At the sold-out Auditorium Theatre Saturday night, Tool offered an intimate preview of a future large-scale tour, with under-the-weather singer Maynard James Keenan proving himself the oddly charismatic linchpin that lifts the quartet from prog-slog to something more interesting. They’re an almost unclassifiable hybrid whose self-perpetuated mythology (the creepy videos, the punishing complexity, tickets priced at a reasonable but demonic $66.66) and patient release schedule (the new album, “10000 Days,” followed a five-year wait) has fostered a fervent, impassioned cult following almost unmatched in today’s music world. Keenan is the quirky ringleader of a near-humorless circus.
Not to downplay the equally remarkable, chugging presence of guitarist Adam Jones or bassist Justin Chancellor, whose hypnotic, interlocking ostinatos give Tool much of its distinctive menace, but it was drummer Danny Carey who, along with Keenan, proved Tool’s primary focal point. Seated behind a monster set, he was a flurry of motion and invention from the first moments of “Rosetta Stoned” through the tribal dynamism of “Right in Two.”
The moments when Chancellor and Jones abdicated their key supporting roles to join the melee, however, were moments to savor. “Schism” was given a double-time extended reading, and “Jambi” and “Vicarious” were exercises in jaw-dropping precision.
Perhaps keenly aware of the proximity to the fans, the group seemed to relish the pauses and ambient digressions in their music, as if to stress that yes, it can be intense enough to wake the dead and fill arenas, but there’s more to the band than meets the ear. Watching them take a hard-earned break before the encore — smiling, sitting comfortably on the stage while the applause poured in — served as a useful reminder thatdense music and all, Tool’s relentless noise stems from four creative folks operating at their peak.