The stars aligned when Faith No More reunited and scheduled a tour date in Portland because it was on a Saturday, I had never seen Faith No More and it had been about eight months since I had seen a concert with my brother-in-arms Joe. They were about to release the outstanding album Sol Invictus the following month (their first since 1997’s Album of the Year) so the only songs that were released by the time of this show were “Superhero” and “Motherfucker.”
Through a work friend I randomly obtained some LSD and sent it to Portland via USPS in a greeting card from “Raoul Duke” since I had to fly to Portland from San Diego and did not want to deal with all the possible ways that situation could go south.
I arrived in Portland the day of the show about noon. Joe and I tried to keep ourselves away from alcohol until much later since we had to be strategic on when to take the acid. After some back and forth we took the acid, smoked a bowl and picked up a couple guitars to keep ourselves busy and prevent us from thinking too much about the onset. Immediately after sticking the blotter paper on our tongues we both commented on the weird taste. Shortly after that both of our tongues stung a little. It had been quite some number of years since I had dropped acid so I reasoned that maybe this batch was just a little weird. Fast-forward about an hour and a half and neither of us were tripping but both of us felt a little weird. Not long after this we decided drinking was the best idea. After several drinks we realized that the acid was bunk and requested an Uber ride to get to our buddy Mason’s house to meet up with him and Jedd. This was interesting because Uber was in its infancy in Portland so there was literally only one driver anywhere remotely close to us. He picked us up and we immediately took over the stereo and put on “Lookaway” by Sepultura. Something between our look and banter prompted our driver to turn around and say, “Are you guys famous?” which sent us both into a fit of laughter. The acid was still not really acid but we were definitely having a good time.
After what seemed like a very long day Faith No More finally took to the stage that was bathed in purple lights and flower arrangements wearing all white, which made them appear somewhat saintly. They were simply fantastic. I unfortunately did not get to hear “Last Cup of Sorrow” but apparently this was the live debut of “Separation Anxiety.” I wish I could have appreciated the first time ever hearing “Sunny Side Up” more because that silly song ended up one of my favorites off Sol Invictus.
The fun did not end with the show ending as we decided to reconvene at Mason’s for an after party. On the way back we stopped off at a Plaid Pantry to get some beer and as we were waiting to pay all of sudden the cooler door behind us slammed very loudly. We turned around and a cholo type guy had a case of beer in his hands walking towards the door and announced “go ahead and follow me if you wanna get shot Holmes!” The best part about this is apparently something similar happened two other times THAT NIGHT. We were in the parking lot for quite awhile after this laughing about it and still no sign of the po-po. Stay classy Portland.
SETLIST: Motherfucker, Land of Sunshine, Caffeine, Epic, Sunny Side Up, Get Out, Midlife Crisis, Everything’s Ruined, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, Easy, Spirit, King for a Day, Ashes to Ashes, Superhero, Separation Anxiety, We Care A Lot, From the Dead
