Patti Smith began her latest tour of Europe last week in London, with two dates at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, followed by a performance in the Purcell Room of the Southbank Centre as part of this year’s Meltdown festival, curated by Yoko Ono.
I first saw Patti Smith live in 2005, when she served as the curator of Meltdown. In the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, prefaced by Cat Power, Smith performed for the first time a musical setting of The Coral Sea – her extended prose-poem impelled by and dedicated to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, with whom Smith lived and shared an impassioned relationship in the late 60s and early 70s in New York; and which was published in book form in 1998. Smith sung her poem in front of a shifting seascape background, accompanied by Kevin Shields, of My Bloody Valentine, on guitar.
Smith is to play two shows in Amsterdam, tonight and tomorrow at Paradiso. The current iteration of her band includes original members Lenny Kaye on guitar and Jay Dee Daugherty on drums; the longstanding Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboards; and Jack Petruzzelli on guitar and bass. The tour proceeds from last year’s Banga, Smith’s eleventh album, released to significant acclaim; and after Amsterdam, it moves on to Germany, Finland, Sweden, France and Italy, before returning to the UK.
Patti Smith & Her Band will play at Paradiso from 8.30 pm on both evenings. Tonight’s performance is sold out; but there are tickets for tomorrow, with more information at: http://www.paradiso.nl/web/Agenda-Item/Patti-Smith-her-band-1.htm
amsterdamarm 