Patti Smith
Central Hall Westminster
London, UK
2nd November 2019

Lineage: Olympus LS14 Recorder (internal mics) > 16 bit / 44.1 khz > amadeus pro > xld > flac
taper: rayrad

01. intro
02. Year Of The Monkey reading - Way Out West
03. Wing
04. reading intro 1
05. Year Of The Monkey reading - Black Butterflies
06. Beneath The Southern Cross
07. reading intro 2
08. Year Of The Monkey reading - Belinda Carlisle Matters
09. chat
10. My Blakean Year
11. reading intro 3
12. Year Of The Monkey reading - The Golden Cockerel
13. After The Goldrush (Neil Young)
14. chat
15. Because The Night
16. reading intro 4
17. Year Of The Monkey reading - A Kind Of Epilogue
18. Pissing In A River


Patti Smith - vocals / guitar
Tony Shanahan - guitar / piano / vocals


Support the artist - buy the records - go to the shows:

www.pattismith.net
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i was going to skip this show

money's tight - and it felt way expensive for what was billed as an interview plus 'brief' performance

but mrs rad talked me into it - 'come on - it's patti smith!"

and she's right, of course. we haven't missed a london patti show in 20 years

but still i'm not expecting much

especially after ending up upstairs as the floor level fills up instantly

but i'm wrong (of course)

the interview (which i didn't record) wraps up in just over half an hour - and the lion's share of the running time is devoted to the 'show' element of the evening

patti and tony shanahan have done enough of these duo performances now to find a perfect way of reinterpreting those powerful songs for their reduced set up

i've seen them do it a few times - but tonight is the first time i've heard tony's vocals be so loud and impassioned

and it really works

he's practically screaming by the close of 'pissing in a river'

and it's phenomenally affecting

the readings are excellent too

for once, patti actually knows where her glasses are

and only loses her place in the book once

some kind of record

there's not much in the way of PA here in a room that's mostly used for university graduation ceremonies - and things are a little echoey

but the recording still came out much better than i'd been expecting

we were sat right by an usher - so i had no opportunity to fiddle with levels

and as soon as things started, i knew i had them set too low

but even with a huge amplification boost, the hiss isn't too intrusive

it sounds pretty much exactly as it sounded to us sat up there in the balcony

judge for yourselves with the samples below

anyway - thank mrs rad

she's way smarter than me

enjoy
ray
x

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