A concert show honouring Patti Smith has been announced, with a line-up of performers that include Karen O, Michael Stipe, Kim Gordon, Flea, and more.
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People Have The Power: A Celebration of Patti Smith will take place on March 26, 2025 at New York’s Carnegie Hall – it is a Music Of benefit concert that will donate 100% of net proceeds to music education for underserved youth.
The event is named after Smith’s 1988 single, which was notably performed by U2 with Eagles Of Death Metal following the 2015 Bataclan attack.
The line-up of performers will be backed by a house band led by Tony Shanahan, a longtime member of Smith’s band, along with Flea and Rolling Stones tour drummer Steve Jordan.
Other artists set to perform at the concert are The National‘s Matt Berninger, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, The Kills‘ Alison Mosshart, Ben Harper, and Kronos Quartet. Gordon will perform alongside her Body/Head bandmate Bill Nace. Buy tickets here.
“[It’s] going to be an absolutely magical night,” wrote Mosshart. “I’m so honored to be on the bill. Thank you @thisispattismith for all your brilliant songs.”
It is not confirmed if Smith herself will appear at the event, although Music Of teases “more surprise guests” and further additions to the line-up to be revealed in the future.
Patti Smith has been back on the road this year after a brief health scare in late-2023 forced the ‘Horses’ artist to cancel shows back then. Smith’s live exploits since then have included a cover of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime Sadness’ and a hat-tip to Taylor Swift for her reference to Smith in the title track of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.
In May, Garbage’s Shirley Manson paid her own tribute to Smith, calling her “one of the touchstones in my life”.
“We’ve shared stages with her,” she continued. “And I’ve met her several times, our history is long at this point. But she is extraordinary. And what really strikes me every time I see her play, is unlike every other artist I think I’ve ever seen in my life, she is augmented by her age, she’s not diminished by it.
“Every time she appears, she appears even more powerful, even more potent, even more challenging, and arresting. She’s taking us to task, but it also feels to me like it comes from a place of real generous love, I find that really beguiling in her. And I think this is, again, why she has managed to straddle all these decades in an industry that eats women.”
