Mr. Bungle took off to New York City for the next couple of dates on their limited reunion tour, which is currently taking place at the Brooklyn Steel. Their first night at the venue took place yesterday, and saw the band join up with Cro-Mags’ frontman and bassist Harley Flanagan, for a cover of the Cro-Mags‘ “Malfunction.” This recent performance part of the band’s first new shows in over 20 years.
Their performance of “Malfunction” was chaotic as Flanagan and Mr. Bungle’s frontman Mike Patton traded vocals by passing the mics from one to the other, across the aggressive instrumentals. This chaos fit in well with the room’s energy however, as it elicited applause from the audience.
Mr. Bungle consists of Patton, who is best known as the frontman for Faith No More, Trevor Dunn, and Trey Spruance. During this recent reunion tour the band were joined by Anthrax guitarist and co-lead vocalist Scott Ian, along with drummer Dave Lombardo, who is best known for his work with the pioneering thrash metal band Slayer.
This performance had a similar setlist to their recent Los Angeles performances, which held covers of Faith No More’s “The Real Thing,” Slayer’s “Hell Awaits,””Speak English or Die” by Ian’s band Stormtroopers of Death (with the lyrics changed to “Speak Spanish or Die”), along with covers of Siege, The Exploited, Corrosion of Conformity and Seals & Crofts. The group also performed a cover of the Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood theme song “Won’t You be My Neighbor.”
Check out our review of the band’s second Los Angeles performance at the Fonda Theatre.