music friday: patti smith at the boarding house, 1976

43 years ago today, we saw Patti Smith for the first time, at the Boarding House, which sat 300. It was a couple of months after the release of Horses. Noel Redding, former bass player for Jimi Hendrix, was the opening act.

It was an interesting show, of course. She did several covers, including two Velvet Underground songs. Only four songs from her then-current album, along with two from the subsequent album, Radio Ethopia, and even one from Easter. I remember she had star quality, and thought the band was only OK ... by the next time we saw them, the band was much better. Here is the setlist:

• We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together
• Privilege
• Ain't It Strange
• Kimberly
• Redondo Beach
• Free Money
• Pale Blue Eyes/Louie Louie
• Pumping
• Time Is on My Side
• Flying Saucers Rock and Roll/Poem/Gloria
• My Generation

And here is an audio-only bootleg of the show, which was simulcast on local radio:

Comments

[Tomás]

Cool stuff! I've only recently gotten into her. She's something.

[Charlie Bertsch]

I was very happy to see her with you and Robin at the Warfield in the 1990s. I recall Kim having some sort of tense exchange with Patti about her water bottle. Fifteen years later, more or less, Kim reviewed Patti's movie for CounterPunch and Patti mailed her a thank-you package. That was awesome.

[Steven Rubio]

Sometimes it's worth waiting!