Everyone is entitled to their opinion and its perfectly understandable that not everyone likes Faith No More as tastes vary. But once again after the Guardian Brixton review comes another review – from the Leicester Mercury of Download – that misses the point spectacularly. Leading with the premise that Korn stole the show and that the FNM performance was anti-climactic, the review goes on: “Faith No More’s headlining comeback was overshadowed from the start, but their lounging approach to prog-metal and an ill-advised cover of Easy Like Sunday Morning did them no favours, and brought only bemused yawns from most of the audience.”
Elsewhere on a busy day of Download reviews, BBC Radio One are generally positive. Sample quote:”They start with a tongue in cheek cover of Peaches And Herbs Reunited before visiting Epic, Evidence, Easy and a cheeky cover of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. And whilst their reception is by no means berserk, it is an exercise in suave rocking.”
Missed key here and there, fine. You were there so i can accept that. Live shows, even the best, have flubs.
Now, “Easy”, like everyone’s stated already, has been in FNM’s sets for ages. They recorded it, too. “Reunited” as the first song is not for fans only. Yes, it is a big thrill for fans, but it’s also just FNM. They always do covers from other genres, and they play what they feel like playing. Let me tell you about what they think about you thinking they’re gay bastards:
The tour I saw them on (KFADFFAL), a band called Steel Pole Bathtub opened and they were not well received. In their set they played covers of “Paranoid” and “Surrender”. The last night of the tour they were tired of taking shit from the crowd so they came out and played only those songs, back to back. Paranoid, Surrender, Paranoid, Surrender, Paranoid … until they booed of the stage.
Faith No More came out for their set and opened with … Surrender. hahahaha. They clearly don’t take things as seriously as most “metal” dudes.
And anyway they’re NOT Def Leppard or Korn, etc. Has anyone that’s making these criticisms actually listened to an entire album from Faith No More? They write their own loungey material. They have a wide set of styles and they do them all well. That’s why we love that fucking band. Because they got talent, can crush you if they decide to and have a sense of humor.
Reunited, and it feels so good.
I didn’t get any myself as I was in a seminar at work al morning. Would love to make it to the gig so if I can get back to Ireland for the weekend I’ll be in the market for some too. I am also due to go to Paris that weekend too.
I saw the band at both brixton and download – both awesome gigs but I have to agree with the review saying the crowd wasnt exactly enthralled (I was a little further back though)… prob wasnt best to have them grouped with those horrible nu-metal bands and the retarded childfans that come with them
I was at Download and I had an absolutely f***ing amazing time watching FNM. My favourite band of ALL time reformed after 11 years!!!
I’m not sure if what the lady who said “bemused yawns from most of the audience” meant but if she meant jumping up and down like a loon and screaming out the lyrics to all of the songs then that was me. From what I could see from where I was – as close to the front as I could get – that was pretty much everybody else too!
That is extremely not what the critics are complaining about, neither the guardian nor the Leicester Mercury are mentioning technical qualities or songwriting and composing skills. The opposite appears, where biased journalism complains that they simply don’t like their music. Fair enough, useless, but as others said I’m glad. The fact that FNM still manages to polarize opinions shows more then anything else, they still got it.
And I wouldn’t be so harsh on them either. Most timing problems were induced by ill fated delays from the PA or other technical shortcomings (no guitar @ Evidence is a bit too phat for my taste). Been at the Brixton gig and the most apparent difference was Puffy legging behind occasionally, trying to keep the pace level. I agree they need a few more gigs to get back to their usual sharpness, but nothing that can not be cured with time.
Its certainly true about Download playing a key role in getting the band back together. The relationship of FNM and Patton especially with metal fans is an interesting one. At both Download and Greenfield he goaded the “metalheads” a little, taking obvious delight in getting a crowd supposedly there for heavy music to sway along to Easy or Evidence.
Fantomas has irritated a few with this comment but I’m all for open discussion (I have however not published a few comments that desended into personal abuse). Good to have a little dissent even if I don’t personally agree.
Cheers. Will add to a comprehensive reviews review for all gigs so far later today. Nice to read when the reviewers “get” FNM
Positive review over at clickmusic.com:
http://www.clickmusic.com/articles/11322/Download-Festival-2009—Friday.html
I’m a bit more forgiving about the timed out, missed keys, and technical errors than most people are.
I’m giving FNM a pass for that. Here’s why.
You gotta remember, not only have FNM not played together in 11 years, they just started speaking to each other again for the first time a few months ago.
