During their fleeting 90 minutes together the pair discussed everything from Smith's new memoir M Train and her seminal debut album Horses 40th anniversary, to her love of detective shows and desire to open her own cafe.
It's proof, if needed, that there's still much we don't know about the 68 year old.
Here then, is 10 things we learnt about punk's first lady...
1. The first record she owned was Madame Butterfly by Eleanor SteberBut the second is much cooler: Another Side by Bob Dylan,."My mother said: I don't know who this is but he looks like someone you might like."
2. To her punk rock means freedom
"It's just another word for freedom" she reveals, "It's a grass-roots art formed by the people, loved by the people, played by the people."
When asked where a new punk movement might come from she's alot more ambiguous, "I think only the new generation knows that" she says, "You don't need a new punk movement, you just need a movement that people care about. You don't need a new anything, you just need the thing; it doesn't need a name, it's an energy. It's bubbling beneath our feet, every generation makes it's contribution."
3. She loves detective shows...
"Whether it's Morse, or Lewis, Wyecliff, George Gently, I love them all." she reveals, but it's Kenneth Branagh's eponymous Wallander that's her favourite.
"Often they drink too much, they're bums, they're obsessional- they have to be visionaries and unravel these deep puzzles. They drink too much wine at home at night listening to opera- just like me." To which the entire audience erupts with laugher.
4. ...And coffee
Especially Dunkin Donuts, which she claims is no better than a $100 cup from Tokyo,
"[It] gives the illusion that you're sort of in the swing of things".
5. She was part of a 'Scarlet Fever Club'
An exclusive club for only the worst sufferers of the disease, Smith was joined by the only other member, author William Burroughs.
6. If she could only use one medium it'd be writing
Whilst Smith would be "sad not to draw or take photographs or perform" she couldn't live without picking up a pen. "I have to write" she reasons, "It's part of who I am."
7. She has lots of writing rituals
When Smith puts pen to paper she has to do so "[on] my own little table in my own little cafe", but most importantly in the morning. "I like to write in the morning" she reveals, " Wake up early before anyone else, when anything seems possible."
8. She wants to open her own cafe
She came "very close a couple of times", but after lamenting that she "make[s] such bad coffee" it's probably for the best that she sticks to the day job.
9. She likes Adele and Rihanna
When asked what she was currently listening to, no one expected Smith- one of punk rock's creators- to namecheck chart-toppers Adele and Rihanna. "I like to hear the female voice" she said.
Other artists to get a mention were Karen O, My Bloody Valentine and Jimi Hendrix, who she claimed "isn't even a guy or a girl, he's beyond."
10. She's still got it
Smith surprised the audience with an impromptu acoustic performance of Because The Night, Power To The People and a song she wrote for her daughter, the former inciting a sing along that ended in a standing ovation. Proof, if you needed any that whether on paper, on record or in conversation, Patti Smith is still very much a force to be reckoned with.
"Often they drink too much, they're bums, they're obsessional- they have to be visionaries and unravel these deep puzzles. They drink too much wine at home at night listening to opera- just like me." To which the entire audience erupts with laugher.
Other artists to get a mention were Karen O, My Bloody Valentine and Jimi Hendrix, who she claimed "isn't even a guy or a girl, he's beyond."
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