FAITH NO MORE | 22.02.2015 | Melbourne
One year ago Faith No More were just beginning their tour in support of Sol Invictus. We join them at show four, at Soundwave Festival in Melbourne.
Our coverage from at the time spreads over two article which you can read HERE and HERE. Photos by Ross Halfin.
Classic Rock | March 2015 | Alexander Milas
General Patton leads the charge in a 336 degree heat knees up
It's a heat that'll
straighten your pubes and make you wonder at the sanity
of the settlers who, nearly 200 years ago looked around, dropped
their bags, and went,
'this'll do'. But if today's furnace-like, 36-degree heat is
currently roasting the sweaty throng that's rolled into the
Melbourne Showgrounds for the first day of Soundwave
2015, then it stands to reason
that it's nothing less
than Hell on Earth for the leatherclad men of Priest up on stage right
now. The real feat, though, is in belting
out newer entries like Hall Of Valhalla and Redeemer
Of Souls with the same conviction as cast-iron classics like Metal Gods, Jawbreaker and a spine-tingling Beyond The Realms Of Death.
Given KK Downing's curious
departure for presumably more aromatic pastures, new guy Richie
Faulkner's ability to throw shapes and
resonate with crowd and bandmates alike is undeniable, and the man
can play.
An inspiring opening
salvo then for what is effectively Australia's biggest and
baddest rock and metal festival of the year. More a travelling circus
than a classic festival, it's become
the go-to event for those of a heavier inclination,
and that it hits multiple cities - this year it's Melbourne,
Adelaide, Brisbane, and ending in Sydney and with a heap
of so-called Sidewaves clubshows scattered in between - means it's as
much a feat of logistical genius as it is a snapshot of rock and
metal's State Of The Union.
From Stash, to Marilyn Manson, to
Steel Panther, pretty much every base is covered here, but this year there's a
peculiarly early alt.rock bent in the billing as a
Soundgarden-Faith No More double-header on
the second day of Soundwave Melbourne that's probably to blame for the amount of frayed,
Seattleite T-shirts amassed around the main stages.
It begins with a
screech - tone-king Kim Thayil's heavily distorted
command of that classic, down-tuned crunch that would sweep the world
sounds every bit as potent as it was the
day it busted speakers the world over. Spoonman, Outshined - it's
more a growl than anything, and spearheaded by Chris Cornell's
inimitable banshee operatics,
Soundgarden's set is a roll-call of classics that only suffers from
blowy sound and that plodding, mid-tempo
gait that'll do nothing to win you over if you're not already a fan.
And as the bluesy melancholy of Fell On Black Days and the timeless, bittersweet charms of
Black Hole Sun washes over the crowd in the waning light, why
wouldn't you be?
It's the perfect segue
for headliners Faith No More to take the stage and own
it. News of their impending album Sof Invictus - their first in 18
years and precisely about fucking time given this is their sixth year
since the re-formation - has
electrified the capacity crowd.
The cadence of new song
Motherfucker kicks it all off.
Resplendent in
all-white regalia on a stage bedecked with floral arrangements and
white curtains they are, immediately, head and
shoulders above anything that's been seen here
all weekend. Mike Patton - all pitch-perfect delivery
and hyper-animated stageplay - is an eye-magnet who peppers Ricochet
with a few lines of Meghan
Trainor's pop-hit All About The Bass before, a few songs
later, stopping Midlife Crisis dead in its tracks for an a
cappella The Lion Sleeps Tonight that kicks off a few
field-wide choruses of 'a-wimoweh a-wimoweh' before dropping right
back into where they left off. It's
fun, it's silly, but more importantly it's proof-positive that one
of the greatest bands of our time isn't just back,
but - as evidenced by the stomp of new song Superhero - they're vital
once again. You get
the sense that this is
really just the beginning. Welcome back, boys.
Kerrang! | March 2016 | KKKKK
THEY'RE BACK! REUNITED LEGENDS PROVIDE THE
SHOW OF THE DAY
DESPITE THE 30-degree
heat, you'd be forgiven for thinking a
snowstorm had hit Faith No
More. Clad completely
in white - the backdrop, the amps, even the
roadies - the only splash of colour comes from the flowers that line
the stage. At a festival where the predominant colour is black, trust
Faith No More - who have gleefully gone
against the grain for three
decades - to do the
opposite. That they open their set with a new
song, Motherfucker, rather
than an old favourite
further proves the band's disdain for playing it
safe.
There's plenty of
subversive hits to be had, however. From Epic to
closer We Care A Lot, the only thing more staggering than FNM's songs
is the vigour with which
they perform. While some acts reform and are clearly just a shadow of their former selves,
Faith No More have picked up exactly where they left off when they
split in 1998. This much is
evident in the other new song they play this evening, Superhero, a
track bubbling with
malevolence and a promise of magic from their forthcoming Sol
Invictus album.
Set of the day, hands down.
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