review of 11/25/95 show in philadelphia

     by meredith j. fine


Tonight didn't live up to last night's magic. Patti started out pretty lethargic, saying she would drag on as long as she wanted because no one was waiting outside for the late show. The audience was -- I don't know the right word, but a lot of them seemed to be there just to be there. "Not the book (again)" was mentioned by a few people. Much audience chatter. The guy next to me yelled, "Shut up and sing!" Someone else repeatedly called out for "Dancing Barefoot" -- several songs after it had been played. Asked when the new album will be out, she answered that "When the white leaves are budding on the cherry trees in Washington, DC" Al Gore would be able to purchase her album from the racks. She talked about how she likes Al Gore and we should work to get him out of his skin. Some people booed at the mention of Tipper, and Patti said that some of the dirty music should be censored and that she'd let Tipper censor her. "I've learned to censor myself...but not tonight." To a request for "Rock and Roll Nigger", she answered, "Watch your language." When asked how she feels about its use in Natural Born Killers, she said that she hasn't seen the movie or the royalties yet. Introducing "The Jackson Song" without protest from Jackson, she concluded that he was in the bathroom listening to the Green Day CD again. Oliver Ray said the Lord's Prayer and played guitar on "About a Boy" and "Walking Blind"; he played guitar and read along to the Grateful Dead cover. He wrote "Walking Blind" and Patti's singing it on the soundtrack to the next Sean Penn movie, Dead Man Walking (?), and was dedicated to Sean Penn... (hmmm, a man who stifled his wife's creative output). "For Somalia" was dedicated again to Audrey (not Katharine) Hepburn.

SETLIST: Land / Piss Factory / (The Sun'll Come Out) Tomorrow / Rape / For Somalia / (Kimberly Smith played Warm Blood Rising & Why) / Neo Boy / Space Monkey / When it Rains (?) / December / Dancing Barefoot / Jackson Song / Ghost Dance / About a Boy / Walking Blind / Dog Dream / (cover with "Love for real and I fade away") / Dark Eyes / People Have the Power / Black Peter / Because the Night / Paths that Cross

The biggest applause came when she introduced "Because the Night" as a song written with another Jersey guy. Danced barefoot again. She was goaded into "Space Monkey", and only performed part of it. Actually did 2 verses of "Tomorrow". She apologized for being edgy and taking it out on the crowd and thanked the room for letting her prepare to open for Dylan in an agitated state.


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