Galway International Arts Festival: At 79, Smith’s voice remains strong, and her demeanour is as pure and earnest as ever
Galway International Arts Festival: At 79, Smith’s voice remains strong, and her demeanour is as pure and earnest as everare fishing ice cubes out of their drinks to rub on each other’s faces.
Those who thought to bring a hand-held electric fan are swarmed with new friends. Smith comes onstage looking relaxed, dressed in baggy jeans, a white T-shirt and an oversized blazer, a change from the Ann Demeulemeester tailoring she has often favoured. She goes straight to the microphone with a simple message: “At a time when leaders try to divide us, we offer a song of unity. ” She dives into Ghost Dance, a strange and spiritual song.
Next is Dancing Barefoot, which gets the crowd singing. Revenge still carries its bite, Smith’s delivery lethal as she snarls, “I gave you a wristwatch, baby / You wouldn’t even give me the time of day. ” At 79, Smith’s voice remains strong, and her demeanour is as pure and earnest as ever. There is no vanity in her performance.
She is the last of the poet rock stars, the last of a brilliant and tragic generation. Ten unheard David Bowie songs to be released on new album’s birth, Smith says, “He was my mentor when I was young and hungry. He bought me a sandwich. ” She launches into Footnote to Howl, delivered over a steady, quietly menacing accompaniment, a furious, passionate recitation. A tender cover of The Doors’ Crystal Ship leads into Break It Up, introduced with the beautiful story of a dream Smith had after’s Walk on the Wild Side and then Galway Girl. On guitar throughout, touchingly, is Smith’s son, Jackson, a talented musician.
When Smith returns she seems reinvigorated. A spoken poem on Irish displacement and migration leads into Nine, before she thanks Ireland for standing with the Palestinian people and cites Patti Smith interview: ‘After the Taylor Swift song, what made me happy was that kids were buying Dylan Thomas books’ As chants of “Free Palestine” spread through the tent during the instrumental opening of Peaceable Kingdom, she begins to cry before composing herself, blowing kisses into the audience, and continuing.
Despite the fact that she’s visibly hot and a little shaky, Smith returns for a generous encore, jumping up and down and grinning madly. She performs People Have the Power and ends on a hopeful message: “We are free people. We are all alive together. No foolish kings can take away our freedom.
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