Playlist Rewind: Faith No More at the Mann
"Why did god create Dominoes pizza? To punish humanity for letting the Holocaust happen." That was comedian Neil Hamburger's best joke. I'm not even kidding. Almost everything else drew boos and sparse "Faith No More" chants. There was tons of heckling from the crowd during his first set—to the point where Hamburger threw two whole drinks at the same person. Rahzel, "Godfather of Noyze," human beat box, former Roots member was a welcome relief, even if the amount of bass he brought did practically blow my ear drums out of the water. Tragically, Neil Hamburger was back again afterwards in a counter-strategy warm-up that included several fake-out intros. The guys in Faith No More clearly have an extremely bizarre sense of humor. Eventually the false-starts gave way to an actual introduction and the Second Coming took the blackened stage to sweet slow-jam to "Reunited."
On the way into the glade upon which the Mann Center sits, I was stuck behind a pickup truck letting one of its passengers out to dart into the woods. "It's going to be that kind of show," I noted, and that kind of show it was. Two songs into the set, Mike Patton—decked in silver lame' and sporting a porn star 'stache—took a flying leap off the stage (directly over my head) and into the audience. Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, Mike Bordin powered away thinking nothing of it, but I'd call an impromptu early stage-dive an excellent start to the highly anticipated reunion show.
Mid-set Rahzel joined Faith No More sounding a little like a vuvuzela until the whole of "Chinese Arithmetic" swallowed his sounds, making wholly united effect of the beat-boxing with the band become much greater than the sum of its parts. Two songs later—their now famous cover if "Easy" (with the audience singing back-up) eased the frenzy, if only for a minute. "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" brought the energy up again and transitioned nicely into an ever-in-the-pocket version of "Ashes to Ashes" that was just heavy enough to be smooth and gritty at the same time.
And then, well, Mike Patton declared it to be slow dance time. "Eh fuck it I'll come out there; I'll come get you," he tossed out to his earlier-identified dance partner, a giant dude in a Metallica t-shirt. While serenading the big guy with a cover of Michael Jackson's "Ben," the bold frontman first instructed him to "hug it out" then ended up on his shoulders, carrying out the rest of the song (in perfect falsetto) from that perch while his new buddy meandered side-to-side across the pit. Back on stage, the pimp cane came back out and the the bull horn emerged for "King for a Day" and "Epic" leading into the grand finale.
I might be crucified for saying this, but the theatrics of the show held my attention far more than the actual music did. Shouldn't the "Second Coming" be like thunder and lightning striking from above, rendering me mesmerized at the force of the great rock band? It just wasn't the case. Maybe with attendance not super high due to the holiday weekend, there just wasn't enough of a crowd for the venue to fill with the proper kind of electric excitement? No, I'm taking that back. This was an audience full of long-time devotees, many of whom exited the Mann worshiping at the feet of whatever deity so happened to make them lucky enough to witness this reunion. Blame it on the band? Again, think not. Drums and bass drove this rock road trip, keyboards and guitar navigated, and Patton hung out the window screaming at passersby, just as it should be.
So, the puzzle remains—why was I far more intrigued at the fact that a rock star decided to climb up a rope ladder with a microphone hanging out of his mouth than the music of "Just A Man" itself? Less often still he finishes singing the song while practically swallowing it. And to make things even more bizarre, 'Hey guys, why don't you gimme a beat while I practice some burlesque moves and strip my shirt off in order to mask the fact that I'm kinda stuck up here.' Okay, let's be fair, that's a pretty awesome thing to be preoccupied by. However, I'm also okay with simply calling myself out for not being a hard-core enough Faith No More fan. Hopefully next time I'll be able to say I thought the rock was equal to the theatrics. And hopefully that next time won't take another decade.
Filed in Arts & Events and tagged concert, Faith No More, live music, Mann Center, Neil Hamburger, Playlist Rewind, Rahzel