re: U2 gigs. That can be arranged. :)
Glad you enjoyed Ms Smith. I saw her once and didn't like her much, but it could have been the company.
"Tomorrow is notable for two things. Firstly, it's the birthday of T.E. Lawrence. I like to keep up with these things, because when it's someone else's birthday... I throw a party. Secondly, it's a new moon and also Mars is gonna be the closest it has been to the Earth for the past sixty thousand years. They know this for sure, because they found some kind of cave painting - well, more of floor etching, actually - drawn by these dinosaurs and it has a big, like, circle in the middle that says "Mars" under it and it was dated '60,000 BC'... or, no, maybe '58,000 BC'. Anyway, Mars, the planet of war, is the closest that it has been to the Earth for sixty thousand years - fact! - and [launches into long and somewhat rambling pro-peace statements of solidarity, then breaks off distractedly]... This is all sounding somewhat new age, isn't it? But that's not me at all, I'm more kind of... old age."
I finally, after eighteen years, saw Patti Smith play live tonight. It was my first day back at work and I almost called it off, but something told me I'd regret it if I didn't go. In hindsight, that's quite an understatement.
It was a two and a half-hour set, the final show of her current tour (I seem to be making a habit of this and yet again I didn't realise). She's an utterly mesmerising performer and I found myself with goosebumps so often that I was beginning to wonder whether the venue's air-conditioning was working better than the sweat patches on my shirt suggested. (I suppose as background I should tell you that it's rather hot in the UK at the moment, because no one else seems to have mentioned it.)
It's late and I'm too tired to write a full review, so for now I'll just have to say that she played pretty much every single song that I could reasonably have expected to hear and that - like her studio work - it was occasionally dull for a few minutes but mostly electrifying. The set built to a peak with an amazing version of Rock'N'Roll Nigger, with a lucid and compelling anti-Bush preamble built on the American Declaration of Independence.
My links page lists fifteen long-term (-ish) favourite artists and bands. With Patti Smith tonight, I've now seen nine of these in concert. A further three are dead (Billy and Jeff) or disbanded (ABBA), leaving only three more left to see. Looks like I need to keep my eyes open for Faultline, Two Lone Swordsmen and U2 gigs...
Barcelona was fabulous, by the way. I need to collect my thoughts and edit the picture collection, but you'll be hearing about it soon.
Posted by Hg on Tuesday 12 August 2003 at 01:21.
Received 4 comments so far.
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Good to have you back. I look forward to seeing and hearing about Barcelona.
I was at the Patti Smith gig too, she really was absolutely incredible. My review is here. I was hoping for "Gloria" but I expect it was going to be the encore she didn't have time for.
Well done on quoting that bit, it looks pretty much word for word to me, did you take notes!? :)
Fiona - that's the second gig that we've both (not) been to together this year. Again, I was scanning the crowd looking for familiar faces. I didn't specifically have you in mind, though driving home afterwards I did wonder if you had been there. Next time I book a ticket, I'll drop you a line before the gig itself.
The quote is paraphrased. I'd love to say that I have a recording from which I transcribed it, but sadly not. I'm keeping my eyes open though. There was other banter that I wanted to quote (the stuff about visiting graveyards was fun too), but I couldn't remember it in as much detail.
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