It's a killing party, and you're all invited

[vovat]

Last night, bethje and I went to see Neko Case at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. This was a pretty big, swanky venue compared to others at which we've seen Neko in the past. The first few times we saw her were at the Tin Angel, which is quite small, so she's definitely moved up in the venue world. It's kind of weird, because most of the musicians I like have been playing venues of around the same size since I first starting seeing them live. It's cool that Neko is getting more attention from the public, but I do miss the more intimate shows at smaller places. Then again, the Kimmel Center has much more comfortable seating than the Tin Angel, and we were right up front.

The opener was Jason Lytle, who was all right. His music didn't really hold my interest, but it wasn't bad, and he had a pretty good voice. Neko is always a good performer, and she and Kelly Hogan got in quite a bit of amusing between-song banter, including a running gag about the School of Soft Rock. The set was very heavy on songs from Middle Cyclone, and I'm not sure it included anything from albums prior to Blacklisted. I would have liked to have more earlier stuff, especially since Furnace Room Lullaby is my favorite album of hers, but Neko is hardly the first musician to eschew old songs in favor of new in her live sets.

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

I have tried to like Jason Lytle but I just can't get there. He's one of those performers I SHOULD like but he just doesn't do it for me. I think all his songs sound the same. All Grandaddy's songs sounded the same. When he released his solo album, the local indie station played it. Sounded just like Grandaddy. I was like, what's the point of leaving your band to do a solo record that sounds exactly like something the band would do? There are a couple of Grandaddy songs I really like but on the whole, I can't get into him.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I really don't know much about him, although I have heard of Grandaddy. And yeah, the songs in the show weren't bad, but they did all have a sort of sameness to them.

[thirtiesgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he opened for Neko at the Greek Theater show in LA, too. I didn't hear his whole set, but heard the last few songs. I thought he was ok, but nothing I needed to run out and buy to add to my music collection.

[setoutrunning.livejournal.com]

thanks for the neko info (i followed your link from ladypilot). out of curiosity, can you remember/do you know the setlist? i was reading another review that said she played 36 songs... which i'm positive isn't right.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I don't remember the entire setlist, but I tend to think she didn't play that many songs. I do seem to recall that, early on in the show, either Neko or Kelly said something about having thirty-some songs left, but I figured that was a joke.