Saturn Ascends at the Waiting Room!
Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
The stars aligned at the Waiting Room Friday night as the Tool tribute Saturn Ascends made a triumphant return to Omaha after a nine year abscence. Presented by Midwest Elite Concerts, local bands Of the Skies and Beast Eagle rounded out the bill.
Before the show even began I had to battle it out for some Benson parking. With a sold out show at Reverb right around the corner from the Waiting Room the neighborhood was packed! While I don't love the iconvenience of circling aroud only to give up and walk a few blocks, I love to see the Omaha music scene doing so well.
The show started with the Omaha band Of the Skies. These guys put on a great set! They had an upbeat nu-metal feel that had the room rocking. One of their guitarists had a Return to Dust shirt, shout out RTD! They played about half an hour giving us a new single "One of Us" and a spirited cover of Deftones' "7 Words". Being a massive Deftones fan, this was the highlight for me. At the end of the set Of the Skies brought out Beast Eagle's lead singer Kate and they melted our faces! I had a lot of fun capturing these guys.
Next up was Beast Eagle, and they absolutely destroyed. I had heard a lot of good things about Beast Eagle for the last couple years but this was my first time catching them live. If you haven't had the chance, put them on your radar. They came out swinging with shredding guitars and thumping bass. Lead singer Kate's soaring vocals had us in a trance! The tunes had a heavy blues influence, but with breakneck speeds. They cranked the energy up from the first note and put the pedal to the floor. With a few minutes left they asked the sound board for a time check. The crowd was already chanting "One more song!", but there was only two minutes left. Boo! I'm already looking forward to the next Beast Eagle show!
As the lights went down some trippy visuals played on a screen behind the stage. A loud chime went off as the band kicked into "Fear Incoulum" from the 2019 album of the same name. The crowd cheered with excitement as the complicated rythms washed across the Waiting Room. Tool has always provided an explosion of art throughout their career and Saturn Ascends does an amazing job capturing that energy. The band has the outfits and mannerisms on lock, but the songs were a note for note re-creation of the live spectable that is Tool!
For over 90 minutes Saturn Ascends played a curated set of some of the best Tool songs including "Stink Fist", "Schism", "Vicarious", and "Sober". My personal favorite has always been "Forty Six & 2" which absolutely rips!
I had an awesome time capturing Saturn Ascends and I surely hope I won't have to wait nine more years to do it again. If you're a fan of Tool, this band is a must-see!
Thank so much to Dave Campbell and Midwest Elite Concerts for bringing Saturn Ascends back to Omaha!
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