Melt Banana & MFOTWU // Norwich Arts Centre // 29.05.14
Two memorable performances at NAC...
I attend every gig I go to with a positive attitude, always looking to be entertained and always keen to get fully involved. This includes the support bands, who can often be average, but just occasionally something truly memorable can occur. Tonight was just such an occasion. We were warned on arrival that MFOTWU’s set featured violent and sexual images. Awesome – that’s how I like my images I thought! The ‘band’ feature Italian ‘performance artist’ (alarm bells) Franko B, who tonight was playing the role of frontman and lead singer of this ‘post improvisation collective’ – arf.
Musically it can best be described as industrial, featuring live drums (from the excellent Jacob Cobb) and guitar with added keys/synths. The visuals we were warned about contained an endless amount of images that presumably were designed to shock – JFK being assassinated, war atrocities, police violence, hardcore porn etc. In reality the only shocking thing was how utterly appalling and inept they were, how completely devoid of talent Franko was, at least in his guise as frontman. If you asked three fifteen year olds to put together a band with the intention of shocking their parents this is what they would come up with. It’s with a degree of pride that I can say I stuck out the full half hour set with the sole intention of booing them loudly at the end; my own piece of performance art if you will. I’ve been going to gigs for 28 years and I can say without any shadow of a doubt that MFOTWU were by far THE WORST BAND I HAVE EVER SEEN LIVE! Don’t believe me? For our pleasure he has uploaded the audio of the whole set online so seek it out for yourself and count yourself lucky that you don’t actually have to look at him as well as listen.
After that, Melt-Banana couldn’t really fail. For an hour they blasted their way through a show of the highest intensity, filled with shrieked high pitched vocals, electronic beats and loops, incredible guitar playing and a fair degree of humour – take note Mr. B. Yasuko Onuki’s vocals are an acquired taste, but live they don’t dominate in the way they can on record and with what appeared to be some kind of MIDI controller in hand she was very much in control of the fierce electronic backing music. Ichirou Agata’s guitar playing was truly epic, really like nothing I have ever seen. With his trademark surgical mask in place he made sounds that were otherworldly, intense and frenetic, barely pausing for breath.
On this tour the band have slimmed down to a two piece and I suppose there were times when I would have liked to have heard them with some live backing. The only other slight issue was the lack of visuals, I really feel they could have increased their impact with some clever use of the screen, but really this was a minor point. Their latest album ‘Fetch’ was well represented, they squeezed 8 short songs into 3 minutes and ended it all with a batshit crazy cover of ‘It’s A Wonderful World’. Most loved it, some didn’t, but personally it was refreshing to see something that was truly unique and innovative.
So, two memorable performances, but if I’m honest it will be MFOTWU that will live longest in the memory – for all the wrong reasons.
