Cat Power/Todd Snider
Date: July 11, 2007 Doublewide Blues I saw two artists on Day 8 of Bluesfest, each for the second time. The contrast between the two lead-in shows could not have been much greater, though. I first saw Cat Power five years earlier in Halifax, going in with high hopes and walking out having witnessed what stands to this day as the most disastrous musical performance I have ever seen. Todd Snider had played Bluesfest the previous night and, while I had not heard of him prior to his set, he made a huge impression. On this night, both acts were strong, although once the glow wore off from Cat Power's capable set, I was left with some disappointment in her song selection. Cat Power had second billing on the night, placing her as the last act on one of the two alternating main field stages, where she drew a decent crowd. She took the stage backed by Dirty Delta Blues: Jim White (of the Dirty Three) on drums, Gregg Foreman (of Delta 72s) on keyboard and occasional vocals, Judah Bauer (of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) on guitar, and Erik Paparazzi (of many projects) on bass, upright and electric. Despite the fiery pedigree of the band, they displayed a soft touch all evening, leaving the focus on Chan Marshall's singing. Given her history of notorious concert breakdowns, Marshall is likely under more scrutiny than most performers. She soon proved to be in steady form, with her husky voice sounding perfect and the songs flowing easily. She started her performance seemingly rooted to the extreme left edge of the stage, away from most of the band. However, she seemed to relax as the show went on, playfully interacting with the crowd and eventually covering the breadth of the space (and declining Foreman's offer of a cigarette when she approached him). The show opened with the title track from the most recent Cat Power CD, The Greatest. From there, things quickly took a turn, as the vast majority of the concert was made up of covers. While I recognized some, such as "Theme from New York, New York," many were unknown to me. At one point, Foreman referred to Marshall as "perhaps the greatest soul singer in the world today"; and while her voice did lend itself well to soul standards, it would have been nice to hear more of her own compositions. Even a bolder approach to the covers would have helped; her take on "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" sounded more like the original than the stripped-down interpretation that she recorded for The Covers Record. So, while the concert was certainly a redemption from the Halifax show of several years past, I would have been happier if the late-set inclusion of "The Moon" had been more typical of the song selection. By the time that Cat Power ended without an encore, I was about ten minutes past the starting time for Todd Snider's show in the Barney Danson Theatre. Luckily for me, a fire alarm had pushed his set back about ten minutes and I found an empty seat just before he started playing. This was my first look at the indoor theatre and I found the 231-seat room to be a very comfortable setting. Snider's style quickly made the venue feel even more intimate, injecting a casual and humourous mood to the formal setting. Compared to his outdoor show the night before, Snider was less prone to storytelling and more on point with his music, although he was particularly hilarious with a late-set digression relating his experience leaving the high school football team to join the stoner kids, a tale that involved an indulgence in magic mushrooms. This anecdote tied in well with a new song, "America's Favorite Pastime," relating the legend of Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter while on LSD. In contrast to the drug stories, Snider also seemed to showcase more tender songs, such as "All My Life," a simple love song to his wife. After only a handful of tunes, he began soliciting requests, seeming to satisfy all suggestions with a smile. The only filtering that he seemed to make was a conscious effort to duplicate very few songs from his previous show, although "Side Show Blues," "If Tomorrow Never Comes," and "Conservative Christian Right-Wing Republican Straight White American Males" were among those to make the cut again. As a newly-made fan who had only discovered Snider the night before, this was ideal for me, offering a better look at what is apparently a broad pool of excellent songs. While Snider seemed to have the crowd solidly on his side from the opening, he built on that good will throughout the set. Sometimes you could witness him making an individual connection, as when the lady behind me guffawed during "Vinyl Records," at the lines, "And as some of y'all mighta guessed already, I got piles and piles and piles of Tom Petty," in sudden realization of the musical influence. More often, though, it was a communal spirit, with seemingly everyone listening intently to the slice of life in "Doublewide Blues" or laughing at the concluding stanza of "You Got Away With It (A Tale of Two Fraternity Brothers)." As such, it was fitting when Snider insisted that the audience take a turn singing together through an encore of "Enjoy Yourself," which capped a great set. Day 8 of Bluesfest was a great success, with Cat Power's redemptive performance leading to another captivating set from Todd Snider. With fortune allowing me to catch both sets in full, despite what should have been an overlap of timing, it was hard to find much fault with the evening. The only improvement that I could hope for the future is that if I see Cat Power again, she doesn't shy away from her own material as strongly. Todd Snider setlist (copied from Eighteen Minutes) Main Set
<--Prev (George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars) | Next (Xavier Rudd)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |