Faith No More Tribute – Gaukurinn, Reykjavík; February 10th, 2017
I remember Faith No More from back in the early 90ies, but I never paid much attention to them and would not be able to name even one song. They simply don’t play a role in my personal music universe. So what was I doing at a dark Reykjavík club at 11 pm, waiting for a Faith No More Tribute band to play? Well, my friend Ragnar, who happens to be their lead singer, invited me to come see them, so of course I did. I had only a very vague idea of what to expect, but I enjoyed it tremendously. It was a really fun show. 😀
Arrived about an hour before they started and was surprised by the long guestlist – I don’t think anyone who was there paid to get in. 😉 Got me a drink, sat down and knew I was too early. Oh well, it had felt late when I left my hostel. Hálfdán arrived and we chatted briefly, I talked to Ragnar when he got there and just before it started I saw Baldvin and said hello to him too. The only person I was missing was M., but she had to work before the show didn’t get there until after the concert had started.
Finally there was some movement on stage and people came closer. I stayed on the sidelines, watching, wanting to get a feel for the concert before I started taking pictures. With the music being a little bit outside my comfort zone, it took me some time to get into it. Yet I immediately enjoyed watching the band as well as the audience reaction. I’ve seen a lot of different bands play and while I have seen most musicians with one band only, there are quite a few that do play in several bands, even making different kinds of music. When I get the chance to see the same people in different bands I like looking out for the differences. In most cases though, their roles stay similar or at least they rarely switch instruments. With Ragnar, who switches instruments, roles and musical style with the different bands he plays in it is fun to see the change in stage personality that comes with it.
Even though I have never consciously listened to Faith No More, I had thought I’d recognize t least some of the songs when I heard them. Not the case. 😀 There was one I knew I had heard before, ‘Epic’, but that was it. Thankfully, other people in the audience knew their stuff, yelled suggestions for songs to play and rocked along wit the music. While most had kept a distance from stage at first, they moved in closer eventually, especially after Ragnar jumped across the barrier for the first time, sang from among the audience and directly to some people. Fun!
Trying to capture the whole thing with my camera proved to be a challenge since the venue was dark and the lights used were mostly red. I took loads of pictures, but only few came out. It was still fun, taking pictures as well as watching and listening. I alternated between being and amused observer and rocking with the music. The band sounded good. I have no clue how close it was to the original, but I assume it must have been as because the audience really got into it. I had not seen drummer Kristján, guitarist Reynir or keyboarder Jakob before, but I liked what I heard. Of course seeing Hálfdan in a different band was fun as well.
Just before they took a break, M. finally found me and we said hello. She had been a bit late and since it was dark we had not seen each other earlier. She also noted that Ragnar seemed like a completely different person in this context. 😀 We both had fun and the second half got even better now that people were closer to the stage and going into full rock mode, dancing and even head banging. Jakob switched to guitar for a few songs and Ragnar took over the keyboards. Lots of energy was flowing between the audience and the band, with people singing along and enjoying the party. It was a good show overall and I was happy I had come.
Afterwards we hung out, talked, finally were kicked out and moved to the bar next door. It was a long night and a good one. 🙂