Neko In Philly Review

"Redheads are fine......" .......the song should just stop there.... Neko Case and band played Philly last night and what a wonderful night of music it was in the former burlesque venue well knows as The Trocadero. First off...very good crowd. I did notice a lot of women in pairs holding hands. Whazzup wit' day? ;-) Opening was Martha Wainwright. I have her one full length CD and it was OK. Tonight I guess she was a wee bit better than OK. Interesting tunes she has. Just her, drummer, and bassist. Best part might have been when she chipped her tooth when she hit the mouth on the mic too hard. She kept on playing like a trooper. Not sure if I would really go see her again but I trust all the "couples" might in case her brother pops up? She did return later and helped out Neko on backup vox for one tune. Next up was the lovely Neko and band (just Kelly on backup vox..no Rachel). Y'know...the Reverb Queen's vocals are just amazing line in a live setting. At SXSW her presence at the New Porn's set made a lot of difference in their sound. Then her showcase at Antone's was even better. Tonight....in a full nearly 2 hour set rather than a Southby 40 minutes...It was even more special. The way she can hold some of her notes...sling her head back away from the mic...and then slam back is incredible. Set list highlight...besides every one of her own tunes...was her cover of Dylan's "Buckets Of Rain" (found on a recent Starbucks comp CD and MP3 available upon request from yours truly). What really made this show even more special was the crowd. During the songs you could hear a pin drop in the balcony. Now The Troc ain't that tiny and a Philly crowd is always a Philly crowd. But the respect that was given to her and the band was very gracious. Funniest part of the evening was about 1/3 of the way in she started bouncing and said she had to pee but she would carry on (we all yelled back and told her to her pit stop). 3-4 songs later she couldn't hold back and asked if she really could go. Jon Rauhouse...an ace musician in his own right...filled in for one tune until the auburn chanteuse returned. If you can ever catch her in a live setting...please do. You won't regret to cost of the ticket (and beer) in doing so.... Brian (one of "Her Boyfriends"!!!)