PATTI SMITH AND HER BAND
Belfast Elmwood Hall 30th July 2004
PATTI SMITH
London Hackney Ocean
23 July 2001
I have waited many years to see Patti Smith, and due to the act that she has been 'retired' for most of my music-listening life, I had reason to believe that I might never see her. Since her return to live work in 1995, I've never been in the right place when she has been playing one of her sporadic gigs. Until tonight that is.
She has always revelled in the power of symbol and suggestion, and the scene is set by a very loud intro tape heavily featuring Jimi Hendrix (one of her earliest inspirations), the stage covered in candles and Indian rugs and the backdrop illuminated by some of William Blake's art (a more recent inspiration).
When she takes the stage with her mighty version of the Byrds 'So You Want to be a Rock n Roll Star', it's nothing short of a revelation. She appears unassuming in jeans, tshirt and a jacket, her long hair now mostly grey, but she seems to have as much energy and stage presence as I had been led to believe. Waving to the crowd, spitting, and pushing the legendary Lenny Kaye to one side to take a rather freeform guitar solo! Some impressive new material lets the band get into their stride, old hands Lenny and JayDee Daugherty mixing with the newer recruits Oliver Rey and Tony Shanahan. It's impressive stuff, more than enough to show that she's still stretching herself, not content to trade on past glories. Speaking of which, 'Redondo Beach' is next, and although this tribute to androgyny and bisexuality is my least fave track on 'Horses', it's still a thrill to hear them do it.
A lot of Patti's shows these days have been solo, spoken word events, and she blends this in with her current band to perform the 'Holy' section from Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl'. Pretentious, I hear you cry, but the thing about Patti is that she can carry it off - she has the presence and the voice to breath new life into it, and even lightens things a little with her skronky Albert Ayler style clarinet playing and the mention of 'holy New York, holy LA, holy Chicago, holy Hackney!'
I wouldn't have expected to hear 'Frederick' tonight, as it's about her now deceased husband Fred 'Sonic' Smith, but they play it with such passion that it becomes a tribute to him, easing effortlessly into the sombre 'Beneath the Southern Cross', the backdrop changing to become a sky full of stars.
'Summer Cannibals' is one of her more recent poppier outings, accompanied by specially shot film of Patti in the studio with Tom Verlaine and Thurston Moore, and it's followed by more iconography as she does the Stones 'The Last Time' with footage of the young Mick and Keith behind her.
Things are brought bang up to date with the epic 'Gung Ho', the title track of the recent album, and one of the most powerful songs she has ever done. The stage is dripping with imagery - Vietnamese flags, war footage, as the song just builds and builds, finally segueing into the catchier protest song 'People Have the Power'. In the light of what happened in Genoa a few days before this show, it's clear that the work of this 55-year-old woman is still hugely relevant.
That would almost be enough for a normal show, but the best is still to come. A William Blake reading leads into a fine version of 'Dancing Barefoot' - the visuals change to a really engaging black and white ballet film, while Patti goes walk about and gets barefoot to the extent that one lucky punter at the front gets to go home with her socks!
Staying with her pop singles she then launches into 'Because the Night', which even the people who've been dragged along recognise. Co-written with Bruce Springsteen, it's the most straight forward rock moment of the show, and really lifts the crowd. There was only one way she could top that, and sure enough an astonishing version of 'Gloria' finishes the main part of the set. You know the way bands reform and play their old songs and they're not quite as good as they were, well this version of 'Gloria' is as magnificent as the one on 'Horses'. Damn, I didn't expect it to be this good!
After nearly two hours, it's encore time. First up is a stunning version of Nirvana's 'Heart Shaped Box'. Although Patti's newer stuff owes a lot to Nirvana, (and she wrote 'About a Boy' as a tribute to Kurt) I've always found it a strange connection, but in her own distinct way she spits out the words and makes the song her own. More venom for 'Pissing in the River', one of the first Patti songs I ever heard, and every bit as dramatic and spine-tingling as the recorded version. Finally, and brilliantly, we get an updated 'Babelogue' (the audience rising to the occasion, just like the version on 'Easter') drifting into a supercharged 'Rock n Roll Nigger'. I mean she even shouts "Lenny!" and he sings his bit JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL!!! In her own extremely powerful way she turns it into a tirade against George Bush and a tribute to the protests in Genoa - "outside of society" and all that. She still knows how to work a crowd.
For the first ninety minutes or so, this was shaping up to be one of the gigs of the year, but the last half hour made it the BEST GIG I'VE EVER SEEN bar none, I was absolutely in awe of what was going on. It couldn't have been any better (except for the second night, when they did 'Birdland' - ha!).