Cat Power @ Warehouse Live

Friday, October 10th was the start to a very busy weekend of music that was highlighted by Saturday's all-day long Westheimer Block Party (more on that soon...). Our first show featured indie songstress Cat Power as the headlining act in the ballroom of Houston's Warehouse Live.

Read about the night and browse through photos of the show after the jump

Breakfast On Tour was very split on their impressions of Cat Power walking into Warehouse Live on Friday night. I am a fan. I like her vocal approach to her own penned tunes as well as the host of covers she takes on. Cereal, on the other hand, is not exactly what you would call a fan. I'll spare you some of her acerbic comments, but let's just say that Cat Power is still not her cup of tea.

We made it there soon after the 8:00pm posted set time, mainly because there wasn't an opener listed and I didn't want to miss my opportunity in the photo pit. Unfortunately there was an opener. I never caught the act's name, but I assume that it was Appaloosa, who originally appeared on the bill in April before the show was rescheduled due to the "vocal exhaustion" of Chan Marshall. Appaloosa's heroin-chic look infused with a monotone, out-of-tune vocal put her somewhat-decent beats to waste. She also lacked stage presence, repeatedly telling the lighting and sound guy to lower the already-dim stage lights, possibly to hide unsightly track marks. After only a few songs, Crack-aloosa finished her MacBook-backed set and exited the stage.

Cat Power, known better by her family and obsessors as Chan Marshall, came on stage to the approval of Houston's indie scene. While Ms. Marshall is better known for her work on the albums You Are Free and The Greatest, which both contain a slew of gems, it was her most recent cover-filled album, Jukebox, that was on display during this particular night. She still added in several crowd favorites from her repertoire ("Metal Heart," "The Greatest" and "The Moon"), but overall her set consisted more of other people's classics. She took on John Fogerty's rebellious rocker "Fortunate Son" and turned it into a number fit for the dankest of jazz clubs. "Ramblin' (Wo)man" was a far cry from the the original fun-time Allman Brothers hit, as she contorted it into a piano-driven blues anthem that showed off the simplistic nature of her vocals.

The set style never swayed too far off from the ballads for which Cat Power has become known. Overall, it failed to provide the already restless crowd with enough energy to become engaged with most of the show. When people get bored they start talking, which in turn makes it much harder to pay attention to what could be a really good show. I blame this on two things: 1) Cat Power has now become too big to perform the same style of show that she currently does. She needs to add a little extra to her live shows if she wants to continue to grow as an artist, and make money touring. 2) Houston crowds need to shut the hell up. Why pay 20+ dollars for a show that you are not going to pay attention to? God, think about it. You could buy like three more cosmos at Crome with the money you saved from not going to the show!

For a pretty decent night of music that unfortunately wasn't in the right setting, I give Cat Power 6.7/10 yolks (I didn't rank the opener because I am not sure who it was, but it would probably be around the 2 or 3 yolk range).

-Eggs