Stephen Malkmus, at the first of Pavement's 50 shows here. Pics by Rob unless noted otherwise.

​The 100-plus shows I saw this year spanned from the Cake Shop to Radio City Music Hall, from Williamsburg block parties to Michael Bolton's house in Connecticut, the events that occurred therein all furtively documented on an iPhone notepad and sometimes captured via relentlessly amateurish photography. The best were a mix of usual suspects and total surprises, current hitmakers and reconstructed old-timers, all hitting whatever stage with some combination of joy, ferocity, indifference, disdain, and messianic grandeur. Here are the 10 that made my imminent hearing loss seem nonetheless somehow totally worth it.

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​Mike Patton may've teased the sold-out crowd at Monday night's Faith No More show by calling us "hipsters," but the malnourished layabouts who normally sashay down Bedford Ave really weren't the show's demographic. The East River Park was far more populated by aggro jocks, khaki cargo shorts, and suburban metal nerds. Endless Rage Against the Machine shirts. Bare-chested dudes whose tattoos were as subtle as bumper stickers, running around flexing and shouting "FUCK YEAH!" An Abercrombie-catalogue model-type in a white V-neck and white-hat that said PERV. A 37-year-old woman who declared inside the Beer Garden, "Faith No More was the first hip-hop I listened to after the Beastie Boys."

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Faith No More
East River State Park
Friday, July 2

We are gathered here this evening with our backs to the sunset to watch a reunited Faith No More play the East River State Park, a former shipping dock in Williamsburg consisting of seven mostly un-shaded acres, part concrete slab, part lawn, part Juicy Juice-sponsored playground. At the water's edge, there's a beach about three feet deep. A proud representative from the Open Space Alliance informs us that this is now the largest outdoor venue in New York City. So there are at least two big deals to think about: FNM's first East Coast show in more than ten years, and the fact that it's happening in Williamsburg, a neighborhood whose local culture flowered in part out of an ideological rejection of stuff like $45-ticket hard-rock shows where the beer tickets and the beer are kept under separate tents.

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One of these guys might not be in the band

​Paging @1000timesyes: Newly reformed avant-metal doggs Faith No More are hitting up everyone's favorite summertime hangout July 5, though it'll be a paid show, the first of several to support the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn. Trust me: You're glad this show isn't free. That would be A Problem. Release after the jump; let's pause to note FNM would've made a fabulous All Points West headliner. Doesn't bode well.

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