Tool returned to Spark Arena in Auckland on Saturday night and Maynard immediately leaned into the city’s history with the band.
After The Grudge, he told the crowd “Sorry about that whole Covid thing,” a line that directly referenced the long running joke that he unknowingly brought the virus into New Zealand during the band’s 2020 visit. Moments later, he threatened to give them all Covid again if they did not put away their phones, as reported by the NZ Herald.
Tool’s relationship with phones has always been a flashpoint. They do not use locked phone pouches like Ghost, but they expect fans to watch the show without filming. It works in a room like Spark Arena where most of the crowd are long time followers, but it will be a different story when the band headlines Good Things Festival next month. A festival audience is younger and far more likely to film everything. Maynard’s warning is guaranteed to spark arguments once they hit Australian stages.
The setlist pushed the night even further. Tool brought back Disposition, H. and Crawl Away for the first time in decades, and Maynard told the under 25s that some of the songs had not been played since they were sperm. It was said half as a joke and half as a reminder of how deep into the catalogue the band were digging. The crowd reacted the way you would expect when a band suddenly revives material from the 90s. Moments like that made the whole show feel different from a standard modern Tool set. Anyone wanting the full breakdown can go back to the Tool setlist which lays out how unusual the selections were.
This Auckland show landed right before the band’s Australian dates, including the Perth and Adelaide Good Things sideshows. It comes after rumours back in June suggested Tool would tour Australia in late 2025, leaving fans waiting and getting increasingly excited for the announcement.
Everything now leads into Good Things Festival 2025 where Tool will headline across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. If they arrive with this version of the setlist and the same attitude about phones, the festival crowd is going to get a headline set that feels far more intense and unpredictable than expected. And you know the moment someone films him telling people not to film, it’s going to blow up instantly.
There is also a studio angle behind the tour. The recent confirmation about new music shows the band is writing again, and nights like Auckland feel like part of that shift. They are reconnecting with older material and figuring out what fits the next phase.
With the World Tour already announced, Auckland felt like a turning point. The Covid apology, the phone warning, the threat to give the crowd Covid again, the rare songs and the the shift in their usual tightly controlled approach all pointed toward a band building momentum. If this carries into Australia, Good Things Festival is about to get a version of Tool that nobody is prepared for.
Setlist – Auckland, 22 November 2025
The Grudge
Fear Inoculum
Rosetta Stoned
Disposition (first time since 2002)
H. (first time since 2002)
Jambi
Pneuma
Crawl Away (first time since 1998)
Vicarious
Intolerance
Encore:
Chocolate Chip Trip
Hand of Doom (Black Sabbath cover)
Invincible
WATCH: Tool Ozzy tribute – ( Cover ) Sabbath’s Hand Of Doom – Auckland 2025
WATCH: TOOL Play ‘Crawl Away’ After 26 Years! – Auckland 2025
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