The image below is intentionally blurry, because she performed in semi-darkness. In boosting my images--not counting shots of the venue and the crowd--everything blurred out. I believe it's how she deals with stage discomfort, since the light was never on her face, but always on her keyboard player, possibly for sheet music-reading purposes. To my surprise, Chan also referred to sheet music, though not often.
She went on 30+ minutes after the 8pm start time, and no one seemed to mind, not least because of the artists playing on the PA beforehand (there was no opening act): Al Green, James Brown, the Supremes, Roberta Flack, Sam and Dave, Irma Thomas, and Joe Tex.
Grace Jones did the same at the Moore Theatre in 2022, and it only seemed to stoke anticipation for her worth-the-wait appearance.
As advertised, Chan performed the entirety of 2006 album The Greatest, but performed several other songs, too, like 2012's "Manhattan," but not "Up and Gone" from the limited edition version or Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "All I Have to Do Is Dream" from the Japanese edition. The original soulful material, recorded at Memphis's Ardent Studios with Green and Booker T. and the MGs veterans, sounded more like Rolling Stones-style blues rock with this band.
Her voice, in its jazzy, improvisatory textures, has never sounded more like Strange Weather-era Marianne Faithfull--she's starting to look like her, too--though she sounded like Bobbie Gentry on one track (I forget which one). Mostly though, she sounded like herself.
Overall, good stuff from a lady who has been through some...stuff. At one point, she joked about a former partner, and everyone laughed, because I think we all knew who she meant: actor/cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, with whom she had a tempestuous relationship--their breakup inspired the album Sun.
Set List from Setlist.fm
The Greatest
Living Proof
Lived in Bars
Could We
Empty Shell
Willie
Where Is My Love
The Moon
Islands
After It All
Hate
Love and Communication
I Don't Blame You
Try Me (James Brown & the Famous Flames cover)
Good Woman
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels (J.D. Miller cover)
Shattered / Manhattan (snippet of Shattered by the Rolling Stones as vocal intro)
I'll Be Seeing You (Sammy Fain cover)
I think this is the fourth time I've seen a musician or band perform the entirety of a single album: Massive Attack and Liz Fraser with Mezzanine in 2019, Scritti Politti with Cupid & Psyche 85 in 2021, and Kim Deal with Nobody Loves You More last year. For more information about The Greatest tour, which is shockingly robust--it continues through November--please see this page at the Domino site.
