Cat Power, Solo
On Thursday I went to see Cat Power, in a solo "acoustic" show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. I put acoustic in quotation marks because that's how it was billed, but she played an electric guitar as well as the piano. This was my third time seeing her (first was October of last year in Washington D.C., second was in January at Terminal 5) but my first time seeing her solo. The first two times were part of her Sun tour, which is probably my least favorite of her albums, but was still good live.
This was, by far the better of the three shows, and maybe the best show I've ever seen. Now I haven't seen many (especially compared to a lot of people my age) so that might not be as important a claim as it sounds, but she was amazing. I have loved her ever since The Greatest came out, which was the first time I ever heard of her. Once I realized it wasn't a greatest hits album (it isn't, I'm just an idiot), it quickly became one of my very favorite albums of all-time. I listened to it basically non-stop that entire summer and never got tired of it. Seven years later, I'm still not tired of it, and think that every single song is perfection.
After falling in love with her voice and amazing lyrics, I of course listened to every other thing of hers I could get my hands on. It's all great, and I knew I would never pass up a chance to see her do anything live. She's had a lot of health and personal problems through the years that have interrupted her tours and made seeing her a not-so easy thing to do. The second this solo show was announced I bought my ticket, and it ended up selling out not too soon after they went on sale. In response to the huge demand, they added a second show right after the first one, which annoyed me a bit. I was afraid that she would try and reserve her voice or cut the show short. Although she started late, and only ended up playing for about an hour and a half it was still definitely worth it.
She sang so many of my favorites — Satisfaction, Good Woman, The Greatest — but everything she sang had a completely unique sound, unlike anything you would find on her albums. She sang a lot of partial songs and was generally a bit scattered, but there is no equipment malfunction in the world capable of distracting from the fact that she just has an incredible voice. Everything she sings is so heartfelt and devastating that I basically cried through the entire show. It's always a surprise which song really ends up getting to me — at Terminal 5 it was The Greatest, and on Thursday it was Good Woman.
I'd never been to the Brooklyn Masonic Temple before, but I was pleased to discover that there were actual seats. I came about a half hour early and ended up with a perfect view from the third row middle (a perk of going to a show alone). The thing I hate most about concerts are the other people, waving their cell phones, recording the whole show, spilling their beer, clapping along or singing in my face. THANKFULLY there wasn't one annoying person in the audience for this show and it definitely made a huge difference. Everyone was respectful and chill and I could actually hear and see everything she did. I would see this tour again in a heartbeat if I could.
This is neither here, nor there, but I also learned that her first name "Chan" is actually pronounced "Shawn," which kind of blew my mind a little bit. She is one of those artists that is so raw and emotional that anything they sing instantly becomes heartbreaking, like Judy Garland, Edith Piaf or Johnny Cash. I just kind of want to give her a hug, but after Thursday's show I'm thinking I could use one too.