Milwaukee's Riverside Theater is getting a visit from one of rock's most literate troublemakers this fall. Patti Smith will bring an evening of songs and stories to the downtown venue on Wednesday, September 23, with her new memoir, Bread of Angels, arriving just days before the show.
The event starts at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m., according to The Pabst Theater Group. Presented with Boswell Book Company, the appearance comes with a paperback copy of Bread of Angels for every ticket, while tickets are priced at $35 plus tax and fees, OnMilwaukee reports.
A Songs-And-Stories Evening With No Book Tour Circus
This is being billed as a music-and-literature night rather than a standard concert stop, giving Smith room to move between performance and personal storytelling. The fine print is unusually clear: There will be no book signing, meet-and-greet or audience question-and-answer session, according to Milwaukee Record.
The book itself is scheduled for paperback release on September 15, just over a week before Smith takes the Riverside stage. Penguin Random House describes Bread of Angels as a memoir of Smith's postwar childhood, teenage artistic awakening, early romances, loss and the imagination that helped shape her life.
Why Patti Smith Still Commands The Room
Smith arrives in Milwaukee with credentials that span punk, poetry, visual art and memoir. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame says her poetic, confrontational work helped pave the way for punk; she was inducted in 2007, following the release of her landmark 1975 album Horses.
Milwaukee Record noted that Smith's last Milwaukee appearance was in 2017, making the Riverside date a return for a local audience that has had to wait nearly a decade for another chance. Tickets remain listed on sale through the event's official page, giving fans a rare opportunity to see the Rock Hall inductee in a format that puts her words on equal footing with her songs.
