Concert Review/Photos: Neko Case @ Grand Opera House 6/14
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Backed by a five-piece band, she dove into her illustrious back catalog with a phenomenal show.
Neko Case’s singular indie rock was in full bloom last Sunday at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington. Backed by a five-piece band, she dove into her illustrious back catalog with a phenomenal show.
Opening with a blistering “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu” and crossing right into the catchy “Hold On, Hold On,” Case and her main harmony companion, Kelly Hogan, filled one of the best venues around with vocals that will haunt one for days. Though the Grand Opera House was oddly not even half full, the audience was rapturous in its reception of her career-spanning set.
With a brilliant backdrop from the cover to her last album, 2013’s The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, Case navigated the heart and its catastrophic existence in modernity. From the brilliant “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” to the main set closer of “Man,” she revels in complicated lyrics and orchestrations that unlock deeper meanings upon each subsequent listen. And to hear them live adds a dimension that is necessary and profound.
Folk rocker Jennifer O’Connor opened with a booming set. Playing selections from a forthcoming record and some older favorites, O’Connor and her two bandmates shook the room to its emotional core.
For more photos by Chris Sikich, see sikichphotography.com.
