Patti Smith burst into tears when a selection of items were returned to her – 36 years after they were stolen from her tour van. Smith was reading from her memoir M Train at a university in Illinois when she was approached by a woman. She told Patti that she had a bag of clothes that belonged to her 40 years ago and would like to return it. Smith (and everybody) looked totally confused, but asked the person to come up to the stage and hand her the bag.

Turns out that 40 years ago the band’s truck was stolen in Chicago, all their equipment/clothes/personal things ... basically everything they owned. These clothes among them. The shirt she wore on the Rolling Stone cover, the Keith Richards T-Shirt you’ve seen her wear in a hundred photos and a bandana that her beloved late brother had worn and then given to her. Smith said she didn’t want to know how the items had returned to her, she was just grateful to have them back.