FRED & PATTI SMITH
wsg/ SONIC'S RENDEZVOUS BAND & THE PATTI SMITH GROUP
NECTARINE BALLROOM (formerly The Second Chance)
ANN ARBOR, MI, USA
APRIL 6, 1991
G2 MASTER AUDIENCE RECORDING
SONY D3 MASTER CASSETTE>STAND ALONE BURNER>WAV>FLAC
This is a (sorta) 20th Anniversary repost with bonus tracks. The original 13 flac files are the same. I have created new torrent and checksums files, and the flacs are no longer in a sub-folder. The bonus tracks are at the end. Oddly enough, although I lived in Ann Arbor briefly I have only been to the "Nectarine" twice - for this show and 20 years nearly to the day later for the afterparty following the classic Stooges Ron Asheton Tribute a couple of weeks ago.
Here are the original notes I posted 3 years ago:
You want history? This is (as far as I know) the only show Patti & Fred did with a band during the period from 1980 until Fred's untimely death. And what a band! SRB and PSG together. There were several recorders just within eyeshot of me, but yet this has somehow managed not to be too widely distributed. Most bios don't even mention this amazing night. I wrote down the lead singers next to the song titles. This is the venue where SRB played regularly back in the day. Patti was ON FIRE - it was like she hadn't been away at all. And what an honor to see and hear Fred play, even if he wasn't quite at 1978 intensity levels. The recording isn't perfect, hell, it ain't even close - but it is very listenable. It was recorded from the front row of the balcony, dead center. The quiet parts were VERY quiet and the loud parts were VERY loud. Plus at the beginning of track 7 someone needed to be told something - sorry about that.
The bonus tracks are the poetry reading Patti did just prior to the big rock show. It's incredible. But I warn you that the raging applause between poems is loud - fortunately though not while Patti is talking. I left them off when I first upped this (4/30/08 - still on the tracker) because I thought it was verboten due to it's being spoken word. I had not read the fine print yet.
And here is a classic comment - the gospel truth - by Dime member feinleib:
"Ah, yes, this show.... I traveled by bus (bus!) more than 36 hours roundtrip on the spur of the moment to catch this one. The weather was gorgeous in Ann Arbor, and it also turned out to be Hash Bash Weekend, so the air was full of peace and love and dizzying fumes. Inside the club, however, it was more like Angel Dust Night. I've never seen a more psychotic group of individuals in one place. It's like all the freaking lunatics had been storing up all their antisocial impulses in the years since Patti had retired, just waiting to unleash them at this show. It was violent and ugly and tragic in there. The show itself was great, and getting to see Patti play at that time was worth all of it, but really, a stun gun would have made it way more tolerable. I was right in front of the stage, but sadly, my tape of the event was useless -- imagine a snuff film with a really good soundtrack that you can almost hear.
Thanks for sharing and for bringing back the memories. I'll be sleeping w/the light on tonight...."
Anyway, here it is...one more time, with a little more feeling.
BAND:
Fred "Sonic" Smith - guitar, vocals
Patti Smith - vocals
Scott Morgan - guitar, vocals
Lenny Kaye - guitar, vocals
Gary Rasmussen - bass, vocals
Scott "Rock Action" Asheton - drums
Jay Dee Daugherty - drums
SETLIST:
01. sweet nothing (Fred)
02. sweet little sixteen (Fred)
03. heaven & earth (Scott)
04. for your love (Lenny)
05. empty heart (Fred/Scott/Patti)
06. my generation (Patti/Lenny)
07. a hard rain't gonna fall (Patti/Fred)
08. paths that cross (Patti)
09. ghostdance (Patti/Lenny)
10. dangerous (Scott)
11. rivers of babylon (Patti)
12. people have the power (Patti)
13. happy trails & band intros (band)
BONUS: Patti Smith poetry reading
14. intro by Fred Smith
15. piss factory
16. middie
17. the boy in the hall
18. babelfield
no mp3's, no selling, YES SHARING
please no remaster/reposts - it is what it is.
"It ain't perfect, but it ain't bad"
Enjoy!!