Last night (2-20-10) I saw an artist that put on the best show of 2010! Nothing will beat it this year. And she is 63 years old. Patti Smith strolled out on stage in black jeans, a black t shirt, black sweatshirt and a black hat pulled down almost covering her eyes (a photographers nightmare, but very cool). First two songs were very slow and fairly quiet, but 30 seconds into song number 3 she threw the hat over her head, spit on the stage next to her, and proceeded to rock the venue like it hasn’t been rocked in a long time, all with a slight grin on her face. During the 90 minutes she was on stage, she proved that age is just a number, and talent wins out in the end.
In the middle of the show, she did a song about being born and growing up in Chicago. It was interesting to leave the venue, get into my car which was parked in the park her mother and father hung out in, drive by the hospital she was born in, and drive to my house, which is about a mile from where she spent her first several years! Made me like her even more.
A couple of more great shows from this last week:
Mike Relm last Saturday
Here is a guy that is doing something new and interesting in hip hop- mashing up music and video for some great combinations, such as Michael Jackson singing with his younger self, and a currant hip hop track combined with Meg Ryan faking an orgasm at the deli from “When Harry Met Sally.” The audience was with him from the first to the last note, especially when the South Park guys appeared on the screen
The Devil Wears Prada on Monday
I met a group of very quiet young guys next to their tour bus in the bowels of the city of Chicago, underneath the House of Blues. We ventured into an underground construction site, with very weird light, and did a quick photo shoot. The guys seemed very laid back. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and went into the venue and arrived in the pit right before they started to play. YIKES!!! The floor was bouncing 3 or 4 inches through the whole show. No one in the band ever stopped moving. The audience knew the words to every song and sang along to every one of them. Sweat and spit was flying everywhere. A very great hour of music
