Patti thinks U2 have the power

U2.com interview punk goddess Patti Smith in expectance of her support stint for U2 at their upcoming (and umpteenth) Madison Square Garden shows.

Patti is full of praise for the band now and in the past and recalls a cute anecdote about Larry:

‘The story I remember most is from the 1970’s, when our band weren’t allowed to travel to Ireland because of the unrest so I went with just my piano player. We visited a church, and there were a lot of poor kids and struggling kids and I read poems and talked and sang songs with an old upright piano and we talked about rock’n’roll as something from the grassroots that didn’t belong to the rich or to business but something that was the people’s art. We talked about how everyone in that room was capable and deserving of expressing themselves. And one of the people who was there was Larry, he was just a young boy, and he has told me about that since and we talked about Africa, about Ethiopia and all the things you can do through music – artistically, poetically. And that was my first contact with Larry.’

Talking about seeing the band earlier on this leg of the tour, she says:

‘But the strength of the show took me right back to CBGB’s in the 1970’s, I was so moved by the whole thing: everything you want in rock’n’roll, the sexual energy, the emotional energy, the political concerns… but music you can dance to and express yourself in. It was all there.’

• Read the full interview at U2.com.