POP Montreal: Catey Shaw’s Epic Dance Party

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Pop Montreal is always a crazy good time but as with all music festivals it can become overwhelming trying to attend every show you want to see. I’m a big time FOMO (fear of missing out) sufferer so if you’re anything like me, I apologize for the following statement: if you were not at Cabaret Playhouse last night, you missed an epic dance party.

I got there just a few minutes past 11 p.m., just in time to see Catey Shaw perform. I had seen her mingling at the bar before she took the stage but hadn’t noticed that it was her until I looked over a few seconds later and saw that the small blonde was suddenly missing. I heard a tiny, sweet voice talking into the microphone and realized the show was starting.

Catey’s music is hard to categorize and she is apprehensive herself to call it straight up pop. When I interviewed her a couple of days before her Montreal show (read HERE) we discussed how pop music tends to be a melting pot of a bunch of different genres anyway, so what does pop music even mean? Sure, she looks the part, with a little more edge, but the minute she opens her mouth it’s clear she can’t easily be put into any one “box.”

Her voice is soulful, her lyrics straightforward, gritty and sometimes even funny, and she plays the banjo and makes it look cool. Her sound may make it obvious that she’s originally from Virginia Beach but her attitude proves why she made it in New York.

Catey and her band played energetically and danced playfully while performing and that vibe was obviously infectious because the crowd did not stop dancing once. They kept a steady pace, performing songs off The Brooklyn EP pretty much back to back, but in between certain songs Catey joked around with the crowd and her band mates. Right before playing Brooklyn Girls she joked about the quote-unquote controversy surrounding the music video and added, “If you haven’t heard about that yet, you can Google it because I’m done talking about that now!”

They played what I believe many in the crowd considered to be too short a set. People were screaming “more!” which obviously flattered Catey and the band. Myself and a small group of fans invited ourselves onstage to sing their praises and help move equipment and we were met with nothing but smiles and gratitude. They invited us to hang out and I even got to talk a bit with her co-manager and some people in her group of collaborators.

I think it’s safe to say that they will be back in Montreal soon because the love was mutual.

Check out Catey’s The Brooklyn EP, available now.