Patti Smith/U2 at Madison Square Garden 11/21/05

[schwenko]

from the Babel mailing list:

Setlist
11/21/05
Madison Square Garden

1. dancing barefoot
2. redondo beach
3. free money
4. wing - patti: "in memory of Link Wray"
5. because the night: segue into patti : "there is no righteous war"

from where I was sitting, I did hear booos, but I also heard a much louder positive response of "yeas!" to Patti's war comments. A woman behind me was making nasty comments about Patti's appearance. People to my left and right were enjoying the songs and clapping loudly and someone in my row kept screaming out "Paaattii!" throughout the night.

6. peaceable kingdom

...incredible segue into rbnbr nigger... no pause between songs

7. rock'n'roll'nigger (unreal version - couldn't believe I was hearing this at MSG!)

"jimi hendrix was a nigger... jesus christ and grandma too!" segued into....
a snippet of U2bs "vertigo" (At the end of vertigo, U2 segue into the
ramones. rockaway beach and then into rock'nroll niggerb& patti did a little bpay-backb) back to rock'n'roll nigger (and then instant segue - no pauses b into
PHTP)

8. people have the power b patti: "I lost myself - I got hypno-tized"
9. gloria

with U2: Bono brought Patti out during their encores and with U2 she and Bono sang John Lennon's:

10. "Instant Karma" unbelievable version... thought i was dreaming....

at the end of the song with the crowd going apeshit.... Bono kissed Patti's hand and then Patti walked over to The Edge and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she hugged him.

Bono told the audience something likeb& bwithout them we wouldnbt be
here and he specifically mentioned Patti smith and tom verlaine.

The sound, I thought, was excellent!

The performance: people I dont know what to say... maybe I was delirious... or exceptionally happy that she was playing the garden... but I kept telling myself that the quality of the old songs was closer to what I remember from the 1970's than anything i have heard patti do after 1995. I kept thinking that this should be released as a live record. no shitb& Lenny's vocals? :flawless... Toms guitar? Selfless is the best way to describe it. He was a member of PSG & there were no independent excursions or Tom'sounds. They did such
a great job and the crowd gave them a very positive response.

[Dave]

Very cool Schwenko. Sounds like an amazing concert. It must have been a riot watching the reaction to Patti, especially those of the stuffed shirts holding the corporate tickets.

U2 have always been very gracious is acknowledging other artists, especially ground-breaking predecessors like Patti.

[schwenko]

Here is a link to an audience recording of the concert-includes Instant Karma with Patti Smith:

http://savefile.com/projects.php?pid=798607