EDITOR´S NOTE: Hello Rocker!
Me and the Hard Blast team want to apologise for these weeks without any updates but I´ve been quite busy covering the summer festivals to give you great photos, reviews and news.
We´ve been also working on new partnerships to upgrade the website and improve our work.
In a couple of weeks everything will be back to normal and you can wait for great stuff!
Besides Tuska Open Air and Hellfest, we were at Ruisrock, Sonisphere, will be at Ankkarock and have done great interviews which are coming soon.
All this traveling will be over soon ´cause summer is unfortunatelly close to the end so, don´t give up on us! We´ll be back even better!!!
Stay rock!
Maila
Rio de Janeiro was boiling on the 5th of November. Those over 3 thousand people who saw Mike Patton & co at Citibank Hall were twice witnesses of this fact.
Why twice? Well, first of all because it was really hot, over 30 degrees Celsius, second, because Faith no More was able to set the concert hall on fire showing absolute no mercy to all those who were there, ready to be burned!!!
Although I´ve always been a fan, I confess that I wasn´t expecting such a concert. We´ve seen several bands doing the “come back” thing, some doing a great job, others teaching us how important is to be retired but most of them just cannot make us go back in time, if you know what I mean. Even if they do a great concert, you may get some nostalgic moment, but hardly ever you will forget your present life as if you were inside a time machine.
Faith no More could cause this effect in me and everybody around me. I even dare to say they did the best “revival concert” I´ve ever seen and it will be difficult to be overpassed.
In spite of the expensive tickets, I knew it would be crowded. They used to be very big here in the 90´s and all 4 concerts they did in Rio were packed. I just wasn´t expecting such a huge line. The concert was settled for 9 o´clock, at 10:15pm, the line was longer than the entire block around the 8 counters they had opened to assist people. I am sure a considerable number of fans lost the first songs.
Thank God the wise production put a warm-up band to start cause if not I would have been one of those unfortunate souls.
I got in Citibank Hall at 10:47 pm, at the exact moment we could all hear the first notes of “Cowshit”. Typical intro, instrumental, climatic, with mike Patton playing a melodica. Yes, I felt butterflies in my stomach as soon as I saw the band on stage: all dressed like “serious and respectful sirs” on their black and white suits, and Mr. Patton, well, he was wearing a suit too, but not so usual...it was RED!!!!
After this sweet intro, all those who know the band a little already knew something really heavy would come next, and the chosen pearl was the classic “From out of Nowhere” (The Real Thing, 1989). The audience was so excited that it was difficult to listen to Patton´s singing, the entire Citibank Hall knew those lyrics by heart. The band, of course, didn´t allow the excitement to fade and the third song was “Be Aggressive” followed by “Caffeine”.
Then, the greatest rock entertainer of all times decided to speak. With a clear and understandable Portuguese, a little Spanish mixed, Mike got all the attention to himself talking about the next song: “This song I made for my first love and it´s called “Evidence”. Want another surprise? He sang the song IN PORTUGUESE, letting all cariocas with a big smile on the face.
Patton is a big fan of Portuguese language and Brazilian music. In the album King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime (1995) it can be confirmed in songs such as “Caralho Voador” (“Flying Cock”) and this is something he used to mention a lot in interviews.
So, do you think “Evidence” started a soft moment in the concert? WRONG! To brake the walls definitely they started “Surprise you´re Dead”, from the first album recorded by Patton, the Real Thing (1989),then it was time for “Last Cup of Sorrow” (The Album of the Year,1997). In my humble oppinion this song was really unnecessary. Well, it was good to give us some time to get a beer ´cause watching that concert “dry” wasn´t really a good idea. I think many people agreed at me cause the line in the bar was kind of big, even though the beer at Citibank Hall has European prices.
Well, my thirst made me lose the beginning of a great great great song: “Ricochet” and I had to run with that glass on my hand afraid of dropping it. But it didn´t happen and I made it! Sang, screamed, jumped and did everything the crowd did too.
