since I’ve been a cat power fan since the early ’90s (we were the first to interview her back in 1996 for timeout new york and of course chickfactor), I have seen her like two zillion times, but my pal lauren had not so we went to see ms charlene at the london forum on 1 may. the show was packed and sold out and seemingly filled with chain-smoking (and coked-up) cretins and fashion world wannabes. the crowd didn’t make too much sense to me in an indie way until I saw this so-hip-it’s-stupid magazine cover on the newsstand the very next day, and then it all made total sense. it’s their special white trash issue. oh well, good for her. the show was very professional, she was a lead singer who walked around and made lots of gestures and the band was good. it was a vast improvement over the last show of hers I’d seen in london, where she was slumped in a chair and unenergetic and her typically insecure self. her new role as slimmed-down muse to karl lagerfeld, draped in chanel jewellery, has clearly given the raspy voiced lady a shot of well-deserved confidence. shame about the new fans and the gross cover line, though…
image: i-d