CLUB CLOSES AFTER FINAL RIFFS

    Punk poet laureate Patti Smith sang farewell to CBGB last night, as the New York music institution closed after hosting three decades of three-chord rock 'n' roll.

    The veteran rocker took the stage as the last-ever act at the legendary Lower East Side club, playing "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," which, she said, "might have been the first song we ever played here."

    Smith played a mixture of her old and new material, and also performed songs by other artists who'll forever be associated with CBGB. They included Blondie, the Velvet Underground and Television, which helped begin the punk tradition at the club, where the initials stand for country, bluegrass and blues.

    The house was packed to capacity, while throngs of people outside on the Bowery snaked around the block, hoping against hope to get into the show, which sold out in eight minutes when tickets were put on sale.

    After the show, club founder Hilly Kristal, now 75 and battling cancer, will dismantle the room, preserving or photographing the graffiti-covered walls, tearing out the notorious urinals and dismantling the bars and stage.

    Everything will be moved into storage, as Kristal hopes to open a club and museum in Las Vegas in 2008 that will be an homage to CBGB, as well as other punk-era New York institutions, such as the Mudd Club and Max's Kansas City.