its small catalog. Part of what makes Tool concerts such visceral experiences is the band’s peerless sense of control and release. Songs start with icicle drip guitars and rolling, tribal percussion, steadily building to perfectly timed explosions of sound. When paired with Jones’ frightening films, it became more like a theater experience than a concert. At times it was remarkably easy to forget there was a band onstage at all.

Which, in a way, seemed like part of the intention. Frontman Maynard James Keenan remained near the back of the stage for much of the set. Positioned up near the drum riser, he contorted his rail-thin body into a series of strange, unsettling positions. He was more shadow than flesh, and his spindly silhouette seemed downright demonic, twisting and twitching in front of the digital images. He’s an odd, willfully enigmatic frontman — at once sinister and threatening — and his strained croon gave Tool’s songs a sense of both agony and urgency. It seemed baffling that Tool’s fans reacted with such hostility to My Bloody Valentine, because in a way, the two bands have fundamental similarities. Both deliver willfully detached, remote performances, maximizing on bludgeoning volume and masking raw sentiments in razor-sharp sheets of sound.

Whether visually or lyrically, Tool seem obsessed with the notion of human grotesques. The film played during “Stinkfist” depicted aqua-colored men inhabiting an odd, grimy sub-basement, existing either in a state of perpetual shunning or punishment. During “Schism,” a zombielike man worked his way through a cramped hallway, seeming driven not so much by a need for escape as by simply the need to move. The protagonists in Tool songs are perpetually unfit to occupy the same space as the rest of us, and so they’re either locked down or chained up for their own good, or to spare us the awkwardness of having to deal with them.

In a larger sense, all of this serves as an elaborate metaphor for emotional isolation — hardly the bread-and-butter of a festival set — but Tool’s knack for coiled tension somehow made the whole thing work. Near the end of the night they brought out session drummer Frank Ferrer — hardly anyone’s idea of a “surprise guest” — to provide auxiliary percussion on “Lateralus.” Ferrer has no bona fides to speak of, but his playing was fluid and potent — a fitting ending to a performance where the musicians seemed to be the least important element.

Set List:

“Jambi”
“Stinkfist”
“46 & 2″
“Schism”
“Rosetta Stoned”
“Flood”
“Aenema”
“Lateralus”
“Vicarious”

More All Points West ‘09

• Jay-Z Breaks Out Blizzard of Hits, Pays Tribute to Michael Jackson at All Points West
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend Rescue Rainy All Points West With High-Energy Sets

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OK, trivia buffs, here’s some stuff from last night’s Paul McCartney show at Citi Field that is bound to come in handy in future bar bets.

First band to actually play Citi Field: The Script

First musician: Script drummer Glen Power, who opened with a drum solo at 7:25 p.m.

First song: "Before the Worst"

Number of times they introduced themselves and their hometown of Dublin, Ireland: 3 

First odd cover choice: David Bowie‘s "Heroes," which The Script made sound like U2‘s "Gloria"

PHOTO: The Script from Epic Records.

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A downtown New York gallery transformed into a pop-up record store today and hosted an intimate but ferocious gig by Jack White’s latest band, the Dead Weather, whose Horehound was released this week. The first 230 fans to arrive at the performance and gallery space — which were redecorated from floor to ceiling in the band’s signature yellow and black and renamed Third Man Records, after White’s label — were treated to a stunning six-song set that included singles “Hang You Up From The Heavens” and “Treat Me Like Your Mother.”

An eclectic mix of fans — including one woman with a toddler — started lining up as early as 9 p.m. last night for the gig, and two young Brooklyn fans resorted to bribing bouncers with ice water to guarantee their spots. When White and the band — the Kills’ Alison Mosshart and the Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita — emerged close to 12:30 p.m., the small, sweaty space erupted. Fans were packed in so tightly some sorted to hanging from drainpipes, and the low stage made it difficult for anyone beyond the front row to see, but the sound of White bashing his drums to Lawrence’s pounding basslines and Fertita’s searing riffs cut through the thick air. Mosshart’s raw performance had fans especially abuzz: “She is sex,” mused one.

After the show, Mosshart told RS the gig was a success: “I loved it! It was hot!” DJ and TV host Matt Pinfield, outfitted in a yellow button-down shirt and black tie, was lending the band a hand. “I was at the first gig at the Bowery Ballroom, and I love it,” he said. “It’s just raw, powerful — it’s a great marriage [of musicians]. Now I’m helping out, Jack asked me to work here, I’ve got the Third Man uniform on!”

