Tool to perform at Show Me Center in June

Local rock radio disc jockey Kirby Qualls sees a possible entertainment revolution in Southeast Missouri coming in June, when prog-metal band Tool hits the stage at the Show Me Center.

If the concert is successful, Qualls, who goes by Kirby Ray on the air, says more big-name rock 'n' roll acts will come to the Show Me Center, which has seen little but country in the past few years. If not, complaining rock fans in the area will just have to keep complaining.

"This show needs to be a sell out," Qualls said. "It is a small place, and Tool is not a cheap band. I don't have a fear that we won't do well at this show, but I do have the hope ... that all the seats are full that night."

Qualls' radio station, Real Rock 99.3, announced the concert Tuesday morning and will be promoting the show over its airwaves in the weeks preceding the June 16 concert as a media sponsor. Regardless of his professional affiliation, Qualls is excited about the show as a rock fan in Southeast Missouri, where few acts in the genre choose to visit.

Real Rock consistently receives requests for Tool songs, Qualls said.

Tool, an L.A.-based foursome with a large and loyal fan base, has sold millions of albums since the band's breakthrough hit "Sober" from the 1993 album "Undertow." Currently Pollstar, a concert industry tracking Web site, has Tool at No. 4 on its "power rankings," making the band possibly the highest-profile musical act to book a show at the Show Me Center in several years.

Not since 2004 has a rock band played the venue, unless Christmas rock-opera group Trans-Siberian Orchestra is counted. But Qualls and Show Me Center marketing director Shannon Buford both credit the success of TSO's shows -- in 2004, 2005 and 2006 -- as a reason for Tool's booking.

Concert promoter AEG Live is in charge of two Tool dates -- the local concert and one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- and was also responsible for bringing TSO to the Show Me Center.

Attendance at TSO's Show Me Center dates has increased from 4,300 in 2004 to 5,500 last year.

"We impressed them every time TSO came here, from the fans to the service they received ... that is why they looked at us for this Tool date," Buford said.

An article was even printed in Billboard Magazine after TSO's last performance in Cape Girardeau that sold 5,500 tickets. The article focused on the show's success in a small market.

Tickets for Tool's concert are $54 -- a price Qualls points out may seem high, but is cheaper than seeing the band in St. Louis when gas and other expenses are factored in. And the Show Me Center, he said, is far more intimate than larger arenas in big cities.

"Even in the last seat ... you have a better seat than somebody in the middle of the floor in St. Louis," Qualls said,

Buford said that if this show does well, it will definitely increase the chance of getting more rock acts at the venue.

"Promoters talk to each other," Buford said.

Tool will play the Show Me Center a day after the band's headlining appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The band's next show after the Cape Girardeau date is June 19 in Cedar Rapids.

Tickets for the concert go on sale at 5 p.m. May 11.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182