Mushroomhead - Dealing with Faygo all over the UK

November 2017

Tour, UK

***1/2

Doing what Mushroomhead does, on a smaller scale

Mushroomhead ***1/2 are back in the land of tea and stiff uper lips, after a really successful UK headline tour last year. This time they where with mega Rap / Hip Hop stars the Insane clown Posse as the main support, to the annoyance of some die hard fans. Some of which actually wondered if this tour would ever happen, after ICP being banned from all the o2 venues in the country.

We will never know the reason for this, but word was going around that it was because of the fizzy pop (Faygo), that they throw gallons of over their audiences. But promoters came to the rescue at the last minute, so the tour went ahead, with some venue and city changes and with Mushroomhead not being able to play the last two shows on the tour Manchester and Sheffield, due to commitments with their own headline tour in Germany.

The first things you notice is because of this being a support slot, that Mushroomhead have limited space on stage to move and for a band with so many members. This really changed the bands stage show, with various members not being able to be on stage all the time. Also the next thing you notice, is the shortness of Mushroomhead's set... which seems to go by in the blink of an eye.

There has been a few mask changes from the bands last stint in the UK, but everything else seems to not have changed. I would have liked to hear some different songs to what they played last time, but you can't go wrong with the set they played... and they need to play the hits because this is a different fanbase to win over.

For me one of the best moments in any Mushroomhead set is when they open with what I call a classic 'Qwerty', this song has some many up and downs and gives the band moments to show off all their crazy antics onstage. Along with 'Sun doesn't Rise' this song is one of the most popular live tracks, you can hear a lot of people singing all the words to it all over the crowd. As you probably already know Mushroomhead use water drums, so along with ICP and their Faygo... the shows left the audiences very wet indeed.

Not much fun when your on the National Express bus for hours to get home, you get very cold and shiver a lot. But this is mostly because of thou's damn clowns and their fizzy pop. Mushroomhead slow things down, with Jeffrey Nothing doing a solo tribute to the late Prince, with their version of 'When doves Cry'. Other great moments in the set included Jackie LaPonza (Unsaid Fate) walking across the top of the crowd at their London, Electric Ballroom show, the last show for Mushroomhead on the ICP tour.

Jackie gives a good dimension to the band that was left by the absence of Waylon Reavis, who left the band in 2015. I always liked his vocals, so the band really needed someone good to fill his spot and Jackie has a great commercial vocal range. I really did enjoy Mushroomhead's set, like I always do but I did think they need to up their game a little on this tour. Like they always seem to do on their headline tours, because the Insane clown Posse are a band that will always give bands a run for their money.

I don't think they were happy with the mess up's and confusion before the shows, and I think it harmed their game a little. But I think Mushroomhead will come back to the UK next year and will be better than ever, with a new different setlist and stage show. Because they have what it takes to be one of the biggest Metal bands in the World, the question is can they work out what they need to do to get themselves there.

Mushroomhead - Setlist
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Qwerty
Our Apologies
Sun doesn't Rise
Out of my Mind
Solitaire / Unraveling
When does Cry
We are the Truth