Photo by Dan Garcia
Patti Smith - Riverside Theater (2026)
Patti Smith reads an excerpt from her book "Bread of Angels" at Riverside Theater (2026).
Patti Smith is not afraid to work.
Her recent itinerary includes shows that mix music with readings from her latest memoir Bread of Angels, as well as full-on concerts with her longtime band. Last week she had three dates on the West Coast, Chicago’s Riot Fest last weekend and Madison on Tuesday.
Presented by Boswell Book Company, Wednesday night at the Riverside Theater, Smith alternated reading book excerpts with songs, accompanied by Tony Shanahan on piano and acoustic guitar and Jackson Smith on acoustic and electric guitar.
“Grateful” set the evening on a meditative tone with Shanahan commanding the grand piano as Smith intoned
Ours is just another skin
That simply slips away
You can rise above it
It will shed easily
Memory, as Smith suggests, is a collective endeavor. It led to a an except recalling a childhood incident with a neighborhood tough guy and Smith reading the blow-by-blow account of herself as David, defeating the neighborhood Goliath—and rescuing her brother—with a single smooth stone, perhaps a reference the lyric of “Pumping (My Heart)” or the confiscated stone from her book M Train? “This is a true story without a shred of embellishment,” she said, a remark she’d repeat again.
Her protective nature toward her younger siblings came clear in the lyrics to “Wing.”
Improvisational Flights
The day of the show coincided with John Coltrane’s 100th birthday. Smith recalling her teenage days listening to jazz albums, particularly taken with the saxophonist’s improvisational flights of duende—characteristics that would be writ large when Smith and her band began their sonic journeys beginning with the album Horses.
She would also recall finding herself in NYC, passing St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in July of 1967 as Coltrane’s memorial service took place, hearing Albert Ayler’s contribution. “Beneath the Southern Cross” wound to a raga, ending with Shanahan’s melodic wailing as Smith burst into, “Happy birthday John Coltrane!”
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A highlight of the show was story of Smith meeting her soon-to-be husband Fred Sonic Smith, how producer Jimmy Iovine pitched an unfinished Bruce Springsteen song to Smith who ignored it, until the night Fred’s long-distance call was delayed. By the time he called she had finished “Because the Night,” or as she describes it “one of those darn hits.”
As the song’s chorus approaches, Smith is two steps from the mic, preparing like a diver on the cliffs at Acapulco before diving into the next line, with a joyous audience chiming in.
At the song’s conclusion she seemingly apologized to her son Jackson for telling the story yet again. “It’s not like I’ve never heard it before,” she said was his reply.
Dream of Life
Photo by Dan Garcia
Patti Smith - Riverside Theater (2026)
Patti Smith performing on her book tour at Riverside Theater (2026).
When Smith married Smith, she left NYC to settle in Detroit to raise a family. Away from the spotlight she never stopped working. In 1988 the album Dream of Life was released with all songs co-written by the couple. It would yield recurring fruit with the anthem “People Have the Power,” but for this excerpt Smith chose to cover Charlotte Day Wilson’s “Work.” To this day, Smith’s website refers to concerts and appearances as jobs.
In 1995 Smith’s mentor Allen Ginsberg got word to Bob Dylan that she was ready to tour again. As Dylan’s opening act, she recalls him asking her to pick a song to duet on during his set.
Riffing humorous about staying up all night figuring out what song to pick from Dylan’s colossal discography she selected “Dark Eyes.” Smith recalled the vivid memory of sharing the mic closely with Dylan, each of them simply singers on a stage. Then, like a true unreliable narrator, Smith sings Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat.”
Winding down the evening, Smith performed “Peaceable Kingdom,” the song she co-wrote with Shanahan and teased into “People Have the Power.” That song, built on Fred’s title, is as appropriate now as ever. It was written for the future, “And the future is now!” she exclaimed as they dug into the tune.
The pliant lyrics urged “People have the power to dream, vote, march, love. To wrestle the earth from fools--
Use your voice!!”
And with that, Smith and her bandmates left the stage. And on to the next job.
