In honor of Patti Smith’s recent wildly well-received shows at L.A.‘s Ace Hotel and The Roxy, here’s some punk rock history for you: The Patti Smith Group performing live at the Capitol Theater in New Jersey on May 11, 1979. Patti and the band are loose as hell and occasionally veer way off the tracks as Patti re-starts, abandons and mangles a few tunes. Patti’s stage banter is more pose than poetry (her verbal riffage certainly got better over the years) and her free-jazz clarinet solos belong on ESP-Disk’s cutting room floor. But she’s at home in Jersey and having some fun.

The sound is good in this footage and the murky black and white makes the whole thing feel like it was directed by Guy Maddin.

A dynamite set list:

Privilege (Set Me Free)
So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star
Dancing Barefoot
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Redondo Beach
5-4-3-2-1
Citizen Ship
Ask The Angels
Poppies
Secret Agent Man
Pumping (My Heart)
Mr. Tambourine Man
Broken Flag
Till Victory
Ain’t It Strange
Cold Turkey
Because The Night
Frederick
Seven Ways Of Going
Gloria
Pledge of Allegiance / Star Spangled Banner / My Generation

Patti Smith - vocals
Lenny Kaye - guitar, vocals
Richard Sohl - keyboards
Ivan Kral - bass
Jay Dee Daugherty - drums