Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag?

[vovat]

This evening (or would that be yesterday evening at this point?), I met bethje in Philadelphia for the Neko Case show at the Trocadero. The opener was Martha Wainwright, whom I think we might have seen her once before, actually. When we saw Rufus Wainwright in Atlantic City, he had his sister sing a few songs with him. I can't remember what the sister's name was, but I know Martha IS his sister, so it was probably her. I don't know for sure that Rufus doesn't have other singing sisters, though. I mean, EVERYBODY in that family is a musician. Anyway, Martha was pretty good. She seemed nice and enthusiastic, and she moved her body a lot. And her songs were enjoyable, even if I didn't find any of them particularly memorable. Well, aside from her final number, "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole." I mean, how can you forget a song with a lyric like that? {g} At one point, Martha said she wasn't used to opening for people with better voices than hers, which was a nice compliment for Neko (especially since Martha really DOES have a great voice), but isn't it a bit insulting to the other people she's opened for? Oh, well. I'm sure none of them were in the audience. {g}

When Neko's set started, she came out in a big wool hat and a T-shirt. Apparently she'd been attending the Dan Miller School of Fashion. {g} Except I don't think Dan would have worn Neko's sparkly jacket. It looked good on her, though. She removed the hat after the first song (which was "A Widow's Toast"). The backing band included mainstay Jon Rauhouse on steel guitar and banjo, as well as Kelly Hogan on backing vocals. Kelly was a pleasant surprise, and at one point said the audience (or part of the audience, anyway; I didn't totally catch the context) was "the sexiest, squishiest flesh casserole." Neko mentioned how the Trocadero reminded her of The Muppet Show, which she'd also said when she played there with the New Pornographers last year. At one point, Neko had to leave the stage to use the bathroom, which I found amusing. Not that she had to use the bathroom, that is, but that she mentioned it so casually. One thing I always like about Neko's shows is how casual she seems on stage, often bringing up mundane things.

As might be expected, the setlist contained a lot of songs from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Martha came up on stage to sing backing vocals on "Star Witness." I think they also wanted her to sing on "John Saw That Number," but she didn't want to. Neko introduced "Furnace Room Lullaby" as being about cutting up your boyfriend and throwing the remains in the furnace. They also played "Margaret vs. Pauline" for the first time live. Other cool songs in the set included "Knock Loud," "Set Out Running," "If You Knew," "Dirty Knife," and "Deep Red Bells."

The venue seemed pretty full, but it wasn't packed or anything. They were still selling tickets at the door, which is generally a sign that it didn't sell as well as they'd hoped. Every other time we'd seen Neko in Philadelphia (excluding the New Pornographers show), it was at the Tin Angel, which is considerably smaller. We were right up next the stage, which gave me a good view of the performers' shoes. Martha had on high heels, and I think Neko was wearing Converse, but her jeans were so long that I couldn't tell for sure. There was one girl in the audience, who kept telling everybody how great they were, but in a really patronizing way. Her voice sounded kind of familiar. I guess it was just the Generic Patronizing Girl voice.

After the show, Beth only had a few minutes before her bus came, and my train was going to arrive before too much longer, so we hurried to the merchandise table to buy some stuff. I got a Fox Confessor T-shirt and a button. Neko was signing stuff, but Beth had already left by the time she came out, and I didn't think I had anything she could sign. After I left, I realized that I could have had her sign my ticket. I'm pretty disappointed, because how often do I have the chance to meet celebrities I admire? Actually, I'd gotten an autograph from Neko before. She's usually pretty good at sticking around afterwards and meeting the fans. I regret not taking advantage of the opportunity, but there's obviously nothing I can do about that now. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening.

Comments

[l8erngr8er.livejournal.com]

Very cool stuff.

I've been listening to my Furnace Room Lullabies CD a lot. I might have to grab another of her albums.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

As far as her other albums go, The Virginian has more honky-tonk country type songs, while Blacklisted and Fox Confessor are darker in tone. I guess if your favorite songs on FRL are more along the lines of "Guided By Wire" and "Whip The Blankets," you might want to go for The Virginian next. If you prefer songs like "Bought And Sold" or "South Tacoma Way," you could go for the later ones. There's also her live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, but I'd say to save that one for later. It's probably the weakest, even though most of the songs are cool. But then, I usually recommend saving live recordings until you're familiar with the studio material.

[bethje.livejournal.com]

If you can find it, you should get Canadian Amp. It should be cheaper, since it's an EP, and it's very good.

[onib.livejournal.com]

Thanks again to NPR, you can hear the recent Neko Case show at the 9:30 Club in DC either via streaming audio or download. The Martha Wainwright opening os also available there.


The New Pornographers (minus Neko Case) opening show from the Belle & Sebastian concert I mentioned before is also available from that concert series.

Three cheers to NPR for its continuing exceptional taste.

[loz]

Despite my crazy Rufus and Martha love, I don't know much about their sibling(s?) :D

I'm so jealous you got to see her! I don't know anything about Neko, so I can't comment on her, but Martha is great.

Bloody Motherfucking Asshole is such a great song to scream along to. I also love "I Will Internalize" (so much, it made it onto my mixtape).

I'm totally spamming you with comments, sorry!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I know that the younger Wainwrights' father is Loudon Wainwright III, who's a musician in his own right, but I don't know any of his songs. Their mother is one of the McGarrigle Sisters (either Kate or Anna; I forget which, and I don't have the time to look it up right now). My dad had one of their albums.

I'm so jealous you got to see her!

The interesting thing is that Neko and Kelly said that it was her last night performing with them, because she was going to Australia. No idea if she'll be in your neck of the woods (which I realize is the wrong word to use when describing such a dry continent {g}), though.

I'd definitely recommend Neko if you have any stomach for country music. And maybe even if you don't, as I've heard of some people liking her without liking country in general.

I'm totally spamming you with comments, sorry!

That's okay. It's only spam if you don't want it. {g}