Review by Kieran Grant, 'The Toronto Sun', 24 March 1995

Extreme is a heavy rock band, no doubt about it. The Boston quartet blasted that point home Wednesday at RPM, rendering dead any concern that their 1991 soft-rock mega-hit 'More Than Words' and 1992's operatic follow-up were anything but a tease.

Perhaps several years of being misunderstood musically added the serrated edge to Wednesday's show.

Taking the darkened stage beneath a blaring circus fanfare, Extreme launched into their tight, loud set, which consisted largely of tunes from their new disc, Waiting For The Punchline.

A formidable blend of neo-metal players led by guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt, the group sound relied heavily on standard hard rock frames for its sound.

Despite the quality of the players, Extreme's originality paled in comparison with Glueleg, Toronto's horn-toting, revisionist hard-rockers who opened. But helping Extreme shake the old-fashioned metal stance was whirling dervish vocalist Gary Cherone.  Clad in a fitted black shirt and extra-baggy black pants, the shorn Cherone looked and moved like a Parisian mime's take on David Lee Roth. With no shortage of zeal or theatrics, he had strutted and spun himself into a furious sweat by the second song.

Without being androgynous, Cherone adds a certain flair - dare I say effeminacy - to the macho-rock mix. That in itself is a breath of fresh air.

Still, the show's primary focal point was clearly Bettencourt. Gliding his speed-demon guitar riffs over the catchy crunch bass of new songs like 'No Respect' and 'Hip Today' - which mulls over the realities of short-lived pop fame - Bettencourt was given ample solo time.

Extreme weren't always charging over familiar rock terrain. They spiralled into a psychedelic, U2-meets-Van Halen groove on 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know', before Bettencourt dazzled the packed house with a truly excellent, fast n' furious acoustic instrumental rendition of 'Midnight Express'. That song alone gets them an extra sunburst alone in our rating.

It's still not clear whether Extreme bucked the lucrative soft-rock sound because they 'must' rock, or because they want to gain alterno-metal street-cred. But silly politics aside, they played to perfection and deservedly set RPM ablaze.

by Kevin Bulmer

After a 'less than entertaining' opening set by Canadian group Glueleg, the atmosphere at Toronto's RPM club grew thick with anticipation, as 1500 fans packed in like sardines eagerly awaited Extreme's live delivery of the punchline. What seems like an eternity finally passes, at which point the lights go down and recorded circus music bridges the gap as our boys make their way to the stage. A jubilant roar from the crowd is broken by the thunderous opening stanza of 'Warheads' (the first of many surprises - much of the crowd expected 'There Is No God' to kick it off'). Gone is the 'speaker-stacked runway', gone is the horn section, and larger than life cutouts of Francis or any other character are nowhere to be seen. This time it's just the band and the audience, close enough to one another to keep everybody involved for close to two hours.

Gary is in his video attire ala 'Hip Today'. No more baggy black pants, white shirt and suspenders - and no more hair. Comfortingly though, his trademark black and white shoes are still in place, looking as worn as ever. It is obvious that we are in for a session of 'shock therapy', as Extreme rearranges things on us and crashes into the traditional set-closer 'Get The Funk Out' so early in the show. The song has new, aggressive life with the unbelievable Mike Mangini supercharging the drum kit, and it seems as if Extreme considers itself a band with a chip on its shoulder. They seem to almost attack their own songs.

Next was the newer, heavier rendition of 'Kid Ego' - it's nice to see they haven't forgotten about their first album. Gary screams "TORONTO - GET OFFA YOUR CLOUD", helping to build the energy level to near insane. After this cut, they take a quick breather, in which Gary announces, "Well, what can I say - new record, new single," at which point the audience is treated to their first live taste of 'Hip Today'.

'Tell Me Something I Don't Know' is next, highlighted by an extended intro by Pat, and a mind-warping strobe light strategically utilised to enhance the song.

Extreme then gives the crowd a chance to breathe, as Nuno sits down to enlighten us with 'Midnight Express'. All the young hornies in the front push forward anticipating what they think is next; but again, the masters of surprise, instead of remaining seated for 'More Than Words', get right back to business with an exhaustingly energetic four-man rendition of 'Am I Ever Gonna Change' (much like they did at Donington and opening for Bon Jovi in the States in '93).

'Cupid's Dead' comes next, in which many take the opportunity to throw roses at Gary. He responds by grabbing a couple, mouthing the words "For me??", smelling them and then tossing them back into the crowd.

