Patton introduces me to Celentano

Recently I went down a rabbit hole on Youtube

One of the best live shows that I saw is Mr Bungle at the University of Canberra.

These were phenomenal musicians having a lot of fun performing and I was fortunate to see some of them play at other Bungle but also Secret Chiefs shows.

Aside from having a pass to take photographs that gave me better-than-front-row positions, I could observe one of my heroes in Mike Patton manipulating his voice with a tape machine.

This was the first time I saw a band perform at the Uni of C and hadn't seen a mezzanine over a stage, so I was looking down on the crowd at the start of the show. 

 

It was an unusual audience because it was the first week of the semester or something and people were there for the party as much as the band.

 

It was also remarkable to see this band because I'd been looking at their t-shirts for years since Faith No More's '90s hits and the first Bungle album challenges a lot of conventions. 

 

I didn't know what to expect, but the tour manager said I had the first two songs to take photos. The first song went for less than a minute, but I took photos from backstage through the entire show.

 

Anyway, when I was on the mezzanine a guy in bandages started walking toward me with a camera out. I later saw him playing guitar, so I think it was Trey Spruance.

 

There was a percussionist playing with the band for this tour, I think his name is William Winant, which really elevated the performances and added a lot of that zaniness from Bungle's first album. 

 

I recall a moment where the percussionist and Patton did this duet like a scat vocal but in sync with each other.

So, out of nowhere, came a cover of 'Tower of Strength' made famous by an overwrought Gene McDaniels.

It was a song from around 35 years earlier that I knew from being part of a compilation tape in my father's car.

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to reconnect with that song at that time watching these musicians.

These are the live experiences that I value and there were a few similar moments from going to gigs.

Anyway, I had a similar thrill when I went looking for 'Tower of Strength' and found Adriano Celentano.

Mr Celentano recorded the song in both Italian and Spanish, which was likely part of his efforts to introduce Europe to both rock and roll.

However, as I explored his career, it became clear that he also kept the flame alive with the revival as psychedelic rock a decade later.

It's wild that he's now singing in German, but I guess one would work across several markets and languages if they were a popular singer in Europe.

However, I am even more impressed with his enthusiasm for disco.

It was the major trend in music at the time and Adriano embaced it as a triple threat would do, combining slapstick with the dance moves.

I gather from Wikipedia there was a corkscrew-shaped pasta named for Celentano!