Doors were swingin' at the Paramount

Flickr photo by King Tufu

Sunday, February 11th at The Paramount Theater
Neko Case and Merle Haggard

We can't say enough about shows at The Paramount. It's the whole experience that we enjoy; and the atmosphere of this show was amazing. Easily one of the best shows we have ever seen there. It was a crappy night out but the rain didn't stop people from lining up outside for a chance to see Neko or Merle coming out of one of the Mega-Buses outside; more than a few with guitars ready to be signed. Cowboy hats, shit kickers, wrangler jeans; it was a surreal picture for a downtown Seattle show. We could feel the heavy Tacoma and Kent representation.

After finding our awesomely located seats, we were completely and utterly mesmerized by the Syrupy voice of Neko Case. It was like watching a young Loretta Young on stage; her voice was absolutely stunning. Despite the STUPID PEOPLE STANDING IN THE CENTER AISLE during half of her entire performance, her buttery voice was enough to prevent us from ripping their throats out and we enjoyed seeing what we would have to consider one of the best female vocalists of our time. Alt-Country sounded pretty damn good in our ears. You could hear a pin drop during some of her songs - unfortunately, all you could hear between songs were corny crowd comments.

We admittedly don't know much about things related to Country or Western, so headliner Merle Haggard should be getting his props from others more worthy than us, but we can tell you that the man is a living legend for a reason. This had to be the textbook for a perfect country show (again, not that we know what that would be...) - we were pleasantly surprised. We didn't know too many songs, we had no idea what to expect, but he had us hooked from the opening note and we never looked away. It was like watching history right in front of your eyes or seeing a night at the Grand Ole Opry. This goes down as one of our absolute favorite shows and that really surprises us.....It's a load of cash to drop, but Merle can still put on a hell of a show.