headed out with my mate peter to check out the soundwave music festival yesterday. it was mainly a rock line up, headlined by the main man, mike patton, and the newly-reformed faith no more. other headliners included jane’s addiction (pictured above… badly), placebo and afi.

fnm were, of course, awesome. jane’s and placebo were decent. afi weren’t flash and poor old jimmy eat world sucked hard. other highlights included great sets from glassjaw and comeback kid.

Michael Jackson

1958 – 2009

the music world was left in shock and sadness today as it was announced that the king of pop, michael jackson, passed away in the early hours of this morning, australian time. it is believed that jackson suffered a cardiac arrest, paramedics working for over an hour to revive the 50-year old. he was transported to hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after.

normally this sort of news wouldn’t garner a response from me, or even motivate me to post anything here. but while i was not a fan of the man’s music per se, i can certainly appreciate what he did for the music industry. with the most popular, highest selling album of all time, jackson set the benchmark quite high for many artists for almost four decades. while his later years were plagued by debt and bad decision, his legacy, in my opinion, should only be spoken about in his musical terms; his showmanship, his style, his energy and dedication to his craft.

on the cusp of a comeback tour, it is possible that the rigours of practice may have been too much for jackson. an autopsy is reportedly being done tomorrow. but i’m not even sure if it matters to me how he died. all that matters is he’s passed and his life and achievements should be celebrated.

much like the beatles, everyone, even those who didn’t buy albums or attended concerts, have a favourite song. i’m no different. even though it was a little bit before my time, i always liked billie jean. my go and give it another listen…

jiminy crickets, how did i miss this one?? super-influential 90′s alt-metal band, faith no more, have rejoined after 10 years of nothingness. i’d heard rumours of this sort of thing before but when it never came to anything, i just dismissed everything from then on.  the line up is the last incarnation of the group with mike patton on vocals, billy gould on bass, roddy bottum on keyboards, mike bordin on skins and jon hudson on guitar.

i found this press release from rolling stone magazine, which includes a photo gallery of their career that reaches no further  than 1990. a better place for information is the offical faith no more site, fnm.com, which seems to be run by billy gould. at the moment, fnm are wrapping up tour dates in europe, with no other venues or tours confirmed or announced. i, for one, am hoping they come back to australia. i think i would be tempted to swim through fire to go and see them again.