Musical legend Patti Smith entered the sunlit Second Presbyterian Church, its white walls reflecting the blue light of the stained glass window, to boisterous applause on Monday evening. And the living were not the only ones rising for her.

“I got quite a welcome as I was walking in,” said Smith, who gave a surprise pop-up poetry reading and performance the day before her June 4 scheduled Spoleto Festival USA concert. “This headstone on the right side says Patricia Smith. And on the left side is Edward Lee, and my middle name is Lee. So I feel fully represented.”

Spoleto teased the event on social media just three days earlier, with a black-and-white photo of a collared shirt and “Words & Music: A special evening with ….” By the time Smith’s special show was announced on June 1, tickets

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