Cat Power solo at Varsity Theater
First things first: Chan Marshall has immense talent and an amazing voice. There are few folks who can write the way she does, or blend Bowie with Sandy Denny.
That said, everything you’ve heard is true. The show was billed for 5:00, a hand-written notice on the theater door said 5:30, and things actually started around 6:45. Tonight was a two-hour parade of the increasingly-famous Cat Power neuroses: the abrupt starts and stops. The multiple apologies for her voice, the PA, and for being boring (which she wasn’t). The mic adjustments and audience conversations in the middle of songs. The off-and-on, off-and-on with the shirt she wore over her tank (shirt for guitar, tank for piano). The clearing her throat into the mic for the first hour and a half. The complaints about the lights and the sound. A generous handful of people left, and I thought about it after she broke off in the middle of a transcendent version of ”Good Woman” toward the end of the evening. She did manage to make it through an entire two-hour set, though, and so did I.
The sound was a problem, but it wasn’t as evident to the audience as it was on stage. Chan is a master with the microphone, playing it at least as well as the piano or guitar. But with a voice as specific as hers and a psychedelic sound that demands such a thin-edge calibration of echo, it’s difficult to expect the venue guy to get it right. Her movement between a standing mic with the guitar and a sitting mic with the guitar and piano also poses some tweaking issues. Such a special, constructed sound needs to travel with its own sound guy. She needs to find her Theo Van Rock.
One of the amazing things about this concert was the sense that the audience was working just as hard as the artist to pull everyone through to the end. The hall sat 50 comfortably in armchairs, with standing room for about 800. By the time it was full, there were 1000 people sitting quietly in front of the stage. They clapped for every song, they chattered to her when she asked questions, they shored her up when she apologized or claimed she was being boring. Every time a song suddenly halted or she grew visibly physically uncomfortable, there was a sense that the entire room was mentally working to keep her on the stage. It was endearing and exhausting.
That’s really my overall impression of the whole thing, I think: I’ve never been so stressed out by being entertained. Part of it was all the quirks of her performance, and part of it was the venue itself. It’s a converted movie theater, and it has all the structural elements necessary for a good performance space. But the seats are situated on stage risers along two opposing walls, so that you face the audience opposite you and have to twist around to see the stage. Once you’re seated you’re pretty well trapped, since people sit along all the edges of the risers. There are multiple-setting Christmas lights hung from the ceiling, and as they cycled through all of their settings I kept waiting for the audience to develop spontaneous epilepsy. The exits are narrow, and I would hate to see what would happen in it if there was an emergency of some sort. There would have to be a helluva bill for me to go back there; Bob Dylan and Steve Wynn on the same stage, perhaps, with Big Mama Thornton singing backup and Cyndi Lauper tap-dancing.
I’ve watched many artists soldier through worse conditions with a lot more grace. I still have no idea if what I saw tonight was the most honest performance ever, or the most unprofessional performance ever. Perhaps it was both at the same time. I will say, though, that through it all she was never imperious. Never a prima-donna and never really angry at anyone but herself. Just sort of neurotic and spoiled by audiences that are willing to indulge her.
Chan said that she doesn’t practice because she prefers to let things develop onstage, and this is what causes all the abrupt drop-offs in her playing. I can respect that to a point, but there are very few artists I’m willing to shell out $60 for us to watch practice live. I’m not sorry I went, but will I ever see Cat Power again live? Probably not. Will I continue to be a fan? Yes.
Update: Additional commentary by Mister Husband.
Comments
Sounds like we had a similar experience at the 9:00, er… 10:30 show. I think that her breakdowns are part act, part need for validation from her audience. At our show, people were yelling out things like 'You sound great!' whenever she broke down. She did not sound great and the audience gave more to her than she gave to us. She ended her 2-hour set with a five minute rambling. Half of the sold-out crowd had already left so an encore was out of the question. I had heard about her antics on stage, but I thought they would be more cute than painful.
Posted by: pushbutton | September 3, 2006 2:41 PM
I was also at the late show. I left within the first hour, frustrated and $22 lighter in the wallet. It was like watching a child with autism play a piano recital. I saw her also before this at the Pantages, pretty much same story although a band did suffer through that show with her. For anyone reading this, stick to the albums. Opposite of a band like My Morning Jacket or Spiritualized or guided by voices, this artist is NOT better live, she is categorically worse and you'll be as upset as I was wasting money/time seeing her.
Posted by: j wirtz | September 4, 2006 10:41 PM
Nooooooooo!
Posted by: George | September 5, 2006 6:45 AM
I like her CDs - pretty good you know. However, she sounds like an astounding pretentious asshole. Brian Wilson is way more accomodating than this.
Posted by: Jinbon H Wrong aka Sloop John B | September 5, 2006 3:00 PM
Holy cannoli...that sounds about as fun as a jab in the eye. I haven't heard her music, nor do I really want to given the review (no offense, dear). Musicians should be at their top when performing live..I've never respected a musician who can't. Heck, even Britney Spears (who is two shakes away from a pyramid of beer cans on her front lawn) can put on a pretty good show.
