Tool kicked off their latest run of shows across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Hawaii with a massive surprise: a setlist packed with long-abandoned classics that many fans never expected to hear live again. The band’s November 22nd performance in Auckland instantly became one of their most talked-about shows in recent memory.
Tool’s live approach has been a recurring point of debate among fans in recent years. Their famously slow creative pace is one thing, but the group’s reliance on a relatively fixed setlist has been an even bigger sticking point—so much so that earlier this year, after a slightly altered set at their Punta Cana “Tool Live In The Sand” event, the band was actually threatened with a class-action lawsuit. Combine that with Maynard James Keenan’s admitted limitations as he enters his sixties, and many assumed that deeper catalogue material was permanently off the table.
Auckland proved otherwise.
A Night of Unexpected Returns
The show delivered three major shockers:
- “Crawl Away” (Undertow) — played for the first time since 1998
- “H.” (Ænima) — returning after a 23-year absence
- “Disposition” (Lateralus) — performed for the first time since the early 2000s
Hearing any one of those tracks would have made the night special; getting all three in a single performance made it feel historic.
A Tribute With Extra Weight
Tool continued the surprises into the encore by revisiting their brooding cover of Black Sabbath’s “Hand of Doom.” The band first unveiled this tribute in July at Birmingham’s “Back To The Beginning” show, which served as the final live performance for Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne. Its inclusion in Auckland carried a fitting sense of respect, especially given the show’s landmark returns.
Tool — Auckland Setlist (November 22, 2025)
Main Set:
- The Grudge
- Fear Inoculum
- Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)
- Rosetta Stoned
- Disposition
- Jambi
- Pneuma
- Crawl Away
- Vicarious
- Intolerance
Encore:
- Chocolate Chip Trip
- Hand of Doom (Black Sabbath cover)
- Invincible
Writer and extreme metal devotee, Ialdagorth has spent over a decade covering the darkest corners of heavy music. A black metal lifer, he spends his free time wandering the Carpathian Mountains, likely humming blast beats to the trees.