Rare White Stripes and Raconteurs LPs and limited-edition color Horehound vinyl pressed specifically for this two-day event — the store will be open tomorrow, too — were on sale, along with Dead Weather apparel. About 75 percent of the merchandise sold out today and a rush order is being placed to restock the store for tomorrow according to manager Matt Pollack, who masterminded the pop-up event based on the launch of the White Stripes 2007 album Icky Thump. He said his goal was to take “the vision of Third Man and put it on the road.”

Additional reporting by Caitlin Wittlif.

When you have a child and they are old enough to walk, then they are old enough to begin looking at playing instruments.Many of the greatest musicians in the history of music have started out incredibly early. Mozart himself was playing the piano at the age of three and composing operas before he was 10 years old.

Of course, your child is probably not going to end up to be Mozart, but that does not mean you can’t start them early on the path to musical kinship.

Being a musician means that when your child is having trouble dealing with life, or they are depressed for whatever reason in the future, they will have the outlet of music to express their desires, hopes, dreams and fears. They will be able to use music as a tool to help themselves, and countless musicians in history have done exactly the same.

Like a writer or an artist, musicians use music to help them come to terms with the world around them and help make it a better place for themselves. This is why it is so important that you help your child learn how to play an instrument at a young age.

It can be tough at first to get your child to commit to learning an instrument, but the important thing is that you do not push it on them. You need to allow them to take their own time to learn how to play the instrument, because if you force it on them, they will only resist it.

Buy used instruments and allow them to choose which one they like. They may hate the guitar but love the bagpipes, they may hate the piano but love the accordion. As a result, you need to be able to find the instrument that is right for them to keep them happy.

It can seem daunting to go through this process of trying to find something your child will enjoy playing, but if you commit yourself to only buying used instruments, you will save oodles of cash and your child will not have to suffer through being unable to let their musical gifts wander. Buy used instruments and help them reach their full potential and do not be afraid to start them early on the path to musical greatness.

Music is a wonderful thing and it has the power to turn children into inspired little beings that love to play a note on the piano or dance around with a guitar. Plus, you never know when you buy an instrument, if it is going to be something your child will take off with. You could be helping the next John Lennon or Bruce Springsteen in their future legendary career. It may amount to nothing, it may amount to fame and fortune, what is important however, is that you allow your child to reach their full potential with the instrument they choose to play. Musical is a wonderful gift that you can give to your child.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for used CDs, autographed CDs, and used musical instruments. You can find the best marketplace for used CDs, autographed CDs, and used musical instruments at these sites for used children CDs, children autographed CDs, and used children”s musical instruments.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Victor_Epand

The Steinway is the only grand piano that will sell for more than you paid for it, regardless of how long you own it.

Can you name any other brand name that can make that claim, for any type of product?

And why? I’d ask a pianist to really find out.

I’ve owned several and played many magnificent Steinway grand pianos, so I’d be glad to give you an idea.

First, we have to presuppose several things:

1. We are referring to new, almost new or perfectly rebuilt instruments only.

2. We are referring to grand pianos of the New York Steinway type, not the Hamburg models.

3. We are referring only to grand piano models L (5’11″) and above.

4. If it is a rebuilt piano, it must have been rebuilt by Steinway, directly by the company, not someone who claims to be “certified” by Steinway.

So why are Steinway pianos the best? One reason: sound. There is simply nothing like it.

It’s not like the difference between a Chevette and a Rolls. It’s the difference between a Rolls and a jet plane.

The Steinway sound comes of course from the construction, and that is the prime reason that a Steinway has that amazing, powerful sound. Much has been written about the Steinway construction, a lot of it very technical.

But how did the Steinway Company achieve this sound in the past, and are they able to maintain the phenomenal record of excellence into the present?

I knew a technician, the legendary Heinz Zimmerman, who worked in the Steinway factory in Hamburg and then New York. He was in 1970 about 70, so he had weathered World War II and had a thick, lovely German accent.

He was an absolute, continental gentleman and craftsman, and quite a character for an 18 year-old pianist like me to run across. Heinz required a demitasse of coffee, “mit schlag,” (with whipped cream) beside my Steinway model A, 6’2″ of wonderful sound.

Heinz had actually helped me pick out the piano. It had sat in a patrician lady’s living room for forty years, slowly crinkling the perfect ebony finish in the California sun into something resembling crocodile skin. But the inner workings were perfect. In fact, I noticed that the hammers weren’t even creased, meaning that it had been played very little if at all. Heinz looked at the piano, and breathlessly reported that it was a Model A of 1926 vintage, the best, prewar type of piano. And here it was, untouched, forty years later.

Heinz knew the piano! He had helped build it (he made one of the many bridge parts, but more of that later.) and insisted that either I buy it, or he would buy it himself.

Zimmerman became my entr