The opening was definitely unexpected. The band treated us to the favourite “uncle from Tasmania”, a philanderer of unimaginably bad jokes ripping through the bands or artists Faith No More clearly don’t like. They were testing us; see how long it would take for us to crack. It took about 7 minutes. After much jeering and booing, Faith No More emerged and played a song called Reunited.
Reunited! Fucking smart arses.
The pit exploded when the first notes of From Out of Nowhere burst through speakers and hit our expectant ears. A great throng of energy pulsed through us, and suddenly there were heads banging, bodies pushing and limps flaying everywhere.
The bass drove through us, pumping like a bass should but so often does not. At times, a funk bass line would emerge from a heavy rock song. Fucking crazy.
Be Aggressive was much more, yep, aggressive than I have ever thought it to be. The song slows in the middle, and then ruptures into a blazing solo, backed by the hard drumming. Sweat was flying everywhere: these Faith No More fans had gone nuts. I was going nuts. The tempo slowed right down for Evidence, which seemed to please the crowd and placate my sore knees. Last Cup of Sorrow, and then The Gentle Art of Making Enemies followed this, and we proudly roared “I’m ‘bout the best fuck you ever had!” Cuckoo for Caca went off wonderfully, and then we were treated to a fucking great rendition of Easy. I think at this point, I will stop listing every track played and describing in detail they way each track made me feel.
The set list was a wonderful surprise for me. There were some obvious choices, but then tracks like Be Aggressive, Cuckoo For Caca and Surprise! You’re Dead came out of nowhere. No pun intended. I thought they would stick to the singles and maybe jam a little. I did not expect the band to be enjoying the show so much. For Mike Patton to be enjoying the show so much. I was up close. He looked me in the eyes once, and it was amazing. If that man was not enjoying that particular performance, then he is a brilliant professional.
Epic came and went, and by this point I was in a cloudy haze of happiness. Pure happiness. And then Just A Man started. Arguably my second favourite track (I like the sentiment, the gospel aspect of it and the over whelming positiveness of that track). I lost my mind a little. In fact, I lost my mind. My brother and I exchanged glances of exhilarated astonishment. We turned to our choir leader, our Messiah and basked in his infinite wisdom. They left the stage, but returned to play two encores. This Guy’s In Love with You was dedicated to Burt Bachurach and they finished oh so appropriately with We Care a Lot. Thank you very much Faith No More.
I was very pleased to read the set list changed from show to show. Not massive changes, but it is always nice to know you got one particular track while another place at another time got another track and so on. Just a Man destroyed me, but This Guy’s in Love with You absolutely killed me. I don’t think I have managed to successfully recreate what an amazing two hours I had that night. If they had just gone through the standard routine, it would have been a great night, but they threw so much more at us. Faith No More threw in some Crowded House, they played Chariots of Fire. They took the piss out of themselves and out of the audience. The genuinely had a laugh, and we laughed right with them.
I emerged from the small mosh pit drench in sweat. Someone exclaimed that they had dry patch on their shirt. I laughed with him. I was thirsty and fucking sore and so tired, but I just saw one of my top 5 favourite bands and/or artists blow my fucking mind. I have still not come down from my high. It has been 5 days.