It’s been a dozen years since Faith No More broke up and broke many fans hearts. Fast forward to one year ago and their reformation was announced, followed six months later by the announcement that Faith No More would headline the much maligned Soundwave Festival, and also most tantalising of all, there was the announcement of a single sideshow for Sydney the following night. The recently added Eagles Of Death Metal was inconsequential (the show sold out in minutes a few months ago) but it was certainly an ideal sweetener – the Eagles good time sex-rock complement Faith No More perfectly. What more could you ask for?
Eagles Of Death Metal hit the stage with ideal opening music – Creedence Clearwater Revival’s brilliant classic ‘Born On The Bayou’. First up, the fan favourite ‘I Only Want You’ followed by the red hot riffage of ‘Don’t Speak’. Damn, Jesse Hughes & Co were on fire baby! They served up a cracking forty five minute set of favourites including ‘Cherry Cola’, ‘Whorehoppin’, ‘I Want You So Hard’, and ‘Wannabe In LA’. Set closer, the epic ‘Speaking In Tongues’, featured one of the most fucking magic guitar duels ever as the always charismatic Jesse Hughes and Darlin’ Dave riffed off each other, leading to a pseudo-sexual climatic blast to top off their set.
Those of us who witnessed Faith No More’s jaw-dropping set at Soundwave the night before knew what we were in for – this was gonna be good – it was simply a matter of what would they play? Everyone has their dream Faith No More setlist comprising the classics, obscure b-sides, and odd covers. Well, just like their last show at the Hordern over ten years ago, Faith No More opened brilliantly with the teasing of ‘Midnight Cowboy’. Then, it came – ‘The Real Thing’. I really don’t know what to say about this – maybe the Ed can help (Fuckin’ gold – Ed.). Astounding stuff. It was then a jukebox hit parade of all the genre bending influential classics – ‘A Small Victory’, ‘Epic’, ‘Surprise You’re Dead’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Gentle Art Of Making Enemies’… you get the idea. Ringleader Mike Patton was in bizarre-cool form as expected – in fact the entire band seemed to be having as good a time as the crowd. Yes, you could feel the love!
While we were denied some of the highlights of Faith No More’s Soundwave appearance (‘Stripsearch’, ‘Be Aggressive’, ‘Chinese Arithmetic’), Faith No More put in an even stronger, more complete performance – they were quite simply fucking magic in what will prove to be the gig of the year. Unbeatable.
Setlist: Midnight Cowboy * The Real Thing * Land Of Sunshine * Caffeine * Evidence * Gentle Art Of Making Enemies * Last Cup Of Sorrow * Ricochet * Easy * Midlife Crisis * Epic * I Started A Joke * Surprise You’re Dead * A Small Victory * Ashes To Ashes * Just A Man * Edge Of The World * Digging The Grave * Introduce Yourself * This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us
