Mike Patton is like many other things in life something you either hate or love. This summer Roskilde Festival has sure proven bookingwise that they loooove Mike Patton. With four scheduled appearences with four different projects (and one guest appearance) the man was everywhere, and I say thankee. Now let's take a closer look at the adventures and spectacles this musical mastermind delivered.

MALDOROR VS. PATTON (JPN/US) - Friday, July 1 - Odeon

Along with Japanese noise guru Masami Akita, Mike Patton entered Odeon at 0200 on Friday night. A quite considerable crowd had gathered, but as with SUNNO))) earlier that day, many left before the end of the concert. The question hanging under the tent ceiling was "Is this really music?". The concert - or rather performance - consisted for the mostpart of a battle between two masters of noise with Patton at times vocalizing eerie shrieks between the massive attack of his favorite toys. Masami Akita appeared more anonymous behind his Mac only occasionally casting glances over to his left to see what Patton was doing.

Music? Art? Noise? Or just a big joke? Personally, I would say it was something that flew above my own preferred range of listening experiences. Like an installation of sound. Put these guys behind a screen, paint it red and any art critic would nod in approval, raise their hands to the sky and cry "Trés magnifique!!! But what does it mean?"

"The name Maldoror comes from a nineteenth century poem of the same name, written by Lautréamont. It is an early French surrealist masterpiece, full of brutality and beauty - just like the music on this record. Scare the neighbors!!!" - Ipecac.com -

FANTÔMAS (US) - Saturday, July 2 - Arena

Fantômas has been one of Patton's projects since 1999 and this has resulted in the releases of four albums so far. The group consists of Buzz Osborne on guitar (Melvins), Trevor Dunn on bass (Mr. Bungle, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant) and Dave Lombardo on drums (Slayer) and of course Mike Patton as the mighty conductor behind his synth, cowbell and children's toys.

Fantômas is both dark and playful at the same time. It's the mad hatter, the wizard of Oz and Bongo the clown - all in one and then some. During the concert I took the time to turn around and look at the audience for a while. Like little children they stand there with a terrified fascination in their eyes and a mad grin on their lips. Meanwhile the conductor of this well organized, intelligently composed master-piece is waving his arms over his head with a gleeful almost mischievious laugh.."Mom...look what I can make them dooooo".

Patton is not alone in making this a fantastic experience. The composition of this is so goddamn tight even the drummer plays by notes! In a cagelike construction Dave Lombardo is surrounded by his battery and plays both by his notes and on cues from his fellow musicians as they interpret the music from movie classics like "Rosemary's Baby". Fantômas live is both a fantastic and extremely fun experience that brings out the curious child in me. I was teased, spooked and thrilled - I simply loved every minute of it.

PATTON/RAZHEL (US) - Saturday, July 2 - Odeon

Teaming up with Razhel (Roots) - the famous human beatbox - Patton moves on to the world of hiphop and beatboxing.

This is mostly Razhel's show and it's easy to be amazed by his vocal skills. Patton is the icing on the cake. Razhel's own hit "If only your mama knew" is a quite beautiful song, and while Razhel does four layers of the song with just his one voice, Patton sounds like a dj scratching.

In addition to doing Razhel's own music they did "We will rock you" and a very funny cover of "American Idiot" by Green Day who was playing later that evening. In the end you could hardly recognize the lyrics as Patton sounded like a 5-year old throwing a tantrum. Ha ha.

RAZHEL & DJ JS-1 feat. MIKE PATTON (US) - Sunday, July 3 - Pavilion

Angel and myself packed our stuff together and went to Copenhagen on Sunday to check in at the hotel, take a shower and then head back to the last night of concerts. I missed The Faint, 13 & God and Trail of Dead...but I got just in time for the Razhel concert. Being very excited by last night's show I decided to go take another look.

I entered the concert somewhere towards the end while Razhel was educating the masses about the history of beatboxing. Quite entertaing. He described different styles from different masters of the MIC and showed us a few tricks.

After a while I wanted to go get something to drink and was out of the tent and on my way over the lawn when Razhel starts doing "If only your mama knew"..and then announces.."I would like to introduce - my main man - Mister Miiiiiiiiike Patton!". Guess who turned on the heel and ran back excited as hell. Yours truly. And it was a treat...Of course I didn't mind hearing the same song again, but after that came a wonderful version of "Papa was a rolling stone". That was sweeeet!

KAADA/PATTON (US/N) - Sunday, July 3 - Pavilion

With no real knowlegde of the concept, I went to the last Patton concert at Roskilde. John Erik Kaada is known from Cloroform, his solo project and his collaberation album with Patton. The latter was well received in Norwegian press and with major focus on the fact that Mike Patton had signed a Norwegian to his highly recognized record label Ipecac. Doesn't happen that often.

Back to the concert; Kaada and Patton are not alone.

Mike Patton - vox / sampler / perc +
John Erik Kaada - keyboards, sampler, vox +
Erland Dahlen - melodic percussion, gongs, classical percussion, vox +
Børge Fjordheim - drumset, vox +
Øyvind Storesund - doublebass, whistling, vox +
Hallvard Wennersberg Hage - electronics +
Geir Sundstøl - guitars, steel, vox +

The experience is very different from Fantômas, but at the same time you can clearly hear the Pattonesque universe all over it. Less noise, more melody and hauntingly beautiful vocals is the essence here that differs from Fantômas. This is Mike Patton enchanting us with a majestic opera inspired vocal and with additional vocals and harmonies by Kaada and the band. This concert was absolutely one of the best concerts at Roskilde 2005 and THE best Patton experience!

The album is called "Romances", but the songs are more heartbreaking than romantic and if you haven't heard this album - go right out and do it! Now! This may become one of your favorite CDs.

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