The 40th anniversary of Horses tour has reached the Roundhouse in Camden for two sold out shows of which this is the first one. I had resisted going to see Patti earlier in the year when she performed Horses at the Field Day festival in Victoria Park as I couldn't imagine it being anywhere near as good as seeing her perform Horses Live for the first time at the Royal Festival Hall 10 years ago at a show that had John Cale as the support act but this had a chance of that as they have been touring the album all year and celebrating just what a timeless classic Horses has become.
I got to the Roundhouse reasonably early just after 8pm and only just about had time to get a craft cider and squeeze through the sold out audience to find somewhere to stand before the current line- up of the Patti Smith group came on stage. Yes Lenny Kaye is still on Guitar and Jay Dee Daugherty on the drums with Tony Shanahan and Jack Petruzzelli both on Bass Player/Keyboards who both swapped instruments throughout the gig.
Yes the Roundhouse went nuts when they came out and Patti started off by reading a poem that seemed to be called Ready to Go before beginning the rambling intro that led into Gloria and as the band came in and the intensity rose it was clear that Patti was in fine voice and the band were as tight as can be it was a great intense version with everyone singing along to the chorus if not every last word of the song.
Redondo Beach was dedicated to Morrisey and had just enough of a reggae inflection to sound just about perfect before she launched into a monumental and fairly shamanic version of Birdland that built and built and was spine tingling in places it may have gone on for close to 10 minutes but could have gone on for twice that and I still would have wanted a longer version when it's played with this much intensity.
In contrast Free Money almost felt frivolous in comparison but still burnt with the belief that they may actually win that lottery when in fact for Patti Horses has been her ticket to Free Money for a long time now and has provided rich reward that saw everyone singing to this.
Patti then ceremoniously turned over the record so we could enjoy the b-side and obviously began with Kimberly that is still as touching a song as ever before Patti gave a good explanation of Break It Up the song she wrote with Tom Verlaine before they launched into it nice and slow building to the real chaos inherent in the song a great version for sure and they were so tight it was amazing.
Land was as majestically rambling and wondrous as you could wish for as we all got that feeling we were being surrounded by horses, which as the stables are only a few yards from the Roundhouse seemed kind of appropriate.
Elegie was dedicated to all of Patti's fallen friends from Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison through to Lou Reed and saw Jay Dee Daugherty switch to Bass and Patti to acoustic guitar it was sad and beautiful after which they all took a bow as Horses had finished and it was time for a few Greatest hits to finish the set off.
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The first non-Horses song was a long and very intense version of Privilege ( Set Me Free) that had Patti in full on preacher mode almost speaking in tongues and whipping us up into a frenzy it was magnificent and every bit as good as you'd want it to be.
Patti then went off for a quick break and left the boys on stage to pay tribute to The Velvet Underground which started with Tony Shanahan singing Rock & Roll obviously not as intense as with Patti Singing it and it was also more bar band than Velvets style but still pretty good as Lenny Kaye's rendition of I'm Waiting For the Man that had none of the ad lib's Patti used to stick in when she sang it back in the 1970's. Then they finished this section off with White Light White Heat that saw Jack Petruzzelli step up to the mike and do a decent job the song was missing the squalling feedback and all round nastiness that it really needs though.
Patti then came back and they played a great slow version of Beneath The Southern Cross that was easily the most recent song of the night and it isn't that new either. That said it has really grown in the last few years with its message being fervently preached by Patti.
Dancing Barefoot went down a storm and sounded just as great as you'd want it too. Patti explained after it that it was written about Fred Sonic Smith as was Because The Night before they really romped through it was still in the charts. She then closed the set with a brilliant version of People Have The Power that had just the right amount of anti-corporate anti-government anti-religion rabble rousing and general message to make sure you make a difference a great end to a great set.
Obviously the place went nuts and soon enough they returned for an encore for which Patti strapped on an electric guitar to get squalling feedback from as she ripped the strings to pieces during a brilliantly rambunctious version of My Generation that seemed a perfectly fitting end to a totally brilliant show that was easily tighter and more focused than the Horses show 10 years ago.
If you are anywhere near any of the shows left on this tour do not hesitate to get a ticket and go if you can get hold of one.
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