Patti Smith
Festival Hall, Melbourne, Australia
Thursday 20 April 2017
Recorded by eckythump from floor left side of stage
Source: Nokia Lumia 930 (called Lumia Icon in North America) w/built-in HAAC mics > Audio Recorder Pro app > 16bit/48 KHz PCM/WAV
Encoding: Trader's Little Helper > FLAC (Level 8)

Track List:

00 - Intro
01 - Dancing Barefoot
02 - Pumping (My Heart)
03 - Patti talks
04 - Ghost Dance
05 - Patti talks
06 - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan cover)
07 - Patti talks
08 - Break It Up
09 - Patti talks
10 - Ain't It Strange
11 - Pissing In A River
12 - Patti talks
13 - Beneath The Southern Cross (with Kerryn Tolhurst)
14 - Patti talks
15 - People Have The Power (with Courtney Barnett)
16 - Patti talks
17 - Land / Gloria
18 - Encore Break
19 - Because The Night
20 - Rock n Roll Nigger
21 - Wing

Patti Smith - Vocals, Guitar
Lenny Kaye - Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Jay Dee Daugherty - Drums, Bass
Tony Shanahan - Keyboards, Bass, Vocals
Andy York - Bass, Guitar, Vocals

Show Notes: Billed as Patti's last ever show in Australia (apparently doctor's have told her for health to avoid long distance flying), and after the comfort of plush seated venues to this point on the tour, the cavernous Festival Hall (I prefer to call it Festering Hall) was chosen as her farewell venue. Festival Hall was built as a wrestling/boxing venue for the 1956 Olympic Games, and famously hosted the Beatles on their only Australian tour in 1964 - I'm pretty sure nothing has changed here since! The crowd was even more pumped for this show than the previous Sunday night at Hamer Hall, and her and the band did not let us down. The Horses shows done with, this was a celebration of all of Patti's career, including the relatively rare Pumping (My Heart), which Patti said they hadn't played in about 30 years, but did so tonight as a tribute to Festival Hall being a boxing venue.

Courtney Barnett opened this show with a very rocking set, and came out and joined the band on People Have The Power. The grin in Courtney's face said it all, it was obvious how thrilling it was for her to be up on stage playing with a rock legend.

Rock n Roll Nigger was meant to be the closing song, but the crowd demanded more, and Patti didn't want to leave just yet, so we were treated to an a capella Wing to sign off and farewell the crowd, and Australia with. It was a fabulous show and an amazing way to say farewell to Australia. Thanks for everything Patti, it was an honour and privilege to witness it.

A review of the show, with some pics can be found here http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/stage/melbourne-stage/patti-smith-and-courtney-barnett-share-powerful-moment-on-stage-20170421-gvpf6d.html

Recording Notes: Festival Hall is my most hated venue in Melbourne, for sound, comfort and accessibility. Patti clearly has an excellent sound person though, because it still sounded great, and for the most part this is a great recording, only spoilt by some background talking (mostly audible during the gap between songs) and the occasional sound of people stepping on cans and cups they'd thoughtfully discarded on the ground. Still, for the most part you won't find these things too distracting and I recommend a download for all Patti fans. Enjoy!