Patti Smith + Massive Attack
Hyde Park, London W2
5/5 

PATTI SMITH reclaimed the British Summertime festival for the dissenters, revolutionaries, the glorious dead and the stuck-in-a-groove living, with her poetic outpourings lifting the spirits as only they can.

As a prelude, Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl pierces the air as a hallowed cry for humanity and Smith’s subsequent set is a wonder to behold.

Backed by Lenny Kay’s cool power on guitar, she storms through Dancing Barefoot and Frederick and, in between numbers, delivers a riotous tirade of insult at political chicanery.

She recomposes herself for Free Money, Summer Cannibals and the quiet of Ghost Dance, with Pissing in the River, Beneath the Southern Cross and the might of Horses following hard and strong.

After the analogue anarchy of Smith (pictured), Massive Attack visually transform the stage into a digital landscape to liberate the senses.

Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall’s vocals are sublime on Risingson, as is the former’s treatment of Inertia Creeps. Ditto Azekel on Ritual Spirit and, on Take It There, Tricky makes a welcome appearance as do Young Fathers midway through the set.

In Angel, sung by Horace Andy, the sound really begins to take hold with Angelo Bruschini’s sonic guitar work, while Deborah Miller’s vocals on Safe From Harm induce a state of trance which transforms into an ecstasy of electro bliss.

There’s a head-rush of white light before Miller’s gorgeous voice and live strings draw the night to a tranquil close with Unfinished Symphony. Magic.

Review by Peter Lindley