Mr. Bungle welcome first new album in 21 years with virtual Halloween experience (stream review)

Mr. F*cking Bungle! They came. They played. They kicked some ass, all with the help of some celebrity friends, and during my personal jam-packed day of streaming concerts, Zooming and day drinking. We’ve been waiting a long time for Mr. Bungle to creep out of his gimp-filled dungeon. I had the amazing opportunity to see Mr. Bungle live in concert back in February at Brooklyn Steel and the set-list to their Halloween stream (‘The Night They Came Home!’) was somewhat identical to the NYC show; except for some additions like the extremely amazing cover of Van Halen’s “Loss of Control.” RIP EVH.

Neil Hamburger started the day off with hard-hitting stand up comedy, slamming bands like Kiss, Iron Maiden as well as Steven Tyler. He really wanted to make a point about everyone Googling Tyler’s statutory rape allegations (from my quick glance, it looked pretty f*cked up). He even went as far as talking about the abuse Brittany Spears receives from the strongholds of her management (i.e., her father). I thought it was a great set and I’m happy to see Hamburger is still karate chopping bands left and right. Just not enough Red Hot Chili Pepper jokes, then again they are the joke. Sorry not sorry. Neil did joke about Mr. Bungle playing their first-ever single “Travolta,” yet the band didn’t go forth with the idea. I’ll be the first to say I was butt hurt.

I did love the behind-the-scenes footage from the show, with the band explaining the reasoning for reissuing their first self-released demo tape. It allowed the band to show their fans where they came from and how they got started. It honestly made me love the album that much more. I think it’s heavy, brutal, and on point. Even though it was created 34 years ago (1986), it sounds better than most of the new music produced these days. Mike Patton’s vocals are unmatched by anyone; everything about it is perfectly on point. I can only wish that when I’m 52 years old, I’ll be able to scream that good for over an hour. They played their new album, ‘The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo,’ all the way through. They opened with their ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ theme song “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and halfway through the set they did a rendition of Slayer’s “Hell Awaits” and Seals and Crofts’ “Summer Breeze.”

The show was filled with celebrity cameos, including actor Glenn Howerton of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ (where was DeVito?), Henry Rollins formerly of Black Flag, Brenden Small of Dethklok, David Yow formerly of Scratch Acid and currently in The Jesus Lizard, Suzy Cole of Apple Music, Buzz Osborne (aka King Buzzo) of Melvins, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and comedians Brian Posehn and Eric Andre (who was crying in his car).

I couldn’t tell if the show was actually live which kinda pissed me off. They sort of alluded to it, but there was a point where they were enjoying beverages out of little espresso glasses and then BOOM mask on and song up; there was a jump cut, so I just don’t know if it was live is what I’m trying to get at. I just wish these ‘live-streams’ (that fans are paying good money for) were actually live. At least this show included behind-the-scenes footage and an opening comedy act. Also, and this is personal opinion, but I would have liked to have seen at least one other Mr. Bungle song, like maybe even “Travolta,” which would have been a really nice touch (and possibly showcased what the future of Bungle might have in store).

Here’s what Mr.Bungle played:
Won’t You Be My Neighbor (Fred Rogers cover)
Anarchy Up Your Anus
Raping Your Mind
Bungle Grind
Methematics/Hell Awaits (Slayer cover)/Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts cover)
Eracist
World Up My Ass (Circle Jerks cover)
Glutton For Punishment
Hypocrites/Habla Español O Muere (Stormtroopers of Death cover)
Spreading the Thighs of Death/Loss For Words (Corrosion of Conformity cover)
Sudden Death
Encore:
Loss of Control (Van Halen cover)

Stream ticket holders can watch the concert on-demand through November 3rd, get more info at mrbungle.live and mrbungle.com. Check out more stills (credit: Jack Bennett and courtesy of Mr. Bungle/Speakeasy PR) from the PPV below.




































































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The author of this post was provided with a review ticket to this stream