‘D*ckhead’: Maynard James Keenan Slams Punter At Tool Show

Maynard James Keenan has slammed a “dickhead” fan at a recent Tool show for brandishing a smartphone.

While Tool haven’t toured in Australia since February 2020, their latest tours involve some restrictions around mobile phones, with the metal band requesting fans put their devices away during their concerts.

Last Wednesday (14 February), though, one fan hadn’t received the memo. The incident occurred at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, where another fan filmed what went down as Tool performed the song Intolerance.

The singer yelled at the fan carrying a phone, “Put your fucking phone down, dickhead! Seriously!” As Consequence Of Sound notes, Keenan branded another fan a “dickhead” in December for having the flash on their phone at a show in Canada. Keenan said, “Take the light off dickhead. Take the light off. Don’t be American. Take it off dickhead.”

While Tool request fans put away their phones during their concerts, the exception lies in the final song of their set, which is currently Stinkfist.

You can watch a fired-up Keenan react to a phone-carrying fan below.

In October, bassist Justin Chancellor hinted that the band have “many ideas cooking” for a new album.

“We haven’t recorded anything yet,” Chancellor said, “But we’re quite busy until after the spring of next year touring. So once that’s done, we’re gonna get back in the studio and knuckle down and put some of it together.” 

Revealing that the band already started writing sessions, he continued, “A few pretty decent sessions of writing. So, we’ve got all the ingredients in place. We’ve just got to really bang it out and spend that time when we’re not touring.”

In 2022, Tool guitarist Adam Jones discussed the band’s strict no-phones policy in a Metal Hammer interview. “I think one of the problems is you get a lot of lights because people don’t know how to use their cameras correctly, which makes it very blinding onstage,” he said.

Jones described the affected connection and artist: “You lose something without that connection, and you just want people to be in their own world rather than getting the whole show on their phone and then never looking at it again.”

Jones continued to call smartphones at gigs a “big distraction” before asking, “Have you ever been to a concert, and you can’t see the show because the person in front of you is holding their phone up in front of the stage? It’s just kind of obnoxious.

“Just keep your phone in your pocket, enjoy the show, and we’ll see you after, and you can get back on it! (laughs) People need a break. I feel like [phones have] become an appendage, like part of our anatomy.”

Don't mess with Maynard!!! Black belt
Tool Night 1 in LA at the https://t.co/gvoxHMWLG2 Arena
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©️Tool #rock #mjkeenan #maynard #Tool #Army #opiate #undertow #Ænima #Lateralus #Salival #10000days #FearInoculum #viral #adamjones #justinchancellor #dannycarey pic.twitter.com/QEz9O7XzmP

— Tool band Mx (@ToolbandMx) February 15, 2024