Neko Case at the Union Chapel
Jeffrey Lewis & The Jrams
Union Chapel, 15 August 2014
Back in 2000 Neko Case and her band played the Union Chapel before: it was their first time playing in London supporting The Handsome Family. I sadly hadn't heard of Neko back then so didn't witness this momentous event but Kelly Hogan, Neko's talented and extremely funny backing singer and partner in crime, tells us that someone stole Neko's blue leather jacket that night and she wants it back. "I'm over it," Neko replies, shrugging her shoulders before saying triumphantly, "it wouldn't fit me now, I'm so much skinnier."
Neko's triumph is much more than losing a few pounds though, for one thing she's always been awesome skinny or plump, but it's the fact she's back at this very venue, one of the most beautiful in London, headlining this time fourteen years later with six incredible solo albums until her belt. The last one - the magnificently titled The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You - was released almost a year ago and these shows seem to be the last few of the supporting tour. In fact, Case tells us that at this point on the road "morale is in the toilet", which certainly isn't apparent on stage with the band sounding on top form and Case and Hogan at their bantering, comedic best.
I know I've talked about it on this blog before but anyone going to see Neko Case and just expecting that incredible voice of hers and a sublime night of music has to be prepared for so much more because Neko and her old friend Kelly Hogan are also a hugely entertaining double act between songs. Hogan tonight has a cold, so her voice isn't as strong as it usually is, but her banter is as amusing as ever. Among the pair's most memorable exchanges includes Hogan questioning Case over whether her nipples are straight and the revelation that one night Neko stopped her going onstage the previous night with them crooked. There's also more about Neko's first boyfriend who didn't really know he was Neko's boyfriend (that guy seriously missed out) in the introduction to The Pharaohs and the fact that Hogan has been Neko's girlfriend for the past 20 years and hasn't known that either. Rather sweetly, they also tease the amazing multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Jon Rauhouse about his rather wonderful wooly beard.
Of course there was fantastic music too, so good it made us all forget that we had spent over an hour in the queue with the doors opening late due to "technical issues" (we never found out quite what they were). Having a seat at the front of the pews once we got in helped of course but nothing beats hearing superb music in the Union Chapel and Neko and her band certainly delivered on that count. Starting with a haunting version of the stark and chilling, Where Did I Leave That Fire?, Neko - looking amazingly glamorous despite being shoeless and wearing skeleton leggings - led the band through no less than nine songs from the last album, Bracing For Sunday and City Swans in particular already sounding like Neko classics.
It was great too to hear some of the older material, the most affecting for me being Deep Red Bells from 2002's Blacklisted album, which sounded dark, norish and echoed to beautiful effect around the Chapel, like Patsy Cline calling us from beyond with a sad croon. Also wonderful was the pure country of If You Knew and the title track of her live album The Tigers Have Spoken, two songs she wrote with The Sadies. It was also great to hear This Tornado Loves You and The Pharoahs, which had been swirling around my head all day before the concert and when she finally sang it, it almost felt like I had willed it to be.
One change to Neko's band is the inclusion of guitarist Eric Bachmann, lead singer of Crooked Fingers and formerly of Archers Of Loaf. I had seen him open for Neko before but he makes a terrific addition to her band and she seems thrilled to have him there. She's obviously a big fan of his and this led to a unique and wonderful encore where just Neko and Bachmann sang his song Sleep All Summer, from the Crooked Fingers 2005 album Dignity And Shame. The National with St. Vincent did a great cover this song a few years back but hearing the man who wrote it sing it with Neko accompanying him was a truly lovely experience and their duet was without a doubt one of the highlights of the night.
Ending with a truly rousing and glorious finale of Ragtime, where they encouraged the crowd to sing along with them as they vocalised the trumphet part (which I always think makes it sound like a New Pornographers song - Neko's other band), it was proof once more that Neko and her band is always worth going to see live.
Supporting Neko tonight was anti-folk favourite Jeffrey Lewis, who I admit I only really know from his song Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror, the video of which was something of a viral hit back in 2005. I wasn't really sure what to expect but Lewis himself was as fast-talking and entertaining as his song-titles would suggest, his music veering from lo-fi folk to punk rock with even a few country florishes in there. With his battered guitar covered in stickers and backed with his cool band the Jrams (drummer Heather Wagner and keyboardist and bassist Caitlin Gray), he sang wordy and funny odes to his loud neighbour and the Russian band Pussy Riot (WWPRD - What Would Pussy Riot Do?) and even a really entertaining song about how much he loves the food in England. I think some of the older crowd was a bit baffled by him but I thought he was just fantastic.
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