Late summer/early fall is good for concerts in the Philadelphia area. 12 September I saw Iron & Wine live at Messiah College, and early October I'll be seeing Sufjan Stevens live in NYC. I've only seen Sufjan once before in Philadelphia, so I'm excited to see him again (in the same week as my sister's wedding, too), and this was my first Iron & Wine concert experience.

( Iron & Wine )

Ganon

Neko performed tonight at the Kimmel Center here in Philadelphia. She was in Verizon Hall, the big concert hall that holds 2500. I don't think the show was sold out, but it was close. My seat was just left of center, about ten rows back from the front.

Neko, as always, was awesome, as was her band. Kelly Hogan is an amazing backup singer, and the banter between Neko and Kelly is wonderful. My main qualm was that the concert hall might have been too open; I think they needed to kick the volume up a bit more. She did a good job of flooding the venue with sound, but it was just really big. A minor complaint, but there you have it.

Other than that, Neko is awesome as always. They walked on stage to a short clip of Marais la Nuit (a song I wouldn't normally recommend they play at concerts; 30 minutes of chirping frogs might be too much for even the best Neko fan) and jumped right into...well, Blacklisted, oddly enough. I was impressed that the audience didn't clap halfway through Maybe Sparrow, as there's a nice long pause that usually tricks those unfamiliar with Fox Confessor.... They did, however, get tricked by Deep Red Bells later in the concert. More people need to buy Blacklisted.

People Got a Lotta Nerve went better at the Nokia Times Square Theater show in April, where I saw Neko last. Well, several of the songs went better then, but that show was so impressive that expecting better might be too much. Maybe Sparrow was better this time around, as was Hold On, Hold On, but I think that's related to the fact that her voice needed more warming up at the beginning of the concert then that it did tonight. Magpie to the Morning...not sure what it was, but it sounded brilliant this time around, one of the more unexpectedly awesome performances of the night. Middle Cyclone was wonderfully pulled off this time around too. She also managed to throw Margaret vs. Pauline and That Teenage Feeling into the mix, both of which were nice to hear although I think it's possible that both showed up in April. Still no sign of Star Witness, which was regrettably missing from the show in April as well (although she had played it by request three days earlier at a show in Pennsylvania, and one day later at a show again at Nokia Times Square Theater). She closed off the main set with This Tornado Loves You. No surprise there, although it wasn't as strong as it was in New York, where a guitarist from the opening act had come out to provide more instrumental backing and there were also more backing singers.

The encore was a bit strange for a concert promoting her most recent album, as it was one Middle Cyclone song, and then three significantly older songs: two from Blacklisted and then The Train to Kansas City, which is also featured on The Tigers Have Spoken. I particularly love the Blacklisted songs; both were great choices and according to Neko, they haven't done Tightly in quite some time (a shame if you ask me). As an aside, when she said they were going to do an old song they hadn't done in a long time, someone from the audience called out for Whip the Blankets off of Furnace Room Lullaby, an album which was lacking from the concert (not entirely surprising, although it would have been nice to hear the title track), at which point Neko said she wasn't going to do it because it was too "hoary". Now, it's Kelly that stated that Neko was saying "hoary" rather than "whorey", and admittedly only the first of those two words is a real word (and would actually fit in this context as well), but I could imagine the second being the intended. The world may never know what Neko Case really thinks here.

Probably my highlight of the evening was Vengeance is Sleeping, the aforementioned Middle Cyclone song with which she start the encore. While I felt that the lower volume hurt the overall performance a bit, the sound fit Vengeance perfectly (where was I Wish I Was The Moon? That would have been perfect for the venue as well. Alas) and really provided a lovely quality to Neko's voice, when most of the band was not present.

Setlist:
(Marais la Nuit)
Things That Scare Me
Maybe Sparrow
People Got a Lotta Nerve
Fever
Hold On, Hold On
The Pharaohs
Middle Cyclone
Deep Red Bells
Magpie to the Morning
I'm an Animal
Prison Girls
The Tigers Have Spoken
Margaret Vs. Pauline
Polar Nettles
Red Tide
Don't Forget Me
That Teenage Feeling
This Tornado Loves You

Encore:
Vengeance is Sleeping
Lady Pilot
Tightly
Train to Kansas City
(Marais la Nuit)

So, we have 12 songs from Middle Cyclone (not counting Marais La Nuit; everything except for "The Next Time You Say Forever" and "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth"), 4 from Fox Confessor..., 4 from Blacklisted, and 2 from other sources (both on The Tigers Have Spoken live album).

