Rollercoaster reunion for Faith no More

Clad in fetching, matching pink suits keyboardist Roddy Bottum and singer Mike Patton swapped verses and played it straight. Unlike the crowd of elderly grungateers, I laughed. No matter: two rollercoaster hours later, they were well satisfied, although as Patton noted with more relish than necessary: "There’s a Tube strike: some of you will be sleeping outside".

For all the many moments you’d pay good money for Patton to stop impersonating the Honey Monster and despite RV and Cuckoo For Caca almost collapsing under their own self-indulgence, the magnificent, hook-laden From Out Of Nowhere, the bristling Be Aggressive and their great lost single Epic roared with the joy of re-discovery, while wry segments of Chariots Of Fire and Popcorn suggested nobody was taking anything too seriously.

The San Franciscans’ swaggering pop-funk-rap-metal-grunge was always too perversely peculiar for a Nirvana-esque crossover and since nobody would argue they were greats first time around, the dice of moderate expectation are loaded in their favour.

Faith No More
O2 Academy Brixton
Stockwell Road, SW9 9SL