Turning up at doors at 8pm, I figured I’d not miss any of a rare set from Patti Smith. Unfortunately there is a queue, and it was an 8pm prompt start; no support or owt. So I get in to the sounds of ‘Beneath The Southern Cross’.

The place is rammed full of people who probably were about when Patti was first coming into the spotlight (unlike this reviewer). A thin figure in tight jeans, big black suit jacket and “a t-shirt bought from Debenams”, her features are faring well over the years. Behind her are a very talented band, including trusty sidekick Lenny Kaye on guitar. They shift and adapt to Smith’s tendencies to go off on one mid and in between songs, though their backing vocals sound too female (standing with not much in the way of a view at the back I sometimes find myself confused when Smith is no where near the mic but I can still here what sounds very much like her voice).

After talking in her deep American drawl about a patchwork quilt taking her to see a caterpillar on a mushroom smoking a long pipe (there may be some copyright issues with this story), Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’ has an early airing, with the strong “Feed Your Head” chorus sang by all in attendance. Smith then has a little talk about drugs, and how you should not take drugs to undue the state you are in from taking drugs in the first place (though she does suggest a tequila as a replacement cure).

With it’s rounds of “Come back, come back” ‘Pissing In A River’ is another of Smith’s tracks, as this show is a balance of originals and covers to promote new album ‘Twelve’, full of covers of her favourite artists, from Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan. Tonight we get a few goodies in the way of ‘Gimme Shelter’ by the Rolling Stones, and ‘Soul Kitchen,/i>’ from The Doors.

A few more of Smiths own songs are amongst the set, ‘Because The Night’ and ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ are quite slow and serious, or they would be for the comments in between about Smith’s rider. She asked for peanut butter and wheat bread, and as a surprise was presented with a bag of local rhubarb, which she says “went well with the peanut butter”.

Plenty of anti-war statements tonight, with ‘People Have The Power’ being a highlight. After an hour and a half of blistering music and thoughtful, carefully told stories she ends with ‘Gloria’ from ‘Horses’.

Of course though there’s the encore, and the highlight (especially for this youth) is a slow rendition of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, with a fitting spoken word tribute to Kurt Cobain “walking to the sun”.

‘Rock And Roll Nigga’ leads to Smith thrashing her guitar around erratically, knocking over her mic stand, then holding the instrument aloft and saying “would you turn a gun on your brother if he pissed you off? This is the only weapon you need!”.

The two hour set, with only a short breather, ends with a great cover of Neil Young’s ‘Helpless’ (a popular track these days; I recently witnessed Jesse Malin sing it). Smith’s voice is as hypnotizing as ever, you are drawn in to this woman who is charming and has so much wisdom to give, especially with the upset in her life. I for one am glad she is touring again, to catch this compelling person live is one more thing to cross off life’s list of things to do.