Patti Smith Said Goodbye To Australia For The Very Last Time Last Night

After performing a number of live shows across Australia this past month, Patti Smith wrapped it all up at Sydney Opera House last night for an exclusive speaking appearance, Patti Smith: In Her Own Words.

Here's how the night played out.

The intimacy of the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House is the perfect setting for what we are about to witness tonight. We are ready to get to know Patti Smith on another level.

Smith is undoubtedly an influential artist, the likes of which only come around so often. Fresh off her Bluesfest appearance and sideshows, the punk pioneer is ready to say goodbye to her Aussie fans through her brilliant words.

Clad head-to-toe in black with her steely grey hair shining in the spotlight, Smith begins proceedings by acknowledging Dame Joan Sutherland and recalls her own dreams of becoming an opera singer as a small child. Her self-deprecation within the opening minutes sets the tone for the rest of the night. Smith is here to move us but to laugh with us, one last time.

Tonight, she reads from two of her acclaimed books, Just Kids and M Train, with Kids the source of a lot of the subject matter. Anecdotes on John Coltrane, Allen Ginsberg, living at The Chelsea Hotel and of course, the late Robert Mapplethorpe, Smith’s former lover, friend and collaborator. Their relationship is the feature of Just Kids and the stories she shares about Mapplethorpe tonight are tender and humorous. She recalls Mapplethorpe’s love of chocolate milk (50c more expensive than regular milk in those days), him playing Vanilla Fudge songs when high on LSD and his belief in her one day having a hit record on the radio.

Smith gets semi-distracted at times by the beautiful photos playing on the screen behind her, but it is all part of her charm. You get the feeling she enjoys walking down memory lane as much as she enjoys sharing it with us. Her humour continues to warm us. When recounting the end of the 1960s, Smith mentions that she was very out of the loop on things that were happening at the time, including Woodstock. "I missed the whole fucking thing."

M Train is Smith’s latest piece of literature and this is where she talks and recalls a great deal about her late husband, musician Fred Smith. One of the strongest parts of the show is her reciting the lyrics to People Have the Power. Smith mentions that is was her husband who gave her the idea for the song one day while she was peeling potatoes in the kitchen. They would write the song together. "The power to dream, to rule/To wrestle the earth from fools" seems more relevant now than ever and Smith’s delivery is simple yet so powerful.

Towards the end of the night, Smith performs Grateful, which is fitting for both the artist and audience. We are grateful for the encore that follows. Grateful she shared stories of two special men that influenced her life. Smith refers to Robert Mapplethorpe as the "artist of her life" and Fred Smith as the "love of her life". She is so grateful for them.

The packed theatre joins Smith in a beautiful acapella rendition of Because the Night because why not? What a way to say farewell. We are forever grateful.