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Patti Smith

May 13, 2026 By Nick Roseblade Photography by Nick Roseblade Web Exclusive

Hold with me, because this might get a bit confusing, but it will make sense. Hopefully… I have a theory that a support act doesn’t have to be in the same venue as the headliner to class as the opener. I said this would be a bit confusing but let me explain. We are living in a time where multi-venue events are more common. We are also living in a world where there are multiple gigs on at the same time in the same town and city. So, if you saw one band in one venue, then hotfooted it across town for another gig, the last band you saw IS that band’s support. Still fuzzy? Let me give you an example.

Tonight I saw the Patti Smith Quartet at The Brighton Dome. Doors were at 7:30 and the show started at 8. There was no support. An hour before I was in the queue I was watching Misha Phillips and Knifedoutofexistence play at The Prince Albert. So, by this logic, Misha and Knifed were the support for Patti Smith. Or they were MY support for Patti Smith. All clear now? Good. Now I’ll continue.

Expectation for this gig was high as Misha, and Knifed, are two of my favourite musicians at the moment. Misha writes these introverted, and existential, songs on guitar. She textures them with feedback, reverb and distortion so the emotional content really pours from them. Knifed is one of the most exciting noises/experimental artists in the world today. His set, like Misha’s, are also textured. Field recordings, tape loops, chains, guttural vocals and a heavy dose of feedback make them something to experience than to listen to. This is the first time the pair have collaborated, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Misha Phillips’, the eagle eyed of you will know her as the live drummer in the Lambrini Girls, set started with a version of Jimmy Campbell’s “In My Room”. This isn’t so much a cover as a reimaging and a bit of performance art. Knifed had the music, and sounds, coming from his altar of noise and Misha crooned along. A bit like Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet. At the line “Jane Avril is my favourite” the “favourite” line is looped. When this started Misha grabbed her guitar and started to rinse a lot of feedback from it. At the same time Knifed started adding textures of sound to it too until we have a beautiful cacophony filling the room. Then the song flicked back and carried on as if nothing had really happened. Things started to get a bit more abstract now. Then Knifed started to add sounds. Was that a field recording or sand being walked on, or rain falling? While this was going on Misha was playing slide guitar through her pedals. Frayed loops were mixing with the sound Knifed was creating. About halfway through the set it all started to fade away, and Misha was playing some chords on her guitar. It was fuzzy, over this field recordings of the sea came through. Then the guitar started to get harsher with squeals of feedback. It reminded me of Neil Young’s score to “Deadman”. Tangible guitar mixing with ethereal drones. Knifed then started to incorporate guitar feedback. Running his microphone over the pickups. Now we had a full-on maelstrom going on. It was hard to tell what was coming from where, but it was glorious. It all dropped and what was left was Misha’s clean guitar and the field recording of the sea again. Slowly the tension, and noise, was built up again. This time there was no holding back. Knifed was moving dials very slowly but you could hear massive changes in sound. While this was going on Misha was attacking her guitar’s amp with a contact mic. Then it was all over. They’re playing again in Brighton on the 14th, and I will 100% be there. Let’s hope there are more gigs and an album in the offing as this is too good a project to have as a one off!

After they finished, I had half an hour to get to the Dome. The queue was bloody long. Luckily it was fast moving, but I had to endure a guy braying into the ether about Patti, the number of times he’d seen her, when he first saw her, etc, etc. The couple being me were into it and happy to chat. Everything they said he could top, apart from when one of them said they’d seen her, or someone, earlier and in a better venue than him when he delivered an “Alright love, no need to boast” line. Some people…

