Cat Power at Academy, Manchester … arrived in Manchester realising I’d forgotten where the Hostel was, so searched around WHsmiths for an AZ and located. Settled in at hostel and down to Oxford Road for a pint – the students were watching some wildlife program rather than Euro 2008. Genned up on the Manni gigs, and then across to the Union for the Cat Power gig. Missed most of the warmup – didn’t seem very interesting. Cat Power were on around 9, and not having seen a live show, was amazed by the power of Chans voice, put together with the blues backing band, they made a great sound. Chan kind of leaned into the crowd, sometimes aggressive and sometimes more approachable. They played for a least two hours, many many songs. I started near the front and moved around for different views, sitting on the floor just to listen at one point. Up for the end, someone gave Chan some flowers. She gave many out to women in the crowd, throwing some out into the crowd, it was nice for both her and the crowd, and she got much applause. Did she have something going on with the keyboard player? I couldn’t make my mind up…