Mr Bungle Rock City Nottingham England 9.09.00
HoBo John Review;
It’s nine long years since I got the debut album from ‘Mr Bungle’ (the band featuring ex FNM vocalist Mike Patton) and tonight, at last I get to see what they can do on a stage. Ross and myself both think that their latest offering ‘California’ is probably the best album of the last couple of years and we are keen to see how many other people agree. They are booked in to the largest room in Rock City which must hold a thousand people and it is nearly full, in contrast to the last time Patton was here a month ago with his other superb band Fantomas, where they played in disco two to around two hundred people. There is no support act and Bungle have to come on very early for a headline act, as the normal Saturday night Rock disco has to commence afterwards. Patton is sporting a police baseball hat, police jacket and a bib with the logo VOX DAY seccurezza presumably acquired from an Italian festival date, baggy black pants and battered D.C’s. Bass player Trevor Dunn appears to be dressed like ex Smashing Pumpkin D’arcy. There are five other members (in what seems to be a rotating line-up) of Bungle on stage tonight giving a Zappa kind of vibe to the proceedings. After a quick instrumental piece it’s straight in to the ‘Air conditioned nightmare’ one of the standout tracks from the California album. Mr Bungle have pretty much disassociated themselves with the funk metal madness of their early days and have developed and matured beyond all expectations. There does seem to be a section of the crowd who are expecting the Mr Bungle of yore, yelling for the ‘Girls of porn’ or ‘My ass is on fire’, but they must have been sorely disappointed. I would have been disappointed if we had seen the Bungle of old, as any band who didn’t change their style or set-list in nine years wouldn’t be much of a band. They do visit the first album a couple of times however with a fairly straight version of ‘quote unquote (Travolta)' and a great updated drum and bass powered version of ‘My ass is on fire’. This reworking of an old number really disappoints some of the old metal heads, but that’s their loss, a band should be allowed to develop or they just become a musical museum piece. Patton is of course, the great frontman we’ve come to expect, always more than just an average rock vocalist he is a showman and very funny "Hello Nottingham, home of Kevin Costner!" and several members of the crowd are on the receiving end of his cutting wit. "Hey, there’s a guy down here in an Iron Maiden shirt, go and sit in the corner and cry or something, just STOP LOOKING AT ME"! Bungle are known for their cover versions and tonight we get the old classic ‘Begin the Beguine’ and what might have bee a Destiny’s Child song, I’m not too sure (answers to specialbrew@www.flashinghobo.com ). When they come back on for the encore there is some switching of instruments and the keyboard player gives us a mean, if ironic version of Van Halen’s 'Eruption' guitar solo and trades comedy licks with Bass player Dunn. Then the rest join in (all of whom are very impressive musically) and play half of Van Halen’s 'ain’t talkin bout love', complete with Mike’s best Dave Lee Roth vocals. It’s only a shame the gig couldn’t go on for another half-hour, but the rock disco has to take place and there’s no more time. This was the last date of the tour and to be honest Mike looks like he could do with the rest. Take a break Mike, you’ve earned it.
Click the photos to see a bigger version
HoBo Bully Review;
The other day I was presumed dead following a shooting. This was the start of a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. I was given a new identity, a new face, a smart talking crime fighting supercar and send out to be a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law. Unfortunately I left the headlights of my crime fighting supercar on overnight, and the battery went flat. I didn't fancy the idea of being a lone crusader in a dangerous world without the aid of an indestructible molecular bonded shell so I decided to go to the Mr. Bungle gig instead.
I
arrived at the gig as early as I possibly
could, but there was already a huge queue. I thought this was odd as earlier in the year, Rock City had claimed that Mr Bungle wouldn't be playing
there as they were 'too arty' and wouldn't be popular enough. There was no
support band, which was a little disappointing given that the tickets were £10, Fantomas
were £7.50 and they had a support band . The fact that Mr Bungle had 7
members on stage meant that they could belt out a fine noise, but unfortunately it meant that the sound check went on, and on, and on. When Mike Patton finally
arrived on stage (to announce the gig was canceled, the man is a world class wit
and raconteur. Throughout the gig I got the feeling he wants to be a stand up
comedian) he was decked out in police gear, I had visions of some sort of
Village People extravaganza. Unfortunately there was no construction worker, native
American, sailor, or any odd looking blokes in leather. Trevor Dunn was dressed
up as a little girl mind, which helped me deal with the disappointment. This is
what Mr. Bungle looked like to me (don't worry HoBo John took loads of photos,
which'll go up next week sometime).
Musically
the band were superb and I was surprised by how well they managed to deal with
the layered sounds from the California album, this may well have been due to the
fact that they had 3 keyboards on stage and Mike had all sorts of crazy stuff
around him, sort of like half his Davros get up from Fantomas. I did feel there
was a lack of songs (click on the set list to see a bigger version), and found it a bit annoying when Bungle did a huge ballad that I didn't
recognize (so I figure it was a cover) that went on and on, but
was a touch dull. I couldn't help wishing that they were doing Retrovertigo, or
a Bungle song instead. Most of the songs had a slight Eastern European
feel with an Hawiaan lounge music twinge, although My Ass Is On Fire was done in
a kinda drum and bass style and on one of the songs Mike sounded like an Indian
woman. Indeed Mike was on top
front man form spitting out banter and put downs throughout the gig (although I
felt he went a little far on the put down front claiming some bloke should stop
being so down about the fact that his mum sleeps with his brother). Some of the
moves he was pulling reminded me of the FNM Real Thing era. I could barely
believe my eyes when he licked the back of one of bouncers head,
which is something I never thought I'd see done.
During the encore, just incase anyone thought that Bungle might be a bunch of musically average chancers we were treated to some ace guitar solos, including a Led Zeppelin one. I wasn't really expecting that and although it was a nice bit of showboating, it didn't really make up for the fact that the gig was so short. I suppose it's better to be left wanting more after a top quality gig than having hours of mediocrity forced into your ears. Anyway I think the people at Rock City wanted to keep things short as the gig tied up the main room on a Saturday night.
After the encore the band appeared to fire the sound crew and then each other.
After the gig the HoBo managed to pick up the set list and a guitar plectrum. The set list has some red stuff on the back, might be blood might me tomato sauce. I would try to grow a clone with it, but I'm worried it'd turn out to be a Rock City Bouncer.
HoBo says, "I never knew Kevin Costner was from Nottingham"!
Click here to see the Mike Patton Interview
Click here to see the Fantomas Gig Review