Once nice, after picking up some signed copies of her books, I was four people from the front. My plan was to stay there and see how the crowd was when it started moving and see where I ended up. At 8:20pm the Patti Smith Quartet took to the stage. Smith sauntered up to the mic, gave a cheeky look, massive waves and we were off. The set started with “Dancing Barefoot”. The crowd exploded and sang along throughout. “My Blakean Year” was up next followed by “Revenge”. It’s their first live outing since 2008. At this point I knew we were in for a treat. In between Smith was animated and chatty. She told us a story about a dream about finding a statue of Prometheus with wings. The marble cracked and out stepped Jim Morrison. This led us to a Doors cover. I was hoping for live favourite “Soul Kitchen”, but we got “The Crystal Ship”, which felt better. This was followed up with “Break it Up”. So far nothing to complain about. Next up was “Nine” from Banga, her last studio album. Banga has grown on me over the past year, and I rate it as one of her finest. Then came the real treat of the show. When you go and see an artist you love you have a list of songs you’d like to hear. Ones you’d hope they played and ones that would be a dream if they did. Smith played the latter. “Pissing in a River” is one of my favourite Patti Smith songs as it was one of the first I heard when I was getting into her. It’s played regularly but not at every show. I had goosebumps and a tear was wiped from my eye before it ended. Then Smith introduced “The boys”. Long time collaborator Tony Shanahan on bass and keyboards, Seb Rochford on drums and her son Jackson Smith on guitar. Smith then left the stage and the boys covered Tom Verlaine’s “Kingdom Come”. After this Smith was back. “We’re going to try something now…” she told us, with a mischievous smile on her face. The band started playing something for Shanahan to say “No, no, let’s try again”. Smith roller her eyes and said, “It sounded good to me…”. They tried again and played “Fireflies”.

Afterwards Smith said “This is the first time we’ve ever played it. I’ve always wanted to try, but it never felt right” The crowd whooped this up. “Wherever the song goes live, I will always think of this gig as this is where it started. It belongs to you”. This was followed up by “Space Monkey”, “Ghost Dance”, “Peaceable Kingdom” and the set closer “Because the Night”. The crowd sung, shouted and bellowed every word. Then it was over. The band left the stage. But it’s never over, is it? We clapped, stamped our feet and, after the sound techs had retuned the guitars, the band came back. This time they were joined by Smith’s daughter Jesse Paris Smith. “This is my daughter Jesse; we’ve dragged her from the merch for this one” and she played “People Have the Power” which she dedicated to her late husband Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith. Again, the crowd sung, with one voice, all the words and danced. During the song Jesse and Jackson, at opposite ends of the stage, were trying to make each other laugh by playing in an over-elaborate way. After this Smith said “Right, I need a favour to ask, but if you do it, I’ll play one more”. She then explained that it was her friend’s birthday, but they were missing it because of the tour, “So we’ll call John and if he picks up, we’ll sing happy birthday and then we’ll do one more”. Jesse dialled. The crowd went silent. John picked up. His phone was put on speaker and next to the mic and we snag happy birthday. As a way of thanks Smith and her band launched into “Gloria”. As this was the last song, we gave everything we had. Maximum volume of singing, dancing and fun was had. Then it was all over. The lights came on and we shuffled out.

Patti Smith is one of the best to ever do it. This iteration of the band is excellent. They are tight, and loose, in equal measure and the looks they give each other during shows that they aren’t just doing a job. They bloody love it. Rochford’s drumming was impeccable. Possibly the best drummer I’ve seen her have. There was one moment, in between a song, when he looked out to the crowd, then looked at the band and smiled. The look said, “I can’t believe this is my job”. It was one of the best times I’ve ever seen her. At the moment, there are a raft of legacy artists out there playing the hits for big bucks. They phone it in and go home. I won’t name names, but you know who they are. Smith isn’t one of them. Part of the reason is she’s never gone away. She’s been on the road constantly since the late 90s. Recording solo albums or working with others. She is a legacy artist in the sense that she has been recording since the 1970s and has an incredible back catalogue, but her work, and performances, are as good as they’ve ever been. The real thrill is watching her interactions with the band and the crowd. On stage she switches from old school Patti filled with fire and vengeance. Then she’s an older person, walking about on stage for a few moments. Then she’s just letting rip with vocals that time has made better. The passing of time has given Smith a range that really conveys the joy, and anguish, in her songs. At other times she’s being a Mum watching her son play a wicked solo. At one point Jackson started playing a country/folkie riff. Smith looked exasperated “Oh, he does this all the time, especially when I’m taking too long to do things”, and then she’s telling some funny story and back to fire and vengeance again.

Patti Smith has always been the real deal. She’s always delivered the truth night after night. Album after album. When she comes to your town, check her out as she’s in her prime and for £50 a ticket it’s money well spent!