Setlist: Stinkfist, 46&2, Jambi, Schism, Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman), Rosetta Stoned, The Pot, Wings For Marie, 10000 Days, Lateralus, Vicarious, Aenima.

A white crescent stage, banked by four large projection screens is suddenly bathed in red light and an audible hush descends around the audience. Punters start rushing in from the foyer, tossing aside their hard won and expensive beers.

Into this scene step four silhouetted figures and without fanfare the openings notes of the classic Stinkfist are heard loud and clear around the packed venue. This is Tool, the elusive kings of progressive metal. A band who seemingly through the power of osmosis have reached the stage where they can pack the Point to the rafters with hordes of fanatical fans. Like Floyd in their heyday, Tool eschew the idea of the rock star personality (the band are largely faceless and play in near darkness) and instead rely on an instantly identifiable style of artwork and branding. And Floyd aside, this is the most visually effecting indoor rock show I have ever attended.

The setlist is drawn largely from new album 10,000 Days, with a couple of Lateralus songs in the mix, book ended by tracks from Aenima. Jambi is the first of the 10,000 Days tracks and is accompanied on the wrap around big screens by bright red flame that morphs into red blood cells and back in a pulsating rhythm. Schism is next, one of the high points of Lateralus and is seamlessly followed by Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman), taking the show into an other worldly dimension. Behind the inconspicuous musicians the screens flash weird and wonderful images, based on Tools unique artwork, interspersed with strange snippets of film. The entire effect is breathtaking and the crowd stare in almost silence for the duration of each track. The band take it up again with Rosetta Stoned, during which Maynard James Keenan, a distorting twisting shadow throughout, makes full use of the loudhailer vocal trick. As lights and images throb and flash Tool beat out the track with tribal intensity.

Tool don't do encores, so it is at this point that the band take a break. But unlike at more conventional shows, they don't leave the stage. The lights go out and the musicians can just be glimpsed seated together in the middle. One of them holds a lighter aloft and the crowd soon follows. Now normally this is done during the cheesy ballad, but here the lighters and fired up in strained and silent twilight, before a mechanical drone starts to build around the arena. This changes the whole lighters aloft act from something doused in sentimentality to a strangely spiritual moment. The band resume their places and as three huge rings of purple light descend from the ceiling of the venue they rip into The Pot. It is only as the track reaches it's "you must have been high" chorus that a massive backdrop, hanging above the stage, is revealed. It depicts the strange 3D multi-head prominent on the 10,000 Days artwork in all its garish glory, glowing different colours and hues as the stage lights rake across it.

With the huge backdrop and big screens now in full flow, there is almost a feeling of sensory overload. But still the band layer on the intensity. Wings for Marie and 10,000 Days are next as piercing green lasers skim the heads of the standing crowd. After Lateralus, Tool burst into Vicarious, the single from their latest album. This seems to have very quickly become the only vaguely sing along moment of the night. Tool thank the crowd briefly, only the second time Maynard has spoken, and finish off with the classic Aenima.

A metal gig for sure, but a different kind of beast. No moshing, very little head banging, not much throwing of the "devil horns". Just fans stunned by the aural and visual pyrotechnics they have just witnessed. Outstanding, unique, challenging, in-your-face, thoughtful, confrontational. Tool are all these things and more.

DUCK