2005 Summary

2005 Summary

I want to preface this post by saying I am still working on a complete chronology of all of Chan's concert appearences/radio sessions, etc. I'm sure there are some performances I am missing from my list. Any help would be most welcomed!

Did you see Cat Power in 2005? Do you have any memories/pictures/recordings you would like to share?

We'd all love to hear from you.

In addition, I'll be moving on to posting information on some other performances and so on, so really anything that anyone would like to contribute would be great!

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Like 2004, Chan spent more time on the road in 2005. She played about 53 performances. She played all shows solo this year except for an 8 date tour with Nick Cave in Australia. For those shows she was joined by Matt Hartman and Will Fratesi. She went to Australia twice and Europe three times. She even played Iceland. She took a break from touring to record "The Greatest" with the Memphis Rhythm Band, who would go on to be her new backing band for almost all of 2006. Her performance style remained the same this year. But from 2006 on, she has nearly always had a backing band, either the Memphis Rhythm Band or the Dirty Delta Blues Band. There were some solo concerts in 2006. But really 2005 is kinda like the end of an era. On 10/11/05, The Dirty Three released, Cinder, featuring Chan on vocals for a track. "The Greatest" promo single was released on 10/24/05. Near the end of the year, around the holidays, Chan filmed the music video for "Living Proof".

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The following is a list of recorded performances from the year. I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones I know about. If anyone has something not listed, we'd all love to hear it as well! The ones in BOLD are recordings I would love to get a copy of and review. Can anyone help out?

2/21/05 - Hollywood, CA, Knitting Factory - 81:32
4/14/05 - Northampton, Academy of Music Theater - 3:12
4/14/05 - Northampton, Academy of Music Theater, 50 minutes, video
4/21/05 - Malm, Sweden, Kulturbolaget - 82:27
4/28/05 - London, England, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Center - 5:35
5/16/05 - Sydney, Australia, Big Top Luna Park, 47 minutes, audio
6/22/05 - London, England, Queen Elizabeth Hall, "Meltdown Festival" - Not confirmed but likely recorded.
9/5/05 - Hollywood, CA, Barnsdall Art Park, "Arthurfest 2005" - 0:53
9/17/05 - London, England, Barbican Center, "Dont Look Back" - Possibly recorded.
10/16/05 - Asheville, NC, The Orange Peel - 0:12
10/22/05 - Urbana, IL, Canopy Club - 2:55
10/23/05 - Chicago, IL, Park West - 0:51
10/31/05 - XFM, "John Kennedys Xposure Program"
11/4/05 - Paris, France, La Cigale, "LesInRocks Festival" - 57:32
11/XX/05 - London, England, BBC, Radio One, "Blue Room" - 5:28
11/XX/05 - London, England, BBC, Radio 1, "Across The Line" - 10:03

Out of the above that I have heard, I would list the following as essential, starting with prehaps not surprisngly, the three complete concerts:

2/21/05 - Hollywood, CA, Knitting Factory
4/21/05 - Malm, Sweden, Kulturbolaget
11/4/05 - Paris, France, La Cigale, "LesInRocks Festival"
11/XX/05 - London, England, BBC, Radio One, "Blue Room"
11/XX/05 - London, England, BBC, Radio 1, "Across The Line"

Additionally, 2005 was the year Chan begin performing material for commercial use. First was an ad appearing in April for TIAA-CREF, for which she played "Somewhere" from the musical West Side Story. It's unlikely that we'll ever hear a full version of this thirty second rendition that has voice over on it. Chan has said she never records the full song for commercials. Unfortunately, I do not have link for it at this time. It's neat though, with Chan singing over an electric keyboard backing, but brutally short.

Her other commercial involvement was for Cingular Wireless. A TV ad appearing around November, had Chan singing a cover of "Hanging On The Telephone", best known as covered by Blondie. We get about 45 seconds of this with no voice over. And it sounds awesome. This could've been a great full cover as a b-side or something. After just listening to it again, I'm struck by the instrumentation. There are multiple acoustic and electric guitars and tamborine, as well as overdubbed vocals. I wonder who assisted Chan with this? Anyways, at 45 seconds this is the longest of the commercials.



She also appeared in the video for The Dirty Three's track Great Waves:


Unanswered Questions:

I have read mention of concerts in Auckland and Wellington in June. Did these shows happen? Where and when?

I have read mention of a 6/30/05 date for Dublin. But she was there on 10/30/05 for sure. Is this 6/30/05 date an error?

When were the "Blue Room" and "Across The Line" BBC sessions recorded?

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