Cat Power

Apparently a reticent performer these days and one who has suffered from acute stress and other physical ailments recently (including a near-death experience), Chan Marshall is a strangely steady/unsteady performer tonight; able to deliver a lengthy, wordy set with relatively confident ease, but in between songs is constantly muttering sorry, consulting her list of songs, twiddling with her amps and mics, and never looking settled. There’s a very interesting online video interview (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIKw7CfvfXo) which shows her to be a very talkative, yet, nervy person, someone who is struggling to get through to the other side, but dealing with it nonetheless. And in front of a full house, many of whom very supportive of her onstage troubles – rallying her to get through it – she performs a mixture of songs, old and new, on the piano, and more successfully, on the electric guitar. And all the while, through the almost invariably emotionally intense songs, her bluesy, ravaged voice, is as soulful and honest, as always.

Sunday 18 May, Dome Concert Hall

Rating:

Jeff Hemmings