So when this 40th anniversary concert of the release of Horses was announced, I was at the ready for zero hour, when tickets went on sale. This is a unique exercise with Ticketmaster in NY, getting ready to dial in, at the same time as being online. Ready, set, go: immediately all sold out! Nothing unusual with that, sigh....Well, as luck would have it I tried again two hours later and there were a pair of tickets available, someone's sale didn't go through. Two reasonably good orchestra seats at that.

Needless to say, Patti and her band just exploded on stage, following a short set by Michael Stips, of REM, who was great. Unfortunately, one of the down sides of rock concerts these days, is that as soon as the music starts, everybody stands up. I have a way to deal with this: if I am going to have stand up, I am going to go down front and stand, which is exactly what I did. 

Interestingly, Patti is 68 years old, but has the energy of a 20 year old. She played the whole Horses album, including some of her big hits, like Gloria (click here for a link to the video), Redondo Beach, Free Money, etc. She gave an eulogy to some dear departed friends, including Johnny, Joey, Dee and Tommy Ramone, Janis Joplin, Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, etc. They concluded with the Who's My Generation. In classic Who style, she basically ripped the guitar strings off her instrument (click here for a link to the video). I have to say, I had seen Joplin live, in the day, and she had nothing on Patti. Remember, Patti is considered to be the progenitor of punk rock, and was part of the whole art scene then, along with Robert Mapplethorpe, as she is today, still writing poetry, and still rocking out.