Excellent and enjoyable report, Garret! I especially liked the details about Patti Smith. She's such an enthusiastic performer! Last summer I saw her at a free outdoor concert in NYC in a park right next to the Metropolitan Opera house (can't get much more staid and "establishment" than that place; it was one of those dramatic NYC contrasts) and she was excited about being here, too, and had different tales about her times in NY. And the music! Wow! She played many of the ones you listed and it just blew me away to hear things like Redondo Beach and Babelogue and Because the Night... all sounding so fresh! I was standing near the stage and there was an area between that and the first row of folding chair seats, and much of the time a 4-year-old boy was dancing along to the music. It was endearing, especially all that jumping and twirling stuff, and great to see the powerful effect of good old rock music that was created long before he existed. Patti kept most of her Irishwoman swearing in check, or rather, she'd swear and then comment on the number of tourists in the crowd that she was probably offending, and how what she'd said wouldn't phase New Yorkers a bit. From what I could tell, the audience was mostly tourists, it being summer and a free concert, and it seemed a lot of people didn't know her at all, so it wasn't the most enthusiastic crowd. And there were some technical difficulties so there was some waiting time. Patti did, though, manage to get the audience singing along with Power to the People, and by the end of the concert people were pretty charged up. Quite an amazing feat! I'd go to see her anytime.
Debra Shea Garret wrote: > > Come thursday we were really trying to put the horror of the Magic related > AHA overload behind us. We headed to Brighton for a much anitcipated Patti > Smith concert. ... > She got very excited while describing seaside areas and the memories they > create. Yea, she swears like an Irishwoman!
