Mike Patton played the fourth of his Mondo Cane shows at the Blue Balls festival in picturesque Lucerne last night. Torrential rain and incessant roadworks turned a two-and-a-half-hour car journey to Lucerne into a three-and-half-hour trip so I missed the first few songs. So when I walked in mid-song to my well-appointed seats, I was blown away by the sheer bigness of the sound and the loudness and clarity of Patton’s voice. The decor, size and acoustics of the very modern concert hall were perfect and Patton’s band, led by Daniele Luppi, backing singers Slash Singers and the 21st Century Orchestra were in top form.

My videos below:

After seeing Patton with Faith No More so many times over the past year, it was slightly surreal to see the devilish dervish somewhat contained in this setting  – which did not stop one metalhead headbanging throughout – but his articulate, powerful crooning was also accompanied by trademark screams and some equally typical vocal noises.

He was also in very good form, at one stage thanking the audience for “coming out on a horrible night when you should be at home. I would have stayed at home.” He also poked fun at the name of the festival, at one stage declaring: “This song is dedicated to al the guys out there who have Blue Balls, like me. Don’t blame me? I didn’t name the festival, you did.”

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain a setlist and my knowledge of the full Mondo Cane repertoire is such that I couldn’t guess at one either, suffice to say that it seemed the same as the one posted for Wroclaw.

Thanks to Mike and Elvira for sorting out tickets.