Patti in the Field

I’d decided I wasn’t going to go and queue outside for Patti Smith’s show at St Giles in the Field on Friday, it all seemed like a silly old waste of time. Of course, once the day arrived excitement overcame me and there I was, 20 minutes before opening, stood in line with a load of middle-aged denim wearers bearing a gormless grin.

Our dedication was rewarded when Patti suddenly appeared, she walked nonchalantly past the queue, smiling hellos and good to see yous looking very relaxed and happy. We immediately became a row of over-whelmed caricateurs, all wide-eyed and speechless as our smiles threatened to envelop our faces. She stopped and took a few pictures of the flowers in the church garden before wandering back inside. With synchronised precision, a row of mobile phones then emerged as a stream of OH MY GOD texts were fired off to relevant friends.

We got inside and I was delighted to see a front row seat (front pew seat?) smack-dab in the middle that surely had a big sign with my name on it, we sat patiently and waited for her to appear.

Perhaps in respect to the church setting, Patti was dressed in her Sunday best – long dark grey dress, black jacket and wide brimmed hat. She opened with some poetry then led into a beautiful version of Ghost Dance.

The set continued to be a mixture of poems, some of my favourites from her catalogue – Southern Cross, Peaceable Kingdom, My Blakean Year – and a few covers. Her reasoning for including covers is simple, she’s been listening to a lot of Maria Callas and Maria does covers – Puccini, Mozart – so why on earth shouldn’t she?

Her band for the evening included her (very cute) son Jackson and it was sweet watching her swell with pride as she announced him or stood listening to his guitar solos. Old regulars Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan and lovely Jay Dee Daugherty were also present with an array of acoustic apparatus.

I love seeing her at these smaller productions that aren’t so well rehearsed and where she often makes mistakes. A valuable lesson I’ve learned from Justin Bond and also Patti is that it doesn’t matter if you mess up, the audience doesn’t care. This has given me enormous confidence to start picking up a microphone in my own projects, as once you stop worrying about everything being perfect, you can just relax and enjoy it.

People who don’t understand Patti usually expect her to be po-faced or, worse still, if you can imagine, A FEMINIST. But her work rarely dwells on feminist issues and is far more about the human condition and situations, both political and personal, she sees around her. She is almost childlike on stage, waving and grinning at the audience, there lots of self-deprecating humour and witty stories and remarks.

Her performance is never less than inspirational and it was a joy to see her so close. Next time I hope to fulfil a long-held ambition and actually shake her by the hand.