neko case - first avenue, minneapolis, mn 6.7.05

neko case played minneapolis last night for the first time since october 2002. and, as always, it was amazing.



since i do not have an amazing memory for tracklists and since it is not too cool to write them down as musicians are playing, i'll just say that she played many old and new songs and played for a considerable amount of time. some of the songs played were, in no particular order: favorite (opened the set with that), deep red bells, intro with bees, if you knew, soulful shade of blue, the tigers have spoken, blacklisted, i wish i was the moon, twist the knife, set out running (opened the encore with this one), wayfaring stranger, furnace room lullaby (closed the set), look for me [i'll be around], three or four new songs, a few old gospel songs, hex, buckets of rain, and alone and forsaken (closed the encore).

in all, it was really excellent. it was the first time neko played first avenue and the first time that i had seen her at a venue with a capacity of over 500 people, but that didn't hamper the performance at all.

noticeable observations:
neko now also rocks a six string guitar! who knew?
john rauhouse, as always, rocked the pedal steel and the banjo. it made me think that more people should rock banjos and perhaps if s-k had had an eleven minute banjo song, i might have forgiven them.
was her guitar player amish?
has neko lost weight?
what kind of shampoo/conditioner does she use? her hair is so pretty.
neko's voice is one of those voices that sounds just as good or better live. i just love that.
the opening band really sucked. a lot. but, at least neko was good!



(no "no cease fires" and i've still only heard "thrice all american" once live, last night not being that time.)