Cat Power Readies New Version of Bob Dylan’s 1966 Royal Albert Hall Performance

It's happening this November

Cat Power live
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Cat Power during Wednesday's October 3, 2018 show.
CBS via Getty Images

When done correctly, there’s something inherently compelling about one acclaimed artist honing in on a very specific aspect of another artist’s music and then offering their own version. Rufus Wainwright has taken this approach with a 1961 Judy Garland concert, for instance — and now Cat Power is taking a similar approach to a particular Bob Dylan performance.

As Pitchfork reports, Cat Power’s Chan Marshall is taking on a particularly ambitious moment in Dylan’s career — the 1966 concert at Royal Albert Hall, which was later released as a (very good) live album. The 1966 concert came at a pivotal moment for Dylan, as he played half of the concert with an acoustic guitar and went electric for the second half. Cat Power will do the same.

The event is scheduled to take place on November 5 at — fittingly enough — the Royal Albert Hall.

While Marshall has received plenty of acclaim for her own work as a songwriter, she has also earned rave reviews for her work as an interpreter of other people’s songs — and has recorded several albums’ worth of covers. The prospect of a Cat Power set that revisits this iconic selection of Dylan’s music is a particularly intriguing combination of singer and songs. And in a few months, we’ll know just how well the two work together.

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