On a miserable night in Manchester, thrash metal legends, Mr Bungle, ransacked their way through the Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo.
Largely conforming to the track list and sequence of that album— the 2020 re-recording of Bungle’s original 1986 demo tape — the gig melted faces old and (surprisingly) young. The age distribution of the apparent full house at the show was sure testament to the legendary status, longevity and talent of the assembled operators.
Founders, Eureka high-school buddies, and consistent core members of Bungle: Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn and Trey Spruance, were reinforced by the propulsive kinetics of Scott Ian on rhythm guitar and Dave Lombardo on drums. This lineup is arguably the collective Big 5 of thrash metal in the twenty-first Century and certainly made a case for it at the 02 Ritz with a relentless set of straight up hardcore, or at least as straight up as Mr. Bungle could ever be.
Spotlights, founded by husband and wife, Sarah and Mario Quintero, and signed to Sub-Pop, provided a fittingly contrapuntal overture to the frenzy of compositional uppercuts and high-tempo haymakers that followed. Although heavy, their dirge-like, deliberate fugues were atmospheric and often broodingly introspective. The Quinteros alternately traded and harmonised breathless, delicate vocals, seemingly at odds with the unyielding instrumental grind, but stylishly complementing it. In a punk rock footnote, sadly, the Spotlights’ van was broken into during the show, but despite this setback the future is undoubtedly bright for the hard-working band.
A distorted recording of the famous horns of ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’ heralded the arrival of the main act. After an affectionate introductory run-through of the Mr Rogers’ theme, the first in a series of unexpected covers of popular songs that typically leaven any live show involving Mike Patton, the Easter Bunny raged in earnest— laying down monolithic slabs of vintage ’80s thrash refined by prodigious talent and decades of experience.
Patton led from the front as the band blitzed their way through the early numbers, the singer looking lean, lively and restored after a sabbatical from his myriad projects and tours. It was reassuring to see him back to his best, bringing his trademark vocal range and virtuosity — not to mention his maniacal energy and sardonic humour — back to UK shores.
Trey Spruance, looking like a surf rock Methuselah, shredded like a djinn, his expansive, intricate soloing often taking centre stage before locking back into the band’s chugging grooves. Bungle were amazingly tight, due — in no small part — to Scott Ian’s accuracy and precision on rhythm guitar. With his talismanic goatee bobbing metronomically, the former Anthrax man delivered unerring and robust riffs indefatigably.
Trevor Dunn and Dave Lombardo filled out the backline: Dunn, a low-key presence onstage, let his driving basslines enmesh seamlessly with the patterns laid down by Lombardo. The peerless Slayer drummer, rig bristling with trademark double kick drums, reliably provided the kinetic building blocks that underpinned the edifice of Bungle’s eardrum-flaying pyroclastics.
Past Bungle shows have seen the band switch genres (often mid-song) at a needle’s drop, yet the eclectic tendencies evinced on, for example, 1999 album California are largely absent. In fact, Bungle played only one song (‘My Ass is on Fire’) from their freewheeling Warner Brother’s catalogue. Their pop covers (ranging from ‘Summer Breeze’ by Seals & Crofts to a hilarious reworking of ‘All by Myself’, lately popularised by Celine Dion) were performed with exquisitely versatile musicianship and no little respect — despite the toilet humour reworkings of some lyrics.
Nevertheless, this was a night when the band mainly stuck to their roots in thrash and hardcore, paying their respects with covers of ’80s hardcore icons (Slayer, Cro Mags, Circle Jerks) and delivering the audience a canonical lesson in their mastery of these forms. It was a privilege to be at this show.
Full setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/mr-bungle/2024/o2-ritz-manchester-england-63abba8b.html
William Watt is a writer based in Dublin. He has an MBA from Nottingham Trent University and a master’s degree in film studies from University College Dublin. He has been published in Virtual Futures Near-Futures Fiction, had a play performed in the Dublin Fringe Festival, and is currently working on a speculative fiction screenplay.
