10 Things We Leant About Patti Smith

On Wednesday (28th October) Patti Smith took to the stage at London's Emmanuel Centre, not to sing (that comes later), but to have a good old chin wag with critic and novelist Andrew O'Hagan instead. 
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.

LIVE// Patti Smith

Manchester Apollo// 08/06/15

On December 13th 1975 Patti Smith released her debut album Horses, 40 years later she celebrates it's legacy

A flash of silver grey hair from the side of the stage and the whole audience erupts into applause. 40 years on from the release of her seminal debut album, Horses, and Patti Smith is as compelling as ever. Tonight we're gathered to celebrate said album and Smith is in a celebratory mood- over the next 2 hours the punk poet jams, screams and commands her way through her 4 decade long back catalogue like it's 1975.

Gloria's opening cry of "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" sound as incendiary as it did 40 years ago. Patti Smith's voice hasn't aged, infact it's become even more powerful, and the audience hang on to every "G,L,O,R,I,A"

Smith introduces Redondo Beach as "a beach where woman love other woman", it's syncopated rhythms never failing to get the audience moving.
Birdland follows, and whilst she missed her queue at yesterday's Field Day festival in London, she perfects it here. The whole audience is silently transfixed for the song's entire 9 minute and 16 second duration, hypnotised by it's poetry making watching Smith akin to embarking on a spiritual journey.

Land is introduced as a "Mr Wiggle story" she tells her grandson, "disguised as a song from the album." Even if it really was a children's tale the audience would be none the wiser, it's commands of "do the alligator" provoking frenzied dancing from the front row, before Smith and her band launch into a sonic jam that ends with the final chorus of Gloria that's even more enthralling the second time around.

The closing song from Horses, Elegy, is dedicated to many legendary, late musicians- Joey Ramone, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed, with Fred 'Sonic' Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe generating the biggest cheer from the audience. It's an emotional moment serving as a reminder to the lost talents of a generation of which Patti Smith is a survivor. Many audience members call out their own additions of Ian Curtis, Janis Joplin and Elvis whilst Smith nods in approval.


The band retake to the stage for part 2- the hits. Dancing Barefoot, Because The Night and Power To The People act as a direct contrast to the experimentation of Horses showing Smith's flexibility as a songwriter.


Her backing band- featuring original member Lenny Kaye- take the reins for a run through of Velvet Underground hits whilst Smith personally greets everyone in the front rows. She may be a living legend of sorts but she's delighted to be here, and it shows.


In fitting circular style Smith returns to her punk roots for the encore, a particularly dynamic rendition of My Generation which concludes with Smith ripping the strings off her Fender Strat. And, just as it looks as though she might smash the thing to pieces in a burst of exuberant, youthful energy, she's gone.   


Tonight we were reminded that at 68 Smith is no spring chicken, but whilst she's invented punk rock, outlived her contemporaries and become a grandmother since the release of Horses, ultimately nothing has changed, except, maybe the colour of her hair.