Photo by Blaine Schultz
Cat Power Plays Dylan at the Pabst Theater
Cat Power Plays Dylan at the Pabst Theater
Anyone yearning for Bob Dylan and The Band’s defining sound found a contemporary fix on Saturday night at the Pabst Theater when the venue hosted “Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert.”
In 1966, Dylan and the Hawks (who would soon morph into The Band) played a concert in England at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. The show was recorded and famously bootlegged with the erroneous information that it was recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall. It remains a towering document of rock and roll as art.
You could make the argument Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) is doing a public service to Dylan fans who complain he no longer plays recognizable versions of his early songs. While faithful to the original arrangements, her singular phrasing leans into jazz vocalist elasticity.
Marshall opened with a handful tunes accompanied by Henry Munson on acoustic guitar and Aaron Embry on harmonica. Originally built as an opera house, Marshall took full advantage of the Pabst’s acoustics; “Visions of Johanna” found the singer’s reverbed voice reaching the far corners of the theater.
Battling throat problems all evening, she barked out a cough during “Mr. Tambourine Man,” as a subliminal Wurlitzer piano peered into the mix, played by Embry.
“Play fucking loud!”
And then Cat Power went electric. She was joined by the full band: a pair of Telecasters, bass, drums, piano and Hammond organ.
Kicking off the electric set with “Tell Me, Momma,” the ultimate Dylan cypher—a killer song that only appeared on bootlegs and was never released on a studio album. This was the “thin wild mercury sound” that lived in abandon where rockabilly and rhythm & blues merged seamlessly. In hindsight and on Saturday it sure seems to be protopunk.
“Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” captured the raw sound of guitars kissing barb wire, turning the stately theater into a roadhouse. “I’m goin’ back to Milwaukee, I do believe I’ve had enough,” she ad-libbed at the close of “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.” A raucous “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” had folks up and dancing in the aisles.
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Kicking off her stilettos, Marshall strode to the foot of the stage as the signature organ riff of “Like A Rolling Stone” brought the audience again to its feet for Dylan’s kiss-off anthem. At the conclusion Marshall graciously thanked the audience. Naturally, there would be no encore.
