Neko Case

Review: "Turn the amps off? That’s the most fucking ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard."

So replied Neko Case to the idiot woman who called out halfway through the set, and she was right: it was a fucking ridiculous suggestion. For one thing, Case's band sounded tremendous – for all their apparent trepidation about being too loud for the space and reported technical issues the night before, the sound levels were very comfortable (helped by being absorbed by a sell-out crowd) and the mix was clear and crisp. That said, the flame-haired and elfin Case seemed in a bit of a stroppy mood for much of the set – which left her co-vocalist Kelly Hogan, a hell of a performer in her own right, to handle the important wry-introductions-and-quips duties for most of the show. That said, Neko did apologise for eating all of Australia’s food ("But you’ll grow more, right?), while the rest of the mostly-well-bearded band pottered professionally in the background.

The set, unsurprisingly, drew heavily from 'Middle Cyclone' and a year on the road had given many of the songs muscular new backbones – 'Prison Girls' snarled with new life, and ‘The Pharaohs’ had transformed from pleasant album track to mid-set highlight. The opening 'People Got A Lotta Nerve' and the set-closing 'This Tornado Loves You' drew the most rapturous applause, although old favourites ‘Deep Red Bells’ and the encore of 'Star Witness' also went down a storm. All in all, most of the room could agree that it was a good thing they didn’t turn off the amps. Andrew P Street