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!
