Well I was coming off a pretty crazy weekend already with my layover in Dallas for a few days. And now I was going right into the San Francisco trip. I had some business in town, and also had been offered a few DJ gigs that were not really all that important but they were at the same time as a string of hometown shows from my favorite band in the world Faith No More. To dork out for a sec, the importance of these shows if you are into it, was huge. First off, just a chance to see them in San Francisco, let alone at the Warfield, but as you may already know, that this was reunion tour – not in the KISS/Cher variety that go on forever, but in a dignified we are gonna do a few shows and that’s that sorta way. To further up the ante these were the first American shows since they reformed over a year ago. The looming question of after awhile (in true FNM fashion) was well ARE they gonna be in the States? The answer was, kinda. They were gonna do a three night stand at the Warfield in their hometown, followed by a high-profile show at Coachella, then two shows in Brooklyn, NY and one in Philly…then goodbye. So only 6 shows in 4 cities, well I already had tickets to Coachella and I live in NYC so why not catch them all? haha I know I’m a dork
So that was the plan but American Airlines had other plans for me sadly. I had tickets to all three shows, and was leaving the morning of the first show when I get to the airport to see that their are a ton of canceled flights. What followed was an excruciating day of sitting at the airport watching my tickets become worthless and an awareness that everyone that travels have zero self-awareness. So all of that anticipation was shot down and back to my family’s home I trot. Try again tomorrow?
So, the next day I get a First Class seat (that was nice) and make my way to San Francisco with a quick layover in Los Angeles. I’m not a big drinker, but I also grew up poor so when someone is offering you free champagne, the fact that it’s ten ‘o clock in the morning is of no consequence to me. I get to LAX and am waiting for the next flight to SF when the ill-advised decision of drinking champagne with airline breakfast was probably a mistake, not to mention I hadn’t got any sleep the night before. Point being, I was probably quite the sight as I was so desperate to fall asleep, even just for a second that I was willing to do all of those positions that you do on airports that make you look homeless. As I’m sitting there in a half-slumper, somebody mentions FNM and it gets my attention and they ask me if I’m going. As odd as that was, the person to my left hears my voice and asks “hey…are you Roy Turner?” – WTF? I thought, and as I confusingly nodded, he reminded me of who he was and come to find out he was an old friend I hadn’t had any contact with in over 12 years. At one time I was close with his brother, who as I find out lives in SF and he was going there to visit him with the sole purpose that they could catch these shows together. We have a nice talk and exchange numbers and I looked forward to seeing him and his brother the next day. Small fucking world eh?
Faith No More – April 13th – 14th – Warfield – San Francisco, CA
I get to SF and other than the obvious I’m very excited – I adore SF as its one of my favorite cities in the world and I’ve even seriously considered living here, and if and when I ever retire, I just might. The promoter put me up in this shithole downtown but it was within walking distance of the club and the Warfield. Again I love this town but the homeless situation is so out of control here and I live in freaking NYC and I’m shocked how everytime I come here it seems worse. I couldn’t walk a half a block without someone aggressively asking me for something.
I secure the hotel and call a few friends and let them know I’m in town. I already had plans to go to the show tonight with an old friend from Texas who lives here and let her know that I would meet her at the show. I get something to eat, walk by the ol’ OFarrell Theater, and head to the Warfield.
I see my friend straight-away and we excitedly catch up and head in to the show were openers Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine had already started doing their thing. How appropriate I thought, another weird and local legend to get things started.
Neil Hamburger acted as the MC and this meant he told a few of his jokes, and then introduced each act. His act is pretty fascinating: he tells some of the most offensive jokes possible, and the crowd tends to react strongly to him. Sometimes people cheer the rape and drug addiction humor; sometimes, people boo and throw things at him. It’s interesting to watch a crowd respond to him that has never seen him before, but I don’t know why anyone would actually buy a ticket to see his own show. If everyone in the audience is in on the joke, there is no joke.
was something called the Barbary Coast Cloggers. Fred Schneider of the B-52s in his wildest, homosexual dreams could not come up with a concept that was this gay. All I could think of was Roddy Bottum watching videos of them on YouTube and thinking “they must open for us!!”. Though a supporter, I’m not a member of the gay community but I don’t think even my gay friends have ventured into clogging. Think square dancing with the loudest country and western outfits ever. It was the opposite of vulgar, very upbeat and fun and the dancers were so queer they seemed to shoot rainbows out of their faces.
