Thursday night, at the famous Rebel Lounge, we got the dynamic duo King Buzzo (Melvins) and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle). I honestly don’t understand how anyone slept on this show. This project is just as weird/insane as it is beautiful and melodic. King Buzzo, on acoustic guitar, and Trevor Dunn on upright bass, are a fantastic duo that take playing acoustically to another level. They are masterminds behind their respective instruments, and make some of the extraordinary acoustic music available. There’s no glitz nor glamour to these shows: Buzzo and Dunn walk right onto stage and get down to business.
Buzzo’s voice has always be unique and powerful, and seeing him with just an acoustic guitar his voice is comes through bigger and brighter. It hurts to say that when he’s backed by entire band, it kind of gets drowned out. Buzzo’s voice stopped my heart a couple of times throughout the evening, and it made me feel as if there was no one else in the club. Rarely do I ever feel as if a singer is singing expressly for me. I stopped for a second and, looking around, realized I probably wasn’t the only one who felt that way, either. While it may sound as if he was sitting there with a guitar crooning to the crowd, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He creates that acoustic intimacy while being as electric as he is when plugged in playing with the Melvins. Buzzo is running around on stage, getting up close and personal with his fans, with his signature crazy hair flying around.
Dunn on the other hand was a little more reserved, given he did have a giant standup bass to handle. He was a bit mysterious and eccentric while playing the stand-up bass. Dunn’s voice compliments Buzzo’s, and their harmonies were perfectly in line with one another. One thing that Phoenix got that the rest of the tour stops didn’t was Buzzo actually saying something to the crowd. Dunn expressly acknowledged Buzzo speaking with the audience, stating, “You haven’t said anything all tour!”
