july, 2001

Just back from a week-long trip following patti in Florence, Cesena and Turin.
And...my god!...I have to say that this wonderful girl (someone still believes
she's going to turn 55 on next december? nooo, I really don't, I suppose someone got confused 
about her date of birth :-) ) doesn't finish to suprise me a little bit more every time I see her!
Really VERY VERY GREAT performances!! The best patti live I've ever seen!!!!
Maybe even better than two years ago in Ferrara that also was a fantastic show!
In all of the three concerts I was in the very first row, just under the mike, half meter or less from her.
Always dressed in the same, usual punk-beatnik style: a worn-out and torn T-shirt under a
black jacket with badges and ribbons pinned to it (for the curious ones: the marjuana leaf, the USA-shaped badge
 and the Nader button (!?) and some others that now I can't remember...), a pair of old blue jeans 
and black combat ankle boots worn without socks.
And, surprisingly, no grey hair as I remembered since the last time I saw her, 
but rust blond instead, with red reflections (or, at least, so it seemed to me...)
that made her look younger than she is and actually very cool! (I'd really like to look like this at 55!!)   
But above all, she was very relaxed, very powerful, very intense, 
very communicative with the audience and seemed to enjoy herself a lot 
as well as her band did. 
And the voice was also very loud and proud and strong as ever.
Particularly in Florence, I think she was at her top, maybe due to the city itself
that seemed to inspire her in a very special way, also, I guess, because of  her own memories of the seventies.
Actually, the scenario was really wonderful: the stage was settled in Michelangelo square,
(a high, beautiful square that dominates the whole city) with the Brunelleschi dome at her back
and the David of Michelangelo at her front, who really seemed to be
a great source of inspiration for her: she made lots of references to him during the show
(she asked the audience the italian word for 'brother', and after someone replying 'fratello'
she pointed her index finger towards the David and said: "David, my fratello!" and smiled) 
and eventually performed the poem about Michelangelo from the notes on her last tour in 1979.
She started the performance by reading the 1979 Florence notes from "Complete", 
and just after that the band began to perform the last song I would never expect
to listen to: "my generation", which I never heard live before. What a fantastic surprise!
(and listening to patti crying out that way "I don't need that fucking shiiiiit" made me feel a little
thrill under my skin...).
From that moment on I understood that the night would be unforgettable!
And actually so it was. She offered a fantastic performance, alternating sweet ballads
with very violent and furious rock songs in the typical patti-style and with very angry, spoken
anthems against G8. That seemed to be a matter she did care very much. Both in Florence and 
in Turin she spent lots of words about that, inviting all the people to go to Genova and rise their voice
against the summit: "...fill the streets...make your voice known against G8...we need to let them know
that we don't want the world to become one big business place...we do not need business leader,
we need spiritual leader...we need freedom...do not use violence, no violence, use your voice...FUCK THE G8!"
The gig finished with the usual show of patti breaking the strings of her fender (which is always a spectacular moment, 
although seeing a fender being treated in that manner hurts me a little bit :-))                 
However, here is the Florence setlist:
 
1. my generation
2. set me free
3. glitter in their eyes
4. so you want to be a RnR star (another great surprise!)
5. gone pie
6. redondo beach
7. frederick
8. lamb (a little poem from W. Blake)
9. boy cried wolf
10. beneath the southern cross
11. spell
12. people have the power (after which patti cried out "don't forget it!" and the same did in Turin)
13. lo and beholden
14. wing
15. dancing barefoot
16. because the night
17. don't say nothing
18. pissing in a river
19. babelogue
20. michelangelo (reading from her 1979 notes)
21. gloria
22. heart-shaped box (nirvana cover)
23. RnR nigger
 
The cesena show was an incredible acoustic concert held in a wonderful ancient fort.
Although there were maybe less than 1000 people,
they were all very enthustiastic and very warm and patti was very happy of this and after the end
of the show, when almost all the people had gone away, she came out again to sign some
autograph and to talk to a little group of us under the stage thanking all the people for the warm support!!!
A really magic night!! and here's the setlist:
 
1. wing
2. spell
3. redondo beach
4. ghost dance
5. frederick
6. sea of love (cover)
7. lamb (poem by W. Blake)
8. boy cried wolf
9. southern cross
10. grateful (dedicated to jerry garcia: patti, joking, said that he was a great friend of Dante and Blake
     and that they all had pizza together!! ah, ah, ah...)
11. free money
12. lo and beholden
13. contemplation (new song inspired by a sonet by W. Blake, probably an anticipation of the new album, with
     patti at the clarinet in some parts, playing not so bad as she can :-) anyway, a wonderful, wonderful song!!)
14. dancing barefoot
15. because the night
16. wild leaves
17. privilege (set me free)
18. people have the power
19. heart-shaped box (nirvana cover)
20. pissing in a river
21. gloria
 
The Turin show was a rock show again and it was another very great performance.
Just before it, patti received a poetry award by the Commune of Torino.
She said she felt very happy and proud of it since that was her first honour as a writer.
I must say that the show had started in a very bad manner for me, since the
people standing in the front row (and I was among them) were forced by the security guys to sit down 
during the first songs to make room for official photographers and journalists.
And, you know, I really hate that kind of things! (and by the way, what the hell were all that fucking cops doing? 
I don't think there was the need of so many policemen for a concert! maybe G8 effect??)     
Unfortunately I don't have the complete setlist, however patti changed it with respect to Florence and
Cesena and did some other songs she hadn't done there: "one voice", "seven ways of going", "dead city".
The reading of "spell" was absolutely breathtaking (I really do love the passionate way patti always reads this poem in her live
performances) and a dreaming, long-extended version of "Lo and beholden" with patti dancing and strewing herself with 
white rose petals was also really unforgettable.
She continued to express her rage against G8 several times during the show:  in the middle of "don't say nothing" she
made a long spoken improvisation, in her typical hallucinated, imaginary style:
"...I saw people marching...first one, then 2, then 2000, then 20000, then 200000...all that people marching together, 
because there was something happening they did not like...they were marching towards the great summit 
of big fat governers...and there was no violence...only the great number of the people...and they were marching together using their voice..."
"People have the power" was the obvious following and it was the usual exciting collective moment, 
with all the audience singing with patti and at the end of the song she even threw the mike to the people 
and let they speak freely into it!
But the most emotional moment for me was an extraordinary rock version 
of "wild leaves" which she dedicated to Robert Mapplethorp and which she sang 
with an intensity that hurt me. 
Thank you so much, patti! You really gave us nights of wonder we won't forget!
 
Davide Bernardi
davide.bernardi@libero.it