Even though Smith focused mainly on songs from the seventies, she did not bring any memories of the past.
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She showed why rock was the main means of expression for young artists and emerging generations for four decades.
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Not only his sharp sound played a role in this, but mainly he gave space for free expression and dissemination of his own feelings and opinions. Smith clearly showed that it was not so much about the form, although that was essential, but mainly about the content.
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In the black plaid jacket she wore in the 1970s, Smith looked the same as she did forty years ago, only her loose hair was no longer black, but gray. She did not lack edge, urgency, combativeness and criticality. Her voice was just as merciless.
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She showed the importance of gradation when she transitioned into a wild scream at the end of Free Money. Gloria, which ended the concert, was the essence of gradation and punk, adding the necessary irony to Van Morrison’s anthemic composition.
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And it was even more noticeable, because the core of the concert was songs from the first albums, especially from the debut Horses.
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At times, it may have seemed like Smith was riding a wave of activism as she repeatedly talked about the need to protect the environment in order to survive.
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But the songs she sang were four decades old, which is the case with Ghost Dance dedicated to the Hopi tribe and Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush cover. And people applauded her message.
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Opener Redondo Beach’s reggae beat gave the impression that the spikes would be muted as the years progressed, but the opposite was true.
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She roared and transitioned into the harsh, even screeching speech of female field commanders calling for battle because it is necessary to control the streets. However, she ended on an optimistic note when she sang the encore People Have The Power at the end.
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However, Smith also recalled her role models and roots when she recited Allen Ginsberg’s poem Footnote To Howl (one cannot forget that she herself started out as a poet – note ed.)
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Halfway through the show, as she went backstage after a wild ending to Free Money, her band played I Wanna Be Your Dog by the Stooges and Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. She played Bob Dylan’s song Wicked Messenger on the “spaniel” by herself.
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Of course, big hits could not be missed, including Because the Night, which was a declaration of love for her now deceased husband Fred Sonic Smith, or Dancing Barefoot, which featured Ivan Král.
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She also mentioned his name when introducing another song he was involved with, which she said was the most successful Pissing in a River.
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