After that DEBACLE last fall in Tarrytown, we gave Neko Case another "chance" Wednesday night at the Beacon Theater -- and she definitely didn't disappoint.
Leaning heavily into her wonderful "Neon Grey Midnight Green" album -- her first release since 2018 -- Neko's voice and mood were in top gear throughout the evening, as she zig-zagged through a set that also included a healthy dose of material from "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood," "Middle Cyclone" and "Blacklisted." (As it would happen, "Hell-On," which is the first solo album of hers I really got into, was ignored.)
I've probably said this before, but it's worth repeating: Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde and Carly Simon are just lucky I didn't discover the New Pornographers chanteuse until the 2000s, because I have to figure the only reason she's not my No. 1 -- that voice! those lyrics! that phrasing! how does she come up with this stuff???? -- is because there's just no way to "catch up" with favorites who have been embedded in your DNA since your childhood. Even after playing Neko's solo music more or less nonstop the past year I still only recognized a fraction of what she played last night and only a couple times did I get the chills they way I do during an entire set of one of my legacy artists. (But when I did get them ... "Magpie to the Morning" ... swoon!)
In no way does this diminish how much I appreciate her. In fact, that I hold her in such high regard after a relatively short period, or have adopted her at all, is probably the highest compliment someone like me -- who still regularly listens to albums from 1978 on repeat -- could give.
Great night. Setlist below.
Setlist:
“Bracing for Sunday,” “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” “Louise,” “Deep Red Bells,” “This Tornado Loves You,” “Little Gears,” “Baby, I'm Not (A Werewolf),” “Ragtime,” “Magpie to the Morning,” “I'm an Animal,” “Destination,” “Lady Pilot,” “Oh, Shadowless,” “That Teenage Feeling,” “Rusty Mountain,” “Match-Lit,” “Neon Grey Midnight Green,” “Tomboy Gold,” “Wreck,” “Star Witness,” Encore: “I Wish I Was the Moon,” “Hold On, Hold On,” “At Last.”