But now that time was upon us – I was finally seeing Faith No More in San Francisco and these were their first shows in the States in over 12 years. I had been lucky to see their first show back period over a year ago when I was in London at that was really something.
After all we had already seen, their was the definite anything goes vibe that is usually prevalent when these guys are involved. Given what was at stake I had a feeling that the set-list could be full of surprises. Starting with Midnight Cowboy and then right into The Real Thing you would have thought Slayer was onstage. A more fanatical crowd I have yet to see, and the music doesn’t exactly inspire the whole moshing thing in my mind, but it is chaotic and the place completely lost their shit, like the whole time.
Some of the rarities were: Michael Jackson‘s Ben and they finally did their cover of Sparks‘ This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.
Here’s the full setlist:Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)
The Real Thing
Land of Sunshine
Be Aggressive
Evidence
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Last Cup of Sorrow
Ricochet
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Midlife Crisis (included a section of Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke)
Epic
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Ashes to Ashes
Just a ManEncore 1 :Stripsearch (w/ Chariots of Fire)
We Care a LotEncore 2 :
This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us (Sparks cover)
Pristina
A freaking incredible show and one of the best shows I’ve ever seen period. What a weird, long strange trip, even for them.
Night 2
Without giving anything away, I had told them a bit about the weirdness (and awesomeness) of last night’s vaudeville-style show. What surreal form of entertainment were we in store for tonight? The first act was called the White Trash Débutantes, I’m only assuming are from San Francisco, who did what you would think a band with that moniker would do, and alot of covers. Without too much calculation I’m sure FNM wanted something local, fun and legit.
That moment came with the fucking El Camino High School Cheerleaders came out to do routines. About 20 high school girls in full cheer regalia marched onto the stage. A pulsing techno number boomed its way through the theater, and the girls danced, made pyramids, leaped and bounded across the stage.
Starting with the Peaches and Herb cover, the appropriate Reunited like they did in London last year, and then when they finished that and went into From Out of Nowhere the place exploded into an absolute frenzy as we did right along with them. Looking at my friends as the crowd tore us apart with that smile of “See you after the show dude”.
Their were a few changes in the setlist for this show but the real surprise came, when they started the opening keyboard line to As the Worm Turns, when Patton was about to sing the first verse, he runs offstage, as he is simultaneously replaced by…Chuck Mosley – Holy shit, that crackhead who was the original singer before Patton took his place? Yes that one. How historic? to wrap up the history of this band to completion, didn’t see that one coming, and to be honest wasn’t even sure that Mosely was still alive. Now, not to be a cynic and who can really compete with Patton anyway, and I was excited by this gesture, he kinda overstayed as the planned four-song Mosely set was probably about two too many. Mosely was in bad shape, but not embarrassingly so, and it was awesome to hear some rare stuff and even kinda cool to hear the original sing it.
Patton returned and they did the Chariots of Fire/Stripsearch from the night before, but not before verbalizing what was on everyone’s mind as Mosely exited by saying into the mic “Chuck fucking Mosley?” but with great appreciation and a shared awestruck. Mosely returns at the end to close the set with Patton to trade off with Introduce Yourself. How insanely historic and totally fitting to end this never-to-be-repeated hometown swing. Just a honor to be a part of it.
Here is the setlist:
Reunited (Peaches and Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Land of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Chinese Arithmetic (with a bit of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face)
Last Cup of Sorrow
Cuckoo for Caca
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Ashes to Ashes
Midlife Crisis
Digging the Grave
King For A Day
Epic
Just a ManEncore 1 – Chuck Mosley on vocals
As the Worm Turns
Death March
We Care A Lot
Mark BowenEncore 2 – Mike Patton on vocals
Chariots of Fire / Stripsearch
Introduce Yourself (with Chuck Mosely)
So I met back up with Brothers Mitchell after the show outside, and we excitedly recanted the night’s events and surprises. I invited them to join me as my friend Gina, whom I went to the first night with, she was only a few blocks away and had invited me to a dance party with this DJ that was gonna be playing Coachella, whose name escapes me. The boys agreed and we headed uphill the 10 blocks or so, catching up and totally high from the night. Hipsters be damned, the minute we saw the velvet rope, we had doubts. I stayed and talked with them so more before they decided to bail. I thought I would go in and hang for few songs and say goodbye to Gina since I was leaving in the morning. Got totally raked over the coals by these pretentious doublefucks at the door and considered leaving. Finally made it in, and had a great time dancing and laughing with Gina before calling it a night and walking back to my hotel. On to Los Angeles in the morning.