And yes, Guided by Voices is EXCELLENT in concert..fueled, though they are, by a liter of Jack and several cases of beer.
Posted by: Spirophita | September 8, 2006 12:00 PM
Just saw Cat Power at the Vic in Chicago (9-13-06). I agree wholeheartedly with the above reviewer, and I wish I'd known what I was getting into before the show. I'm an ardent fan of her recordings, which are nearly flawless. I think I'd still have gone, and would maybe go see her again, now that I'm forewarned. Parts of the show were just gorgeous, although it was in fits and starts. She'd get something going, and then shut it down. The band obviously works hard to prop her up, as does the audience.
Seeing her perform, there are definitely some issues there for her. She's not playing with the audience, it's clearly an uphill battle sometimes for her to be there. On one hand, you really want to respect someone getting up there despite dragging all that weight. On the other, well, effort free entertainment is also good. Maybe people are willing to overlook the rough patches because of the rawness and guileless authenticity, which is always in short supply with us jaded hipsters. Plus, some genuinely funny unpredictability - she wore stilleto heels that she kept taking off and putting on, at one point kind of hopping around with one shoe on while waving the other one (then doing some more singing while waving both). But maybe, just maybe, it's a little sadistic to ask her to get up there at all.
Adding to the problem, the sound mix at the Vic was among the absolute worst I have ever heard. It really stank. Many times, you just couldn't hear her voice at all over the band. It's not just that Marshall's voice is this delicate thing that needs to be pulled out of the big band mix - the band mix was all wrong. At times, horn solos were swallowed up by the piano player's pounding chords, for example. So, among the lessons: don't see any large bands at the Vic, at least if they're using the house soundman.
Posted by: Eric from Chicago | September 14, 2006 2:05 PM
I was going to drive to Chicago from Madison, WI to see Cat Power. A 140+ mile drive one way. Then turn around and come right back after the show. After seeing Tom Petty the night before I was pretty exhausted and thought better about making the trip. One of my main reasons for not going all that way was for the very comments made in these posts - knowing of her on stage antics and breakdowns. So to go all that way and not know if I was going to see an abbreviated show with songs half performed made me decide to not make the trip.
If she were performing in my immediate area I would have happily gone still knowing it may be a questionable performance. I read the Chicago Tribune review and the above post from the Chicago attendee and actually felt relieved that I didn't miss a superb show - as much I wish it was just that for those who attended. Maybe the best way to see her perform is by picking and chosing performance vids on YouTube.
Posted by: Frank | September 18, 2006 5:06 PM
More of the same tonight (9/18/06) at the taping of her Austin City Limits show to be aired on PBS next season. She was so unprofessional and erratic. I was convinced she was on drugs and about to have a melt-down on the stage.
I'd never seen her before and from what I'd read, I expected much more than this.
Posted by: Val | September 18, 2006 11:34 PM
"9
Lives and Counting: Cat Power Sobers Up," by Winter Miller (New
York Times, September 20, 2006)
Posted by: George Williams | September 20, 2006 7:23 AM
Great article and interview, George. Thanks for the link! And Val, thanks for the insight to the Austin City Limits taping. Can you share more?
I was hoping that the ACL performance would be a truly great show. Take a look at YouTube and some of her performances from Jools Holland's show. She's pretty darn good!
Posted by: Frank | September 20, 2006 10:02 AM
I'm sure Austin City Limits will edit out all the mishaps the audience sat through. Her ACL show will air for 30 minutes, and there is a little more than 2 hours of footage for the show to work with. It will all look good in the end after a lot of edits.
The show started 20 minutes late with two songs by the Memphis Rhythm Band. Then she was introduced, entered and performed a song. She complained of feedback, left, was introduced a second time, and performed the same song again. Later in the show, her guitar amp was unplugged, and her amp was the cause of the whole problem. There were many stops and restarts, with the worst being her performance of “House of the Rising Sun” where she restarted 5-6 times, each time sounding the same. She complained that she “wasn’t feeling the song,” and wasn’t up to performing today or performing solo. She ordered the crew to take the guitar off her monitor and how she’d be able to project more with it gone…still sounded the same. She then gave up on the song, and went on with more missteps to follow. Later she returned to the song she skipped and sang it through.
She apologized about 30 times through the night, said her voice was bad, “sorry guys,” etc. It came across as insincere fishing for compliments. Each time it worked on a few audience members, who encouraged her with “I love you,” “You sound perfect” “You’re great” comments. I was surprised that the audience accepted this treatment. The band overwhelmed her voice. She sounded better solo, but seemed to lack confidence without the band. One of the backup singers seemed to baby her and pump her up. Another strange incident was her kissing one of the singers of the Memphis Rhythm Band and calling him “Mr. Make-out” He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then she went for the mouth. She cleared her throat a lot and had the on again off again with her long sleeved shirt here too. All the energy in the room is sieved to her. I didn’t feel entertained. I’m not a fan, I didn’t become on Monday night, and I was really glad my tickets were free and I did not have to pay for that.
Val
http://www.tickledorange.com
Posted by: Val | September 21, 2006 11:40 AM