Ybor City was understandably excited to see her head of trademark red hair walk onstage at Orpheum, and as Neko Case’s fluorescent orange fingernails glowed under the blacklight during the slow-boiling intro of set opener “Pitch or Honey,” it was easy to see that the 48-year-old’s Tampa debut was about to go swimmingly. She even said as much.
“I think this is going well for our first date,” Case divulged as she traded a tenor guitar for the tambourine and launched into “Last Lion of Albion.”
Thank God. The fact that the New Pornographer had yet to grace a Bay area venue was as perplexing as the unorthodox structures that mark so many of her best songs. Case’s solo work has left her followers enchanted for the better part of the last 20 years; for some reason, Tampa has always been left out of the touring equation.
Did she hate us? Did those calling cards not work in our swampy slice of the south? The matter, as it turned out, was much simpler than that — and Case explained after a motoring whirl through “City Swans.”
“We’re dicks,” Case told the sold-out crowd, “but we’re gonna make it up to you.”
With 24 songs, she did. Case’s tenor guitar — an instrument she adopted into her music around the time of her 2000 album Furnace Room Lullaby — guided her voice to through the melodic tricks of “Margaret Vs. Pauline,” and that vocal pierced the air on another Fox Confessor Brings The Flood highlight, “Maybe Sparrow.” At other times, Case even let the rest of the six-piece backing band shine. The lap steel tone on “Deep Red Bells” was supreme, and the instrument played like water droplets on a parking lot oil slick during “The Pharaohs.” Strange, staccato or arpeggiated guitar picking on “Dirty Diamond” was as invigorating as the evening’s many loud tambourine slaps, and the expertly mixed harmonies were nothing less than heartbreaking on a plaintive cover of Catherine Irwin’s “Hex.” During a seemingly effortless performance of “That Teenage Feeling,” the overtones in the vocal arrangement might as well have melted fans into puddles.
Day TWO of #FloridaTour and I can’t scream loud enough “TOURING BANDS, GET THEE TO FLORIDA!!! Thank you Ponte Vedra and Tampa!!! You are GREAT audiences who deserve ALL THE BANDS to come play for you. 😘♥️
— Neko Case (@NekoCase) February 2, 2019
But for all the stomp (“Bad “Luck”), pomp (a cover of The Nervous Eaters’ “Loretta”) and punch (“Man”) in the set, Case shone brightest when her seasoned, unmistakable and honeyed vocal rang out loud and clear on quieter cuts like “Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)” and “Halls of Sarah.”
Case’s lyrics are deeply poetic, and on tunes like “This Tornado Loves You” the narratives get propelled by the work of a pioneering composer and songwriter who truly stands taller than the rest. Still, it was nice to catch her simply laughing off mic following a Danelectro-driven take on “Curse of the I-5 Corridor.”
The stories and characters in Case’s songs contain multitudes when it comes to the things they can teach listeners about themselves; hers is very serious music. It’s undoubtedly, seriously good. But seeing Case have as good a time as her fans was a relief, because Tampa Bay doesn’t get a lot of love in the context of certain artists’ touring habits. For that, Case made it very clear that she was sorry. She even acknowledged a fan request for “Star Witness.”
“Oh boy, I hear you,” she said.
What followed, however, was not a performance of the Fox Confessor cut, but a joyous, encore-closing run through “Ragtime” that ended in a sweet goodnight salutation to her “boyfriends and girlfriends in Tampa.” Case even offered hope and a promise to that fan that didn’t get to hear the song they really wanted.
“Now that we’re in a relationship, we’re gonna come back and do it then,” she said. “We’re gonna make it work.”
That’s a pact we’ll hold on to.
Setlist (listen on Spotify)
Pitch or Honey
Last Lion of Albion
Deep Red Bells
City Swans
Margaret Vs. Pauline
Maybe Sparrow
Calling Cards
Winnie
Bad Luck
Curse of the I-5 Corridor
Gumball Blue
Oracle of the Maritimes
Hex [Catherine Irwin]
Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)
This Tornado Loves You
Halls of Sarah
Dirty Diamond
Hold On, Hold On
Man
—
Hell-On
The Pharaohs
That Teenage Feeling
Loretta [The Nervous Eaters]
Ragtime
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 7, 2019.
