The Awkward World

I don’t often get starstruck. I’ve been to enough concerts and met enough pseudo-celebrities that I don’t really swoon anymore, I’m not a swooner. Friday night, I swooned. The whole Neko Case concert at the Chicago Theater was one big, uninterrupted swoon for me, with occasional breaks of heart-clutching and breath-catching. Case is one of my heroes and – I think I can say this with a measure of confidence – the most beautiful person I have ever personally seen. Jules and I had fourth row seats – someone commented “You guys must be really important,” but we were actually just insanely lucky that she found a great scalped ticket and the usher didn’t notice that my ticket was for much further back – and we were close enough to see every perfect imperfection in Case’s pin-up stage persona, like the little black too-tight dress she complained about throughout the show, the trademark fire red hair that looks like it must be hell to keep in presentable shape, the unbelievable legs… Jesus. Neko Case. You’re killing me.

And that’s to say nothing of her voice, which, when I first heard her some years ago, seemed achingly perfect, literally painful to listen to. She has a booming purity unlike anything in modern music, more like an opera singer than a humble country siren. I tend to like crappy singers with great musical sensibilities – Billy Corgan, Conor Oberst, John Darnelle, Craig Finn – but Neko Case is one big exception: her voice is the stuff that makes American Idols’ heads explode.
Yes, I was fawning over her like that all night, singing along to every song, and just generally being a drooling superfan. I went to the concert fully intending to review it, but I just can’t. I was too infatuated. I can tell you about it, though.
Case played her new album Middle Cyclone (which is terrific) almost in its entirety, leaving out only “The Next Time You Say Forever,” “Polar Nettles,” and “Fever” (and “Marais La Nuit,” but that’s a 33 minute loop of crickets and frogs and probably wouldn’t translate live), as well as some of the best tracks from her starmaking record, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood; she opened her set with “Maybe Sparrow,” and later played “Hold On, Hold On,” “That Teenage Feeling” (which is apparently about her guitarist), “Margaret Vs. Pauline,” and “Star Witness.” She only played two tracks from Blacklisted – “Deep Red Bells” and “I Wish I Was the Moon” – and nothing from Furnace Room Lullaby or The Virginian. It was a decidedly non-country show. She also played the non-album fan-favorites “The Tigers Have Spoken” (from the live CD of the same name) and “Knock Loud” (from the compilation Fields and Streams). I had listened to many of her live concerts before actually seeing her, so I knew to expect lots of irreverent stage banter, top-notch musicianship (especially – dear god, especially – from pedal-steel-and-banjo deity Jon Rauhouse), and I knew she was fucking gorgeous, but what I didn’t expect was that most of that witty banter comes not from Case herself, but from backup singer Kelly Hogan, who described herself during the show as the “audience secretary,” but was really the band’s insult comic, shutting down loud audience members and maintaining a friendly vibe throughout the performance. Case herself was more intense than I expected; she seemed genuinely nervous and excited to be playing to the legendary Chicago theater, and she couldn’t stop gushing about how much she loved this city. She also adjusted that dress for most of the show. They played in front of a giant cut-out of an owl and a screen upon which were projected surreal images of nature.

You can hear a very similar concert from this same tour on NPR’s All Songs Considered website for free – the set list is almost identical, and it gives you an idea of her band’s live personality if you haven’t heard them before – and if you’re more into her older, more country sound, you should also pick up the official live releases The Tigers Have Spoken and Live from Austin, TX, both recorded pre-Fox Confessor. Below is a best-of playlist I made before the release of Middle Cyclone, which is represented here only by the pre-released single “People Got a Lotta Nerve”; so whether you’re a Neko neophyte or looking for deeper cuts, check out these songs. And for god’s sake, go buy Middle Cyclone, which is going to be very difficult to beat for best album of 2009.
Peace, love, and redheaded strangers,
Tanner “Future Mr. Case” McSwain

1.Margaret Vs. Pauline
2.Duchess
3.South Tacoma Way
4.People Got a Lotta Nerve
5.Guided By Wire
6.The Needle Has Landed
7.I Wish I Was the Moon
8.Set Out Running
9.Misfire
10.Things That Scare Me
11.Hold On, Hold On
12.The Virginian
13.That Teenage Feeling
14.Thrice All American
15.The Tigers Have Spoken
16.Deep Red Bells
17.We’ve Never Met
18.Knock Loud
19.John Saw That Number

Also, if you’re into that kind of thing (and really, who isn’t), here are some NSFW pin-up pictures Case did for a magazine years ago. You’re welcome.