Concert Review: Mr. Bungle and Battles
September 13, 2023
History, Toronto Canada
By Billy@themetalpit.org
Mr. Bungle and opening act Battles played the History concert venue in Toronto, Canada on September 13, 2023. The show was sold out with approximately 2,500 fans in attendance. I’m a relatively new Mr. Bungle fan after hearing their last album “The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo”. The stellar line-up on that recording were fully intact at the Toronto show including drumming god Dave Lombardo (Slayer), rhythm guitarist Scott Ian (Anthrax), vocalist Mike Patton (Faith No More), Trey Spruance on lead guitar and bassist Trevor Dunn. To say this is a talented group of musicians is a major understatement.
Battles
Opening act “Battles” from New York are incredibly difficult to describe. I would classify them as a musical hybrid of jazz rock fusion, metal, math rock, trance and experimental music. I was shocked to see them performing as a duo with only guitarist / keyboardist Ian Williams and drummer John Stainier responsible for the bands expansive sound. The guitarist Ian triggers the bass, sparse use of vocals and a multitude of sound effects directly from his keyboard. The band played five or six tracks that were very intriguing. Certainly not a typical heavy metal opening band but I definitely plan to dig further into Battles discography.
Mr. Bungle
The Mr. Bungle set on this night focused primarily on the excellent “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo” album and many surprising (shocking) cover songs. The band ripped through their early career ferocious thrash numbers like “Bungle Grind”, “Grizzly Adams, “Sudden Death”, and their Spanish Storm Troopers of Death cover. It was a pleasure seeing Dave Lombardo’s masterful drumming live on stage again and Trey’s thrashing guitar solos were executed to perfection. I didn’t get to see much of Scott Ian as he stuck to the very far right of the stage but his chugging rhythm guitar tone was fully audible. The one or two times I did briefly see Ian, he was in his signature guitar playing stance / stomp in full head banging mode. Trevor’s bass playing was intricate and impressive as he easily kept pace with the thrash legends he shared the stage with.
Mike Patton was engaging to watch throughout the show. He would crouch low to the stage on all the faster / heavier tracks leaping into action when it was time for his vocal parts. To my amazement, Mike was equally comfortable in crooner mode singing pop love ballads (“True” by Spandau Ballet, “I’m not in Love” by 10cc and “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts). Mike did the majority of talking on stage and at one point, forced each band member to share a lame joke (with only Trey visibly not comfortable with the request). Towards the end of the show, Mike hung a band members underwear from Dave’s drum kit and he looked like a mad orchestra conductor as he often stood behind two traditional musical stands that held his lyrics, special effects devices and his various mics. To get some extra bass drum pumping through the house PA system, Mike held his two vocal mics up to each of Dave’s bass drums.
The most memorable moment of the night for me was when Mr. Bungle performed a ferocious instrumental cover of Slayer’s “Hell Awaits” (which was extra special with Dave on drums) and then immediately jumped into their cover of the pop song “Summer Breeze”. I remember thinking at the time, what the hell is this? The night’s complete unpredictability made the show so much fun and kept the audience on their toes.
Other songs played from the “Easter Bunny” record included “Spreading the Thighs of Death”, “Raping your Mind”, “Mathematics”, “Anarchy up your Anus”, “Eracist”, and “Glutton for Punishment”. The band performed a single track from the debut self-titled album “My Ass is on Fire” which I believe included a snippet from the famous pink bottle Pepto Bismol TV commercial. Lastly, there were two hardcore / punk covers by the Cro-Mags (Malfunction) and 7 Seconds (You Lose).
The encore was limited to two songs and both were cover tunes. First was another bizarre slow song “Satan Never Sleeps” by Timi Yuro which did nothing for me. The encore improved immediately as I heard the opening riffs of Seputura’s “Territory”, Mr. Bungle performed a flawless cover of the classic song and the show ended there.
Overall, I fully enjoyed the show despite being just a casual fan. Song selection was incredibly diverse and filled with surprises and laughs. All the jokes aside, this is a very talented group of musicians and it showed on stage. Mr. Bungle’s vicious early demo thrash tracks were the most memorable of the night for me and seeing Dave Lombardo behind the drum kit is always worth the price of admission alone. I highly recommend seeing the guys on this tour if you can.