Live Review: Cat Power

30 January 2014 | 10:40 am | Tyler McLoughlan

Offering the set-list and a T-shirt to a thankful punter who claims a hug, the audience is delighted and murmurs their support to the delicately talented Marshall as they shuffle out to find dinner.

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It's odd enough to be heading along to a 5.30pm Sydney Festival matinee show in daylight hours, though when Chan Marshall aka Cat Power is the attraction – an artist who feels more suited to the witching hours – and the venue is a circus tent complete with wooden bleachers, it's an even stranger prospect. In solo mode, Marshall picks up a guitar attached to a small amp and starts with the first of a few covers this evening, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Wolf Among Wolves. She's agitated as she gets through the Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, twitching and mouthing her displeasure at several cock-ups that would otherwise pass unnoticed. Great Expectations is an old, dirty guitar moment; Marshall finally seems to relax into the performance and then she's moving again, to an upright piano, murmuring quietly and fidgeting to get settled. Playing with her back to most of the audience, the awkward, unpolished nature of the show is to be expected from the American songstress with a history of erratic displays, though it's far from disappointing – she manages to take the nervous energy, plus the notion that anything might happen and any song might come out, to make it exciting, endearing and emotive.

Spending much of the hour on 2003's You Are Free, she stitches several of the album's songs together as kicks of the piano add percussion. While I Don't Blame You adds an upbeat vibe, powerfully moving set highlight Names plunges all into a moment of quiet contemplation as Marshall's voice handles the emotional content with composure; she has a gift of wringing out every ounce of feeling while exertion levels sit around the halfway mark. It's easy for a solo vocalist to impress with a bellowing range, though Marshall expertly draws attention to her generally turmoil-filled lyrics by colouring them with a natural husky charm and the demeanor of a woman who has lived them first hand. Moving back to guitar, several crowd members are compelled to yell their support during the awkward moments to propel Marshall on, though she finishes strong with Werewolf, playfully hissing and winking to the crowd. Offering the set-list and a T-shirt to a thankful punter who claims a hug, the audience is delighted and murmurs their support to the delicately talented Marshall as they shuffle out to find dinner.