Perfect Blend Of Non PC Juvenile Fun
Sunday has been unofficially dubbed metal day at Reading as a revel of hard hitting bands threaten to take to the stage to bring some rock back to Little Johns Farm. But things aren’t going according to plan. Slipknot have already pulled out due to injury and when there’s an announcement on Sunday morning that Avenged Sevenfold have also had to cancel due to illness, you can’t help but think someone has it in for the metal fans. With a depleted main stage line up its left to Mindless Self Indulgence to help fill the void, finding themselves moved up the bill and with some extra time to terrorize and offend the crowd like only they know how to.
With more watching out of curiosity and the sheer fact that they have nowhere else to go, it’s a fairly large crowd that is subjected to Jimmy Urine and co. antics as the New York quartet dive straight into ‘Shut Me Up’ delivering their typical off kilter beats, bone crunching bass lines and screeching vocals that leave half the crowd dancing and the other half scratching their heads in bewilderment. Continually baiting the crowd for a reaction, Urine leaps from the drum kit to speaker stacks in long strides that is matched only by Steve Righ? making his way down into the crowd before the first track has even ended. Always the one to cause controversy, Urine is soon wielding a bottle of Jack Daniels that he proceeds to pour down his neck, inciting the crowd to shout every profanity at him as possible as he poses the question “what am I?” Unimpressed with their answers, Urine shrugs stating “That’s funny, I thought I was a stupid motherfucker” before lunching into ‘Stupid MF’. And ultimately it is Urine’s banter that sparkles. With queries about why we have a bank holiday when no one here has a job let alone works in a bank met with cheers made even bigger with his quips that we’re all going to work in Tesco you just know that MSI are the perfect blend of juvenile humour.
With the music overshadowed by Urine, its left to ‘Never Wanted To Dance’ to spice things up as it gets an energetic outing that is only eclipsed by the infectious fun of ‘Straight To Video’ that truly ignites the crowd before the band depart, leaving Urine alone on stage miming to ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’, suitably ending the ridiculously fun set.
Non PC fun that’s not to be taken seriously, MSI manage to fill the void today but somehow you just wish they’d done that little bit more to convince people that there’s more to them than a funnily obnoxious front man.