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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: Chan Marshall with some lowkey bluesy tunes.
Phone: 0207344 0044
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Trains: Tube/BR: Kentish Town 
, Tube / Bus: 134, 214, C2, N20 
Extra info: Pub
Sensitive and soulful: Cat Power
Everyone deserves a second chance, not least Chan Marshall, who as Cat Power managed to put on the all-time, chart-topping, hands-down worst gig I've ever seen, at the Shepherds Bush Empire in 2004.
There, she appeared alone, meandering through a half-thought-out evening of song sketches and lazy improvising, only stopping the torture when music was played over the sound system to force her to leave the stage.
So the simple sight of the 35-year-old singing with a proper band, performing songs that had beginnings, middles and ends, was alone enough to ensure a healthy star rating.
A self-confessed stage fright sufferer, here she slinked about the stage, cigarette clasped between her knuckles, saying little but seeming comfortable.
She even returned for her encore on a bicycle.
After making her name as a sorrowful singer-songwriter with a knack for minimal, haunting piano ballads, Marshall's last album, The Greatest, saw her filling out her sound with classic soul courtesy of Al Green's band.
Here her recent Memphis Rhythm Band was replaced by a new line-up named Dirty Delta Blues, featuring members of Dirty Three and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, who generated a casual, jammed rock feel.
Her soft voice ached quietly on tracks such as Where Is My Love and Living Proof, though the more sensitive material would have been better suited to a theatre or club show, where a significant part of the audience would not have comprised chattering people who couldn't see.
Some startling covers gripped more powerfully, including fairly faithful interpretations of Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You Too Long and Billie Holiday's Don't Explain, and a barely recognisable New York, New York.
At the close, guitarist Judah Bauer called Marshall "the best soul singer in the world today", which was pushing it, but to see the troubled star performing great songs in a professional manner was privilege enough.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
The Shepherds Bush gig was one of the best I've seen, an artist performing from the heart, not just churning out the hits, only marred by an impatient, ignorant audience. The Forum gig was good too with the structure clearly making it easier to take. If you need a begining, middle and end try Take That or Celine Dion.
- Jasper, London
