Hot Flashes – In Concert
Billy Idol
Faith No More

This was  a Halloween not soon forgotten and a concert equally memorable. 18,000 crazed goblins, pregnant nuns, ghoulish beings and just plain night owls gathered to spend All Hallow’s Eve with kindred spirits. Pre-show I asked Faith No More’s Jim Martin if his festive self was dressing up for the occasion. An enthused, “Of course!” was followed by, “I’m planning to change my t-shirt.”

Tho visibly road-weary, FNM smashed open pumpkin night with “From Out Of Nowhere”, marshaling all the tenacity and power that makes their stage show a must-see. Center stage, sporting gorilla fur pants, red flannel shirt (no doubt an ode to our fair city) and a Doris Day wig, Michael Patton went immediately into his flinging, flailing, stomping routine that I overheard one truly un-PC mother describe as a “good imitation of a retarded person”.

Next up was their most current cool cut, “Falling To Pieces”. They crammed “Underwater Love”, “Surprise, You’re Dead”, (my favorite) “The Real Thing” and (the only number from a previous album) “We Care A Lot” into their formidable opening set – highlighted by joyously cheeky renditions of the Nestle’s Alpine White jingle and “The Edge Of The World”.

This being the dangerous combination of both Halloween and the last date of FNM’s stint on the Charmed Life tour, we were in for some surprises. In the midst of thumping out their “Epic” hit, Mr. Idol’s road crew thumped the band with a huge amount of smelt from the lighting rig in an overkill MTV reprise of their iconic video star. After flinging fish into the crowd and taking their bows, FNM returned to the stage for a cover of The Commodores’ “Easy (Like Sunday Morning)” with the help of three bath-robed housewives singing backup and opening their robes to flash mammoth false breasts. An un-false mooning from the girls accompanied the curtain call and there was still more fun in store.

As soon as Idol hit the stage with “Cradle Of Love”, it began. A gorilla (looking suspiciously similar in stature to Patton) came dancing around stage right, surprising the beautiful duo singing backups. Then it joined along with their choreographed dance steps, all the while Billy Idol rocking the chuckling crowd, oblivious to the show stealing going on behind him.

Mr. Idol gave an energetic performance that seemed little affected by his recent lameness. A slight limp barely noticeable, he posed and sneered and swaggered as if in top form.

He rattled off his long list of hits, from the latest back to Gen X days for “The Untouchables”. Songs from an MTV generation: “Eyes Without A Face”, “White Wedding”, “Rebel Yell” and “Flesh For Fantasy” which featured a pretty neat-o robotic, chest-baring dance move from the Idol one.

The real kicker, however, came in the midst of his encore, “To Be A Lover”. Heads covered with masks, paper bags and towels, five guys (quite rightly assumed to be FNM) circled Idol, dancing around him butt-naked. Pretty damn scary!