Patti Smith at Troxy

Patti Smith & Her Band
Troxy, 13 September 2012

"There is so much energy here tonight, I actually can feel my blood going: buzzzzz..." Patti tells the audience grinning and I have to believe her. There must be something she's feeding off that enables her, at 65 years of age no less, to display such vivacity still. She continuously dances, theatrically throws out her arms as if preaching to the faithful while singing, often crouches down at the front of the stage to smile and wave to the audience and of course sings her heart out. When she hands over the reins to guitarist and longtime collaborator Lenny Kaye for a couple of numbers, she doesn't use the brief respite to go offstage to rest, she instead uses it as an opportunity to go down to the barrier and shake hands with every person (myself included) in the front row.

I saw Patti live, after years of being a fan, for the first time early last year playing a church and suitably it was pretty much a religious experience. Seeing her with her band is another thing altogether and equally moving. From the moment she took to the stage, wearing jeans, baggy t-shirt, waistcoat and over-sized jacket, her greying hair in plaits, and launched into Dancing Barefoot you could feel the joy and enthusiasm, much like at a Springsteen concert. She played plenty of old favourites like Recondo Beach (which she said had been requested by Morrissey no less), Free Money and a beautifully intense Pissing In The River, as well as a few tracks from her new album Banga, all of which fitted in nicely with the older material. 

In the middle of the show she touchingly mentioned that it was birthday of her late husband Fred "Sonic" Smith and that tomorrow is the birthday of Amy Winehouse and asked us to give them a thought before playing the songs she had written for them: This Is The Girl for Amy from her new album and the anthemic Because The Night, which she said she wrote for Fred while missing him at the start of their relationship when he was all the way in Detroit and she was in New York. 

Patti wasn't all sweetness and light, the fiery Smith of old also showed up when she eloquently ranted about religion, freedom of speech and Pussy Riot's recent imprisonment, all of which had the crowd cheering in agreement. She also joked it was her mission to play all the venues in London before she was 100, "except for Wembley Stadium. We don't want to get too big," she grinned. It's a shame though that her tour of London venues had to take in the Troxy, still one of my least favourites due to the lack-lustre sound and weirdly strong-handed security. Oh well, it was good to finally see her with her band nonetheless.

She saved the best for last though returning for the encore for a nicely discordant Banga (featuring Patti playing just one chord throughout, which she proudly told us at the start) and then a truly incredible double whammy of Gloria and Rock N' Roll Nigger, both of which sounded wild and wonderful, the whole audience often singing along.  It was pretty amazing to see Smith rocking out with Kaye by her side but really her whole band, which also includes her son Jackson, was fantastic and she looked like she was having a ball the entire time, even when she getting back into the punk spirit and spitting in the air or tearing the strings of her guitar at the end of Rock N' Roll Nigger.

This was a very different show that the St Giles-In-The-Field church concert but just as passionate and certainly a whole lot more rocking. Her spirit and energy were just incredible to see and really she should be up there with the likes of Springsteen and Young because, in her own way, she's without a doubt as good on record and, judging by tonight's performance, in concert too.