FRIDAY — God. I love Neko Case so much. I wish that she and I could be friends and hang out on her farm in Vermont, and ride horses and pet animals together. Maybe this sounds a little weird, but it almost feels like it could be possible. When Neko Case plays shows, she makes you feel like you’re part of the show itself, turning massive venues like Massey Hall into the most intimate settings. Her quirky silliness, goofy chatter with vocalist Kelly Hogan and gentle teasing comments to the rest of the band have you feeling like you’re all buddies, and that you’re down there on the stage with them, rather than being up in the balcony feeling all of your emotions at once. With their bass player ill, the band made several adjustments to the night, which only added to these feelings of camaraderie – they brought up each member of opening band, the Dodos, to take turns on the bass; and during the encore, their guitarist / backup singer performed a beautiful original song of his own.
Gushing about how much they love Canada, and Toronto, Neko and her band played all of my favourite things (which is easy to do, when all of her things are my favourite), spanning from older work with the Sadies from "The Tigers Have Spoken", to her newest emotionally gut wrenching songs from her latest album. As she closed the night with an ode to Toronto, "Ragtime", it felt like she was bringing the evening full-circle, letting us know she feels as welcome in our city as she makes us feel with her.LISTEN
WATCH
Words by Laurie McGregor, a Toronto-based dilettante. She watches way too much reality television and wishes that everyone could all just get along. She likes books, soft things, baking, unicorns, robots and has an unnatural love of vending machines. You can find her posts here and email her at laurie@littleredumbrella.com.
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