Finally it is Mike's chance to shine. His drum solo may have been the highlight of the show, because I'm sure none of us had ever seen anything like it. Mike pounded out mind-boggling rhythms that left us all exhausted and amazed. No rest for us, though, as Extreme reaches back to their debut disc and pulls out 'Play With Me' - another favourite. At this point Gary announces that 'Cynical' will be the next single, and appropriately enough follow up by playing it. Gary highlights this one by climbing the stack of speakers on Pat's side of the stage while singing (he never really stays in one place too long though, does he?).

Nuno now pulls out his new N8 doubleneck guitar (which has reportedly been stolen now), and rolls into 'Unconditionally'. They stop midway through and surprise us (again) with an incredibly entertaining acoustic medley that includes verses of 'Stop The World', 'Rest In Peace', 'Tragic Comic' and 'More Than Words'. Closing up with the ending of 'Unconditionally', Nuno jumps up a neck to the 12-string portion of the guitar and tears into 'Hole Hearted'. You can almost feel the club shake with the 'thump thump thump' of the bass drum and the stomping feet.

Extreme keeps the energy level at a maximum, with an inspirational delivery of 'Naked' - maybe the best performance all evening. 'Decadence Dance' ends the set, leaving the audience desperate for at least one more... and they get it. Gary thanks everyone for coming and says, "We've got one more for you. This one's off our new record. Like Rodney Dangerfield used to say - we get NO RESPECT!!". With this rousing encore, we may have stumbled upon a new level of audience participation. Everyone lends Gary a hand screaming "NO RESPECT! NO RESPECT - NONE!!". However, nothing lasts forever, and Extreme finally departs, leaving everybody satisfied and ready for a return engagement.

Detroit, MI
The Ritz
25 March 1995

by Kevin Bulmer

I decided I hadn't seen enough, so I made the trip to the Ritz club in Detroit to see the show again. It was much the same, with the same set list but perhaps a little more energy and an overall tighter performance. What set this show apart from Toronto's, though, was the opening band Flesh. Markus Cherone is as entertaining a guitarist as I've ever seen. Their riffs and melodies and thick vocal harmonies are thoroughly entertaining. They are very successful in getting the audience involved, particularly during the colossal 'Weight Of The World', in which they inflate a beach ball that looks like the globe and smash it out into the crowd.

Extreme's set is the same as in Toronto, with the exception of what seems to be even more energy and inspiration than before. Detroit has three rock format stations, all of which jumped at the chance to put their name on Extreme's show. To this, Gary responded before playing 'Cynical' by saying, "I think it's funny how these radio stations jump to endorse our show when they don't even play our f#@kin' record. Well I've got news for them. You guys were gonna come whether they played us or not, right?!".

My sentiments are the same as Gary's, and to the video stations and radio outlets of the world I say this: either play Extreme or don't play Extreme, because either way intelligent music fans everywhere are going to find them anyways. I suppose we'll see you on the Extreme bandwagon someday when MTV dubs them flavour of the month again, because with Extreme's talent and assured longevity, it's certain to happen in the future - just don't be sorry when we (the true fans) don't welcome you with open arms. Buy the record because you like one song - that's okay, but don't ever say you are a true fan of the group, because readers of this fanzine and the fans throughout the world know better. In other words, if you don't like what you see here... well, you know the rest.

Amy's reports

Fort Wayne
29 March 1995

On March 29, something really wonderful happened. Extreme came to my home town, Fort Wayne, Indiana. It wasn't easy, but I managed to talk my friend Jennifer into going. She had never heard much of their music, so she wasn't a fan. I met her at the venue at four o' clock. Both of us had been expecting a band called Gods Child to open the show. I had been told that Flesh was touring with Extreme, but were stopping after the Boston show; that was really disappointing news, because I had always wanted to hear them. On the day of the show, the radio station announced that Flesh was opening the show. I couldn't believe my ears! Later I found out that A&M had dropped Gods Child from the tour for money reasons.

When the guys showed up at the venue, they didn't act like they wanted to visit with anyone. We were able to give Mike a birthday card and got our picture taken with him and Nuno. Later we found out that they were all getting over being sick.

We finally got inside and were easily able to get in the front row. The excitement was building as we waited for Flesh. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, they took the stage. It was a great show and even though we only knew one song, we liked what we heard. They did a really cool cover of Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Something', with Mark and Paul acting out a fight scene. We definitely became Flesh fans that night.

Waiting for Extreme is such a difficult thing to do, but it was definitely worth it. I was disappointed at being told they weren't doing 'More Than Words'. Suddenly the lights went down and circus music started playing. Mike took the stage first and made his final preparations. Then the rest of the band came out and exploded with 'Warheads', followed by some familiar old favourites.

I was dying to find out what new songs they were going to do, and I soon did. After using more energy than I could come up with in a week, Gary finally got a few minutes of rest, while Nuno, Pat and Mike performed 'Midnight Express'. The set continued with an awesome drum solo by Mike. After seeing him live, I can honestly say that he was meant to be in Extreme.

