While giving a reading for her new book, M Train, Patti Smith was brought to tears after a fan interrupted the event to present her with several items of hers that had been stolen 36 years ago. The items are thought to have been stolen from Smith’s tour van in 1979 after a show at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.
Smith was reunited with a sheer top, a Keith Richards t-shirt, a remembrance cloth and several other accessories contained in a Bob Dylan merchandise bag. The singer wept as she explained the significance of these items to the audience: the top she had worn on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1978, and the cloth had belonged to her brother and road manager, who passed away in 1994.
Smith reportedly had half the audience crying along with her for the emotional moment, before delving into a powerful version of “Because the Night” with her son on guitar.
“The feeling of making your hero happy, it was a moment”, said Noreen Bender, the fan who reunited Smith with her belongings. “It was the highlight of my life.”
[Via The Guardian]