28 Feb 29th–March 6th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | THURS 2/29 FRI 3/1 SAT & SUN 3/2 & 3/3 WED 3/6 THURS 3/7 HARLIS SWEETWATER BAND SHOWTIME @ 8PM REVEREND HORTON HEAT DALE WATSON, JASON D. WILLIAMS SATURDAY SHOWTIME @ 8PM SUNDAY SHOWTIME @ 6PM THE HI-JIVERS SHOWTIME @ 8PM HURRICANE RUTH SHOWTIME @ 8PM THE SUGAR THIEVES SHOWTIME @ 8PM “Back then, once Maynard got into a song, he would transfix his eyes on one person in the crowd and I swear the guy wouldn’t blink, he would just sing the song and just star angrily at one person through the whole song it was ridiculous,” Savastano says. “His early stage presence, it was amazing.” After seeing Tool live, Savastano says he was hooked. “I wanted to see them as much as possible,” he says. “Back then there was no Internet, so I started calling their record label and ask, ‘Where’s Tool at?’ And they’d tell me all their dates. I started doing what- ever I could to see those shows.” ‘People were finding out about Tool’ Savastano didn’t have to wait long. Tool returned to Phoenix and The Mason Jar just over a month later to play on back-to- back nights on July 31 and Aug. 31, 1992. This time, though, the crowds were larger. “Hardly anybody was at that first show because nobody knew who they were,” Moore says. “The next few times they came through in July and August when they came through it was packed. Substantially packed. It’s like everyone came to those shows. Somehow people were finding out about Tool.” Thunderin’ Reign, opened for Tool at the July 31 show along with former Phoenix thrash band Reckless Abandon. Moore says the experience is a treasured memory because the Thunderin’ Reign’s drummer, Craig Doods, died just over a year later. Moore remembers an interesting inter- action with Doods and Keenan outside of The Mason Jar before their set. “Before we played, Craig and I were outside the Jar out the backstage door. He was prestaging his kit out there and I was helping him do that and Maynard came walking around the building. I was like, ‘Holy shit, Craig, it’s Maynard,’” Moore says. “I was too excited to say anything to him, but Craig started playing “Hush,” and Maynard just gave him the evil eye. It was kind of scary. Then he just walked away.” Moore says Tool’s set that was delayed that night after Keenan briefly went M.I.A. He was found a short time later at Liquori Lounge, a now-defunct dive bar next door to The Mason Jar. “We got up there and played. And we tore our shit down after were done playing and it was like taking forever for Tool to get on stage,” Moore says. “And they got all set up and everybody’s waiting and they’re like, ‘Where’s Maynard?’ And it turned out he was over at the (Liguori Lounge) just drinking, talking to the bartender and watching TV. They found him and he was like, Okay, time to do our show.” Former Valley resident Kevin Bogle, a friend of Dodds and fan of Thunderin’ Reign, says Keenan was very animated that night. “I just remember being up at the front on the side of the stage and watching Maynard. He had a Mohawk back then, which was sweaty (and stuck) all over the sides of his head,” Bogle says. “He was hunched down and crouched down during the show, looking like this weird animal. I’d never seen Tool before, but they were pretty wild.” ‘Those shows will always be a part of Mason Jar history’ Tool’s 1992 Mason Jar shows on June 23 and Aug. 1 were captured on camcorder by concertgoers at each gig (something that wouldn’t fly these days, given the band’s strict “no cameras” policy at shows). Both were later sold and distributed as bootlegs before eventually being uploaded to YouTube. Savastano says he’s grateful the shows were captured on video. “Whoever brought a camcorder to those Mason Jar shows, I give them kudos. They captured those shows for posterity,” Savastano says. “Now those shows will always be a part of The Mason Jar’s history.” Primitive Tool from p 27 The exterior of The Mason Jar in the early ’90s. The venue is now known as The Rebel Lounge.(Photo by Kevin Bogle)
