So I had the pleasure of attending the Neko Case w/Eric Bachmann show last night in Park City with Mr. and Mrs. The Dreaded Marco. The performances and company I was with were understandably fantastic. The only minor annoyance was these two knuckleheads standing right behind me (and I do mean right behind me - the place was filled to the brim and we were packed in there tight) who, despite being painfully unfamiliar with any of the music being played, were REALLY enjoying the show....which is great - I get that. You're hearing someone new and digging it - that's cool. Unfortunately, in their zeal to express how much they were truly loving this "new band" they were continually trying to one-up each others' assessments of what was going on (ie. Awww SHIT, dude - that guy's picking up a banjo - it is ON!!) by yelling them at each other and, consequently, right into my ear - not only in between songs, but during pretty much every one as well. Which leads me to wonder, if you're loving the music so much, how about you shut the hell up and listen to it and let me do the same??? But whatever, as they continued to up the ante in describing Neko's awesomeness, one of them finally crossed the line when he let fly with this nugget:
"Dude, this shit is DARK - it's like that band Staind, y'know? I love it when a band sounds like how I feel inside."
At that point, I had to turn around and give these two a look of utter bewilderment as if to say "Did you seriously just compare Neko Case to effing Staind?!?!? Unfortunately, the guy didn't notice as he was just staring up at the ceiling, secure in the knowledge that he had just made the most profound statement of the evening. Unreal. I was sure such a ridiculous statement would rip the space-time continuum right open. Not quite, but it did give me a good chuckle.
Anyway, the show was GREAT (complete with an appropriate cover of Randy Newman's "Beehive State"). Neko's voice is as knee-buckling live as you would expect. Eric Bachmann (Crooked Fingers) was great as well - he's coming out with a solo album in August (there was a recent article about it on Pitchfork) and the new material that he performed sounded very promising. He also brought out Neko for a duet on Sleep All Summer which was awesome. You should definitely make an effort to catch them:
Tue 6/20 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
Wed 6/21 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Fri 6/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Henry Fonda Theatre
Sat 6/24 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Rio Theatre
Sun 6/25 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's 365
Mon 6/26 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's 365
Tue 6/27 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's 365
Thu 6/29 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
