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Stockholm, Sweden, April 28, 1997

Electric Garden

by Hans-Olof Warnholtz

Set List

1.Digging the Grave
2.Be Aggressive
3.Midlife Crisis
4.Ashes to Ashes
5.Naked in Front of the Computer
6.We Care a Lot
7.Gentle Art of Making Enemies
8.Easy
9.Evidence
10.Home Sick Home
11.Land of Sunshine
12.Introduce Yourself
13.Last Cup of Sorrow
14. Surprise! You're Dead!
15. From Out of Nowhere
16. Epic

Encore:
17. Collision
18. Paths of Glory
19. Caffeine

Well the show was due to start at 9:00pm according to the ticket so my friend and I got to the club where they were playing at 8:10pm as the doors opened at 8:00pm. The night club where the show was held had a bar and then a small stage and then down on the floor there was about as much room as in a class room for the crowd to mosh in. The stage was only about 50 cm high so being right up the front I was about 1 metre from Mike Patton at times. At about 8:45pm the backing band who were a Swedish band called Prime came out and played for about half an hour. But I'm not going to talk about them because I'm writing this about Faith No More. After standing around for 40 mins waiting for all the setting up and sound checks out they came. All wearing nice black pants, shoes and white shirts which you would wear to a dinner party, except Puffy who was wearing shorts, no shirt but he had a bow tie on. I was right near the front and was about 3 people from the stage when they blasted away with Digging the Grave. The crowed went nuts and within 1 minute I was covered with sweat. The next two songs they played were Be Aggressive and Midlife Crisis. Then they played a couple of new songs but from then on I can't remember the exact order of the songs played. Jon Hudson, the new Guitarist was really good. I can't compare him to the other guitarists because I've never seen them play, but to me he did a really good job. 

The new songs that I know they played were Collision, Naked infront of the Computer and Last Cup of Sorrow. During Last Cup of Sorrow Puffy made a mistake, although no one realised so Mike Patton asked the crowed if they heard the mistake and who made it. Well he held the mic out to one kid who said 'the drummer' and he was right, so he got up on stage, Patton gave him a sip of his wine and then he walked off. As for the rest of the songs they played there was, We Care Alot, Easy, Evidence, Suprise You're Dead, Introduce Yourself, From Out of Nowhere, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, Land of Sunshine, Epic, Caffine and a few others from the new album which were really good, but I'm not sure of their names. The entire show was great and Mike Patton never stopped going flat out. His voice sounded really good, better than it does on CD's and tapes and no matter how much he screamed he could still keep on singing. The rest ofthe band were fantastic too. Roddy was really cool the way he played his Keyboards, Billy hardly ever stoped banging that head of his around, Puffy was playing the drums so hard the whole time, I began to wonder how the hell he does it and to me Jon Hudson, seems to be a good asset to the band. I hope they keep him and don't kick him out before the next album which has happened with their past guitarists. By the end of the show when they played Caffine, I was soaked with sweat but having a great time right on the front rail, right up close to Patton. When the show was over they handed out bottles of water which was appreciated very much by the crowd. As the rodies were cleaning up the stage I asked on of them if he could grab one of Billy's picks for me which was lying on the ground. He did so and gave it to me although everyone else around me tried to get it, he made sure it went into my hand. Well all I have to say is that I think that was the best show I've ever been to, including the circus which is supposed to be 'The Greatest Show on Earth' but I think Faith No More's show is better. 

About the show: Roddy is really back and doing a great job. Mike Patton is still very good and doing hilarious things with his voice. Puffy, Bill and John did good work to but Puffy seemed a bit untight in Last cup of sorrow, but who cares? The set was not that long 75 min and it was sad that they didn't play Just a man instead of Midlife crisis. But I guess that they had good reasons for it. 

Hamburg, May 6, 1997

FAITH NO MORE CLUB-TOUR OF THE YEAR

by Thorsten Kirschstein
Hamburg Markthalle/sold out
Tickets were sold on the so called black market of 50 DM and more. The concert started with an opening psychobilly-hardcore band from Berlin. Sorry, but it was impossible to understand the name. Faith No More launched the stage in black suits with white shirts except Mike Bordin who wore shorts behind his drums. Everything seemeed that the band-members had gotten older and more leasurely. But after the first songs the audience saw it was not so. They did not loose anything of their power and great brilliance shows. 

