9/1/06 - Boulder, CO, Boulder Theater

9/1/06 - Boulder, CO, Boulder Theater

Incomplete setlist (not sure which show):
Good Woman
Satisfaction
Colors And The Kids
I Dont Blame You
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Incomplete setlist (not sure which show):
Maybe Not
Good Woman
I Dont Blame You

This was the forty-third concert and twenty-fifth solo performance of the tour. Just one show on this date instead of the usual two Chan does at the other shows on this tour.

Review

We were driving up to Boulder to see Cat Power last Friday. On the way was a phone call offering us tickets to Cirque de Soleil. We opted to see Chan Marshall in all her glory and pass on the circus tickets. What we got was a circus of our own.

I had never seen Chan Marshall live before but I have read enough reviews to understand that she has incredible stage fright and is prone to mini-breakdowns, rantings & ravings, false starts, rambling, and occasionally straight-up abandoning her audience. So, when she arrived on stage forty minutes late, I was just glad that she decided to show up. She sat down with her guitar and immediately tore through three great songs. Soon her mic started making a low rumbling sound… and then the wheels fell off.

Chan wondered if the rumbling that was coming through the speakers was buffalo or thunder, and quipped it must be buffalunder, and then stated that she wished that was a word someone would use to describe her ass. It was moments like these that made the audience laugh. However, much of the night the audience was unprepared or unwilling to accept Chan’s blunt personality and stretched-beyond-limits character and ended up wincing, shifting uncomfortably and often simply leaving because of how uncomfortable they felt.

Chan then proceeded to stumble through a half-dozen songs unable to actually complete any of them.

She continually complained about the sound but complimented the theatre. She said that, had she still been drinking, this show would probably prompt her to commit suicide. She wished for a “psychedelic sound button” on her piano and across the elementary classrooms of America. She talked of having her period, picking her crack, butt-crack, and “all her cracks”. She talked about getting sober and the vices picked up from becoming straight, all the while ashing her cigarette into her shirt pocket. She talked about old friends, and her childhood, and politics (feebly). She slammed her hands on the piano in frustration, left the stage for a little bit fuming with dissatisfaction, asking for the magic to return. She sat in silence for extended periods, and had the audience in silence , wondering if any sort of shouting or clapping would send her shattering into pieces. When the audience did scream, it was usually words of encouragement to, “keep on going!”, “it sounds great”, and “don’t worry Chan, we love you”.

Having no back up band to push her though finishing any songs Chan was free to stop in middle of songs, start in the middle of songs and just mash up a bunch of songs together – and she did.

She eventually finished her two-and-a-half hour set by singing an a capella version of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life”, tinkling on the piano trying to decide what to play, then announcing to the audience thanks for listening and that she is going to leave us alone now. She then walked off the stage while pretending to moon the audience.

G described the show as though she were watching a train wreck and couldn’t pull her eyes off craziness on stage. I loved it. I thought it was raw and real, and yes – crazy. But it was so fucking honest that I couldn’t help but root for her every painful minute of the way.

This is not to say every minute was painful. Chan sang beautifully and her piano and guitar playing were superb – when she’d give herself a chance to play them. I loved hearing “Good Women” (Otis Redding cover), “Satisfaction” (Rolling Stones cover), “The Colors And The Kids” and “I Don’t Blame You”. This is a show I thoroughly enjoyed but judging from what others have said, and how many people left the theatre mid-show, my opinion is not a popular one.

Did anyone else go to this? Does anyone have a set list (somehow I think that may be impossible)?

Review
http://pattynet.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=36247

I LOVED her. Her voice is amazing and she was extremely personable with the crowd (which was seated, BTW...no cameras here either). I was hoping to get up closer to the stage but it was still general admission and the closest we could get was about mid-theater. I agree, the contortions were very cute and spontaneous. She frequently would move her head around the mike which she said was because she was trying to 'catch' the reverb. She said ''It's so hard...ya just don't know!!" Speaking of reverb, there were a lot of sound problems, and she had to stop singing a few times to apologize. She didn't need to...it wasn't her fault. She still sounded great to me and the crowd was eager to tell her so, too. She said she just wanted to give us the best show she could. She was very real...down to earth. She wore jeans and what looked like a denim shirt, not tucked in, and white sneakers. The sneakers came off about halfway through the show. Her piano was at the left of the stage (from my view) and her guitar set-up was a seat and a stand-up mike about center stage. She later moved the mike to the right side of the stage so she could entertain the folks on that side of the room, too. She sang about everything from The Greatest and several other favorites of mine from her other albums including Good Woman, Maybe Not, I Don't Blame You. The down side of the evening was some geese in the row in back of us. They were very quietly whispering and it didn't bother me, but the folks down the row from us got extremely upset and after about three times asking them to kindly shut the f**k up, they started yelling at them and screaming how ignorant they were and stomped out of the theater. There had to have been a better way, no? Another downside was the folks I went with had never heard of Cat Power and although they agreed her voice was amazing, they thought her music was quite boring and downright depressing. They were more fans of, say, George Clinton or Widespread Panic. (who I love as well). OK..yes, it was a pretty long concert and the music did tend to be depressing and it kinda made me fidgety about making them endure stuff they didn't care for. But I love depressing music. I think it would have been a more enjoyable evening had I gone alone. Still, I love her and that husky voice live was unbelievable and I'm so glad I went.