Apr 25, 2009
Neko Case: dreamy as ever in Friday’s Chicago Theater performance
One-time Chicagoan and Hideout bartender Neko Case took the Chicago Theater by storm last night in heels and a little black dress that Case characterized as a tribute to Chicago’s meat-packing industry.
A testament to the thought and work Case puts into her live performances, each song was accompanied by a short film featuring everything from shadow puppets to footage of birds flying overhead to an animation that begins with four girls knitting in the belly of a whale (see below).
The Sun-Times’ Mark Guarino described the show beautifully:
Her six-member band staged the narratives in shadowy country noir, with guitarists Jon Rauhouse and Paul Rigby playing off the other — one driving a jittery rhythm underneath things with the other coloring in the moods with smoky reverb. The band’s strengths were revealed in the pockets they opened for Case to fill in with her voice, a lustrous instrument that somehow manages to reveal lonesomeness and determination at the same time.
The “alt-country chanteuse”, also known for her work with the New Pornographers, played with a band including a bassist who looked suspiciously like Tom V. Ray of Devil in a Woodpile — a Chicago blues and ragtime group rumored to have broken up.
Case is currently on tour to promote her newest release Middle Cyclone which came out in March of this year.
For more about Neko Case, check out Q&As from Decider and Pitchfork.