Welcome to Rockville has come and gone over the past weekend, and with it came rock band Tool’s lead singer Maynard James Keenan making quite the statement on stage. This was during the band’s performance Sunday night on May 21st in Daytona Beach, Florida at the Daytona International Speedway.
Keenan, who often sports bombastic costumes during his band’s performances, took to the stage wearing a blonde wig, red lipstick smeared onto his face in an exaggerated manner, and a shirt tight enough to show off his fake breasts.
Keenan’s latest attire seems to be a response to the controversial bill signed by Florida governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, which restricts the discussion of personal pronouns within school settings, forbids minors from receiving gender-affirming care and barring them from attending drag performances.
Consequence made note of the fact that Welcome to Rockville is a music festival open to all ages, so technically, Keenan was in violation of the newly established law. Whether Keenan and by extension, Tool, will face any kind of repercussions from lawmakers in the future is yet to be seen.
According to Billboard, Keenan is not the first artist to make statement against Conservative lawmakers within the current culture-clash. They go on to cite an instance where actor-couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick made an Instagram post of themselves dancing to Taylor Swift’s “Karma” wearing shirts reading “Drag is an art and drag is a right.”
Tool’s next performance is scheduled for Thursday, May 25th in Columbus, Ohio at the Historic Crew Stadium during the Sonic Temple Arts & Music Festival.
Check out Tool on Welcome to Rockville’s closing night from their official Twitter account below.
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