Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Patti Smith Group - NYC c.1975

This show is on the end of a Heartbreakers tape. I think it is from CBGB in 1975 but the tape is not marked with any information. It's an audience recording and sound quality is good. Can anyone name the date and venue and help with the song titles.

setlist: [from cassette tape]
01). title unknown
02). title unknown
03). Patti speaks

3 comments:

  1. Track 1 is Pale Blue Eyes. Track 2 is Pumping (My Heart) Track 3 appears to be part of a poem, not located yet

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  2. Hi,

    Awesome blog, some cool things on here!
    Thanks for this short recording. I think I've narrowed it down to one of two possibilities.

    First consider the evidence.
    Patti says "I never used to wear rubber bands but in Boston a rubber band saved my life" so presumably it's not long after a gig in Boston.
    Audience members shouting for Jolene, a song she performed in 1976.
    Patti says "Did you see us in Philly?", so presumably not long after a gig in Philadelphia.
    Patti mentions "Deptford High School". This was the name of the school she went to. As far as I know she never played a gig there.
    Patti mentions Glassboro [a borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey], "if you change the town of the song just cos you're in the town that's stupid, but if you've been in the town you've got a right to talk about it."

    So it's a gig in New Jersey in 1976 not long after gigs in Boston & Philadelphia.

    http://setlists.pattismithlogbook.info lists all Patti's known gig dates.

    So the two possibilities are

    The Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove, NJ, 13th Jan 76
    ...with Philly being 20 Jan 75 and Boston being 9 Jan 76.
    The earliest known performance of Jolene is 16th Jan so this is maybe too early.

    The second possibility and the one I think is most likely is...

    Princeton Univercity, Princeton, NJ, 30th March 76

    ...with Philly being 27th March and Boston being 28 March, only a few days earlier and so still fresh in the memory. Plus perhaps being in Princeton and seeing people in Princeton t-shirts(?) it prompted her to mention the name of her school as referred to earlier.

    I hope it wasn't the master that was being taped over. Ask the guy with the tapes if he has the complete gig. Plus they played two shows at Princeton that day.

    Oh and do you have any early (78-80) Go-Go's?

    Dan

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  3. Thanks Dan for all the information. I did ask the guy who I got the tape from but he doesn't remember anything. He and his friends taped shows around New York City in the mid-1970s but when he got his copies of their tapes he never bothered to write down the pertinent information. He might have the whole show but doesn't know. He has thousands of tapes from trading from the mid-1970s to the 1990s and doesn't have an accurate list. When I get tapes from him I have to call him on the phone and he pulls tapes off of shelves to see if I want whatever he is holding. Also, I would add that because the crowd is so rowdie I think the show is in New York City because I don't think in 1975-1976 anyone outside of NYC really knew who she was.

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