Gig Review: Mr Bungle + Melvins, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

Live review: Mr Bungle and the Melvins at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Saturday, March 9 2024

By BRIAN GIFFIN

TO a well-sized proportion of both the rock and metal community, Mr Bungle’s return to Australian stages after an absence of over 20 years was perhaps one of the most anticipated events of the year so far. Having the Melvins along as special guests was a bonus that no one could argue about.

The lights went down a full 10 minutes before the show began, giving those waiting in the ridiculously long lines at the bars and merch stand plenty of notice that something was brewing. The tension broke when Steven McDonald strode across the stage with a smile and a wave and the Melvins immediately started pummelling the crowd with “Sesame Street Meat”. 

So it went for an hour, a continuous stream of loud, wildly unpredictable sludge that veered and swerved like an endless jam. In between bouts of raining down guitar chaos on everyone, Buzz Osborne stepped up to the mic to snarl his vocals. Or McDonald would take a turn when he took a break from throwing his instrument around and bounding around the stage. There’s no gaps in the program, “Anaconda” goes into “Never Say You’re Sorry” that segues into “The Bloated Pope” like it’s all one continuous stream. Buzz leaves the (very) occasional shout out to McDonald, concentrating instead on sonic decimation, both of them putting on a highly dynamic performance that drew prominently from nineties classics Houdini and Bullhead. In the middle, Coady Willis, in play for this tour in place of the recovering Dale Crover, was a ceaseless blur of upper limbs, faultlessly keeping things on an even keel no matter where they seemed to go. “Revolve” descended like the end of all things but even while it was ringing out, Trevor Dunn appeared on stage to turn “Night Goat” into a twin-bass onslaught, building to a crescendo of violent noise as Dunn and McDonald lofted their instruments over head and smashed them together and then, destruction done, they all left stage with little more than a wave. 

Bungle may have been the main attraction this evening but Melvins had left them with a hard act to follow.

Follow Mr Bungle soon did, entering with a demented version of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” before lurching right into “Grizzly Adams”. “We are called Mr Bungle!” Mike Patton soon declared, “and unlike the Cosmic Psychos, we are blokes you CANNOT trust!” Certainly, if anyone here was trusting them to play anything from their first three albums they were to be severely disappointed – pretty much the entire set was a mix of Raging Wrath and offbeat covers, the first of which was 10CC’s “I’m Not in Love” breaking up the insanity of “Bungle Grind” and “Eracist”, probably the only song they did tonight that had most of the crowd belting out a chorus.

Whatever they were before, now Mr Bungle are a violently aggressive thrash metal band, propelled by one of the greatest rhythm sections ever assembled in the genre. For better or for worse, to many the focus is often on the charismatic Patton but his bandmates should never be overlooked – Trevor Dunn’s bass work is off the scale, Scott Ian is perhaps the tightest rhythm guitarist in thrash except Hetfield and nobody needs to be told how brilliant Dave Lombardo is. 

If they sound terrifying, they haven’t lost their sense of fun. “Hypocrites/Habla Espanol o muere” becomes “Speak bogan or die!” and Patton and Dunn have a squeaky toy fight in the break between “My Ass is On Fire” and “Sudden Death” as it engulfs the Hordern to close the main set. In between, Ian stomps around at every opportunity – the first time I’ve ever seen him in long pants – Patton walks in circles constantly and Trey Spruance looms stage right like a friendly giant wielding his axe, the metal ceasing suddenly and weirdly for a cover of “Hopelessly Devoted to You” or Spandau Ballet’s “True” in a four song stretch of tunes that also included “Hell Awaits” and “You Lose” by 7Seconds. 

“That’s all we got!” Patton cries into the deafening silence that crashes in after “Sudden Death”, but the lights don’t come up and no one moves to pull down the gear, so we know that’s not true. Then there’s a mess of hair stage right and Buzz Osborne is plugging in a guitar. With the entire line-up of Fantômas in the building, it makes total sense for them to do something and the noise from Buzzo’s guitar eventually becomes a twisted version of “Experiment in Terror” as Bungle return to the stage to wrap up with Sepultura’s “Territory” as if they haven’t already paid homage to enough greats this evening, the figurative curtain coming down at last on one sensational night of purely unpredictable metal lunacy.