Brighton Festival 2026
Patti Smith: An Evening of Words and Music
Patti Smith
Genre: International, Music
Venue: Brighton Dome Corn Exchange
Festival: Brighton Festival
Low Down
The second of two Brighton Festival sold out ‘Exclusive’ performances by music icon Patti Smith and her quartet. Billed as a showcase of her spoken word and poetry along with an intimate concert of songs, Smith – ever the trickster – instead talks and sings for ninety minutes straight.
Patti Smith – vocals, acoustic guitar
Jackson Smith – guitar
Tony Shanahan – bass, keyboards, backing vocals
Seb Rochford – drums
Oisín Murray – occasional bass and keys; alternating with Shanahan
Review
Wreckless Eric’s Whole Wide World is an inspired choice for the pre-show playlist. The woman next to me had travelled from Macclesfield and I’ve no doubt others came from further afield; global icons attract this kind of devotion. If, like I did, you found Patti Smith in your youth, you are likely to stick, through the switch from punk-ish feminist pioneer, to writer, artist and now the grooviest grand dame on the international music scene. But there’s nothing old-timey about tonight’s show. She’s dressed in “stuff I wear about the house. Thought it might get me in free” and is by turns playful, furious, charming and impassioned.
Smith often writes songs in response to life events and tonight’s opener, Grateful, was written when Jerry Garcia died, “the silver thread is a loving nod to his hair” she says on Substack. Her son Jackson Smith plays acoustic guitar to Tony Shanahan’s delicate piano, with Oisin Murray’s baseline and Seb Rochford’s brushes create a subtle groove allows her unmistakable voice to soar.
Each song is prefaced by a story either of its provenance, Dylan’s ‘One Too Many Mornings’ which she loved as a teenager is played as a lilting slow waltz, or by an anecdote. Smith loves Brighton and has played here many times, including the Dome Concert Hall last night. The most exclusive thing about tonight is actually the ticket price, which, whilst it skews the audience demographic, doesn’t dim the radiance of the night. Those expecting extracts from Rimbaud or her book Just Kids might feel short-changed, and the book-stall superfluous, but if Smith just wants to sing and chat, so be it.
She’s been enjoying grilled sardines at the Regency and the unpredictable weather; she dedicates the song Wing to three women recently drowned here. Smith is all about connection; local and global, personal and universal. 1978’s Ghost Dance, written with Lenny Kaye about American’s disrespect for Hopi people is powerful as ever and sadly just as relevant. Duetting guitars and snapping of fingers evoke a campfire feel.
Smith’s lyrics abound with images of birds, angels and flight. Against a glowing red-lit curtain (changing colours are the only nod to scenery) the night reaches transcendence 40 minutes in with Break It Up, written as a prose poem from a dream in which Jim Morrison ascends to the skies like Prometheus unbound. Someone whistles in appreciation and Smith shoots back “Can you do High Noon?”
The sound doesn’t shift much musically but the limitations allow the vocals to shine, including those by Shanahan who backs some tracks and gets a solo song. He co-wrote Peaceful Kingdom with Smith in 2003, a rallying cry for peace in Palestine and the most overtly political song of the night. We jump back to the 70’s for Radio Ethiopia, written in a hurricane and played in tribute to producer Jack Douglas who just died; an overlong electric guitar solo perhaps a nod to his work with Aerosmith.
Daughter Jessie joins on piano and the five piece band rocks the hell out of “Because the Night” inspired by and dedicated to her and Jackson’s father Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith. With a rallying cry of “Feel your fucking freedom!” Patti Smith proves once again her status as some kind of goddess, whose voice at 79 has lost none of its resonant power, and whose heart is still full of hope.
