On May 22nd, 1995, me and Chris had the pleasure of seeing Faith No More play live in Toronto at a place called The Warehouse. We stood in line for hours where we eventually did get to meet Roddy and Puffy and got into the show. I remember very vividly how hard I managed to keep my spot at the front of the stage. By the time it was all done, I could barely walk, but it was one of the most amazing shows I had ever experienced.
In two days, I will experience Faith No More again, and this time, the journey to get there is a little further, and I won’t be going by car.
Last year, Faith No More made the announcement that they were doing a reunion tour and I lost it. I was pretty excited. However, it became very clear that early in the tour, they were only planning on doing non-North American tour dates. The UK, South America, and tons of other places, but no Canada or US. I seriously considered going to their breakout show at Download but couldn’t afford the cash or points to fly to the UK. It just wasn’t going to happen. Although I was disappointed, I was ok with it.
I then found out they were playing in the US the same weekend I was going to Seattle. I had already made huge arrangements so there was no way I could cancel. I was disappointed but I thought that if they were to play anymore dates, maybe I would go.
I ran into Gary at the Slayer concert and we struck up a conversation about the reunion tour. He said if I heard about any other shows in the US to let him know. Well, FNM announced a final US show before playing their last show of the reunion tour in Chile. November 30th, 2010 would be their last US date. I told Tamara that I was going to go and I sent Gary a message. After a bit of back and forth, he agreed to go, and tomorrow we fly out at 6am.
I gotta tell you, I am pretty excited and for more than once reason. The last time I went on any kind of road trip with a friend of mine, it was 1996 and it was me and Cheez heading to New York City. Since then, I’ve travelled solo, or with folks from work, or with Tamara. I went to Quebec City a few years ago with some cachers, but that was sort of a different experience. This is a trip I set in motion and so it will be kind of nice to travel with someone I know for non-work purposes.
The last time I spent any amount of time in LA, I stayed at this shithole hotel so this time, I used my points and a bit of cash and am going to stay at the W Hollywood right on the corner of Hollywood Blvd, and Vine St. We’ve got us a car for the two days, and two tickets for the show. It is going to be awesome.
I started packing my stuff this afternoon and will have everything ready to go for me to get up early in the morning, and start the trek. My next post will be a nice summary of my second vacation trip to LA.
Hollywood, here I come!
