It’s highly unlikely that if she were to look online Cat Power would be expecting to see a five-star review of her Port Fairy Folk Festival show, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert. Indeed, there’s a high probability that she will be thinking of it as one of the worst shows she’s ever done. And a sizeable portion of the audience could agree with her. Those are the ones who exited en masse after ‘Just Like a Woman’. But they missed something very special indeed and those who stayed were lucky enough to witness it.
The reason there were departures was that right from the get-go it was abundantly clear to the crowd that something was wrong. Those of us who had never seen the US singer/songwriter perform live before were looking around, thinking ‘is she always like this?’, while veterans were simply writing her off as being severely under par. There were gesticulations offstage, snatches of conversation between her and those at the controls, and her facial expressions were pained and thunderous. Accompanied solely by a lone guitarist for the first part of the set, she was clearly, clearly not happy or performing as expected.
And this was only compounded when the full band joined her and the set really kicked into a higher gear. But this is when she stopped, sat down and shared with the audience what was really going on. As she explained to the crowd that she didn’t know whether she was going to “pass out or throw up”, the full extent of her physical challenges became clear.
A wet towel around her neck, an electric fan brought onto the stage and her remaining seated for a substantial section of the set helped her recover enough to go on. Perhaps it was the heat (which was indeed stifling), perhaps, as she said, it was the coffees – ArtsHub‘s money would be on the former – but whatever caused her such grief, the result was an extraordinary piece of theatre. To sit and watch someone so close to the edge, struggling so hard and yet, excuse the pun but, powering on through was utterly mesmerising.
Because no matter how rotten she was feeling, how unrelentingly physical her challenges, her extraordinary voice never let her (or us) down. Somehow, in a performance that would have seen lesser talents understandably give in to the inevitable and cut the show short, she didn’t falter at all. As her equilibrium was partly restored she was also able to share a dazzling smile or two with the crowd. And then, one after the other, the superb set of Dylan’s songs poured out of her, including ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and winding up with ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.
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And what a voice it is. With phrasing and tone that are all her own, she took Dylan’s landmark Royal Albert Hall gig and made it a completely new experience. And in the end, it actually wasn’t Dylan who came to mind, but for this reviewer it was someone else who would lay it all on the line when performing, who could drag their talent out from the depths of their soul, even when they were at their lowest ebb offstage. Yes, Cat Power at Port Fairy Folk Festival 2025 made this reviewer think of Judy Garland and that’s about the highest praise I can think of.
With the audience (that stayed) willing her on every step of the way, it was truly a communal experience. Power ended the gig reiterating “I’m so sorry” over and over again, but I hope the standing ovation told her no apologies were needed.
Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert performed for one show only on 9 March 2025 at Port Fairy Folk Festival.
