Cat Power @ The QuarryAmphitheatre, Perth (24/1/11)

Fri 28th Jan, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Grace Woodroofe is gorgeous and The Quarry (in City Beach) is magic. What a way to start out a starry Monday eve. Punters arriving with picnic baskets and wine bottles in hand found their grassy spots in this amphitheatre hewn out of stone, romanced all the while by Woodroofe’s dulcet tones. This kid has been much talked about of late, and showed a maturity in performance that confirmed she is a worthy support for the inimitable Cat Power.

Known just as well these days by her real name, Chan (pronounced Shawn) Marshall is Cat Power; American folk songstress; lover; addict; enigma. In past visits to our shores, Marshall has awed, beguiled, and at times utterly confused audiences. Her reputation for exquisite vocals and erratic on-stage behaviour is perhaps reflective of Marshall’s human-ness in spite of great gifting – frustrating and endearing at the same time.

Monday night was a jumble from the get-go. Launching into her first song after much whispering to herself and fiddling around, Marshall was only a verse in when she stopped the whole thing, upset because photographers were in the venue (she had requested no photos). A bit more whispering, “I’m sorry” into the mic, and back into it. The audience responded with a swell of support – many were overheard saying that they had seen Marshall perform before, and there was an air of goodwill in the amphitheatre. Like parents watching their clever children err in concert and clapping anyway, the audience seemed to feel that with a bit of encouragement, Marshall’s nervousness might subside to reveal the brilliance they knew was there.

Beset for much of the night with technical issues (“It’s like performing heart surgery up here”), Marshall remained shaky for a while yet, but slowly, surely, she found her groove. Joined on stage by Judah Bauer on guitar, the Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums, Gregg Foreman on keys, and Erik Paparazzi on bass, the band rolled into a fluid and rambling set of mostly new material, peppered with some fantastic covers and some of Marshall’s own golden oldies. The band’s reworking of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams was particularly remarkable – a unique arrangement that made the song completely her own, as if it had never been sung any other way. Marshall has been quoted as saying that she feels songs breathe and evolve, and that she hates to perform a song the same way every time. In this sense she is a true artist, imbuing songs with new life and perspective at each performance. The Greatest (probably Marshall’s best known song to date) was another special highlight. Again, totally unlike the recorded version on its namesake album, a whole new experience.

The thing about Cat Power, though, is that it probably wouldn’t matter what she sang. That honey voice that booms and hollers then dips and peters out to a world-weary sigh – it is utterly captivating. Every utterance, words or none, holds a memory, a feeling. She communicates love and loss, brokenness, emptiness or sudden joy, and we know, right then and there, that she knows how it feels to be human. She knows how it feels to be us. Jumping down from the stage at the close of the night, Marshall waded into the throng of admirers, greeting each person and chatting – just a person relating to people. That’s why we love her.

Visit our photogallery to see pics of Grace Woodroofe and yourself if you were there.