The line began forming at 11 a.m. Nov. 2, and it continued to grow until 7:30 that night. The most fanatical followers were willing to sacrifice an entire day and battle the bitter cold that came after sundown just to get a few feet closer to the phenomenon known as Tool.

Since the concert was general admission, seats and floor space were first come, first serve. Therefore, when I arrived shortly after 6 p.m., the line stretched clear across the massive parking lot of Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. However, I was still able to get good seats since the majority of those waiting chose spots on the floor.

The Coliseum quickly filled to near capacity with a flood of black shirts and stocking caps with TOOL emblazoned across them (because even the metal heads need to keep warm).

As the lights went down, the intensity of the anxious crowd rose, and the opening act was met with a ripe and ready pack of headbangers.

Meshuggah, a Swedish industrial/grind-core metal band, worked the crowd into a frenzy with their hard-hitting riffs and daunting stage presence. After a 45-minute dose of mosh pits pounding to the double bass, Meshuggah left the stage, giving the mob a chance to rest before the main course was presented.

Around 9 p.m., the speakers began to hum with an electronic sounding track that accompanied the lightning bolts that seemed to jump across the roof of the coliseum.

The two giant screens that hung down on both sides of the stage danced with psychedelic images of the eye that adorns the cover of Tool's most recent album, Lateralus, which this tour was promoting.

Finally, after letting anticipation build for what seemed to be close to an hour (but in reality was probably closer to 10 minutes), the band took the stage. As they opened with "Sober", the screens began to show a warped journey of claymation (which guitarist Adam Jones does on the side) and animation that would last through the rest of the concert, mixing their videos with their stage act and their album jackets.

Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer, faced away from the audience for the entire duration of the show, yet somehow commanded complete attention with his hauntingly beautiful voice and eccentric movements.

Luckily for the audience, Tool played some of their more epic songs, including "Triad," an incredible instrumental where two members of Meshuggah joined them onstage to add extra percussion, keyboards and flair, "Third Eye" and "Parabol/Parabola," during which two enormous molecule-like spheres floated above the stage and mesmerized the masses.

Keenan only spoke to the crowd three times, adding to his mysterious stage presence. But when he did speak to the audience, he had the crowd repeat his adopted creed, which was: "Think for yourself. Know what you're doing. Question authority." To emphasize the irony, he fed them the line, "and I will not repeat after others."

After nearly two hours of audile and visual amazement, Tool finished their set with the title track off of Lateralus, and Keenan bid the crowd farewell, saying he hoped that they had provided some inspiration for the audience.

Although I cannot speak for the others, I was left in total awe. The sheer magnitude of the visual component of the show was unlike any I have ever seen. It was like Pink Floyd's The Wall infused with Stephen King's darkest nightmare.

Unlike typical concerts, this show appealed to more than one sense. While the Siren-like vocals of Keenan, along with the unique, progressive heaviness of the music, tantalized the ears, the eyes and mind were drawn into a world of indescribable oddities that make Alice in Wonderland seem normal.

If you have a chance to see Tool play live, do what you can to go. I hope to see them again on this tour, because no matter how many times you see this show, you cannot take all of it in.