Patti Smith welcomed His Holiness The Dalai Lama onto the Pyramid Stage during her Glastonbury Festival set on June 28, 2015. Addressing the crowd after her fifth song, ‘Pissing In A River’ – which she dedicated to “all our friends in Wikileaks”, Smith explained that it was the spiritual leader’s 80th birthday on July 6. “We are grateful to him for all his love of humanity and making people aware of the importance of saving the planet,” she said, before reading a poem she had written for him. Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis then brought The Dalai Lama onto the stage to huge cheers from the crowd. “I think it would be nice if Glastonbury wished The Dalai Lama a happy birthday,” said Smith, before leading the audience in a rousing rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.
The Dalai Lama then blew out a single candle on a cake made of fruit, before cutting it. “Thank you, thank you,” he said. “Dear brothers and sisters, I really appreciate so many people’s expression of warm feeling.” He then went on to joke about the age of Smith and her band. “These singers and musicians have white hair, but they look very youthful! That gives me encouragement, I should be more like you – more active!”
As well as playing ‘People Have The Power’, ‘Land’/’Gloria’ and ‘Redondo Beach’, Patti Smith covered The Who’s ‘My Generation’ as the final song of her hour long set. During the song she accidentally tripped up and fell over. “Yeah, I fell on my fucking arse at Glastonbury,” she beamed. “That’s because I’m a fucking animal!”
“This is the most awesome and beautiful sight,” she said early on. “We’ve been on tour for a month and a half and this is the moment I’ve been dreaming of. I’m afraid I’m losing my voice, but I promise I’ll give you the last bit of voice that I have.” (by nme.com)
At the end of her set, Smith threw rose petals in the air.
Recorded live at Glastonbury, Pyramid Stage, Worthy Farm, Pilton, UK; June 28, 2015. Very good audio, extracted from webcast.
Thanks to indykid for sharing the webcast at Dime.
Personnel:
Jay Dee Daugherty (drums)
Lenny Kaye (guitar, vocals)
Tony Shanahan (bass, keyboards)
Patti Smith (vocals, guitar)
Tracklist:
01. Intro/Privilege (Set Me Free) (London/Leander) 4:37
02. Redondo Beach (Smith/Sohl/Kaye) 4.28
03. Ain’t It Strange (Smith/Kral) 6.29
04. Beneath The Southern Cross (Smith/Kaye) 9.39
05. Pissing In A River (Smith/Kral) 4.27
06. Dalai Lama (80th birthday celebration) 9:30
07. People Have The Power (P.Smith/F.Smith) 6.16
08. Land/Gloria (Smith/Kenner/Morrison) 12.38
09. My Generation (Townshend) 6.55
Patti Smith defies Beijing, invites Dalai Lama to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. The most touching scene is not the cutting of the cake but of the Dalai Lama blessing the khata (scarf) and then drapping it on Patti, and then Patti responding with a kiss on the Dalai Lama’s forehead.
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