I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 4, 2025] Neko Case

I have thought about seeing Neko Case since around 2022.  I even had tickets to see her in Jersey City, but wound up doing something else that night.

She had played Ardmore Music Hall in 2024, but I felt the tickets were really expensive.  And this show was the night after my son and I went to see Deltron 3030.  But my wife won tickets to this show at XPNFest.  And boy that was hard to pass up.

The biggest surprise was how undersold the show was.  We have been to The Met a lot and this was the first time that I can recall that they had the back seats curtained off.  Presumably anyone who had seats in the back were given seats closer to the stage.  I never looked after the show started, but before Neko went on there were a lot of empty seats.

In fairness, White Eagle Hall holds 800 people and Union Transfer is around 1200.  So The Met seating (and it was all seated) at roughly 3500 people was reaching way too far for her.  But still that’s got to suck to see a half empty place.

And it felt like Neko was kind of mad for the show.  Now, I follow her on Instagram and she seems (justifiably) mad most of the time.  So I don’t know if that’s just what she’s like on stage or if she was in a particularly bad mood.  I have only seen her one other time with the New Pornographers and she was only one of about 8 people on stage, so it was hard to judge her.  Although after that show she had a lengthy rant about people filming her.

The most memorable moment of this show was when she yelled at someone in the balcony for having their phone light on while filming.  She pointed at them directly an told them to turn their fucking light off.  After the following song, she admitted that the light that was bothering her was actually from the aisle lights.  I’m not sure if she apologized exactly but everyone laughed about it.

So yeah.

There’s a ton of Neko Case songs that I like.  But there’s also a joke from a show that I can’t recall in which when a couple breaks up, she says to her ex that she hopes the next concert he goes to they play all new songs.  It’s a great curse and it’s pretty much what happened here.

I’m not entirely sure that I was aware that Neko Case had a new album out.  Although it makes sense since her previous album came out in 2018.  It aso turns out that the 2022 tour was in support of a greatest hits album–so I guess I should really have gone to that show.  For this show of 21 songs (nice) had 9 (of 12) from the new album.   The good news was that they were nicely shuffled in with the older songs.  But even of the older songs, it was like she was deliberately picked different songs from the previous tours (and fair play to her for that–but not great for us, I suppose).  [If you look below only 4 songs from the 2022 tour were played at this show–of course, listening through that show I don’t know that many of the songs she played then either–maybe I just don’t know her that well after all].

It started well though with the rousing Bracing for Sunday and the super fun and catchy People Got a Lotta Nerve (one of my favorite songs of hers).

I think what was also a little odd (especially given that this was at The Met) was that the set was so spare.  There was no backdrop, just a black curtain.  She was in a black tank top and she never really moves–I mean her voice is amazing so she doesn’t need to dance, but it’s a little odd that she barely moves her arms as well.  Now, I do not need spectacle by any means, but I guess a seated show usually lends itself to some degree of spectacle since there’s no dancing?  Anyhow, it gave a weird vibe–which probably wasn’t there at Union Transfer for instance.

I was delighted she played This Tornado Loves You (and of course the songs I knew sounded amazing).  She had a five piece band behind her Kyle Crane on drums, Adam Schatz, keys and sax, Andrew Mckeag on the bass Nora O’Connor on guitar and great backing vocals (she has also toured with The Decemberists and sings with Kelly Hogan) and Paul Rigby on lead guitar who was phenomenal throughout the night.

I didn’t know the cover she played (I love the Sparks song she played on the last tour).  But the new song Baby I’m a Werewolf was a fun rocker.

Then there was the lull for me–new songs and slower songs that were fine but not very exciting.  Although I did really enjoy the rocking title track of the new album–great guitar sounds.  And Tomboy Gold is a bizarre practically beat-poetry type of song (with saxophone).  I thought it was neat although my wife didn’t care for it–it was only 2 minutes.

She ended the set with Wreck, the only song from the new album that I knew, so it was a nice ending.

After a brief break she played three encore tracks.  The lovely I Wish I was the Moon and the gorgeous Hold On, Hold On (two songs that she played last tour, so they must be her undeniable hits).  I was sure she would end with Man, my favorite song of hers without question–it’s rousing and fun and works as a perfect show ender.  But (unbelievably) she didn’t play that one at all.  And the final sng of the show was the slow folky At Last (which is only 90 seconds long–it felt like a segue that had no end).

So overall, we left rather underwhelmed by the whole experience.  Of course, we didn’t mind since we didn’t pay for the tickets. But still.  The major bright spot was that our friend Andrew was there.  It was great to catch up with him and his guest and we had a nice time chatting with them after the show.  And since the show was over by around 10:15, we had lots of chatting time and still got home early.

SETLIST

1. Bracing for Sunday ⇓
2. People Got a Lotta Nerve ‰
3. Louise ∇
4. Deep Red Bells ♠
5. Oh, Neglect… ∇
6. This Tornado Loves You ‰
7. Little Gears ∇
8. In California (The Lisa Marr Experiment cover)
9. Baby, I’m Not (A Werewolf) ∇
10. The Next Time You Say Forever ‰
11. Destination ∇
12. That Teenage Feeling ∠
13. Rusty Mountain ∇
14. Magpie to the Morning ‰
15. Neon Grey Midnight Green ∇
16. Ragtime ⇓
17. Tomboy Gold ∇
18. Wreck ∇
    encore
19. I Wish I Was the Moon ♠
20. Hold On, Hold On ∠
21. At Last ∠