Re: patti at tate 8.9.06

["Andrew F Wilson" <andrewfwilson>]

The performance at the Tate Modern on Friday, 8 September 2006 began
with screenings of the BBC Arena documentary about Robert
Mapplethorpe, directed by Nigel Finch in the mid-80s, and then Still
Moving, a short film with Patti Smith, directed by Mapplethorpe in
1978.  The latter was shown on 16mm film, not video, which meant there
was a big improvement in sound and picture quality compared with the
version currently showing at the Alison Jacques Gallery.

The Starr Auditorium at the Tate Modern seats about 250.  I'd arrived
early and so ended up in the front row  not ideal for watching the
films, but excellent for the rest of the evening.  As Still Moving
ended Patti got up from her seat in the auditorium, crossed the stage
to the microphone and read To The Reader from The Coral Sea.  This
emotional reading grabbed the audience immediately and everyone was
too stunned to applaud at the end.  Patti then hunted about for
guitar, found it, and pointed out that she was dressed exactly the
same as she had been at the Gallery the previous evening.  She
initially claimed that she'd changed her underwear, then admitted that
wasn't true, as she was saving that for Monday.

I was surprised when she launched into Beneath the Southern Cross, as
I don't recall her having played that solo before (it's usually either
done with her band, or two guitars).  This was a terrific performance
and ratched the level of the evening up a further notch.

Grateful was introduced by some thank-yous to the organisers of the
Mapplethorpe exhibition.  Patti had a memory blank in the middle,
asked the audience what the next verse was, but seemingly no-one else
could remember either.  She picked up anyway and finished the song.
At the end of the song she checked the tuning of her guitar, glanced
at the audience, and shrugged.  Good enough, I suppose.

Next we were treated to two premieres.  Patti first introduced a "new
poem"  according to her handwritten setlist it is called Sword of
God.  "I writ this little song right before I left and I've never
played it before."  There was a pause as Patti realised she needed to
put the lyrics somewhere she could read from as she sang.  She asked
the audience hopefully for some tape.  A technician rushed up and
taped the words to her mic stand.  The song was apparently about
Robert Mapplethorpe and began "I loved you through the seasons"  the
setlist called it Seasons.  Simple (Am-Em) and moving.

Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry followed, beautifully
performed.  Patti then recalled that when she had shown Still Moving
before her concerts in the late 70s she'd wanted to end it with her
jumping through the screen onto the stage  an idea abandoned because
of cost and the need for "someone like Cocteau" to make it work.

Patti then read The Joker is Wild from Complete, and introduced a
reading of Wild Leaves with an explanation of how she'd decided not to
go to Robert's 40th birthday party, but wrote him the song instead.

Next were excellent performances of Qana (a new song, premiered
recently) and Wing.  Patti explained that her occasional lapses were
due to her being "still on Icelandic time".  She recounted how Paths
that Cross was written for Robert after the death of Sam Wagstaff.  It
had "too many chords" so she read rather than sang it.

Perhaps conscious that the Starr Auditorium is often used for
lectures, Patti invited questions from the audience.  The first one
was about drug use and Still Moving.  The second was a request to sing
Kimberly  Patti gamely sang one verse acappella.  The third question
was about the status of poetry.  Patti closed the show with My Blakean
Year  with a break-down in the middle when Patti was put off by a
flash photograph.

The audience called for more and Patti returned to the stage to sing
Memorial Song acappella.  This was a song written for Robert's
memorial service, and later used in a Derek Jarman film dedicated to
him.

A wonderful evening and marvellous to hear yet more new material.  The
idea that the forthcoming "covers" album is a sign that Patti is not
writing new songs is clearly quite wrong.

Kind regards


Andrew