It was an eventful evening at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA on Thursday where the low-end literati gathered for the Bass Magazine Awards. Among the ceremony’s highlights were a surprise two-song set by Tool and a dual bass jam featuring Les Claypool and Mononeon.

Tool bassist Justin Chancellor was the man of the hour on Thursday, receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for what his bandmates called “his bass wizardry and alchemy with Tool” for the past 30 years. To properly honor their bandmate, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, drummer Danny Carey, and guitarist Adam Jones assembled for an unannounced performance at the 1,200-capacity venue. There was perhaps no better way to celebrate Chancellor’s lifetime of achievements than with his iconic bassline of “Schism”, which kicked off the pop-up set before 10,000 Days‘ “Jambi” brought it to an all-too-soon conclusion.

Clip of TOOL performing at NAMM 2025.
byu/Montauk_123 inToolBand

Justin Chancellor’s Speech for Lifetime Achievement at Bass Magazine Awards
byu/papiblez inToolBand

Other than an arena-sized band playing a 1,200-person club, the other highlight of Thursday’s award ceremony was a jam session between bassists Les Claypool and Mononeon. Claypool must have found a spare moment between auditioning new Primus drummers to (perhaps literally) fly down to Santa Ana for the gig. The ensuing collaboration saw Les and the former Prince bassist get well-acquainted with an 11-minute bass jam that wound into Mono’s original “Under the Spell of You”. Given each player’s unique lead-playing style, it was a rare treat to watch them share the spotlight as they figured out how to cohabitate in the sonic space onstage.

Watch Les Claypool jam with Mononeon in the clip below.

Mononeon, Les Claypool — “Jam”, “Under The Spell Of You” — 1/23/25

[Video: Zeelzabub]

Tool will return to much larger stages in March, beginning with the band’s inaugural Live in the Sand destination event in the Dominican Republic featuring Primus, Mastodon, Coheed and Cambria, Umphrey’s McGee, and more. After that, the band will mount its first-ever South American tour for several high-profile festival gigs. Find tickets and tour dates on Tool’s website.