So I've been here in Europe for almost 2 months now and so
far this blog has been happening in my head, but not in actuality, so
it's far too late to start at the start, so what I'm going to do is
start with Patti Smith and go forwards from there, and sometimes I'll go
back and do a retrospective post. So now you know how it's going to
work, let's begin!
I was lucky to see Patti Smith for
the first time ever in Bologna on Sunday. I was able to change my
accomodation bookings last minute to go. And my airbnb host also was
going to the concert, so we went together. Bologna seemed to me like the
Berkeley California of Italy, a place full of free thinkers, so there
was no better place to see Patti in all her glory. Below is a shonky video
of one of my most favourite songs, which I forgot was the case, and also
forgot it was Patti's song, until she started singing it on Sunday and I
thought hey I will video this, and I'm glad I did because now I get to
watch this over and over and remember how cool the show was. It was held
in a park outside the decommissioned tram depot and in the building
right behind the stage is an incredible
Christian Boltanski installation of an aeroplane which exploded in 1980 as it departed from
Bologna - all the remaining small pieces of the plane have been
'stitched' back together over a wire frame, and there are typical
Christian Boltanski lightbulbs hanging from the roof which glow on and
off so you just get these momentary glimpses of the horror of the plane
in all its pieces, and there are recordings all around the perimeter of
the room of the voices of the relatives of the deceased playing
simultaneously. So this concert was a memorial for the anniversary of
this
tragedy & mystery
and Patti's choice of songs were on the theme of memory, mostly. If you
listen carefully I can be heard singing along (badly) with Patti & the
crowd of Bolognesi.
Before she departed the stage, Patti said: Be happy! Be free! Use your voice!
