Neko Case at the Union Chapel

Neko Case
Basia Bulat
Union Chapel, 1 December 2015
It's been just over a year since Neko last played the Union Chapel but there is something quite nice about seeing her here, even if she keeps saying the place is haunted "by something evil". She actually played the even smaller Lexington the night before but the Union Chapel with it's natural glow, gorgeous echo and holy atmosphere, seems to suit her more, plus, since I'm getting old, it is so nice to sit at a gig these days and I manage to secure my favourite spot at the front despite being a little late.
She's back in the UK so soon to promote her new box set, Truckdriver Gladiator Mule, which is very cool - containing all her records so far on vinyl - and ridiculously expensive, so out of my reach but at the very least it means that tonight she is revisiting her entire back catalogue playing songs from all eight of her records so far.
Last time she played here she was super casual in just a back tee and skeleton leggings, this time she has risen to the occasion and walks on stage looking like a wild and glamorous country queen in a sleeveless black dress and awesome half-black tights. Her band is a much more stripped down affair this time too, with no drummer and no Kelly Hogan (she's off touring with The Decemberists apparently and very much missed) though thankfully the incredible Jon Rauhouse is still on guitars and pedal steel, the magnificently beared Tom V Ray is on bass and double bass and Eric Bachmann of Archers Of Loaf/Crooked Fingers is on guitars and backing vocals. The scaled down band also means that Neko plays guitar more too and there is something glorious about seeing her with her old tenor guitar that gave her early records that distinctive noirish sound.
The show had an atmospheric start with the Blacklisted track, Outro With Bees, which sounded suitably haunting in the setting, with Neko's plaintive vocals echoing around the church. Hold On, Hold On also worked well turned into an acoustic track but the song Man sounded wrong to me without its stronger rockier sound to match its punky, defiant attitude. 
The rest of the show though worked wonderfully and in particular when Neko was left on the stage alone, it was great to hear her voice soar unleashed by the stripped down sound. The highlights for me were earlier tracks such as Blacklisted, Ghost Wiring and Look For Me (I'll Be Around), the latter of which sounded like the ghost of Patsy Cline resurrected. 
Neko herself seemed a little nervous at first without Kelly Hogan backing her up, not just vocally but in general banter, although as the set went on Neko did become more comfortable, even telling us her tights were being held up thanks to the fact they were hooked up to her bra! When she came to sing her Scott Walker cover, Duchess, from her first album The Virginian (I don't think I've ever heard her perform anything from this record before so that was definitely a treat) she came to the conclusion that the place wasn't haunted by anything evil but by Scott Walker, even though he's still alive, and she imagined his ghost gargling with butterscotch mouthwash backstage in a smoking jacket.
The encore had some of the nicest moments, with a rare outing for her cover of Mike O'Neill's Andy, which she tells us was requested by someone named Andy and another track from the Canadian Amp EP, Knock Loud. Like last time she played here, she also took advantage of the fact that Eric Bachmann is in her band and, alone on stage, they performed the Crooked Fingers track Sleep All Summer as a duet. Neko tells us she had to pull over her car because she was in tears the first time she heard it. It didn't quite have the same effect on me (I can't remember my reaction last year though) but it was nice to see the chemistry between these two: it would definitely be interesting to see them collaborate.
Neko ended, as she started, with a Blacklisted track, the brilliant Lady Pilot, which sounded dark, menacing and suitably ghostly, given all the talk haunting earlier. If Scott Walker was really floating around in spirit I imagine he couldn't help but be impressed.
Supporting tonight was Canadian singer-songwriter Basia Balut (Neko does love Canadians) who, despite losing her luggage and being forced to wear the same clothes for last few days and borrow her equipment, seemed in good form, beaming between songs. Balut reminded me a little of Rickie Lee Jones in looks but her music and voice is pure folk, in the best way. Not only is her voice a lovely thing to hear but her instrumentation was fun and interesting too, at one point channeling June Carter with an autoharp (she admitted her love of Johnny Cash and the Carter Family) and later bringing out an incredible sounding twelve-string ukulele. She also performed a superb version of the Leonard Cohen song Ain't No Cure For Love, doing her fellow Canadian more than proud.  

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