Roadtrip Rationale: Neko Case in Milwaukee
What's the difference between seeing Neko Case in Seattle vs. seeing her in Milwaukee? In Seattle, concertgoers sip microbrews. In Milwaukee, they're drinking tallboys of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Officially, Seattlest went to Wisconsin last week to give new grandparents some time with their granddaughter. Unofficially, Seattlest went to Wisconsin last week in particular because Neko Case was playing at Milwaukee's Pabst Theater, the second show on her Fox Confessor tour.
We don't normally travel several thousand miles for one concert -- no, not even Neko -- but hey, she's not currently scheduled to play Seattle. (Just the Gorge, as part of Sasquatch.)
And it was worth it. We've seen Case in concert five or six times by now, and this was easily the best show we've seen her put on. In fact, Neko's concerts have long puzzled us: she's so much fun live when she's with the New Pornographers or the Corn Sisters, but has often seemed muted in solo shows when she doesn't have Carl Newman or Carolyn Mark to riff off of.
Not so this time; her banter with Kelly Hogan, John Rauhouse, and the rest of her musicians flowed free and easy. She joked about watching Hee-Haw in her hotel room that afternoon, and growing up and learning her values from Happy Days. (Her jokey stage presence is a striking contrast to the drama of her songs.)
Better still, she didn't repeat the lengthy between-song pauses we remember from the last couple of solo shows we saw. She still doesn't flow right from one song to the next, but there were no long silences devoted to guitar tuning. Each song was set off like a jewel, sitting in its own spot on the showcasing velvet.
Case didn't just sing her new album for this show. She kicked it off the show with "Favorite," and set older songs like "Set Out Running" and "Wish I Was the Moon" against new pieces like "That Teenage Feeling" and "Maybe Sparrow." She ended her initial set with Fox Confessor's "Hold On, Hold On," and brought her show to a truly rousing finale in encore number two with "John Saw that Number."
(This song was made ever so much better by the guy in the front row who rushed the stage on his own, clapping and swaying and swinging his butt in time to the music for the benefit of everyone behind him. And no, this guy was not Seattlest.)
As usual, though by no means ho-hum, Neko's voice gave us shivers several times over the course of the concert. We were thrilled to be there and buy the t-shirt, though we didn't have enough cash for the tour poster, featuring Neko's dog. If she adds Seattle to her schedule, we'll make sure to get a copy.