I also got a really neat looking tour poster. It's a different one than the one she had in April, which I almost got but decided not to because I didn't want to have to hold onto it for the entire concert and then carry it back to my car. Tonight, all I had to do was set it on my lap since I was in a chair. This one is gonna be framed before I stick it on my wall.

I started listening to Iron & Wine sometime last spring, and in the last 6 months he's become one of my absolute favorite artists, dominating my music playlists--my last.fm profile suggests that in the past 6 months, I have listened to almost 1500 I&W tracks that have been recorded, with the second highest going to Neko at around 500. And 12 of my 15 most listened to tracks is the entirety of The Shepherd's Dog, which is an amazing album. So yeah, pretty much what I listen to.

Yesterday, he released a limited live CD to independent record stores for record store day. It's called Live at Norfolk and it's good and I recommend it. That said, it also gave me a chance to check out "The Trapeze Swinger," which I've heard of but hadn't heard before. Anyway, it's an absolutely breathtakingly amazing song, and guess what? The studio version (it was originally released on a movie soundtrack, and is going to be rereleased on a collection of b-sides that comes out mid-May) is available on Iron & Wine's website. I highly recommend it, but note that it's long--over 9 minutes--and also that it's even better live.

The Decemberists have released an album called The Hazards of Love, which is a complete story in the form of Decemberists music if I understand correctly. And it features Shara Worden as the villain.

I don't know quite what to think; I'm interested in hearing it and it's getting somewhat mixed but leaning towards positive reviews (which sounds pretty normal for The Decemberists; they lean to the odd side), so I might have to check it out.

Internet memes.

(okay, totally not gonna happen...too bad)

Secret of Mana (SNES)
Suikoden II (PSX)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES...sorta)
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (SNES)

I could list a lot more but that's five.

Josh Ritter performed at World Cafe Live Wednesday night as a part of the tour for his most recent album (The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter). I was, of course, present for the event. Though not quite historical, my conquests of the evening included a poster and a songbook containing sheet music and chords for all of the songs on all of his albums.

The opening act was Eric Bachmann. I liked his voice and he was a skilled guitarist. There was also a violinist playing with him; she at one point played an unusual stringed instrument, which after investigation on Wikipedia, I have determined was a nyckelharpa.

Josh Ritter started off quiet with a bonus track available by preordering his most recent album and then continued playing louder music, including a Dylan cover, until after Harrisburg. About halfway through Harrisburg (right before the verse starting with the withered rose) he switched into another song that I was not familiar with for about a minute, before breaking right back into Harrisburg and finishing the song. Before going into Idaho, the next song on the setlist, he commented on Zach's (the bassist) mustache--it was a handlebar mustache with very thin tips, curled up to an almost comical extent--telling us that something was weighing on our shoulders, and we might "think it may be dreams...or sunshine...it's Zach's mustache". Really, anyone who says that dreams or sunshine are weighing on my shoulders is going to get my full support.

Later, before playing Right Moves, he asked for cricket sound effects from the audience. What, exactly, he expected us to do, I am not sure. Most people just snapped, to which he responded, "Those are Beatnik crickets." During Empty Hearts, he had everyone in the front turn around and sing to the balcony and the intermediate level where the bar was; after doing so, he responded with "I hope you all hook up tonight."

He interrupted Kathleen, much like Harrisburg, only instead went into a story about Kathleen. The lesson from this is that apparently the vehicle-in-question was a "pimped-out 1984 John Deere tractor."

Near the end of Lillian, Egypt (the last song they played), he told us the third reason for the fall of the Roman Empire: no disco.

All in all, a fun concert with a weird guy (oh, and he's the son of two neuroscientists, as if you couldn't tell by just how he acts anyway). The next concert for me is next Thursday, when I get to see My Brightest Diamond.

Setlist:

Naked as a Window
Mind's Eye
To The Dogs Or Whoever
Good Man
Open Door
Monster Ballads
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Dylan cover)
Harrisburg*
Idaho
The Temptation of Adam
Wolves
Right Moves
Real Long Distance
Empty Hearts
Wildfire
Rumors
Kathleen*
Lawrence, KS
---------------------
ENCORE
Girl in the War
Lillian, Egypt

Apparently, Frank Sinatra emailed me at the end of the 60's (31 December 1969, to be exact) to tell me about the wonders of purchasing degrees on the internet.

Sometimes I think spammers just aren't trying anymore.

This is AMAZING. Everyone should watch it (it's a pilot that was never picked up as a series, starring Adam West).