Cat Power

Before the concert began, while the lights were still up, I asked myself what I was about to witness: a contemporary event, or the re-enactment of a historic moment, like some kind of period drama? I was, in fact, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, where Cat Power was about to perform live her latest project, a meticulous re-creation of Bob Dylan's iconic concert at Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966, famously misattributed to the Royal Albert Hall.

I had always thought of a concert as something fleeting, unrepeatable: a fragment doomed to dissolve into the whirlwind of eternity, whose value you can at best glimpse by listening to some recording of it. In the end, though, Charlyn Marie Marshall's performance was not a mere imitation but a work of art in its own right. However accurate and faithful her transposition was to the original, everything was steeped in the personal sensibility of a woman with extraordinary charisma. Every song she performed, while respecting the original melodies and lyrics (with a few exceptions), was transformed by her unique voice and intense emotional depth. How could one not notice, for instance, the new shades of meaning a song like "Just Like A Woman" takes on when sung by her, a strong, independent woman who has also been through her own personal hell, battling addiction, depression and turbulent relationships?

The show, like the original, was split into two distinct parts. In the first, entirely acoustic, Marshall, accompanied by Henry Munson on guitar and Aaron Embry on harmonica and keyboards, let the words of the Nobel laureate in Literature take centre stage. The visions of Johanna, Einstein disguised as Robin Hood, Cinderella and all the characters of Dylan's poetic world paraded across the dimly lit stage, conjured up by Cat Power's deep, richly modulated voice.

The acoustics of the first set perfectly laid the groundwork for the second part of the show, which saw the full band take the stage. With the addition of an organ, drums, a bass and another guitar, the stage underwent a dramatic transformation. After the bright, dynamic "Tell Me, Momma" and "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)", the atmosphere began to heat up. Cat Power kicked off her high heels and moved around the stage with increasing frenzy. On "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" she dedicated a suitably altered verse to the Italian capital, inviting the audience to feel part of the performance. On "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" she asked everyone to stand up and crowd the front of the stage for the grand finale, which culminated in the inevitable "Like A Rolling Stone".

It's genuinely amusing that, in order to hear all these great hits by a master like Dylan — so reluctant to perform his own classics — you have to go to another artist's concert instead. But what comes across is that, through reinterpretation, these songs not only find new life but also new meaning. Marshall doesn't simply copy Dylan; she reinvents him, inhabits him and transforms him, making his songs accessible and relevant to a new generation of listeners (who might also find this an opportunity to rediscover the excellent back catalogue of the singer from Atlanta).

Ride the wave of great music

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