Rockin' Out: Faith No More @ Williamsburg Waterfront 07/02/10 & 07/05/10

Having already seen Faith No More this past April in San Francisco, I wasn't as excited for their appearances at Williamsburg Waterfront as some of my fellow NY'ers. That in no way means that I wasn't really, really, really psyched to see them live again, it is just that my cherry had already been popped on their reunion shows in the U.S. What I did have to look forward to was hearing a ton of great songs each night. I realized after the Friday night show that Faith No More doesn't have a single song from the Mike Patton era that I dislike. The Real Thing, Angel Dust, King For A Day Fool For A Lifetime and Album Of The Year are all fantastic albums from beginning to end and since both night's setlists drew heavily from those albums, both nights were subsequently absolute winners.

Comedian Neil Hamburger was once again in tow and was just as annoying (and mildly amusing) as he was in San Francisco. Rahzel was direct support on Friday night and while some of my friends were very excited to see him, I simply didn't get it. I am almost 100% certain that I saw him perform with The Roots years ago and thought he was amazing, but at that show he was performing with a full band. Just seeing him performing solo doing his (admittedly impressive) beatbox routine didn't really do much for me. He joined FNM on stage on both nights for a few songs, but didn't really add anything spectacular to the songs.

On Friday night, I stayed to the right of the stage in the "beer garden" and soaked it all in. On Monday night though, I had promised myself that I would do no casual observing from the side and would fight my way up as far to the front as I could. I eventually wound up about 4 rows back from the stage and managed to get some decent shots with my digital camera (included at the top and bottom of this post). This subsequently made the Monday night show a little more exciting, but you can check out the setlists below and decide for yourself which was better. Personally, I think they were both 110% solid and I'm very happy that I went both nights rather than just one.

Friday night's setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm):

1. Reunited (Peaches & Herb cover)
2. From Out of Nowhere
3. Land of Sunshine
4. Caffeine
5. Evidence
6. Surprise! You're Dead!
7. Last Cup of Sorrow
8. Cuckoo for Caca
9. Easy (Commodores cover)
10. Midlife Crisis
11. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
12. Ashes to Ashes
13. I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
14. King for a Day
15. Epic
16. Just a Man

Encore

17. Chariots of Fire (Vangelis cover)
18. Stripsearch
19. Be Aggressive

Encore 2

20. We Care a Lot

Monday night's setlist (courtesy of setlist.fm):

1. Midnight Cowboy (John Barry cover)
2. The Real Thing
3. Be Aggressive
4. Land of Sunshine
5. The Crab Song
6. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
7. Last Cup of Sorrow
8. Chinese Arithmetic (with Rahzel)
9. Easy (Commodores cover)
10. Midlife Crisis
11. Digging the Grave
12. Ashes to Ashes
13. Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
14. King for a Day
15. Epic
16. Just a Man

Encore

17. I Started a Joke (Bee Gees cover)
18. As the Worm Turns
19. We Care a Lot (with Rahzel)

Encore 2

20. Stripsearch