So my first trip to Colorado came about one night in Vegas talking about concert venues and realizing that Faith no More was playing at Red Rocks. After a nice trip of around a thousand miles I had spent a day in Denver and on Tuesday it was finally time to go see FNM! Doors were at 7 pm so I planned on arriving around that time, and although not knowing the way or the venue I was parked by 6:45, and had time to get “mentally” ready for the show. As often along the road this year, things just worked out for this one. I got my ticket through a friend’s friend, and ended up having a perfect seat right in the middle of the amphitheatre with a perfect view and perfect sound. As I walked up the stairs to the entry I noticed that everyone had paper tickets, and they were tearing them at the entrance, I of course only had the digital version on my phone, and right as I got to the entrance the scanners started working again so I got in with no delay or problem whatsoever.
As I had some time on my hands, I walked all the way to the top to take in the view and check out the venue, which is one hell of a place to see any band! Not many venues that will hold up to this one in regards to atmosphere and sound as well, and certainly not when combining the two. The only thing missing would be a small floor in front of the stage for the people that really care to dance. Other than that, unquestionably one of the best venues ever.
Gogol Bordello took the stage around 8 and just before that I met the guy who sold me my ticket. I had seen GB before and had not been very impressed, but this time around they sounded better, and they also have musically improved over the last 6 years, or at least that is the way it is in my mind. I think they played for about an hour and about half of the crowd was on their feet, dancing a little and cheering. I had to get up and dance as well, so I really dug the show contrary to my expectations. The light show was quite nice for GB, and created a great atmosphere in this extraordinary venue!
Faith no More took the stage at 9:30 pm, and as quite often along this tour started the show with Motherfucker, which live sounds as great as on the album. Without much of a break they launched into Be Aggressive, Caffeine and Everything’s ruined, all 3 of which simply kicked ass, and sounded stellar! Mike Bordin on drums took the occasional breath from the Oxygen tank, and still pounds his drums like a beast. Mike Patton was a little interactive with the crowd, making a few jokes about the Cannabis Legalisation in Colorado, and all the others seemed to be doing fairly well, and looked like they are all having a lot of fun playing! They also seemed to enjoy the venue, and mentioned it more than once as a beautiful place. They are spot on with that! Indeed a magical place! Evidence led to some problems as Roddy’s’ keyboards failed, and they had to swap to the backup. The rest of FNM did really well covering the loss of an instrument and Evidence still sounded great! Mike Patton went for a short crowd surf, which was probably a weird one, as people tried to pass him up the steps of the amphitheatre. Right as they launched into Epic the keyboards were back, and it all went on as if nothing happened, professionals, not more to say there. Black Friday sounded gnarly, although personally I would have loved to hear Cone of Shame instead. Midlife Crisis was the usual crowd pleaser and when the band went quiet the crowd covered the chorus. Mike then went on with the following: “Ok, but we’ll show you how it’s done”. They then went into a sort of funk version of the song before finishing it in the regular way. The full setlist is below the article. A few more songs that really stood out for me were, Separation Anxiety, The gentle art of making enemies, and King for a day. The finished the set with Superhero which sounded more powerful than on the album, and thus was more pleasing to me. They came back after a short break for a 3 song encore finishing the night with We Care a lot. The light show for FNM was even better than for GB, as they were the headliner they got to use the Red Rock behind the stage more and did an unreal job at that! A fantastic night overall! Unfortunately the show was over after only 84 minutes inclusive of the encore. To me that is and always will be too short. But oh well, I’d rather see 84 minutes than nothing!
Set List
Motherfucker Be Aggressive Caffeine Everything's Ruined Evidence (no keyboards some technical issue...) Epic Black Friday Midlife Crisis Last Cup of Sorrow The Gentle Art of Making Enemies Easy (Commodores cover) Separation Anxiety King for a Day Ashes to Ashes Superhero
Encore: This Guy's in Love With You (Burt Bacharach cover) Matador We Care a Lot