Bill Gould has rejoined Wayne Kramer's MC50 to tour Australia in February
The first gig down under supporting Alice Cooper was on Saturday February 8th at the RAC Arena in Perth.
Before Alice takes to the stage though let’s not forget the rather fine warm-up acts. Firstly, if like me, you have lived with ‘that’ album all your life but only ever heard of the legend of Wayne Kramer and Detroit’s MC5 then MC50 (should that be MC52 this year?) is a complete revelation! And with members of Soundgarden and Faith No More and Fugazi in tow as well as Marcus Durant fronting this is a musical treat to be savored!
The night began with a tribute to legends the MC5 as MC50 hit the stage! Original member Wayne Kramer put this group together to celebrate the legacy of MC5 and their 50th Anniversary 2 years ago, Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty, Faith No More’s Billy Gould on Bass and Zen Guerrilla frontman Marcus Durant.
From the start they made a massive racket and drew me in from the get go. Billy Gould seemed to look like he was living his lifelong dream – I really appreciated his enthusiasm! Vocalist Marcus Durant was manic and wild in his delivery, there was a reason he was chosen for this that’s for sure!
Highlight songs of the set were ‘Kick Out The Jams’, ‘Come Together’ and and ‘Looking At You’. They got a big ovation from the Perth crowd post set! I am so happy that I got to see them, it’ll be the closest I’ll ever get to seeing the original MC5 and they did that bands legacy proud. Now – time to stick the MC5 in the Hall of Fame next year, please?
To kick the night off, however, the early comers were treated to an amazing performance from MC50. Assembled to mark the 50th anniversary of the legendary MC5’s Kick Out The Jams by founder and guitarist Wayne Kramer and featuring, among others, Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Billy Gould (Faith No More), this bona fide supergroup kicked off their, as Kramer himself mentioned, “criminally short” set with Ramblin’ Rose, followed by Kick Out The Jams. With former Zen Guerilla frontman Marcus Durant on vocals, MC50 finished up with the politically tinged Looking At You, which Kramer dedicated to the “political class”, much to the delight of the crowd.