Just when I thought they weren't going to do 'More Than Words', they did. Of course, they only did part of it, and Gary let the crowd do most of the singing. It was part of a medley that also included 'Stop The World', 'Tragic Comic' and 'Rest In Peace'. I had one more heart attack when Gary said they weren't going to do 'Hole Hearted'; turns out he was only joking. They wrapped up with 'Naked' and 'Decadence Dance' and came back for an encore with 'No Respect'.

Before the show, some girls that were standing by us had been given backstage passes; they didn't want to wait around, so they asked us if we wanted their passes, and we gladly accepted. We went to the backstage door and were told that the guys weren't going to be talking to anyone. We saw Mark and Paul, and asked if we could talk to them; Mark told us to come in. We told them both how we had been wanting to hear their music and how much we liked them. They were both really nice.

In the car on the way home, Jennifer said that she was going to go out the next day and buy every one of their records. I am proud to say that she is now an Extremist.

Milwaukee

I had planned to meet some people in Milwaukee that we had met in Fort Wayne. Not much happened, because I didn't get to stay after. The show was still awesome though, and I did get to talk to Flesh's drummer, Gonga. After a night of much needed rest, I headed for Chicago.

Chicago

We had heard during a radio interview with Nuno and Mike that the show was going to be recorded for Westwood One Radio. My friends that I had met in Fort Wayne and Milwaukee were there too. It was another great show and the set was pretty much the same, except that they didn't do 'Naked'.

My friends were too tired to stick around, so I ended up hanging around with a girl that I had met there. It was raining off and on, and we were praying that it would stop before the guys came out. Paul was off picking up a companion for Nuno's dog Max, but I did get to talk to Mark again, and I finally got to talk to bass player Steve.

After close to an hour, the guys from Extreme started coming out, with Gary being first. There were too many people around for me to really talk to them, but I did manage to get a flyer from the Fort Wayne show autographed. Soon it was all over and I was disappointed because I didn't know when I was going to see them again. When I got home, I immediately made a phone call to find out if they were going to play Indianapolis. It's on the back of my shirt, but they never played there; I found out that the closest they were coming was St. Louis. The excitement of it all overcame me and I decided to go.

St Louis
7 May 1995

It was an excruciating wait, but finally the day came. It was the last show of the tour, and I've always heard stories about the wild and crazy things that happen on the last show. I assumed that Flesh would be there and was really excited to see them again, but several days before the show, I got some bad news - I was informed that a local band was opening the show. My friend Julie and I were really disappointed.

Julie came with a girl named Carla, who we had met in Chicago and Milwaukee. We met some girls that had been to the show the night before, in Kansas City. They told us that Pat had informed the crowd that it was Mike's birthday, and got everyone to sing happy birthday to him - we all knew that Mike's birthday had been several weeks ago (18 April), so we didn't know why he did that - after everyone was done singing, Mike vowed he would get them back for doing that.

We had been waiting outside since early in the day and were getting pretty impatient as it got closer to showtime. Finally, the doors were opened and we made a mad dash for the front row. The opening band was okay, but we were dying to see Extreme.

After what seemed like an eternity, that familiar circus music began to play. Once again, the guys put on an awesome show. At one point, Gary got too close to the edge of the stage and lost his balance. I can't tell you how close he was to falling off (right in front of Julie), but somehow he managed to save himself. It all happened so fast! They did 'Decadence Dance', and I knew after that there was only one more song - or so I thought.

Gary told everyone it was Mike's birthday, and asked us to sing happy birthday to him, so we did. Mike got them (and us) back, alright! When we were done singing, he stood up, turned around, pulled his pants down and mooned everyone. It was definitely a sight to see! Then he began to play a familiar drum beat, and I realised that it was Van Halen's 'Hot For Teacher'. Nuno joined in on guitar, and after a very quick discussion, the band decided to do the song. Gary asked Pat to sing, and he did. He was doing a pretty good job, but halfway through the second verse, he yelled out that he couldn't remember the words!

They also did Aerosmith's 'Train Keeps A Rollin'. After that came the second best moment of the show - 'He Man Woman Hater'. Even though Gary messed up the second verse, it was great to hear it. They finished up the show with 'No Respect'. Gary was joking that they had such a great time, they were going to do the whole set all over again; Nuno started playing the intro the 'Warheads', but then he stopped. I was sad to see it end, but I was looking forward to seeing them after the show.

There were a lot of people waiting, so I knew I wouldn't get much time with them. I was able to talk quickly to Pat, Mike and Nuno, and I did get all of my stuff autographed, so I was happy. It will be a long wait until the next show, but I'm sure I will find some way to get through it - maybe a trip to Boston?!