To go from that to playing a warm up gig w/ 5,000 people and then a massive festival w/ 70,000 people that’s also broadcast live on the internet (!) …that’s playing Russian roulette with your career.
As Patton said, “We’re kind of insecure up here. We’re getting old and about to go pick up our Social Security checks. We need to know if you like us.”
Some of the guys are definitely showing their age, which is what happens to human beings after a decade plus. It’s not the 90s anymore.
So I’ll forgive a lot of those errors for now. Give them time to get up to speed and get comfortable being on stage with each other.
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t Patton and Puffy (w/ Ozzy) the only 2 members that have been reguraly performing in front of stadium/festival type crowds since FNM disbanded?
That’s gotta be incredibly intimating, if you haven’t done a festival type crowd in 11 years to jump right back in the limelight with people you just started speaking too a few months ago. That’s like going from 5 miles per hour to warp speed in a heartbeat. I think I would choke too. Imagine messing up a guitar chord during Easy and 70,000 people (that already hate that song) hear it. Ouch.
I’m more forgiving with the technical errors for now. Performance wise, Patton is in excellent shape. He’s still by far the most interesting stage performer out there and that’s a big part of the FNM live experience for me.
You may be right, but as I said on the last.fm event page, the friends I went with were not there to see musicianship or to appreciate sound quality. This gig was all about being amongst the live experience of (for me) a hugely influential band, for the hundreds of fans – like me – who never had the chance to see FNM live the first time around. I never thought I would have that opportunity and to be honest I was screaming along with most of the songs so couldn’t have cared less if the sound was unbalanced or they missed a note. I guess it comes down to expectations.
I’m gonna stick up for the reviewers now!!!!
The performances that I saw, Brixton and Download from a laymans point of view were shit (full stop)
This is my review.
Brixton was shoddy, timings out, missed/forgotten keys and the sound was dreadful.
Download was a lot better they sounded good (not great) still the odd missed key etc.. but good all round performance.
Thats basically what the reviewers are saying and all must agree that they are right.
Reunited as the first track, this is for the fans only. If any of us saw say def leppard if they had split up for 11 years sing this cover we would thing what a bunch of gay bastards what a shit cover..
Am I wrong.
As for the band I think all but Jon Hudson are putting 100% into it. I think Hudson needs a kick up the ass to get him motivated.
i’m big fan of FNM, particularly angel dust. I found the performance at Download astonishing. However, I’d remove easy and epic from the set list, both songs are just boring to me.
Why Guedian send stupid ppl to do the reviews? ppl who dont have any idea about FNM haha =/
What I find most ironic about the Download/”metal” backlash is that Download played an instrumental role in making the Faith No More reunion happen in the first place.
It wasn’t Coachella. It wasn’t Lollapalooza. It wasn’t any kind of alternative festival. It was an England “metal” festival.
So if there are people that are upset that FNM wasn’t hard enough or that the Peaches cover was “gay” that doesn’t bother me because your little “metal” festival was the catalyst that got my favorite band back together.
Oh yeah, one half of that duet is openly gay. That’s quite a firm grasp of the obvious you got there metal dude. You can go home now, worship Satan, and fall asleep dreaming of partying with Danzig.
***I checked with my lawyers and since Download had Def Lepperd headlining the other night they advised me to put metal in quotes to avoid any future lawsuits.
I dont waste my time writing about stupids points of view…. oh shit i did!!!
from my birds eye view watching the show the gigantic audience seemed to be enjoying themselves and quite receptive. where are they finding these artard reviewers?
What the Download reviewers don’t appreciate is the people at the gig are made up of fans of all the different bands, hence they’re not collectively going to know all the songs for one band…
Agreed – very much missing the point with the comment “an ill-advised cover of Easy Like Sunday Morning”. Journalists nowadays huh, where are the research skills? And what on earth do they mean, calling FNM “prog-metal”?
The live stream that I’ve seen looks amazing, and with a good level of appreciation from the massive crowd.
“ill-advised cover of Easy Like Sunday Morning”
That’s great.
Why even bother reviewing a show if you are that uninformed? The reviewer seems to think they picked ‘Easy’ out of their asses just for Download.
They’re nearly *20 years out*. Jesus Christ, how ignorant can someone possibly be? If you don’t know shit about a band, DON’T REVIEW THEIR SHOWS!!!!
Oh yes and let’s see some photos of all those ‘bemused yawns’. Wait, there aren’t any? Possibly because it didn’t happen? What a fucking liar.
They make it sound as if their cover of Easy is recent…
What a f*cking lousy review that must have been.
watched the youtube vids and it was f*cking great !!