Faith No More – Williamsburg Waterfront – Brooklyn, NY – July 2nd & 5th
So I’m finally back home in Brooklyn, after an almost month long adventure. NYC in the Summer time is so fantastic and I don’t care where I am or what I am doing I make it a priority to be back here for the 4th of July. It’s my favorite time to be in NYC. I love, love, love, the holidays in NYC for sure (though I despise the cold).
There is just something majestic about NYC in the Summer, the rooftop parties, and all the Summer fashion that the girl’s wear, and the outdoor bazaars and the parks are so alive with activity, I love it. My first night back, I go to my haunt (and sometimes DJ residency) Lit, for a party with VHS or Beta. I had’nt talked to those dudes since my Astralwerks days, so it was a fun first night back. But the next night continued my year long hard on for my all time favorite band:
This show was historic for a battery of reasons, for one, it was the first (and possibly the only) shows in NYC for FNM in over 12 years. Also it was the first of a series of shows at the awe-inspiring Williamsburg Waterfront, from Jelly NYC that replace their famed Summer Concert Series to this new area instead of Mccarren Pool. And if the shows I saw in San Francisco are of any indication, tonight was gonna be something special.
It was the first of two shows at this location with a show in Philly in between them, and the only scheduled shows other than the ones in SF and LA.
It felt like a pilgrimage making my way down there because after you got off the subway, and walked a few blocks down, their was no reason anyone would be down there if they were going to the show, so suddenly you were walking amongst like-minded people exclusively.
I get there, and check in and the FNM organization (i.e. Roddy Bottum) were gracious to leave me a VIP pass.
I get to my area and Rahzel was already on. The amount of bass he was able to produce was impressive, and his beats shook the speakers. . He somehow managed to do the verse and chorus of a song simultaneously. He spent a lot of time talking about hip-hop, the importance of women not getting impregnated by poor men, and why dudes should be sure to keep themselves wrapped. Some of the talking got old, but it was fun when he brought his youngest son up and told the crowd about him. His son alternated between looking like he was going to laugh and cry.
Next was Neil Hamburger, who I familiar with before I saw the SF shows and then got real familar with because of those shows, did the same as before as more of an extended introduction with his anti-humor thing. A big part of his act is chastising the hecklers that he knows he’s going to get. A lot of his taunts at the audience were funnier than his jokes, per usual. He did that same joke he did in SF with the threatening that the band wouldn’t come out till the crowd yelled Smashmouth a hundred times.
What was not perfect was the way the “beer-drinkers” were sectioned far off from the rest of the audience. It seemed there were many unnecessary barricades, and all the grass near the stage was sectioned off, removing the only comfortable option for anyone who wanted to sit and watch the show. And did there really need to be separate lines for beer tickets and beer?
Mike Patton instructed the crowd several times to turn around and check out the incredible view by enviously saying “You fuckers live here!”
An unbelievable show in such an amazing setting on a perfect night. Weather was great, band was incredible. I’ve seen a few of these now, and they didn’t play anything too different from the other ones, but it didn’t matter, they could have played whatever they wanted, and that’s exactly what they do, and makes them so great. They play again on Monday and I’m just as excited about that one too.
Here’s the setlist:
Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Land of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Last Cup of Sorrow
Cuckoo for Caca
Easy (Commodores cover)
Midlife Crisis
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Ashes to Ashes
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
King for a Day
Epic
Just a Man
Encore:
Stripsearch (w/ Chariots of Fire)
Be Aggressive
Encore 2:
We Care a Lot
Faith No More (night 2) – Williamsburg Waterfront – Brooklyn, NY – July 5th
Here is a tweet from my Twitter feed to start the day:
“Oh Faith No More again? Tonight? Don’t mind if I do – this could perhaps be the last American performance of this band ever.”
