Setlist:
the band: Soul Serenade
w/ the band: The Greatest / Living Proof / Lived in Bars / Could We / Empty Shell / Willie / The Moon / Islands / Where is My Love
solo: I Found a Reason (Velvet Underground) / Wild Is the Wind (Nina Simone) / Maybe Not / House of the Rising Sun / Love & Communication
the band: Since You Been Gone
w/ the band: Naked If I Want To (Moby Grape) / Crossbones Style / Colors /// (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones)

Cat Power, along with the Memphis Rhythm Band played two shows at Irving Plaza last night; I attended the first. I have a lot of thoughts on the show so let’s get right to it.

Note: No photos from this one kiddies. Let this be a lesson to all you photographers out there – when going to a LiveNation venue, be sure to have your press pass handy or get yourself on the press list before it’s closed!

I really only have two complaints about the performance, one of which was through no fault of her own. “Love & Communication” – while she pretty much ripped through the entire album with the band backing her up, that was the one song I really wanted to hear her sing with the band. The combination of the lyrics to the song and the haunting sound the band creates behind her was the perfect end to her show at Town Hall back in June. Instead, “Love…” was relegated to Name that Song status and while I liked her acoustic performance of the song, what point is there to having the band that collaborated on the album with her present, if she doesn’t utilize them? Because, let’s face it, as great as Chan is on “The Greatest,” the southern soul sound of the Memphis Rhythm Band really makes the album what is is.

The second complaint? This show was nowhere near as good as her first tour of the year in which she played two shows in consecutive nights at Town Hall. There was a greater amount of interaction between Chan and the band at that show where they all benefitted from a larger stage. By comparison, the stage at Irving Plaza was cramped and it was difficult to take in the band in their entirety – you could hear them but you couldn’t necessarily see all of them. She was also more focused at Town Hall though the nerves she showed last night was still minimal by her standards.

Speaking of Chan and her oh so infamous stage fright, there were moments during the solo portion of the show where she seemed to lose focus and she reverted back to the Chan of old – nervous, fidgety, peculiar – but when the band was on stage, helping to center her, she was nothing short of amazing. Her voice is among the best there is with equal parts sultry/sexy and vulnerability. It’s clear that she’s finally figured out how to perform on stage without flaking out, even if it requires the crutch of having a large band on stage with her. Hey, whatever it takes, right?