Stars of alt-rock, classic rock and stage and screen assemble in New York to salute Smith’s songs and poetry
Maggie Rogers, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Depp, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and Music Will students perform during “People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,” presented by Michael Dorf at Carnegie Hall in New York on March 26.
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If anyone doubted the ongoing relevance of Patti Smith’s work, that answer arrived at the next-to-last moment at “People Have the Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith,” a boldface-name-heavy tribute concert Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, a caravan of singers, musician and actors — some associated with her, some not necessarily — sang and read Smith’s words, an ongoing testament to the still hypnotic grip of her songs and poems.
The odds that Smith herself would participate were pretty high; after all, she was involved in the planning of the show. But when she finally did, at the very end of the night, Smith didn’t opt for easy nostalgia. She sang-read “Peaceable Kingdom,” a largely overlooked deep cut from 2004’s Trampin.’ At first it felt like an unusual choice, but then Smith arrived at the refrain: “Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough/To build it back again/Build the peaceable kingdom back again.” Her voice exhibiting both resolve and mournfulness, those words hit even harder now, in the era of Trump 2.0, than they did in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
“People Have the Power” had plenty of such charged moments. Pegged to the 50th anniversary of Horses, the concert was the latest in a now ongoing tradition of all-star tributes at the venue dating back 20 years. As City Winery founder (and concert producer) Michael Dorf announced at the start, the show would include songs from that album but would also focus attention on her overall body of work — which proved to be some of the most surprising and emotional parts of the night.
Each of these tribute shows has featured a house band that pretty much backs everyone on stage. But what immediately set “People Have the Power” apart was last night’s head-turning assemblage. Led by Smith’s longtime bass player and keyboardist Tony Shanahan, the support crew included Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, former Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer and sometime Rolling Stone Steve Jordan, and guitarist Charlie Sexton. The fact that the band included such a range of musicians was itself a message: that Smith’s music wasn’t just “punk” but has become deeply embedded in the history of American music overall.
With those musicians providing an anchor, some performers channeled Smith in various ways. Sharon Van Etten — a Jersey native, like Smith — channeled her inner Smith in phrasing and incantatory delivery on a riveting “Pissing in the River” from Radio Ethiopia. Filling in for Chrissie Hynde, unable to make the show due to the fires at Heathrow Airport, Maggie Rogers started “Frederick” respectfully before launching into overdrive and melding her own stage moves with Smith’s. Karen O brought punk cabaret zest to “Gloria: In Excelsis Deo.”
Others reimagined Smith’s work. Playing an acoustic lapslide guitar, Ben Harper turned “Ghost Dance” into a dustbowl hymn. “My Blakean Year,” also from Trampin’, always sounded a bit like an R.E.M. song, and Michael Stipe made that even more explicit with a hypnotic version that did indeed sound like an outtake from one of those mid-Nineties R.E.M. albums.
Some of the covers didn’t quite hit: A version of “Redondo Beach” by Courtney Barnett flattened out the boardwalk-carnival romp of the original, and a take on “Dancing Barefoot” by Johnny Depp and the Kills’ Alison Mosshart would have benefitted from a frontman with a more commanding voice.
Yet those moments were overshadowed by far more touching ones. Brought onstage in his wheelchair after his stroke, Jesse Malin stood up and, standing perfectly still, conjured vintage Lower East Side street scuzz on “Free Money,” with Flea switching over to trumpet. Of the handful of actors who tackled Smith’s poems – a list that included Sean Penn and Jim Jarmusch – it was Scarlett Johansson’s reading of “Dear Robert,” Smith’s farewell to her friend Robert Mapplethorpe, that hit hardest. Music Will, a group of high school and grade-school students whose organization is among those who will benefit from the concert’s ticket sales, pulled out a sweet and charming version of “Paths That Cross” (from 1988’s Dream of Life) that hints at the song’s future as a high-school graduation theme song.
When word leaked out that Bruce Springsteen would be participating, no one doubted that he’d play “Because the Night.” And sure enough, he did, introducing it with, “If I had sung this song, it wouldn’t have been a hit” and thanking Smith for doing so. But what no one would he fully anticipated was the extended guitar-freakout Springsteen pulled out at the end of the song.
After she’d resurrected “Peaceable Kingdom,” Smith ended the evening with another song everyone knew was coming, “People Have the Power.” At various points since she released more than 35 years ago, the song has connected with a moment in history. Last night, with longtime members of her own band (guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty) behind her, Smith unleashed it again. But in light of the growing number of enraged citizens flocking to town halls or Bernie Sanders and AOC rallies, the song never felt more like a rallying cry. “Don’t forget it — use your fucking voice!” Smith beseeched at the end. People may have the power after all.
From Rolling Stone US.