Lou Reed covers Lennon. Morrissey, Patti and Iggy play on a memorable night at Hop Farm

Patti Smith at the Hop Farm Festival, Kent. Photo courtesy of Lee Thompson

Saturday night was brought to an outstanding finale by a handful of the most significant musical icons of the 20th century at the Hop Farm festival, Kent. The event, organized by Vince Power, was described by Morrissey as “the most civilized and the best festival in the country”.

The festival’s reliance on big-name, established acts to draw in the punters seemed to work well, and the family-friendly atmosphere was pleasant enough that security was kept at a minimum. The festival was also notably devoid of any commercial advertising, instead hosting local traders and market stalls.

Magazine opened Saturday evening on the Hop Farm stage with an energetic set, focusing on material from their first three albums. Following the recent departure of Barry Adamson, Howard Devoto declared the band “Magazine version 6.0: update pack 1″ as they rattled through ‘Motorcade’, ‘Shot By Both Sides’, ‘The Light Pours Out of Me’ and new song, ‘Hello Mr. Curtis’ (a satire on the subject of euthanasia -dedicated to Terry Pratchett).

Patti Smith was joined on stage by Lenny Kaye and Patrick Wolf and played a set containing her classics including acoustic versions of ‘Gloria’, ‘Because The Night’ and ‘Frederick’ (sung in tribute to her former partner, Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, who died in 1994). Her voice was still burning with the passion and rawness of a young Patti Smith and echoed the direct and empowering sentiment of her brief speeches in between songs. Smith’s message was clear: “We are alive but we remember those who have gone”.

The stage was cleared and completely re-arranged for the presence of Lou Reed and his travelling circus – his band: a group of musicians who clearly weren’t on the same wavelength and who had a difficult time in trying to impress the songwriter throughout. Lou frequently tried to conduct them through newly-arranged versions of Velvet Underground songs such as ‘Who Loves The Sun?’, ‘Sunday Morning’, ‘Femme Fatale’, ‘Sweet Jane’.

At 69-years old, the singer’s attitude, along with his distinctive delivery, came through in full dissonance on tracks such a ‘Small Town’ and ‘Ecstasy’. And although he only played guitar for a fraction here or there, his desire to create a furious cacaphonic sound appeared apparent as he urged his musicians to increase the intensity of their playing. It all paid off, however, as he dealt out a hard-hitting version of John Lennon’s ‘Mother’ while the sun made the sky bleed.

The Stooges then sent the crowd into a delirium before Iggy invited the audience up on stage to dance with them  - creating a small-scale riot in front of the barriers. Iggy entertained the frenzied mob with his offbeat, idiosyncratic stage antics, while The Stooges, with Toby Dammit replacing Scott Asheton on drums, alongside James Williamson on guitar and Steve Mackay on sax, extended their shake appeal with tracks such as ‘Fun House’ and ‘Search And Destroy’, both incredible showcases of the group’s raw, instinctual, dirty rock’n'roll. With Iggy you already know the score but it was hard not to be blown away by the sheer force of Williamson’s guitar playing, still possibly the best kept secret in musical history.

Morrissey then faced the daunting task of headlining, “How the hell do you follow Iggy & The Stooges?” the singer exalted. But he managed to lead his way through a carefully worked set of festival-crowd pleasing tracks from his repertoire, including ‘This Charming Man’, ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, ‘Meat is Murder’, ‘First of The Gang to Die’ and ‘Every Day is Like Sunday’. Among his own songs he performed a near-perfect cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Satellite of Love’, bringing the evening to a beautiful climax, while his final remarks of the evening left a virulent political message in the ears of the crowd – ‘People have the power. If you don’t like it – the goverment, the monarchy – get rid of it.’