When Tool announced its Tool in the Sand music festival in the Dominican Republic in October, fans were excited to shell out upwards of $7,500 for two concerts over two nights that promised “unique sets.”
But after the Grammy-winning rock band repeated four different songs over the two shows, festivalgoers turned on them, booing from the crowd and even threatening class-action lawsuits.
“Why fly to the [Dominican Republic] on a 3 night ticket to watch an hour of repeat songs from the night before?” one fan wrote in a post on Reddit that’s received nearly 3,000 upvotes. “Not sure what to say but this was a very disappointing show.”
A rep for the band declined to comment when reached by PEOPLE.
Tool in the Sand, which was billed as an “all-inclusive destination festival,” took place on March 7, 8 and 9 at the Hard Rock and Royalton resorts in Punta Cana. The lineup also included Primus, Mastodon, Coheed and Cambria and more. Tool performed on the first two nights, and tickets were sold as a package, meaning fans were not able to buy one-day passes.
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During their first set, the rockers played 10 songs, including hits like “Stinkfist” and “Schism.” The next night, they played nine—four of which had been on the previous night’s setlist.
In fan video posted to Reddit and YouTube, fans can be heard booing throughout the set, though the band was greeted with applause as they finished.
In another post on Reddit, one fan who claimed to have seen the band in concert 16 times called the repeated songs “inexcusable,” as Tool “advertised unique setlists and played the same s— they’ve been playing for six years now.”
Stas Rusek, a Georgia-based lawyer and Tool fan who attended the festival, told Louder Sound he’s even considering a class-action lawsuit against the festival’s promoters, as the band did not deliver on the “two unique sets” that were advertised.
“There was a palpable sense of betrayal in the air as the show began the second night, and it lingered throughout the remainder of the weekend,” he said. “Most Tool fans, like me, have attended multiple shows on the same tour, and we know that, due to the spectacular and complex nature of their show, most songs will be repeated. However, this is not what festival attendees were promised. [I’m] a huge Tool fan, but also a festival attendee who feels your pain and seeks justice for all of those ripped off by a classic bait and switch.”
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Other fans, however, felt differently, with one person posting on Reddit that they “loved [Tool in the Sand] and I would go again.”
“Unpopular opinion, let me start by saying I was absolutely disappointed/let down by the setlist for both nights,” the fan wrote. “People were booing at the start of the duplicate songs but mostly cheering (at least from where I was) and I had such a good time that’s an invaluable experience even if I didn’t see a single song I’ve never heard them perform at least a handful of times each.”
The festival’s website said that packages included a room at either the Hard Rock or Royalton Punta Cana, all-inclusive food and drinks, all music events and transportation to and from the airport. Prices ranged from to $2,358 to $7,775, depending on room size and number of people.
Tool — comprised of singer Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor — have released five albums. Their most recent, Fear Inoculum, came out in 2019.
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