Thursday 11 June 2009

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

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Dissident Dubs III (Dissident Island benefit gig) - Peckham

Dissident Island is an online radio station, broadcasting bi-monthly at www.dissidentisland.com
with a mixture of interviews, political reportage, live debates, vegan recipes and so forth, usually finishing off with a DJ playing breakcore, dnb, dubstep, reggae, punk or some other form of underground - frequently politicised - music. As a fundraiser for the Drax 29, they put together a benefit at the London & Brighton in Peckham, and having played for them before on a couple of occasions I was happy to come along and play a set. It did mean missing Plaid at I Love Acid, but having seen them at Cafe Oto a few days before I wasn't too upset.

I dragged myself out of Queens Rd station, found my way into the pub, not entirely sure what to expect. It was still relatively early, and a few small groups of people were milling around listening to the Dubstep from Hobocop. The venue gradually filled, and with Neil playing a shitload of Compound One and Art recordings tracks, I was enjoying it myself. Whether through fortune or good timing, the pubs seemed to kick everyone out just as I was about to go on, as ten minutes beforehand the dancefloor almost doubled. I'd been asked to play some jungle to break up the dubstep/dnb of the other acts, so after mixing in a Komonazmuk track to get in the groove, I started with Trace's rmx of Babylon - Splash. I tried to mix it up a little, some jungle (Capone - Massive, Equinox - Make You Flex), some newer choppage (Nucleus & Paradox - Love Her, Dom - Come to Conquer), some classic DnB (Titan, Deadline VIP) and some other odds and sods. I wasn't planning on playing quite so many old tracks, but when someone requests it, and it's in your bag, it's hard to say no.

Afterwards I hung around, grabbed a few beers and watched the rest of the acts. Deapoh played some more dubstep - very well mixed, and he's younger than me (bastard), and I even slipped in another Compound One track before Kovert stepped up with some techno. Mr Hyde brought it up to DnB again, and some one else (possibly Serifrat?) was dropping some vicious breakcore (including Dylan & Limewax's Cleansed by a Nightmare - filth) before I dragged myself away. And despite the protestations of friends, I didn't even get mugged on my way home. Okay, so I lost my Oyster card and Headphones (sum cost approx £200), but hey, can't complain right?