Peeping Tom

Fffffuuuuucccckkkk, that was a goddamn concert.

Last night, Big Daddy Den-Den, Joolieeez, and I went down to The Stone Pony in scenic Asbury Park to see Peeping Tom.

I have seen the Face of God, and it pretty much looks like Mike Patton (as I always suspected it would).

The Stone Pony is small, and I spent most of the show right up front and to the right, beer in hand, and giant grin on face. The band was phenomenal. Patton was backed by a standard bass/guitar/drum trio (I can't remember their names, but I'm pretty sure two of them were members of Dub Trio, the opening act), a keyboardist (who was wearing a red ski mask the whole time, like Peter Parker at the wrestling match in the Spider-man movie. In fact, Patton joked at some point that "he thinks he's Spider-man."), a DJ (I forgot his name, as well), Imani Coppola on backing vocals and violin, and Rahzel (from The Roots) rockin' the beatbox.

Did I mention that they were phenomenal? They opened up with a tune I didn't recognize, then proceeded to play the entire Peeping Tom album in a random order. The show was intense. I literally got goose bumps several times throughout the set. Seriously.

Patton was in full rockstar mode, dressed in an all white casual suit type thing, hair slicked back and in a hairnet. Don't ask me what that's all about, but it looked pretty cool. He was obviously in a good mood, smiling a lot and joking with the crowd. During the kickass part of "Don't Even Trip" ("I know that assholes grow on trees...") Patton had the entire crowd flip him the bird, as he and the band flipped it right back. Then he walked right up to the people in front (unfortunately on the opposite side of the stage from where I was) and was giving 'em the finger up close and personal. That was pretty cool. Cooler still, was that all of a sudden he slapped some dude right in the face! Just hauled off and popped him one. Not a full-force kinda slap, but enough to let you know you've been hit. Then, he slapped another guy in the chops. And then a third. He was just walking across the front of the stage, slapping random people, and everyone was going nuts, sticking their faces out for a Patton Bitchslap. Unfortunately, he didn't make it over by me. I would've let Patton slap me, he's just that cool. After the song he commented to the crowd, "Sometimes you gotta slap some faces." The place went nuts.

Halfway through the show the entire band left the stage, except for Rahzel, who proceed to freak people the fuck out. His beatbox skillz are insane. He was making sounds that no human being should be able to produce. At one point, Rahzel was doing both the drum part and bassline for "Seven Nation Army" at the same time.

At.

The.

Same.

Time.


Amazing.

After the full band did a few more tunes, it was the DJ's turn to show off. He mixed together "Linus and Lucy" (the Peanuts theme), the theme from "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," "Bulls On Parade" (RATM), and some serious club and hip-hop beats. Cool shit. When Patton got back on stage, he commented something to the effect that the DJ is "the only man on two feet who can make Rage Against The Machine sound like music." Funny stuff.

Peeping Tom finished out the night in the same kickass fashion in which they began, full of energy and keeping the audience involved with sing-along chants and Patton talking more between songs then I've ever seen in the past. He was singling out random people and chatting with them. One guy tried to get his attention and was promptly told to "get a shave, get rid of those tattoos, and shut the fuck up." Classic "faux angry" Patton.

Then, there was the Encore. I wasn't sure what song they would play, since they had already performed the entire Peeping Tom album. I thought perhaps they would pick something completely whacked out and strange ("Bungle Style"), but I was so very wrong. The lights dimmed a bit, Patton grinned a bit, and then the band launched (more like slid, really) into "Anger Management" off of the Lovage ("Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By") album. Fuck yeah. I love that friggin' song. "Why must God punish me this way..." More goosebumps. It seemed that at least half of the crowd didn't recognize it, but those of us who did were spazzing out and singing along.

So, that was it. The show was over. I was still grinning ear to ear as I finished off the last of my beer on the way out of the club. Hanging a quick left around the building to get back to Denner's van, my grin grew even wider:

Mike Patton was standing there, talking to a few people.

Fuck yeah.

I walked over, said hello, shook his hand and told him that not only was the show seven kinds of kickass, I was blown away that he played "Anger Management." He thanked me for the compliment, and I took my leave. I wanted to talk to him some more, but I was at a loss. What do you say in a situation like that? "Dude, you're so awesome!" Fuck that, people like him hear that kind of thing all of the time. It's weird meeting one of your idols, and I didn't want to come across as an asshole. It was only later that I realized I could've mentioned Portrait Studios here in Lincoln Park, where Patton recorded an E.P. with The Dillinger Escape Plan a few years ago. I recorded there just recently, and it would've been a good conversation starter to ask him what he thought of the studio and Chris Badami, who engineered the sessions.

Fuckshitpiss.

I suck.

Well, if I ever meet Mike Patton again, at least now I have an idea of what to say to him instead of "Fuck, dude, when is Bungle getting back together?" or something similarly stupid.


I tell you, I'm still grinning just thinking about that concert...


"Why must God punish me this way" indeed.