Ruck In Rio
Steffan Chirazi
The first I saw on stage at the monstrous Rock In Rio II festival were Faith No More on Sunday, January 20.
It was a huge moment for the world's best band right now, a culmination of their 18 month 'The Real Thing' campaign in the most spectacular of settings. The Maracana stadium was full. The band were on form. Vocalist Mike Patton was unstoppable.
Patton's become more and more part of the FNM fold over these last few months, and he chose Rio to put on one of his strongest performances yet. In front of 180,000 people, he sucked in the energy and threw it out in a series of charismatic spazz-outs, rolls and jumps including a spectacular one from atop the amps.
Guitarist Jim Martin knew whose hour it was, striding around in total control, not putting a pick wrong, enticing the crowd into his filthy web of activity and personality (they screamed at the merest flick of his arm). Bassist Bill Gould and drummer Mike 'Puffy' Bordin locked solid into a huge rhythmic punch, whilst keyboardist Roddy Bottum continued to prove his indispensability.
At times, FNM's performance reminded me of U2 playing Live Aid... Y'know, that one mighty show that just pushes a band over the edge from being a big act to a huge phenomenon.
The crowd? It was genuinely chilling to see the vast sea of arms wave in unison at the start of 'The Crab Song', while 'Epic' sent them into a huge bobbing mass, Patton crawling along the stage front scaffolding, using every last inch of the boards to make his point.
Faith No More ate this show up and spat it right back at the people, almost making the damn venue seem like an intimate club gig, not a vast stadium. In rising to this occasion FNM proved they are really here to stay.
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