London Astoria, May 14, 1997

by The Skunk Brothers
Faith No More fans are a diehard breed. According to them, you'll find as many people loved the scattered "King For a Day......." as did "The Real Thing" or "Angeldust", but since FNM are here playing the Astoria, and not the significantly larger Brixton Academy, they're clearly talking out of their cheeks. Anyway, rant over. 
The band swagger across the stage like tomcats on the pull, their matching lounge lizard jackets giving at least some sign that, at long last, Faith No More are ready to be a unit once more. New guitarist John Hudson fits the six string slot like an old shoe, but funnily enough, so did one time wonders Trey Spruance and Dean Menta, which means you can't help wondering just who might be in the spot when the band return to these shores in the autumn. 
In a perfect world, an act with material as diverse as the Faith No More canon would be lauded for having the creativity and artistic integrity to never restrict themselves to one particular genre. Which is fine, but for every person who is into FNM's ecclectic brew, there are two others who are roundly pissed off with the band constantly chopping and changing the flow of the set. Hence, we get the frantic funk thrash of "The Real Thing" s "Epic" and "Surprise, You're Dead" thrown in along side spastic " King For a Day....." material like "The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies" and "Just A Man." 
Once "Easy" was used as an ironic foil to the out 'n'out cod metal of "War Pigs", but now it's a mid-set crooner and with Patton dropping in his Frank Sinatra stage grooves, Faith No More are running the risk of turning into boring parody. But, and here's the rub, for all their contrary nature, the San Franciscan quintent still deliver the best moments of the evening with tracks from the new album. "Ashes to Ashes" is received like an old friend and the subtle shades of "Strip Search" show that, despite numerous side projects, when this band all pull together, they've still, infuriatingly, got the charm.
As Patton sings the encore of "Caffeine" with blood dripping across his face, having spiked his head on an unsuspecting mic stand, the crowd seems mesmerized. Some people are too easily pleased. 

Copenhagen, Denmark, July 23, 1997

Vega, Stor Sal 

by Groth 

Set List

Collision
Midlife Crisis
Got That Feeling
Naked in Front of the Computer
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Easy
Evidence
Home Sick Home
Last Cup Of Sorrow
King For a Day
Introduce Yourself
Epic
Pristina
Ashes to Ashes
Just a Man

Encore:
Stripsearch
We Care A Lot
I Started A Joke

The concert was held in the middle of Copenhagen, in a small place called Vaga, which has a capacity for 1500 people in the largest of the two concert halls. The supporting band, a new Danish band called Düreforsög, started at 8 PM, and played for 30 min., which in many peoples opinion was 30 min. too long. Düreforsög is a talentless miserable excuse for a band! Ten minutes past 9 the lights dimmed, and the intro music which Elvis used to start his shows with were heard, and Faith No More entered the stage. They were all in white shirts and dark gray suits, except Puffy who only wore shorts and a pair of blue Converse All-Stars. The first song played was Collision, followed by Midlife Crisis, after which I'm unsure of the exact order. They played 12 more songs and finished off with Just a Man, which was great, and then left the stage. The first encore they played was Stripsearch, which was followed directly by We Care A Lot, and once again they left the stage. And as a final encore they played I Started a Joke, where Patton showed how great he can sing (as if it wasn't obvious already). All together they played for 75 min., every minute extremely full of energy, and it was the best concert I've every been to! Patton's singing was excellent at all times, and the others played great too, except Jon Hudson who is an okay guitarist when playing riffs and the rhythm parts, but needs some practice with the solos. 

Band quotes from the concert:
Roddy: "Is the little mermaid in the house?!?!?"
Patton: "Does anyone know who killed Versace? Were doing a survey, do you think it was a European? We think it was a European. Europeans are mean, you're mean! Look at that bald guy (pointing at guy in the crowd), he looks like a typical European serial killer. Somebody give this guy a drink."
Roddy: "You guys are great! And good looking!", followed by Patton: "And fuckable!"
Patton: "There are two kinds of music, slow music and fast music. Do you like fast music? We're gonna do some of that later on, do you like slow music?" Billy: "There's also mid-tempo." Patton: "Oh yeah, forgot about that, mid-tempo." (and then they played King For A Day)