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Patti Smith and Friends

 ((Wiltern Theatre; 2,326 seats; $ 25))

By SHERI LINDEN

Taking the stage alone, Smith began by reading one of her most powerful pieces, "Piss Factory," and she worked in shorter poems throughout the evening. Gradually joined by her band, including original Patti Smith Group members Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty, Smith took her time getting to the rocking numbers the capacity crowd called out for. It was a bit of a jolt to see her seated and strumming a guitar on a couple of numbers (she's learning to play, and Saturday marked the addition of a sixth chord to her repertoire), but if the evening lacked the manic energy and anarchic exultation of her late-'70s shows, there was no want of intensity -- or of sheer fun.
 

Promoted inhouse. Band: Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye, Jay Dee Daugherty, Tom Verlaine, Tony Shanahan, Ray Oliver. Reviewed March 23, 1996. A decade-and-a-half absence from the concert stage has certainly heightened Patti Smith's status as art-rock icon , but the distance between myth and performer was easily bridged in a two-hour show Saturday night at the Wiltern. Beyond all her symbolic power, which is considerable, Smith showed her welcoming fans that she loves to perform, whether pounding out passionate renditions of her own classics or putting the crowd in stitches with between-songs patter.

Smith stood to the sidelines while Kaye and the band churned out Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," returning to her mike only to deliver a blistering take on the refrain "A fire in the sky!" The much-maligned rock standard will never sound the same again.

The muscular band, which also included rhythm guitarist Tony Shanahan, bassist Ray Oliver and a low-key Tom Verlaine, seated stage left and offering elegant, jazzy guitar solos, performed the hard-driving "Gone Again," which Smith intro'd as the last song of her late husband, Fred Sonic Smith. But the first number to drawstage-rushers down the aisle was "Dancing Barefoot" (Smith doffing shoes and socks); "Rock 'n' Roll Nigger" was the next. Newer numbers had a dark power: "Walkin' Blind," from the "Dead Man Walking" soundtrack, and the frenzied "About a Boy."

The 15-year performance gap did leave her fans some catching-up to do; Smith herself poked fun at the rock-relic angle, pointing out how well-preserved her face is. The most striking change in Smith is that her voice has deepened, become more subtle and precise. Which is not to say she's mellowed, exactly: She put forth a deliriously scorching "Not Fade Away."

Returning to the stage for the final encore, Smith imparted a message to an audience member that his wife had gone into labor. She welcomed his child into the world before launching into "Gloria." Birth and resurrection in one night: If that's not rock 'n' roll, what is?