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Coachella 2010: Faith No More Review

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FNM TW 4 19 10 Coachella 2010: Faith No More Review

While all but the most committed devotees might haven given up the faith on Mike Patton’s most famous musical project amongst a seemingly endless barrages of his eccentric side projects—and I don’t care what you say, I dug Tomahawk—perhaps the single biggest surprise of Coachella’s three day weekend was the irreverent, muscular roar of Faith No More.

Still running strong from their 2009 reunion, one of the progenitors of the dubious rap-rock genre (forgive them, it wasn’t really their fault, and besides, frontman Patton has more charm, wit and talent in one fingernail than one thousand clones of Fred Durst—shudder—ever could have combined), tore into their set with humor and frenzy, opening with a hilariously schmaltzy cover of Peaches & Herb’s 1978 soul slowburn “Reunited,” as well as Michael Jackson’s “Ben,” while Patton stalked the stage in red, circa-1992 Boyz II Men-styled suit.

Comedy aside, it was a stellar set, with the band burning through pre-Patton hits like the synth-woozed crunch of “We Care a Lot” and, of course, the slam-bang rap-rock kinetics of “Epic,” all with the energy and dedication to creating an experience that bands half their age would be hard-pressed to muster.  It was a monster of a hard rock show, one that made the nearly simultaneous performance by MGMT on the other side of the festival seem like a cruel (and particularly boring) joke in comparison—and it was a set which, end the end, stands as one of the finest Coachella ’10 had to offer.

COMMENTS

  1. Posted by Coachella 2010: Devo Review
    Monday, April 19, 2010 12:58PM

    [...] one of the most enthusiastic audiences of the entire festival.  What was surprising?  Much like Faith No More’s set, this oddball group of forward-looking sonic throwbacks nearly stole the entire festival.Taking the [...]

  2. Posted by Maximum Bob
    Monday, April 19, 2010 11:31PM

    So if MGMT was playing simultaneously on the other side of the festival, how do you know they sucked if you were so fervently engrossed by FNM? After reading your whipping up on Muse, I find it odd that you like FNM. They are two of my favorite bands because they both have great chops, their music is not too deep (a problem for you with Muse, but not with FNM?) and they deliver the goods live. So Patton wearing red sucked you in, but green lasers were just too much… whatever. Reviewers and critics are far more annoying than lasers- you do realize you have lambasted loud sounds and laser lights on a website dominated by ads for the latest violence-drenched video games, right? Oh, the irony…

  3. Posted by Dan
    Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:23PM

    Were you there?

    MGMT and Faith No More did not overlap completely, I saw some of MGMT and all of Faith No More. The stages they were on are not far from each other, only a few hundred feet.

    Faith No More definitely put on a better show, they involved the audience more and played with more intensity. Mike Patton was clearly the best crowd surfer of the festival.

  4. Posted by Travis
    Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9:53PM

    Please excuse my wildly incorrect choice of words–MGMT came on at FNM's half-point. And I enjoyed FNM more than Muse b/c it was obvious they weren't taking themselves so. very. seriously.

  5. Posted by cmg
    Wednesday, April 21, 2010 3:47AM

    muse is Glenn Beck's favorite band… no shit

  6. Posted by Mike Patton is God
    Wednesday, April 21, 2010 3:33PM

    Muse is a joke. Get over it. Muse wears its influences on its sleeve (oh, here comes the U2 song! gosh, he sounds like Thom Yorke! etc.).

    FNM is brilliant. Period. I weep for this generation, its love of Muse, and its complete lack of irony.

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