Patti Smith Newcastle Academy 4th September 2012
Patti Smith is one special artist. She is many things: a legend, an icon, a punk, a poet, a rocker, an outsider, but above everything what really strikes me is the total authenticity of the lady. With Patti what you see is 100% what you get; each and every time. Last night Patti was in a playful mood; she came onstage around 8.30pm, and treated a packed Newcastle Academy to a set which mixed tracks from her new album “Banga” and classics from her back catalogue. She seemed pre-occupied by the chicken that she had eaten at Nandos earlier in the day, which got the blame for everything. She fluffed the start of the first song, and started again, which was fine, and told us that it was because of the chicken. Later on in the set she admitted that she was chattering a lot, and wondered if the chicken was making her do that. Patti was indeed in a chatty mood. She told us that she’d been to the hairdressers to have her hair curled (she also thought that this might have caused her chatty mood, along with the chicken) and how she’d been photographed by the NME for their icon series, holding a copy of an old NME from 1976 which featured her on the cover. Enough about Patti’s chat; which I mentioned to illustrate the good mood that she was in. The music was great. She played several classics which went down well with the crowd: Free Money, Pissing In The River, Because The Night. All great. Long time band partner Lenny Kaye had his own spot, which he dedicated to local band Penetration, and featured: Night Time / (We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet / Born To Lose / Pushin’ Too Hard. During this spot Patti did her cute quirky little dance while Lenny and the guys ran through the songs. Gloria was the closing number. The encore was the title track of her new album Banga, followed by People Have the Power, and closing with an ace version of Rock ‘N’ Roll Nigger, the entire place singing “Outside of Society”. She closed around 10.20pm; almost two hours after she started. Patti closed by telling us how much she had enjoyed it, explaining that some nights are great musically, but that last night she had “fun”, and that Newcastle was a magical place. We all believed her; and judging by the comments of everyone leaving the venue, the crowd agreed and had great fun too. Just amazing. Some people do get better with time.
Archive for the ‘Patti Smith’ Category
5 Sep
Patti Smith Newcastle Academy 4th September 2012
28 Mar
Patti Smith Sage Gateshead 25 March 2010
Patti Smith Sage Gateshead 25 March 2010
Patti returns to the Sage for an evening of poetry, songs and readings from here recent book Just Kids which is about her old friend Robert Mablethorpe. She is accompanied by guitarist Tony Shanahan and is appearing in Hall 2, which is the smaller of the Sage’s beautiful concert halls. Last time she packed the larger Hall 1; tonight’s show in Hall 2 has been sold out for weeks.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but knew that any Patti Smith concert was going to be special and different, no matter the format she chooses to present to us. She took the stage around 8pm. The show was a mix of readings from her book Just Kids and songs on which she was accompanied by Tony on guitar and piano. Most of the songs weren’t familiar to me, but it was a great opportunity to see her perform them in such an intimate venue. The stories about her youth in New York with Robert Mablethorpe were fascinating. Patti has a unique rapport with the audience, many of whom had come a long way to see her. Almost everyone in the front few rows seemed to know each other and could be heard swapping comments on other shows from the tour; quite a few seemed to have seen her in Glasgow the night before.
Patti had us all sing happy birthday to a lady in the audience (much to her embarrassment). She finished with a great version of Because the Night. For the encore she was persuaded to sing Rock n Roll Nigger by a lday in the front row (“come on Patti; you sang it last night in Glasgow”!); this merged into Gloria which closed the night.
Patti is unique, challenging and sometimes scary and was no less than all that tonight. I bought a signed book as a souvenir of the evening.
setlist: something like: Grateful, Just Kids, Mother Rose, Just Kids, Wing, Birdland, Just Kids, Dancing Barefoot, Just Kids, Improvisation/My Blakean Year(aborted), My Blakean Year, We Three, Just Kids, Beneath the Southern Cross, Just Kids, Because the Night, (encore): Rock n Roll Nigger; Gloria.
website: http://www.pattismith.net/
ticket
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