When it comes to impromptu antics, off-the-cuff stage banter, and knee-jerk reactions to a crowd during live shows, Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) can certainly hold her own. So when Thursday’s Chicago show (the 7:00 p.m. slot, the first of two performance that night) commenced nearly 45 minutes late, things were off to an as-expected start. After an abbreviated opening set from LA-based guitarist/sonic experimentalist Nico Turner, a blonde, short-haired Cat Power finally appeared around 8:30 to an anxious, patient crowd and was greeted warmly.
But Cat Power, no stranger to playing larger venues and music festivals in recent years, seemed to be overly pensive and uncomfortable with the intimacy of the small and overly quiet venue. Gracing a stage made up of just a piano, an electric guitar, amp, and a few mics, Marshall stumbled through getting her guitar plugged in, turned on, and turned up for an extended length of time. Soon crowd members started chuckling and shushing each other mockingly, before cackling again. Eventually Marshall plucked and picked and strummed before testing the mic and being met with faulty levels. Patrons of the venue are not used to seeing technical difficulties, since the Old Town School is renowned for its quality of sound and attention to detail. It was as if everything Marshall had gone over in sound check was thrown out the window. That’s assuming, of course, that she did a sound check.
After the levels balanced out and Marshall pressed on with her reverbed guitar in a slight overdrive, her raw talent took over. It might’ve taken a while for Marshall to find her footing, but it was clear early on from the gorgeous rendition of Bonnie Prince Billy’s “Wolf Among Wolves” bleeding into her cover of the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” that Cat Power couldn’t be stymied by awkward stage presence or technical difficulties. Rather, the kinks sometimes became endearing, like when she sat down at the piano for the first time and told the silent audience that she hoped she would “pass the recital” — or when she asked if anyone in the crowd had a cigarette (despite the venue’s nonsmoking policy) and ended up tossing back and forth a pack of smokes and a lighter with an audience member before lighting up onstage.
Antics aside, the music grew stronger as the show went on, namely when she played her piano songs. What truly brought out Marshall’s talent, though, was her song selection in general. Even though she earned critical acclaim with last year’s Sun, she didn’t play a single song of the record. And while the decision to completely ignore her most recent record might strike some as strange, it was probably a good move. Rather than bastardizing Sun’s layered and textured compositions into stripped-down versions that would sound hollow and incomplete, Marshall focused on songs that would lend themselves to a minimalist show. Sometimes playing only fragments, sometimes playing full songs, and always blending the end of one into the start of another, Cat Power classics like “Good Woman,” “Names,” and “Metal Heart” were met with the most reverent of listeners, as their melancholy chords struck something much deeper than musical notes.
Having to make time for the 10:00 p.m. show, which wouldn’t start until closer to 11:00, Marshall wasn’t able to showcase her entire set — and favorites that would’ve been perfect for the set (e.g., “I Don’t Blame You” and “The Greatest”) unfortunately went un-played. But even with those glaring holes, the songs that she pulled off ended up painting her less as a troubled, paranoid individual and more as an endearingly eccentric and charming composer. It wasn’t a perfect show, by any means, but that’s what made it worthwhile.
One Response
Correction…
She did play “The Greatest” at the late show.
Your review was much kinder than the Chicago Tribune’s.
Although, I agreed with some of that articles comments, especially regarding the opening act not being very good, I did enjoy Cat Power’s sets very much.
Worth the $29 per show, anyways.
Had I paid $85 (like when I saw FIona Apple), or if it was at a less intimate venue, it probably wouldn’t have been worth it.