Faith No More - Brixton

Not rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, nor tube strikes, nor hangovers from the night before were gonna stop me getting to this gig. I've been going to shows for nearly 13 years, and a good 12 of them i've waited to see Faith No More. After a day off spent irritating everyone of facebook with far too many updates, two hours trekking across the city and a cheap chicken burger from across the way, I met Jim outside and wandered through to take my rightful spot in front of the stage.

Or I would have done, had the helpful security guard not pointed out that my ticket was for the upstairs seats.

Bugger.

Grabbed a hoody and a beer, and took my seat to watch Selfish Cunt. It's always fun to watch a support act the 90% of the crowd don't want to be there, and I wondered quite how their two-person synth noise nonsense would go down with rock fans, even those as open minded as FNM fans. However, it seems that they've metamorphosised into a 4 piece, and were considerably more rock than I remembered. Did it make a difference to the rabid FNM fans waiting? No. The frontman clearly loved himself in a 'spent too much time at Goldsmiths' manner. He had Adele's face on Brett Anderson's body, and an air of 'look at me' self satisfaction you could spot from row J. Despite promises to play for longer they were done by 8.15, and the tension began to build.

After a between bands CD clearly put together by Patton (An acapella version of the theme from Bullit? Come on...) the band FINALLY appear. Decked out in coloured suits: Blue for Jon, White for Patton, Pink (obviously) for Roddy, and Bill in a black t-shirt because he has to be different. I'd had many thoughts as to what their opener would be - a big single? something old for the fans?. In the end, they started with a cover of "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb, before finally bringing the rock with "The Real Thing". The setlist was heavy on Angel Dust era tracks, with a surprisingly large number from King for a day. I must be honest, the band weren't tight - Roddy in particular fluffed a good few notes, and the bass intro to Evidence was non-existent, although that may have been down to the soundguy taking a while to sort his levels. That said, when they got in the groove, no amount of bad sound could effect it. "Cuckoo for Caca", "Surprise you're dead" and in particular "Midlife Crisis" were HUGE, and really made me regret not getting standing tickets.

The band came back for two encores, including seguing the Chariots of Fire theme into "Stripsearch", and left the stage to the adulation of everyone watching. Okay, there was no "Everything's Ruined" or "Digging The Grave", or "We Care A Lot, but really, who cares? My 18 year old self is sated.

- Mal

Setlist:
Reunited (Peaches & Herb)
The Real Thing
From Out Of Nowhere
Land Of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise, You're Dead
Easy (Commodores)
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Midlife Crisis (+ 'Popcorn' interlude)
Cuckoo For Caca
Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
RV
King For A Day
Malpractice
Jizzlobber
Be Aggressive
Epic
? (Didn't recognise this - B Side?)

Encore 1:
Theme from Chariots of Fire
Stripsearch
Just A Man

Encore 2:
I Started A Joke (Bee Gees)
Pristina