I get kinda miffed with the Meltdown Festival. Not with the line-ups, which are generally the finest and most interesting collisions one could hope for, nor the venue (which is the best in the land), nor with the choice of curators - we've had Scott Walker, John Peel, and, this year, the incomparable Patti Smith. I've no complaint with any festival that shows such taste and such daring. No, what niggles with me is two things, which are ultimately symptoms of the same condition; elitism. Firstly, the prohibitively expensive ticket prices: here we have great artists working to bring an array of talent and brilliance into the lives of the masses, only to have some offensive pricing policy hand the whole thing to the pompous and well-to-do on a silver, paper or plastic platter. The masses don't get a look in. Secondly, the preferential treatment of the South Bank Members (which also costs), meaning that the really cool stuff is sold out before the real people have a chance to save up their pennies for it. And the ticket expense equally means that few people attend the more marginal stuff; something you might take a punt on for a fiver, many will forego at fifteen quid.

I perused this year's line-up; impressive, but the artist on the bill who most holds both my attention and respect is Patti Smith herself. So, in support of her and in protest against the South Bank's somewhat contemptible behaviour, I have instead elected to go not to Meltdown, but to Patti's Brighton gig in August. I don't need to see Horses performed in its entirety. I love it, I've known it like the back of my hand for years, but it isn't even my favourite Patti album. In fact I much prefer her most recent album, Trampin'. When I pay twenty quid to see her, at least let there be an outside chance that she'll play "Dancing Barefoot", "Pissing in a River", "Grateful", "Beneath the Southern Cross", "Because the Night", "25th Floor", "Rock'n'Roll Nigger", and all the others that I love as much as I love "Gloria". I am sure the Horses gig will be fantastic, because Patti Smith doesn't know how to be anything else. But I'll live. And, come to think of it, I've already seen her do everything off Horses at least once during the many occasions I've been to her gigs (Even "Land", which she hardly ever plays, but with which she opened her Shepherd's Bush Empire gig a couple of years ago). I've even seen her play covers of "The Streets of London", "Heart Shaped Box" and "When Doves Cry"...