Tool is making sure that their fans are taken care of. On Tuesday (Feb. 22), the hard-rock veterans took their tour to Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena, but took a moment in the middle of the show to make sure a fan in attendance was able to receive medical assistance.
Frontman Maynard James Keenan spotted the fan — who, according to Rock Feed, had collapsed — with the help of audience members, and asked attendees to clear a path for medics to reach the person.
“Hang on we’ve got a little situation down here. We’re going to make sure this person’s OK before we continue,” he told concert attendees. “Make way for the EMTs, please.”
While medical personnel made their way to the scene, Keenan filled the silence by making a joke about the pandemic. “Woke up this morning with a sore throat and a little bit of a cough. … Anything going around I should know about?” he joked. The Tool frontman has been open about his two bouts with COVID-19, and has also blasted coronavirus deniers.
Billboard has reached out to the band for comment.
Tool is currently in the midst of their 2022 tour, which kicked off on Jan. 10 in Eugene, Ore. The group had 120,000 in ticket sales in January earned the band a total of $13.8 million, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. The feat led Tool’s tour to be the No. 1 grossing tour of January 2022, though it was the lowest gross for a No. 1 tour since February 2020 due to complications and cancellations as a result of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Other artists have also recently paused their shows to ensure that fans who might need assistance are getting it. Billie Eilish stopped her Feb. 5 show to help get an inhaler for a fan, saying, “I wait for people to be OK until I keep going.” A few days later, John Mayer likewise put a halt to his Feb. 9 set when it appeared a woman may have fainted, and waited until he got word that she was fine. The extra caution comes after 10 people died during a crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival in November.
Watch Keenan pause Tool’s set for their fan in the video below.