In 1998, director Gus Van Sant launched a “shot-for-shot” remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s basic 1960 movie Psycho. When requested the inevitable query of “Why?” Van Sant provided up plenty of solutions: it was an experiment, an elaborate prank, a craven “marketing scheme.” No matter how Van Sant informed it, his Psycho appeared much less like a correct movie and extra like an mental train in homage and imitation. It was, unsurprisingly, a crucial catastrophe.
To be clear, Cat Power‘s song-for-song recreation of Bob Dylan’s 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” live performance (extra on these quotes in a minute) shouldn’t be Gus Van Sant’s Psycho. It shouldn’t be a advertising scheme and it’s most decidedly not a catastrophe. And but its multimedia existence—a 2023 album recorded reside on the iconic London venue, a tour that stopped at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater Saturday night time—raises the identical query: Why?
Dylan’s “Royal Albert Hall” live performance is actually a worthy topic. Yes, that is the notorious and tide-changing present from the singer’s 1966 world tour the place he absolutely “went electric.” Yes, that is the present the place the group enthusiastically applauded the acoustic opening half (“She Belongs To Me,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and so forth.) and enthusiastically jeered the full-band closing half (“Tell Me, Momma,” “Like A Rolling Stone,” and so forth.). Yes, that is the present the place somebody known as out “Judas!” from the group. And sure, that is the present that didn’t take place at London’s Royal Albert Hall in any respect, however at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. (Early bootlegs had been mislabeled.) Even by Dylan requirements, the “Royal Albert Hall” live performance is a wealthy, knotty, and endlessly fascinating textual content.
Enter Cat Power, a.ok.a. Chan Marshall. In 2022, the beloved indie singer was given an opportunity to play Royal Albert Hall. Already identified for her covers (The Covers Record was launched in 2000, Jukebox in 2008), Marshall used the chance to faithfully recreate Dylan’s 1966 present. The subsequent reside album contained the identical 15 songs, the identical mid-set swap, and even the identical “Judas!” jeer from the group. And on Saturday night time, Marshall faithfully recreated that recreation. No must puzzle out the set listing, this was certainly the identical 15 songs and the identical mid-set swap. No intro, no encore. Just the Dylan present, nothing extra wanted. (Shockingly, nobody we might hear yelled out “Judas!”)
Coming out to a sparsely embellished stage and accompanied by an acoustic guitar participant and harmonica participant (one Dylan turned three Cat Power musicians), Marshall immediately enthralled the group with “She Belongs To Me.” That enthrallment continued for everything of the present’s first set: “4th Time Around,” “Visions Of Johanna, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Desolation Row,” “Just Like A Woman,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Marshall’s strategy all through was hushed and reverent, quietly coaxing out nuances and gently tweaking phrasings, however by no means straying too removed from Dylan’s unique renditions. Her otherworldly voice was the star right here, embracing and virtually smothering Dylan’s lyrics, all to startling impact. On the songs the place she strayed most from the originals—”Visions Of Johanna,” “Mr. Tambourine Man”—Marshall gave the impression to be singing concord with Dylan in absentia.
That absence was acutely felt in the course of the present’s 45-minute opening half. A sorrowful, almost funereal temper appeared to hold over the performers and viewers alike. Dylan continues to be very a lot alive, in fact, and is as very important, rewarding, and unimaginable to pin down as ever. But maybe Saturday’s present was shot by way of with a collective grief for an period gone? A eager for the form of one-to-one present Dylan himself would by no means do at present? A way of revere for a second in time when, should you consider historical past’s broad strokes, rock and roll turned “rock.” “Look out the saints are comin’ through,” Marshall/Dylan sang. “And it’s all over now, Baby Blue.”
The present’s electrical half—that includes Marshall and a six-piece band—was something however hushed. The group leapt from “Mr. Tambourine Man” to the raucous “Tell Me, Momma” with hardly a pause in between. The latter tune is itself fascinating; it was carried out solely throughout Dylan’s ’66 tour, by no means formally recorded, and by no means carried out by Dylan once more. In the palms of Marshall and firm it was a jolt of electrical energy, with the singer’s beforehand delicate vocals blowing out and distorting the Pabst’s sound system. Not that Dylan wanted to be confirmed proper almost 60 years later, nevertheless it needs to be famous that on Saturday night time, the sudden change in quantity and amplification was applauded, not jeered.
And so it went for the remainder of the electrical numbers: “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met),” “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down,” “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” “One Too Many Mornings,” “Ballad Of A Thin Man,” and, in fact, “Like A Rolling Stone.” Marshall’s band was the star throughout this stretch, blasting and careening by way of the all of the sudden rowdy affair. The enlivened temper even bought to Marshall; she subbed “Milwaukee” for “New York City” throughout “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” and preceded the show-closing “Like A Rolling Stone” with a plea to “fight the power any way you can.”
Which brings us again to the query of “Why?” Why recreate not only one or two songs, however a whole live performance? Is Marshall, like Gus Van Sant—or, hell, Dylan himself—pulling an elaborate stunt? Engaging in an mental train in homage and imitation? In interviews about her “Royal Albert Hall” album and tour, Marshall has offered a extra direct clarification: she’s merely a giant Dylan fan. If there’s extra at play right here, greater than adoration and respect, greater than a fan sharing her love (and her personal items) with different followers, she isn’t letting on.
And perhaps that’s simply as effectively. Taking a sophisticated unique and distilling it to its easiest pleasures? Even the person himself can be impressed with that trick.
Oh, and thumbs-up in your alternative of post-show eating, Cat Power.
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