Faith No More
Support: Refused
Date: Friday August 7th, 2015
Venue: Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario
T-shirt worn: Final Fantasy XIII "Lightning could be my girlfriend"

It turns out Van Halen were player the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre tonight, which shares real estate and parking with Ricoh Coliseum. That boded really well for my having to yet up at 4:30am Saturday morning for fucking work.

I got to the venue ten minutes too late to get the rail. I went and bought a ten dollar beer that I wasn't allowed on the floor with. So I stood there and drank as Refused came on. I remember watching New Noise every week on Muchmusics weekly metal show in 1997 and it grew on me. If you had of told me then that I'd be watching them open for Faith No More I'd have called you crazy. They were okay. That's all I can really say. They were better than le Butcherettes, who opened for Faith No More in May. But they were no Christine. Or Napalm Death. Those shows would've been awesome.

Refused
1. Elektra 

2. The Shape of Punk to Come 

3. Servants of Death 

4. Dawkins Christ 

5. The Deadly Rhythm 

6. Destroy the Man 

7. Rather Be Dead 

8. Thought Is Blood 

9. New Noise 

10. Tannhäuser/Derivè

I got three people deep on Roddys side. That boded even wellerer for getting up for work Saturday. Fuck that, work sucks.

I was surprised that they booked Ricoh Coliseum for this show. It’s big, like seventy-five hundred people. And honestly I think there were maybe two thousand people there. Maybe a few more than their sold-out show at the Sony Center in May. I don’t know why they booked this place but if I was their tour manager I’d go for Massey Hall or (every Torontonians favorite place) the Sound Academy next time.

Flowers, lots of flowers.

So, I’ve written before that a lot was riding on this show. I wasn’t too impressed with Faith No More live in May. I don’t particularly care for the new album. But when they started their set with the Real Thing I knew this show was going to be MUCH better. I usually stand at shows like a statue. Lightly bobbing my head and politely clapping after every song. Well kids, tonight the old man threw down. I headbanged my ass off and screamed my lungs out with Roddys parts. Then they blasted into Be Aggressive and I was all, “B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!!!!!!”. Then they played Everything’s Ruined and I was all, “holy fuck, two awesome songs they didn’t play last time and three awesome songs total, holy fuck”. Then came Evidence and Epic and I didn’t give a fuck anymore. “IT’S IT!!!!”. You’d have been proud of your old dad. I’ve never gotten into a show like I did this one and since I’ve been primed by so many Napalm Death and Suffocation moshpits the ones that started up here bounced off me. I rule the fucking land. Things did taper off at the end when they played more newer stuff but Matador and Superhero were still awesome. I said in my last review that Motherfucker would work better as an encore opener and shit son did it ever. I Started A Joke was just as bad an ending as it was last time and I was very worried at first. But the crowd was pretty rabid and they came back for one more. I’d have preferred a lot of other songs but whatever. I screamed my head off to every fucking word of We Care A Lot. Everything was awesome tonight. Faith No More has been saved.

Faith No More
1. The Real Thing
2. Be Aggressive
3. Everything's Ruined
4. Evidence
5. Epic
6. Black Friday
7. Caffeine
8. Midlife Crisis w/Jump interlude
9. Cone of Shame
10. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
11. Easy
12. Separation Anxiety
13. Matador
14. Ashes to Ashes
15. Superhero
[encore]
16. Motherfucker
17. I Started a Joke
[encore 2]
18. We Care A Lot

I got really lucky and got to my care just as Van Halen was playing Panama and Jump. So I got the fuck out of dodge. Fuck you, Wolfgang.

______________________________________________________________
Follow Up:

Yeah, I look fondly back on this show. It was far from the best concert I've ever been to (I've been to a lot of good ones) but it was just one of those nights where everything went almost perfect. I still haven't raged like I did at that show since. I remember seeing a band called Dawn of Ashes a few months ago and I was right up at the stage with the singer screaming in my face and I barely moved. But that's me. This night just brought something out in me that will probably never come out again for a long time.

Faith No More have since faded away again. The album Sol Invictus certainly was a grower. It went from being and album I hated at first to one of my favourite albums from 2015. But I'm glad they keep stepping out of the limelight and if they were to never tour or put out music again I'd still be happy.

I saw Refused the following summer opening for Deftones and I completely tuned them out.

I ended up getting an hours sleep before work that night. I think the adrenaline was just pumping too much through my veins because I got to bed around 1am and just laid there for about three hours before finally falling asleep at 4am, then getting up at 5am. That Saturday was a rough fucking day. But it was all worth it for this show.

B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!!!!!!!!!!!