Watch Cat Power play Bob Dylan's 1966 Royal Albert Hall gig

Credit: Mario Sorrenti

Watch Cat Power play Bob Dylan’s iconic 1966 Royal Albert Hall gig in full

Tue 8 November 2022 10:30, UK

Last Saturday (November 5th), Cat Power took to the Royal Albert Hall in London to recreate Bob Dylan’s iconic 1966 gig in its entirety. The singer – real name Chan Marshall – began the set acoustically before being joined by her band for the remaining half of the gig.

Dylan’s legendary gig from his ‘Dylan Goes Electric’ tour was bootlegged in 1998 under the name Bob Dylan Live 1966, The ‘Royal Albert Hall’ Concert. However, the concert actually took place in Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. Regardless, it is referred to as the Royal Albert Hall show, which is why Power decided to perform the set when given the opportunity to play there herself.

Upon announcing the gig in July, she said: “When I finally got the opportunity to play The RAH, it was a no brainer. I just wanted to sing Dylan songs. And as much as any, this collection of his songs, to me, belong there.”

Power spoke to The Guardian ahead of the performance: “It’s important for me to not do my thing. I’m not being Bob, not at all. I don’t know how to describe it – I’m just recreating it, that’s all. But not making it mine. I had the inkling that I should protect that period of time and him making that crossover. It’s like this precipice of time that changed music forever.”

She continued: “My heart is racing, I’m terrified … It’s not like, ‘Oh what will Bob think?’ It’s like, ‘What am I doing? Am I doing something right?’ I’m going to cry.”

Power described the pivotal moment that Dylan ‘betrayed’ his folk roots and incorporated electric instruments into his set. She said: “There’s all the folk loyalists, and then this kid comes, this Beat poet dude, and starts putting something that’s rock’n’roll into something that’s not to be touched. That changes the course of music history and informs everything.”

Watch clips of the performance below.