Tool are one of the great rock bands of the era, with classic albums like Ænima and Lateralus. But everything seemed to go wrong at Live In The Sand, the group’s all-inclusive destination music festival at Hard Rock & Royalton Resorts in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Tool promised to play “two unique sets,” but on night two, “they only played an hour and mostly repeats from the first night,” according to a fan on the band’s subreddit. “Why fly to the DR on a 3 night ticket to watch an hour of repeat songs from the night before? Not sure what to say but this was a very disappointing show.” The band was booed and heckled by the crowd (there’s video), and now one attendee is reportedly trying to put together a class-action lawsuit against Maynard James Keenan & Co. and festival organizers.
“The potential lawsuit against the promoters of Tool In The Sand is indeed being investigated,” Georgia-based lawyer Stas Rusek told Louder Sound. “We have had lots of interest from Tool fans who attended the festival, a category which I personally fall into. These were my 27th and 28th Tool shows. There was a palpable sense of betrayal in the air as the show began the second night, and it lingered throughout the remainder of the weekend.”
He continued:
“What it boils down to is that purchasers of the festival package were promised ‘two unique sets’ by Tool. While the comments on these posts argue about what ‘unique’ means, the reality is that the opportunity to see Tool play two unique sets, ie no repeats, was the determining factor for most attendees to pull the trigger on spending thousands of dollars to attend. Most Tool fans, like me, have attended multiple shows on the same tour, and we know that, due to the spectacular and complex nature of their show, most songs will be repeated. However, this is not what festival attendees were promised.”
Tool has yet to respond to the controversy.
