[Stereo] Ms. Patti Smith and her departed husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, of Motor City Five & Sonic's Rendezvous Band fame, perform acoustically at a celebration for Arista Records.
An absolutely breathtaking performance!! With one acoustic guitar and one fabulous poetic voice, Fred & Patti Smith filled that hall with power and love. Thank you so much for posting this!!!
Ron D No doubt, they have both yielded tremendous influence on those that followed.... Happy you liked the footage, and said so! Thanks for stopping by :)
Ron D: Her mid/late '90s "comeback album "Gone Again" was essentially a tribute memorializing Fred as well as mourning the passing of other musicians, writers/poets and artists who'd died in her absence from actively recording music and touring.
I always had a soft spot in my heart for Patti Smith. First and foremost she's a great artist but she also has amazing taste. She married Fred and is on record for saying that in the 1960's her band was the Animals. How can you not love her?
The power of love the house in which Patti and Fred dwell to give us people the dream the courage to be free to change the world to be a better place because of the Union of love that Patti and Fred gave us sonically speaking thank you
Emily Lovett You are most welcome! Very happy you enjoyed the clip, and took the time to write a note of appreciation. Definitely a great live version of the song. :)
Wow, that was fantastic! I'm surprised I hadn't seen this video before. Excellent. So nice to see her singing with Fred there next to her; I'm not sure I've seen that anywhere else. (I love Sonic's Rendezvous Band)
Aids benefit concert with both fronting a combined band of PSG and Sonic's Rendezvous Band Nectarine Ballroom / Second Chance Ann Arbor circa spring '92. Also sometimes being on the same stage at concerts in A2 in the later 70s etc. whether Patti or SRB.
I was dreaming in my dreaming Of an aspect bright and fair And my sleeping it was broken But my dream it lingered near In the form of shining valleys Where the pure air recognized And my senses newly opened I awakened to the cry That the people have the power To redeem the work of fools Upon the meek the graces shower It's decreed the people rule The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power Vengeful aspects became suspect And bending low as if to hear And the armies ceased advancing Because the people had their ear And the shepherds and the soldiers Lay beneath the stars Exchanging visions And laying arms To waste in the dust In the form of shining valleys Where the pure air recognized And my senses newly opened I awakened to the cry The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power Where there were deserts I saw fountains Like cream the waters rise And we strolled there together With none to laugh or criticize And the leopard And the lamb Lay together truly bound I was hoping in my hoping To recall what I had found I was dreaming in my dreaming God knows a purer view As I surrender to my sleeping I commit my dream to you The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power The people have the power The power to dream, to rule To wrestle the world from fools It's decreed the people rule It's decreed the people rule Listen I believe everything we dream Can come to pass through our union We can turn the world around We can turn the earth's revolution We have the power People have the power The people have the power The people have the power The power to dream, to rule To wrestle the world from fools It's decreed the people rule It's decreed the people rule We have the power People have the power We have the power...
At the end of the day when I'm worn to the tread, I beg this anthem, into my head. Salvation via Sonic written by the Muse, provides the salve that mends my wounds. RIP Sonic; love to you Patti
Can't believe it took me a year to realise this was up on RU-vid; I knew there was an Arista 15th Anniversary concert and was longing to see Patti's and Fred's performance, partly because there is so little footage of them performing together, and also because it is a rare appearance by Patti during her years as a stay at home mom and I love seeing what she looks like (adorable!) Thank you so much for sharing x
You're most welcome! I happen to think this is the best performance of this song that I've heard, over the years, and I'm so very pleased that many others enjoy it, as well. Thanks for taking the time to post a note of thanks, and happy you enjoyed it so much.
Sending this out to my (admittedly small) Facebook following, as we move towards one of the most important election days the US of A has ever faced. With the reminder that we could lose the power, if we don't vote like our voice depends on it
thank you for this awesome show! If you suddenly have more of Patti's performances in period from 1995 till 2005 than upload it please, its TOO DAMN RARE.
