Tool returned to Japan after nearly nineteen years, performing a long-awaited headline show at K-Arena Yokohama on Thursday, December 11, 2025. Opened in 2023, the arena is known for its excellent acoustics and clear sightlines, making it an ideal space for a band whose music depends so heavily on atmosphere, dynamics, and detail.
Formed in 1990, Tool has built a 35-year career with only five studio albums, a rarity that has only deepened their mystique. This tour made Japan the band’s only stop in Asia, drawing fans not only from across the country but from elsewhere in the region as well, all gathering with a shared sense of anticipation.
The band took the stage promptly at 7:00 p.m., opening with “Fear Inoculum” from their latest album, Fear Inoculum (2019). Its slow, ritual-like build immediately pulled the audience into Tool’s dark and meditative world. The transition into “The Grudge” from Lateralus (2001) raised the intensity, with Maynard James Keenan delivering its famously demanding vocal passages with calm authority.
The early part of the set emphasized mood over momentum. Tracks such as “Disposition” from Lateralus and “H.” from Ænima (1996) unfolded patiently, allowing the band’s layered textures and shifting rhythms to take hold. Though many songs stretched well beyond ten minutes, the pacing felt deliberate rather than indulgent, encouraging deep immersion.
Guitarist Adam Jones played a central role in shaping this atmosphere. Avoiding traditional solos, Jones focused on texture and tension, using power chords, drones, and subtle rhythmic changes to define the band’s sonic space. Bassist Justin Chancellor provided a contrasting presence, weaving melodic, effect-treated lines that added movement and emotional weight. Behind them, drummer Danny Carey anchored everything with fluid polyrhythms and complex time signatures, giving the music both force and elasticity.
Visually, the performance was striking. Dreamlike projections and carefully synchronized lighting—designed by Jones—worked seamlessly with the music, reinforcing the sense of entering a carefully constructed inner world. Tool’s strict no-phone policy only strengthened this effect. Without screens in the air, the audience remained fully present, some swaying slowly, others headbanging, all deeply absorbed.
The main set reached its peak with the powerful run from “Jambi” from 10,000 Days (2006) into “Stinkfist” from Ænima, sending the energy in the arena sharply upward. The main set concluded around 8:23 p.m., followed by a short break. The second half opened with “Chocolate Chip Trip” from Fear Inoculum, featuring an extended drum-focused section by Carey that highlighted both his technical precision and physical power. Later, Tool paid tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne with a cover of “Hand of Doom” from Paranoid (1970) by Black Sabbath, with Keenan quietly adding, “Rest in peace, Ozzy,” at the song’s close.
As the night approached its end, the tension slowly gave way to release. For the final song, “Vicarious” from 10,000 Days, Keenan allowed the audience to use their phones. Thousands of screens lit up the arena at once, briefly breaking the spell, while also revealing how completely focused the crowd had been for the previous two hours.
The show ended at 9:15 p.m., leaving behind a quiet heaviness that stayed with the audience as they filed out of the arena. Dark, immersive, and uncompromising, the experience felt less like a single evening and more like a shared state of mind. After waiting nearly two decades, the desire to witness this again is already unmistakable – along with the hope that such a long silence will not follow next time.
