Per aspera

Pan pangenitor

1. “Deeper Into Movies,” Yo La Tengo
2. “Get Em High,” Kanye West
3. “Let Them Eat Ice Cream,” The KLF
4. “Happy Hour,” Everclear
5. “Ashes of American Flags,” Wilco
6. “Full Circle (feat. Goapele),” Hieroglyphics
7. “Jeremy,” Pearl Jam
8. “Wild Is the Wind,” Nina Simone
9. “Look for Me (I’ll Be Around),” Neko Case
10. “No Mermaid,” Sinead Lohan

I haven’t written about the Neko Case show yet. I went to see her last Wednesday, and it was a super great show. Martha Wainwright opened, and was charming in a very guileless way onstage. She has a voice kind of like Bjork, but doesn’t use it like Bjork does at all.

Neko Case claimed to be suffering from a bit of a cold, but damned if I could tell. Christ Almighty, but her voice was as perfect as a recording. She also claimed to be suffering from horrible body odor throughout the show, as well as talking shit about erotic Cirque du Soleil (really? I had no idea, though I guess it’s the next logical step - maybe they can work some sort of S&M “Master of the Dance” thing out with Michael Flatley), and declaring during her encore that she’d gotten her period in her pants onstage. She was, in short, enchanting.

She played all the songs I wanted to hear except “Lady Pilot” and “Ghost Writing.” I got to hear “Deep Red Bells,” “I Wish I Was the Moon,” “Star Witness,” “Outro With Bees,” “A Widow’s Toast,” “Hold On, Hold On,” “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” (from which I drew the title three posts down), and, on the encore, “John Saw That Number,” which was rockin’. They sped up “Deep Red Bells” a bit, or maybe it was just that you can hear the drums in a live show better than you can on a recording. Either way, the people they moved. And the show was lovely.

I haven’t been to a live show in years. In fact, I think the last one I went to may have been the Apples in Stereo and Clinic, also at the Roxy. In case you were wondering, the Apples in Stereo rock by an order of magnitude more live than they do on their records. They should maybe think about killing and hiding the body of their producer.

Anyway, to sum up, Neko Case remains a performer about whom I get the bouncy-clappies. Go buy her album now now now.