patti smith reviews Patti
Smith's triumphant 1½ city world tour electrifies Bay Area
By Lawrence
French / San Francisco Observer 
In 1996, after seeing Patti Smith perform at the Wiltern Theater
in Los Angeles, Michael Stipe declared that it was not only one of his top ten
favorite concerts, but also among his favorite "life experiences." At
the time, when Ms. Smith was just returning to concert stages, it still seemed
like a statement that reeked of hyperbole. Now, however, after three albums and
seven years in which she has been able to grow and refine her formidable skills,
Patti Smith seems to be at the mature peak of her artistic powers. And Smith's
three show stand in San Francisco last week, makes Stipe's original assessment
now seem completely accurate. In fact, Smith's show Monday night at The Great
American Music Hall reached such lofty heights, it easily ranks as one of the
greatest rock shows this writer has ever witnessed - and tickets for this historic
concert were not $120.00 - but a mere $20.00! But even for
Ms. Smith, reaching this rarefied level of performance seems to have happened
almost by chance, as a fortuitous series of events mystically came into alignment,
(including a full moon), which allowed Smith to channel her Shaman-like energies
into perfect focus for one memorable evening. Among the chief factors was the
simple fact that Smith had been so enthused by the warm reception she received
the day before at her free anti-war concert in Berkeley. As a result she was in
great spirits throughout the evening - in glaring contrast to her Fillmore show,
where some inner demons seemed to be periodically disturbing her concentration.
No doubt, Smith's visit to City Lights bookstore earlier in the day - which was
in the midst of celebrating it's 50th Anniversary - was also helpful, as she seemed
to be accessing energy from the Beat poets all evening, until it actually burst
out physically when she recited Allen Ginsberg's "Footnote to Howl"
as a lea d! -in to a soaring version of "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger." And
as she said before performing "1959," "this little song has a couple
different themes behind it - it does speak of the Dali Lama and his people, it
does speak of the great Chevrolets of the 1950's, but is also is a salute to the
'desolation angels' who found their way to be published at City Lights. So I guess
we'll dedicate it to his holiness the Dali Lama and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Larry
and Dali." A third factor in making the concert such
a triumph, was was the much more extensive use of keyboards, (unfortunately due
to Tony Shanahan's recent bicycle accident) which made a strong improvement to
several songs, most notable those from "Horses." Patti's simple statement
before "Free Money" that "we'd like to do this in memory of Richard
Sohl," was poignant in itself, but it also called attention to the beautiful
addition of Tony Shanahan's keyboard playing to the song's opening. Finally, as
Smith herself noted, this was a highly unusual three show, 1½ city tour,
so there was no road fatigue, which inevitably would be present if Smith had been
touring more extensively. In fact, Smith seemed so fresh and incandescent for
Monday's show, that by Tuesday night's Fillmore gig, it seemed a near impossible
feat for her to come anywhere near the performance heights she had scaled at the
Music Hall. Of course, the very unusual set list was also helpful, since every
song, from the wild opening of "Ask the Angels," to the raucous cover
of "Not Fade Away," seemed to offer no let-down in energy over the length
of the entire two hour set. In most of Smith's past shows, the inclusion of several
acoustic numbers has often had the effect of dissipating both Patti's and the
audience's energy level, but at the Great American Music Hall, there was no such
acoustic interlude. And the two slowest songs in the set, "1959" and
"When Doves Cry," were both thrilling, as they were two songs Patti
had never performed before in San Francisco. Of course the simple inclusion of
"Break It Up" would be exciting enough on it's own, since Patti has
so rarely performed this song live - even in her seventies heyday. But to not
only hear "Break It up" (for the first time), along with masterfully
executed versions of "Birdland," "Free Money," "Ask The
Angels" "Ain't It Strange" and "25th Floor" had the kind
of cumulative emotional effect that brought tears of joy to my eyes, and needless
to say, it is quite impossible to convey this effect to anyone who is not already
familiar with Patti Smith's music. For both Sunday's free
concert in Berkeley and Mondays show, Smith's voice was in remarkable form, as
was the band. And the band - Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tony Shanahan and
Oliver Ray inparticular, were all in top form. Mr. Ray whose guitar playing skills
in the past have come under some suspicion seems to have improved tremendously
in the eight years since he first debuted with the band in 1995. As for Ms. Smith,
the remarkable energy level she seems to pull from the crowd has in the past sometimes
overwhelmed her, to the point where she bursts into an explosion of incoherence;
but here there was never a point where she lost her concentration or her control,
until the encore, when she returned to the stage and kept flubbing the opening
lines for Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." But it was quickly
forgotten, for as Smith noted the next night at the Fillmore, "if I really
screw up this song, we'll just pretend it didn't happen." For
her second encore number, Patti recited "Footnote to Howl" (without
music) leading into an explosive version of Rock 'n' Roll Nigger, which saw Patti
wildly roaming across the stage, knocking over her mic stand and causing general
pandemonium, until shouting out an impassioned plea of, "San Francisco, I
can hardly speak… but if you can hear me, listen. You don't have to look
back. Don't Look Back to the Sixties for your culture. Don't Look Back to the
Seventies for your culture. Build your culture now! Your culture is here, man.
Communication is here. Revolution is here. The streets are here. The time is now,
and you don't have to look back at anybody, because you're here now. Fucking now.
So take it, blend it, it yours, not mine, it's yours… outside of society…"
Then as Patti, Lenny and Jay Dee exited the stage, Oliver and Tony continued jamming
(Tony on Keys, Oliver on Guitar), until Patti decided to come back and join them,
strapping her electri c! guitar on and jamming for 2 or 3 minutes, until she stepped
up to the microphone to improvise lyrics, ending a truly triumphant evening, with
a goodnight lullaby: "Grant us light, grant us a spring. A code protects
everything. Our code of art, our code of love, our code of being, not above. Grant
us light, the human spring, man takes care of everything. Grant you peace, grant
you light, grant you happiness, tonight." It's somewhat
ironic that such a transcendent concert would be the least witnessed (probably
only 500 people) of Smith's three day stint in the Bay area. It also seems to
have been completely ignored by all of the numerous media outlets here, who, no
doubt are so used to big name acts who routinely repeat the same set over again,
night after night, that they felt there was no point in seeing Patti Smith two
nights in a row. How wrong they were! And this is a woman
who still isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?! Ain't It Strange. Photo
by Steven Klein |
