Faith No More | Pinkpop Festival, Netherlands - June 12th 2015

Updated: Mar 16

Faith No More's European and UK tour in support of Sol Invictus was five years ago.

FNM began their Sol Invictus tour in Japan, Australia and the USA before returning to Europe in May 2015. The ninth date was on Friday June 12th in Landgraaf, Netherlands at Pinkpop Festival.

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"Hello motherfucker!" In a serene white setting, surrounded by two dozen bouquets, Faith No More frontman Mike Patton also instantly draws in neutral visitors. For the second song he takes the megaphone and 'Caffeine' starts with dog barking and a solid funk metal groove. And then the really big hits are yet to come, Pinkpop can wet the chest.

The undersigned came into contact with Faith No More outrageously late, via the 1995 album King For A Day ... Fool For A Lifetime . And it wasn't until a friend took me to the Alpha two years later on Lowland's lap that the penny dropped. There I felt the passion and power of Mike Patton, the hard funk and grooving band completely dragged me through many highlights of the Album Of The Year released that year. That was yet another surprisingly strong album in a row and that the band suddenly stopped a year later was even more surprising. In 2009 they were just as suddenly and unexpectedly back, with the announcement of new work in years and another spot at Lowlands. Only in 2011 they play new songs including 'Matador'. Certainly not light-hearted work, but typically FNM and they are therefore on the just released Sol Invictus , the first record in eighteen years, which is surprisingly good again.

' Pinkpop, pretend it's a rock show; put your hands up , ”Patton teases. That works and how. It is immediately time to pull the hard-working master trumpet 'Epic'. 'Gold of old' like 'Last Cup Of Sorrow', 'Ashes To Ashes', 'Midlife Crisis' and - forwards - (Commodores cover) 'Easy' also competed, but 'Epic' came the most epic of all stage today. This is when the band really seems too big for the 3FM Stage. Damn .

The rain seems to return for a moment and Faith No More uses 'Ashes To Ashes'. The album Of The Year (last before the break-up) prize number gets a mighty performance in Landgraaf and Patton decides to go the extra mile . While singing ' Smiiiiiiiiilin with the mouth of the ocean ' he rushes into the audience for a crowd surf.

The meadow in front of the 3FM Stage is rarely flooded, people are staring at the stage with expectation. After all, you don't see Faith No More passing by every year in the Netherlands. However, the set gets off to a slow start, after new song 'Motherfucker' it subsides with 'From Out Of Nowhere' ( The Real Thing , 1989) and 'Caffeine' ( Angel Dust , 1992). Also towards the end, Patton and co. the visitors are not by the throat. 'Separation Anxiety' and 'Matador' are spicy new songs that fly up many sides with many breaks. After 'Ashes To Ashes' the youngest single Superhero is a strong ending, but no customer binder at this stage. And so even the men in Faith No More shirts get bored at times and the field is slowly emptying.

Then we can say that Faith No More deserves a headliner spot and that they open another can and then close with 'We Care A Lot', but that is not the whole story. That reads more like the tale of a very idiosyncratic band. A group that always switches on their albums between very compelling, great songs, almost equally compelling (power) ballads, heavy funk-rocking fast compositions and strange, experimental songs. They also do that live and that is not always the key to success at a (more broadly programmed) pop festival. We also thought it was a bit too tame.

Rolling Stone