June 16, 2009 Berlin, Wuhlheide

Just being returned from Milan the night before the next show would be on its way. And this time it would be Faith No More exclusively in my home country. As much as I really admire Italy, it was just way too hot in Milan, especially at the festival venue.

Ok, I gotta admit that I didn't get to continue or better start writing this review two weeks after the show. So the enthusiasm and details might be gone a little. I will try anyhow...

As mentioned above I was really exhausted and tired from both the trip to Italy and the drastic differences in temperatures (35°C / 95°F in Milan / about 15°C / 59°F in Hanover). Yes, I will stop whining right now. Sorry about that.

And eventually the thrill of anticipation returned. I was really looking forward to seeing them live yet again although I would know the biggest portion of what was to come from Milan already. However, this time I would be in a position to focus more on the complete show and the interesting details. Or so I thought.

First of all I have to say that I really enjoyed the tiny reunion or partially getting to meet in person with Sabine & Volker from Hanover, Micha from Essen and Emil from Cracow in Poland. Unfortunately I did not really get to talk to one additional oldschool FNM fan who came from some place close to Munich: Manuel. Had met him and promised to get back to him shortly but didn't manage to do so. I got to know Sabine more than ten years ago in the Caca Volante mailing list. Emil I had met in Lugo at the Mondo Cane show in 2007 and Micha I had exchanged mails with for quite a while already. He is hosting and putting into shape his Patton shrine at www.mikepatton.de. [...the review continues below the pictures...]

	Not only a reunion for Faith No More but for a bunch of fans
Micha from mikepatton.de	Sabine and Volker from my hometown (who I got to know back in the days through the Caca Volante mailing list; yep, the world is small)	Emil from Poland with his gang
Billy Gould watching "Farmer's Market"		Third time I was forced to see "Zu" from Italy
	"Farmer's market" from Norway

Before the FNM were on, Patton gave some of his personal favorite from his very own label Ipecac the honor to perform live as supporting acts. First up, Farmer's market from Norway hit the stage, not getting too much attention. Some of the music reminded me a bit about Mr. Bungle but a lot less crazy and without any singing. The original Ipecac description does match quite well: "Bulgarian folk music, jazz standards, popular music and humor". Actually, I guess that those guys seemed older than they are. I enjoyed the music and spotted Billy Gould on the side of the stage checking them out. Since I had met Billy at the Harmful gig in Karlsruhe and accidently happened to get his email address back in 1997 he gave me a wave back after I had raised my beer to him. I had been looking forward to also meeting him but unfortunately this didn't happen. No guest list for me this time. Whatever, just would have been nice to have a little chat with him since he is a very, very nice guy and he is in Faith No More, the band it all started with for me. Well, ok Metallica and - yes - Gn'R started it. Whatever...

Next up were Zu. What can I say, it was the third time after Fantomas-Melvins-Big-Band in Berlin and Fantomas in London that I had to see them supporting Patton. Portion of the music are really driving, rocking and at least interesting. However, I don't really like them. The tuba is just not fitting and they are lacking of a singer. They have some sort of stage presence and energy to share but the music is just too special, especially for the FNM crowd.

Also this time I went into the "pit" close to the stage and was pretty much in the middle of the action. I loved the opening and it gave me the goosebumps and the big smile once again. Just fantastic! REUNITED... AND IT FEELS SO GOOD...

Yet again they entered the stage in their cheesy cheap suits in cream colours as if they were coming from a home for aged people or a cheap porn theater performance. The head of the band, the Pattonster himself, leaded the oldies, limped on the stage with his cane again. At this point I hadn't realized that this was not only show but that he actually pulled a tendon.

The rest of the show was just really great, like back in the days. It hadn't lost much of its energy at all. Well, Patton's now hit the 40 as well so he won't be as insane as in the 90's any longer, especially not with the hurt leg. Except for the cane I hadn't noticed his injury though. Perfect performance.

I was a little surprised that the place either didn't sell out or for whatever reason was kept in a certain limit as far as the audience goes. I assume that it just didn't sell too well. Looks like the word of mouth was not enough. And there were a bunch of people who came from the UK since they wouldn't get any tickets for both the Download Festival in Birmingham and the very special opening show in the Brixton Academy in London plus a significant amount of fans from Eastern Europe (like Poland and the Czech Republic). In general, this whole mixture of all kinds of people from different nations and all kinds of ages. Some of the people had never heard of FNM since 2009 and others had seen their earlier shows already. However, the mixture of fand did not really fill half the place. In my eyes, this was a pity. Still the atmophere was quite good and the crowd was into the music. On the other hand, Patton was joking around that we wouldn't have to clap and cheer if we don't like it. These talks and games normally don't really get appreciated by the crowd and for sure don't help to turn around an audience. However, Patton fans are special and most of them also know his sense of humor.

Well, and, yeah, Patton did it again. He asked us Germans whether we would prefer to listen to "The Simple Minds" or Simply Red" instead and then suggested to play some Heino. They did a tiny snippet of his "Karneval in Rio" which got most of the audience laughing. Now you know why my page was originally titles "Heino's homepage".

The funny thing about the band is that everybody looks a little older but about the same. Puffy looks kind of funny with his grey dreadlocks. The only guy who never really belonged into the band for me was Jon. He might be a nice person and good guitar player but he really does not interact with neither the crowd nor anybody else on stage. Dean Menta did a much better job here, bringing more energy, charisma and power to the stage. I definitely saw that Billy was having a blast.

I would have loved to hear "Malpractice", "Jizzlobber" and "Just a Man". Suprisingly enough even "Epic" really rocked again big time that night. "Easy" and "We care a lot" no longer does. For some reason I got really bored and annoyed of the live version of "Midlife Crisis" since I and I had never noticed the number of chorus
repetitions before. "Cuckoo for Caca" was as amazing as "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies". "Stripsearch" built up slowly after the crazy intro with "Chariots of Fire" up to "Stripped to the bone" and the rocking ending. Personally I would have chosen "Just a Man" over "Pristina".

And yeah, I preferred the show to Milan!

I honestly didn't get why this place did not sell out at all.

Setlist (favorites of the night in bold)

Reunited
The Real Thing
From Out Of Nowhere
Land Of Sunshine
Caffeine
Evidence (in Spanish or Italian)
Poker Face/Chinese Arithmetic
Surprise! You’re Dead!
Easy
Ashes to Ashes
Midlife Crisis
Introduce Yourself
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
I Started a Joke
King for a Day
Cuckoo for Caca
Be Aggressive
Epic
Mark Bowen

ENCORE 1
Chariots of Fire/Stripsearch
We Care A Lot

ENCORE 2
Pristina

Claas