Sunday, May 03, 2009
"Yes, I'm a man, man, man/Man, man, man eater/But still you're surprised-prised-prised when I eat ya..."
In January tickets went on sale for Neko Case: http://www.nekocase.com/ ...and I think I might have been one of the first people to get one during the pre-sale. I have been waiting 4 years to see her live. For some reason we keep missing each other. But not this time. Hooray!
I had friends in town that weekend so felt bad that I had to leave them for a few hours on Friday, April 24th to go to the Chicago Theatre to see the fabulous Neko, but not too bad! Because I spent too much time at dinner I missed everything but a song and a half from the opening act, Crooked Fingers: http://www.crookedfingers.com/. I was okay with that. I only know a few songs, and I like them, but I’ll check them out on my own time.
So during the little downtime before Neko took the stage I was excited and anxious. Looking at the stage there was a giant screen that had an owl wrapped around it. “What was she going to play?” Her catalogue is fairly large. “Will she surprise us with anything?” Oh I was so ready to see her!
When she and her band took the stage the crowd went crazy. They came out to the last track on the new album, Middle Cyclone, “Marais La Nuit.” She looks even more beautiful in person. She had her red hair down and was wearing a back form fitting dress (later in the show she says her “Tribute to Chicago” since “we have a lot of encase meat here”) and some hot black Mary Jane heels.
She started out with Fox Confessor Brings The Flood’s “Maybe Sparrow.” The screen lit up and showed images of birds, landscapes, houses, and the like. The giant owl that embraced the screen had lit eyes that would glow every so often. These were the visuals for pretty much the entire show. Except for when she played the single, “Some People Got A Lotta Nerve” from the new album, she showed the video:
From what I can remember the set list was:
“Maybe Sparrow”
“People Got A Lotta Nerve”
“Hold On, Hold On”
“The Pharaohs”
“Middle Cyclone”
“Deep Red Bells” (One of my all time faves!)
“I Wish I Was The Moon” (I nearly fell out my chair when she started playing this)
“I’m An Animal”
“Prison Girls”
“The Tigers Have Spoken”
“Margaret vs. Pauline” (Was surprised she played this, but so happy she did)
“Red Tide”
“Don’t Forget Me”
“That Teenage Feeling” (The song that inspires me and gives me hope)
“This Tornado Loves You” (My favorite song on the new album)
Encore:
“The Next Time Say Forever”
“Magpie To The Morning”
“Knock Loud” (I love this cover…sooooo amazing!)
I know she also played “Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth” but can’t recall where that was in the show. In fact I may be off in the order. I should really start writing this stuff down, no?
The overall interaction and banter with the crowd was also great. You can tell that Neko and the rest of the band enjoy spending time together and were very jokey. They also have a love for Chicago which came out several times when Kelly Hogan would mention The Hideout or Neko talking about Hot Doug’s. I also enjoyed Neko’s impression of Diana Ross from an old performance they saw about her late night on TV.
I love Neko Case and am so happy I finally got to see her live. I really look forward to seeing her again and I really hope that she plays a separate show here other than her Lollapalooza date.
xoxo,
Stefania