Actually, it´s important to say: watching Mike Patton alive makes impossible to anyone to be calm or just standing. He is a performer, a real absolute king on stage with power to make you do whatever he wants. If he says “jump”, you will do it, if he says: “pretend you´re dead”, “sit”, you will obey the order without questioning. His charisma is unbelievable.
Then he decided we should take it easy, and this is exactly the next song, the famous Faith no More version for The Commodores, “Easy”. Nobody dared to leave the hall not even to pee! We wanted to sing along and Patton? Well, he wanted us to sing and wave the arms up. Of course we did it.
Has anybody thought about resting? Forget it! Next song: “Epic”. Do I have to say anything? Well, I don´t but I will: What is it? It´s it!!! What is it? it´s Faith no more playing in Rio for the fifth time, thirteen years after, making us feel as if we were back in 1991, in the crowded Rock in Rio II, watching that 21-year-old crazy guy who made the band one of the biggest in Brazil for almost a decade. That´s it...
More singing with the crowd it was time for “Midlife Crisis”, a very special moment. The band did a pause a little before the end of the song but the audience didn´t stop singing going ahead ´till the end. Of course when we thought it was over, they went on and gave their own end to one of the band´s biggest hits.
And then...the flying cock, “Caralho Voador”...
Although we are honored by being remembered with this “bossa nova wanna be” song, this is not a good one, I´m sorry. It´s actually senseless and boring and people don´t usually get excited by listening to it. You can imagine the following situation: It´s your birthday, someone you like a lot and feel deep respect gives you a present you hate. Well, you give a “yellow” smile and pretend you like it, feeling a little shy. This is “Caralho Voador” in my opinion and I know many people might think the same way. Patton even decided to change things a little bit singing one of the most famous bossa nova songs as incidental: “Ela é Carioca” (She´s Carioca). Well, once more the yellow smile came out...we kept ourselves there, looking at him.
But nooooooo! It wasn´t time to fade. That was just a resting moment because next song was the great “Gentle Art of Making Enemies”.
Then it was time for Roddy Bottum (also charismatic and nice) ask: “have you had enough?” I give a penny for the right answer.... Next song? “King for a Day”, from the homonym album, making us jump, scream and almost die once more.
And finally a break for those who really wanted to pee!!! A 5-minute-break while Mr. Bottum played some hypnotic stuff. I actually got another beer...;)
Then they were back and the song was “Ashes to Ashes” with Mike Patton controlling us one more time, at exactly 11:28 pm, making us wave our arms in different paces the way he wanted. Nobody should disobey the king! And of course, the audience choir almost made me cry.
After that, “Just a Man”, and Mike Patton sat on the shoulder of a security guy who started to walk through he VIPs shaking hands, so on and so forth. It was apparently over. Well, a comeback is IMPOSSIBLE not to happen, specially with the information that in Porto Alegre, the day before, they came back 3 times... they would never get rid of it in Rio.
Roddy was the first one to come back playing a keyboard intro to start the more than exciting “We Care a Lot”, from the homonym album, before Patton´s time but immortalized by him.
Once more they said Goodbye but of course wouldn´t be allowed to leave. Everybody started screaming “Falling to pieces, 'Falling to pieces” and they did it!!! They hadn´t played this song during this tour and Mike didn´t even remember all lyrics. He was helped by my Mike Bordin and the situation made everybody laugh. Specially when Mike said in Spanish: Solamente porque es Rio. (only because it´s Rio).
When the song was over it was really the end...two hours of concert had passed by we felt as if they had just started. To finish off, Roddy says: “goodbye hot boys and hot girls”.
Well, my first intention was to write an objective review but it would be really impossible, it would be unfair with me after two hours of intensive excitement, having the best memories from the best years of my life, watching that amazing band with one of the most amazing singers of the 90´s, who is still in perfect body and voice shape.
The band:
Mike Patton – vocals
Roddy Bottum – keyboards
Billy Gold – bass
Mike Bordin – drums
Jon Hudson – guitar (the only new member)
