Cat Power Opens North Stage

Hippies beware, we are on the scene! Cat Power opened the North Stage today at high noon, leveling the sober and unsuspecting early birds, including myself. Cat Power, the nom du guerre of chanteuse Chan Marshall and her Dirty Delta Blues Band rumbled through the inaugural set of this the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival, wowing the crowd, or at least wowing me with soft yet grimy soul and rockin' blues. Drawing largely from her latest album Jukebox, a collection of covers and personal favorites, the show touched on some oldies made brand spanking new, including a spaced out take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son". Later, her gut wrenching take on James Brown's own "Lost Someone" hit me like an emotional uppercut, leaving me dazed and uncomfortably aware of my place in this immense world, made smaller only when people come together and listen to great music, like today. I had to take a sit down and sort things out before I could continue. Luckily, Worldspace will be here through the entire festival, and you can follow all the action with our VIRGIN MOBILE FESTIVAL WIDGET bringing you the latest in updates, the crowd cam, interviews with artists and the crowd, and my own slightly (OK, largely) off kilter analysis.