Faith No More - Brixton Academy
After 11 long years, one of the true legendary bands appeared back on the world stage at London’s Brixton Academy as a warm up to their headline slot at this years Download Festival. As warm ups go, selling out a near 5,000 capacity venue in a matter of minutes shows, despite the years, the fans are desperate for more of Mike Patton, Billy Gould, Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum and John Hudson who replaced Jim Martin back in 1996. It has to be noted that the fans deserve a lot of praise in making it to the gig smack in the middle of the 48 hour tube strike, puts all those England fans to shame for crying off not attending the international the other side of London.
There was a lot of talk before the gig as to what song after all these years they would open with, no one got it right as Faith No More reminded us they love to play on stage too and opened with a cover of Peaches and Herbs romantic duet, 'Reunited'. It was clear they were enjoying themselves on stage dressed in their 1950’s style suits and after the thunderous cheers for the sentimental opener had eased they launched into the classic songs, with 'The Real Thing' and 'From Out Of Nowhere' starting off. The rapport between front man Mike Patton and the UK crowd remained, even if many of the crowd looked bemused at the You Fat Ba***rd chants, he even joked if the younger people at the front were the children of those that used to see them in the old days.
The set continued with a complete mix of the back catalogue which included cover 'Easy' and a rocking version of the theme to 'Chariots Of Fire' which lead into 'Stripsearch'. There was a good mix of popular songs like 'Gentle Art of Making Enemies', 'Surprise! You’re Dead' and, the now poignant, 'Midlife Crisis' along with the lesser known tunes but equally there were just as many popular songs missing from the set such as 'Digging The Grave', 'Ashes To Ashes' and 'Falling To Pieces'. But overall, it has to be reported that the 24 song set was a roaring success, even if it would have been better if they had persuaded Jim Martin to join them. Download, be ready for good times. Let’s hope this comeback is for good and more gigs follow.
Set List:
Reunited
The Real Thing
From Out Of Nowhere
Land Of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise! You're Dead!
Easy
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Midlife Crisis
Cockoo For Caca
The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
RX
King For A Day
Malpractice
Jizzlobber
Be Aggressive
Epic
Mark Bowen
Encore 1:
Chariots Of Fire/Stripsearch
Just A Man
Encore 2:
I Started A Joke
Pristina