Cat Power
The Ferry, Glasgow
At a time when the live music experience is becoming increasingly homogenised and routine, there is all the more reason to be thankful for the utterly random, occasionally brilliant and more often, frustrating, approach of Chan Marshall.
As Cat Power, her reputation is for erratic live performances is long standing, but last year, deservedly, saw her emergence as a more sober and even commercial proposition. Lengthy tours, large festival performances and live tv appearances were negotiated with considerable guile, albeit assisted by a useful slew of ageing Memphis soul musicians.
Though they have departed the scene, and this is a near-solo show (she is accompanied on guitar) it flies in the face of conventional wisdom on how to put together a twenty-first century rock show.
Characteristics include a dreadful support act (Tom Brosseau), an interminable wait for the main act to appear, no discernible stage lighting and reverb turned up to the max on Marshall’s vocals. The unlovable venue – where being able to both see and hear is close on impossible – appears as if it has been chosen to be willfully contrary.
The set itself is lengthy and unstructured. Songs are unfinished. The best known material is largely absent, but mostly Marshall sings beautifully and quietly. There are some great cover versions (’I've Been Loving You Too Long’, ‘Paths of Victory’, ‘Wild is the Wind’) and a truly show-stopping ‘Dark End of the Street.’ An attempt at ‘New York, New York’ ends with a mumbled promise that ‘it’ll be better next time.’
Long time fans know to expect no such thing, and that when it comes to live performance only Mark E. Smith and Bob Dylan remain as unconventional and willing to confront audience expectations. It is good company to keep.
