Slid along to the Rosemount this arvo/evening to catch a set by Neko Case. A great day to sit in a beer garden and have a few cold beers whilst we waited for the show to start inside. Some peeps were playing Giant Jenga on the lawn behind us, I waited patiently for the money shot and I got it....
The DJ was spinning some cool tunes but it was time to head in for Neko, we caught the last half of the support acts set, one Jen Cloher. She was pretty cool, I'll have to chase up her music for a better listen.
I ducked outside once she'd finished and scored myself a very cool Neko Case T shirt and back inside to catch Neko walk on. Three or four songs into the set and just as the sold out crowd was gettin into it the power crashed. It was fixed within a few minutes so they could play once again but the aircon never came back on and tonight just happens to be the hottest night we've had this summer, it's around 25C now and that's an hour and a half after the gig. So we sweated our little butts off, it took me back to the 80's and the live sets we used to catch back then, hardly a venue even had aircon and you expected to sweat. Luckily I had recently purchased a T shirt so I had something to towel myself down with. They finally managed to open the old painted shut windows and the aircon finally came on during the very last song of the night.
So how was Neko, well she sang great, the sound quality wasn't the best and there was a shitload of feedback when there really shouldn't have been. But the interesting and slightly annoying thing was Neko's non connection with the audience, she hardly spoke to us, she just left that to the girl who sang backup for her. It was like it was the backup singers gig as she cracked jokes and talked about the tour so far. Neko finally engaged us during the encore, maybe she's just shy, the tall dude next to me who looked like the spare Kings of Leon brother informed me that she was like that all the time. Good to know but pretty piss poor I think. We pay the bucks to listen to you sing and we kind of want the intimacy of your banter or chat for that hour or so, especially in small venues like the Rosemount. But a pretty good day all round despite the hiccups. Neko rocks or folks or kooky countries or whatever style you wanna put her under, perhaps her own.
Excuse the quality of some of the pics, I think it's time to buy a new point and shoot. Plus they announced right before Nekos' set that no photography was allowed and they would be grabbing your camera if you did. Huh? I don't get this shit, sure if I'm standing in the front row with an SLR and my pics are magazine sellworthy and perhaps if you're a slightly bigger star than Neko Case then yeah but come on, in a 500 person venue and we're all armed with shitty point and shoots. BTW if Rolling Stone wants a copy of any of my shots just email me.
The DJ was spinning some cool tunes but it was time to head in for Neko, we caught the last half of the support acts set, one Jen Cloher. She was pretty cool, I'll have to chase up her music for a better listen.
I ducked outside once she'd finished and scored myself a very cool Neko Case T shirt and back inside to catch Neko walk on. Three or four songs into the set and just as the sold out crowd was gettin into it the power crashed. It was fixed within a few minutes so they could play once again but the aircon never came back on and tonight just happens to be the hottest night we've had this summer, it's around 25C now and that's an hour and a half after the gig. So we sweated our little butts off, it took me back to the 80's and the live sets we used to catch back then, hardly a venue even had aircon and you expected to sweat. Luckily I had recently purchased a T shirt so I had something to towel myself down with. They finally managed to open the old painted shut windows and the aircon finally came on during the very last song of the night.
So how was Neko, well she sang great, the sound quality wasn't the best and there was a shitload of feedback when there really shouldn't have been. But the interesting and slightly annoying thing was Neko's non connection with the audience, she hardly spoke to us, she just left that to the girl who sang backup for her. It was like it was the backup singers gig as she cracked jokes and talked about the tour so far. Neko finally engaged us during the encore, maybe she's just shy, the tall dude next to me who looked like the spare Kings of Leon brother informed me that she was like that all the time. Good to know but pretty piss poor I think. We pay the bucks to listen to you sing and we kind of want the intimacy of your banter or chat for that hour or so, especially in small venues like the Rosemount. But a pretty good day all round despite the hiccups. Neko rocks or folks or kooky countries or whatever style you wanna put her under, perhaps her own.
Excuse the quality of some of the pics, I think it's time to buy a new point and shoot. Plus they announced right before Nekos' set that no photography was allowed and they would be grabbing your camera if you did. Huh? I don't get this shit, sure if I'm standing in the front row with an SLR and my pics are magazine sellworthy and perhaps if you're a slightly bigger star than Neko Case then yeah but come on, in a 500 person venue and we're all armed with shitty point and shoots. BTW if Rolling Stone wants a copy of any of my shots just email me.
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