Lenny Kaye and Friends at Bowery Ballroom
photo by Toby Tenenbaum

Lenny Kaye celebrated his 75th birthday w/ Patti Smith & more @ Bowery Ballroom (pics, setlist)

The great Lenny Kaye‘s birthday is December 27, but Omicron meant he celebrated publicly just a little later. Two months exactly, to be specific, with a show at Bowery Ballroom on Sunday night featuring his friends and his favorite songs

Lenny opened the evening with a reading from his new book Lightning Striking before inviting his longtime collaborator Patti Smith to the stage. Patti acknowledged the trouble in Ukraine between her numbers and closed her short set with a “People Have the Power,” before presenting Lenny with a cake and leading the crowd in a “Happy Birthday to You” singalong.

Kaye’s guests included long time collaborators and friends like Tom Clark, Dina Regine, and Kevin Kinney, who performed a short a set of Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ songs. Over the course of the evening, Lenny and his friends covered songs by Dylan, Dion, The Weather Prophets, Burt Bacharach, Love, Johnny Thunders, The Velvet Underground and more. The main set ended with a cover of Them’s “Gloria” featuring everyone from the night minus Patti, and then Lenny came back to cover The Strangeloves “Night Time.”

Check out pictures from the night by Toby Tenenbaum and the setlist below.

SETLIST: Lenny Kaye @ Bowery Ballroom 2/27/2022 (via)
World Book Night
The Things You Leave Behind
Boots of Spanish Leather (Bob Dylan cover) (with Patti Smith)
State of the Ukraine (with Patti Smith) (English version of Ukranian national anthem)
Ghost Dance (Patti Smith Group song) (with Patti Smith)
People Have the Power (Patti Smith cover) (with Patti Smith)
Happy Birthday to You
Riding The Avenue (Slaves of New Brunswick cover)
No Jestering (Carl Malcolm cover)
Crazy Like a Fox
Going Local
Love of the Common People (The Four Preps cover)
Everytime I Hear a Country Song
If You Don’t Want My Love (John Prine cover) (with Tom Clark)
The Great Atomic Power (The Louvin Brothers cover) (with Tom Clark)
A Teenager in Love (Dion & The Belmonts cover) (with Tom Clark)
Coney Island Baby (The Excellents cover) (with Tom Clark)
I Was A Fool (The Impalas cover) (with Tom Clark)
Bristol Stomp (The Dovells cover) (with Tom Clark)
Everyday of the Week (The Students cover) (with Tom Clark)
A Teenager in Love (Dion & The Belmonts cover) (with Tom Clark)
Naked as the Day You Were Born (The Weather Prophets cover)
My Little Red Book (Burt Bacharach cover)
7 and 7 Is (Love cover)
In Time (Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ cover) (with Kevn Kinney)
Underground Umbrella (Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ cover) (with Kevn Kinney) (Acoustic)
Straight to Hell (Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ cover) (with Kevn Kinney)
You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (Johnny Thunders cover) (with Dina Regine)
Rock & Roll / I’m Waiting for the Man / White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground cover) (with James Mastro)
Gloria (Them cover)

Encore:
Night Time (The Strangeloves cover) (with James Mastro)