But it was another Tweet by Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, who in his ever helpful ways, sent this Tweet – that serendipitously changed everything:
“Faith No More play Brooklyn tonight (NO L TRAIN)”
Now normally this wouldn’t mean much, Brooklynites are accustomed to that piece of shit L train never running properly, but and I don’t believe in fate or that things happen for any particular reason, the cause of this would result in re-route, that would yield a meeting with another stranded concert-goer of epic proportions.
The detour was ridiculous even by NYC standards and took me to parts of Brooklyn that I didn’t even know existed on trains that I didn’t know still ran.
I was coming down the steps from an above ground J train to locate what I was told would be a shuttle bus that would take me sorta to the venue, at this point now surrounded by obvious other Faith No More fans, when this striking woman was making the same confused gesticulations that I was and actually in sync.
Clearly we were both looking for the same thing, but now I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Without a thought and I couldn’t even tell you why, I just looked at her and with a smile on my face said “Where is this fucking bus?!” – She smiled and I suggested we cross the street to find it. After some seriously comedic trial and error, we finally locate the bus and learn that we have to make two transfers. It was clear that we were both alone so we kinda formed our own little crew with immediate rapport. From her accent and minimal English, I learned that she was from Barcelona and was in NYC for the first time, having just arrived a few days ago and would be here for a month on an internship to the consulate of Spain.
We get to Will Call, and she already has her ticket, and of course their’s a problem with my ticket. She waited a great while patiently with me and I didn’t want the fun to end, so as I could hear the openers going on, I told her to go ahead and I would find her inside. What was I thinking?? as she walked away, I’ll never find her in this mob” Is what I was thinking regretably. Oh well, I tried to comfort myself with, I only knew her for an hour, sucks I didn’t get her number, hope I find her, but for now let’s focus on what will probably be the last time I ever see my favorite band of all time, as they finally locate my ticket just as I’m hearing the opening notes to their cover of Midnight Cowboy.
So like a fanboy teenager, I run as fast as I can to get situated. This time I didn’t have the luxury of the whole VIP nonsense, which was fine because I had planned to really flame out and go to the front and just be 14 again for one last time for as long as I could.
Now this band of course doesn’t have the sound or image of a band that you would equate with having crazy moshpits, and the like, but let me tell you this was my 6th of the reunion shows and 10th of their shows overall and they have some of the most brutal shit to handle at their shows.
I was in total bring-it-on mode, and made my way to the front.
This lasted for about half of the set, before I was so winded and close to puking, and so sick of people stepping on my feet and looking down and seeing my jeans ripped and my shoes a mangled, unrecognizable shape. Yes I am getting old haha.
Totally worth it – here is another one of my Tweets to capture the moment:
“After seeing 6 of these reunion shows 2night might have been the best – FINALLY As the Worm Turns w/Patton”
Their was just something about this show and I feel sorta high from it even after all these months removed.
Here is the setlist:
Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)
The Real Thing
Be Aggressive
Land of Sunshine
The Crab Song
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Last Cup of Sorrow
Chinese Arithmetic (w/ Rahzel)
Easy (The Commodores cover)
Midlife Crisis
Digging the Grave
Ashes to Ashes
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
King for a Day
Epic
Just a ManEncore:
I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
As the Worm Turns
We Care a Lot (w/ Rahzel)
Encore 2:
Stripsearch
So after the last note ended, I just didn’t wanna leave right away, and soak in what had just happened, take in the great view one more time, and then fall into my usual love of people watching. Then it occured to me, “wait a minute, that Spanish girl, I never found her” – Knowing that it was futile, and sorta silly to be furiously looking for a stranger and what would be the result even if I found her, but I had to satisfy the notion of at least trying. So I went and stood by the exit (like a loser) logically everyone must pass thru here, if she hasn’t already. And like in the movies, just as I was about to give up, she taps me on the shoulder from behind.
This was a good sign as she could have walked on by after seeing me and I would never have known. Both really excited about the show we had just seen and in desperate need for hydration, I ask her if she wants to grab a drink. She agrees, and we go to the Charleston and talk for what must have been hours.
We realize early that communicating through our phones isn’t really an option so we exchange email addresses with the promise to get together again in a few days. We get on the train together and her stop was before mine, so I offer her a hug to say goodbye. What is it between me and this girl? The second she was gone, I began to wonder if I have seen too many movies.