Looking through last year's diary for something, I realised it is almost a year to the day since I saw Patti Smith. She came to Sheffield to do a concert as part of the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition at the Graves Art Gallery. Tickets for the concert sold out very quickly, but I found out she was doing a lunch time talk in the tiny Library Theatre in the basement of the library and gallery. I took the day off work and headed into Sheffield on the bus. The bus broke down on the outskirts of the city - luckily another one did come along! When I got there the audience was mainly made up of people around my age. She was very late, and some had to head back to their city centre work places. John Robb was booked to be 'in conversation' with her. She was wonderful.
Just Kids had recently been published, and she and John talked about her early career and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. She also spoke of her decision to take a break from her career to raise her family. She was totally inspiring- someone you would love to call your friend. She ran over time, and called her guitarist up on stage at the end. As she sang "Because the Night Belongs to Lovers" we all joined in. What a privilege. If you had ever told me back when I first listened to her records that one day, decades down the line, I'd be in a tiny theatre in Sheffield singing along with her, I would have thought it was pure fantasy. Wish I could do it again.
