On November 4, 2024, Joe’s Pub hosted “a night of songs, poetry, and stories” from Patti Smith, Jesse Paris Smith and friends to honor the 30th anniversary of Fred Sonic Smith’s passing. The friends included Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan, Nikolai Fraiture, Rebecca Foon, Ben Harper and Jaclyn Jonet, and they performed under photos of Fred. Two ticketed events were held back to back and both sold-out with little buzz on social media (from what I saw).
Two of the highlights were, the group surprisingly sang “It’s My Party” (partly to honor of one of Patti’s grandchildren) and my favorite, “Because the Night”. Videos of both of those and some point and shoot photos from the second performance of the night are below.
In 2025, City Winery’s annual “The Music of” series celebrates Patti Smith at Carnegie Hall on March 26th. Per Rolling Stone, the lineup will include “Michael Stipe, Kim Gordon, The National‘s Matt Berninger, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Harper, Courtney Barnett, The Kronos Quartet, Angel Olsen, The Kills’ Alison Mosshart, and more to be announced… The house band will include Tony Shanahan and Lenny Kaye from Patti’s band, Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea, and Rolling Stones‘ Steve Jordan.” I hope to attend (and photograph) and hopefully Patti herself will show up!