You're welcome. I'm afraid that most of the Patti Smith clips that I have, have already been posted on my channel. I cannot upload full shows, since I refuse to help giggle make even more obscene amounts of money, while the artists get a pittance for their work [additionally, one has to fulfill requirements that I'm not willing to agree to, in order to post clips over 15 minutes in length]. Sorry, but until these requirements change, this is all I have ;)
A simple and stripped down version, yes. Beautiful? No doubt, but telling that this was performed just months prior to Desert Shield / Desert Storm AKA the Gulf War. A song of its time and a song forever, right up there with 'Masters of War.'
+Stu Spaulding From what I've gathered from an Internet search, the 15th anniversary concert for Arista Records took place on March 16, 1990. See here: www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/photo-of-patti-smith-and-fred-sonic-smith-with-fred-sonic-news-photo/85850219
Two artists of great stature come together and create a work that is...insipid, derivative, contrived and lacking in the qualities that distinguished their separate careers.
Oh, Tammy. It's 4:30 AM and just as I was about to get into my bed (after a very long day), I thought I'd listen to something that offered hope ... I carefully chose "People Have The Power" by Patti Smith and Fred Smith - purposefully choosing the live performance so that I might see and hear their true emotions; thinking that, for a song so meaningful to the artist, the emotional honesty that might (and do) project is far more important to me than whatever professional polish that retakes and great sound engineering might embed in the track. I felt happy when the performance ended and I felt real good about my choice ... and then I read your comment that used words I would have never expected to see, like insipid, derivative, contrived AND lacking. +Tammy Lundy ... Apparently you are blind to the quality of authenticity, the single most distinguishing (and, mournfully, rare) element that distinguishes the art that Patti Smith and Fred Smith produced - individually or as a duo. You are lacking the most important organic element (in your mind and soul) that separates insight from the worst kind of uninformed freshman opinion (from the middling student who thinks dissent will bring shouts of "Courage!" and "Speak Your Truth!" and maybe a gold star from Professor Dimwit). However, the ability to recognize heartfelt artistic creation/expression and honor it for the overwhelming life energy it inspires, regardless of the state of detachment defect that has you calling something as singularly crafted as this necessary and primary work, genuinely delivered with such foundational passion that you misread it as insipid and derivative. What a boob! So very, very few among us carry even a subatomic handful of purity molecules but that doesn't mean an open, discerning and mindful person can't recognize them when they float in the artistic ether around the work. You, Ms. Lundy are the disappointing exception to that possibility. The bell has rung and clowntime is, thankfully, over. "People Have The Power" is not Michelangelo's "Pieta" - it is not meant to be, Tammy, but that makes it no less beautiful or necessary or well-timed. Your tone-deaf commentary, however, is another matter entirely.
Whoa, Nelly. It's just an opinion, plainly stated and diss-free. Artists expect what some fans cannot abide. Those fans should probably not read the comments on RU-vid, else risk twisting their knickers. Not that it matters, but I'm a HUGE fan of both Fred and Patti's work. What startles me is your incredible ability to take a few words put down in an idle moment, and from there extrapolate the entirety of my character and state of mind. D'you read palms, too? And if you can handle a bit of feedback yourself, consider sharpening that atrocious grammar.
Disingenuous much? Backpedaling to recreate your comment - one which made certain to employ the extremes of vocabulary ... words that would never be mistaken as "diss-free" (sic) ... chosen far too specifically "insipid", "derivative", "contrived" to ever equal something "casual" made on "idle" time (as you now claim). Second, your objective (you're just way too smart to accept pedestrian efforts with such an apparent agenda ... just too trite and tedious for you, huh?) was far too transparent to now attempt this lame reversal. I recognize my thoughts don't matter to you so I'll wind this down however, I did re-read my first comment to you and I still believe I did a helluva job (at 4:30 AM, mind you) capturing you holding your nose at the supposed stink given off by this small song with the big truth (one of the final collaborations between two exceptional artists who shared, by all accounts, an exceptional love). So (atrocious grammar and all), I'll close by saying I was off the mark reducing all that you are to merely a "boob" when its clear that the superior key words orbiting the epicenter of used2btammyc are vainglorious, weenie, self-satisfied, big-headed, small-minded and confused (by the meaning of the word "Fan"). Cheers!
![Patti Smith & Fred "Sonic" Smith - People Have the Power [Live 3-16-90]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
