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So... Neko last night! It was really weird seeing most of the concert in complete daylight but, I have to say, especially at this time of the year, I'd so much rather be outside than crammed into a small space with a bunch of other people. It's so much more comfortable. We weren't terribly close but we still had a good, unobscured view, and the people onstage didn't look like ants so it was all good. And the concert was over before ten o'clock! We got home before eleven-thirty! I know this makes me sound old and cranky but all concerts should be like this! Especially when they're ones that take a three-hour drive to get to (this one, happily, wasn't).
Anyway, the opener was Jason Lytle from Grandaddy. I wasn't too excited about him so I read through his first two songs and while I was casually listening, I was thinking, "Well, this is nice enough." Then I finished my book (should've brought another one!) and by the fifth or sixth song was thinking, "Haven't I already heard this?" Yeah, all of his songs kind of sounded the same. And they all sounded like they were at least six minutes long too. And he went on forever. I swear, he played almost as long as Neko did. Anyway, he wasn't offensively bad or anything, just really boring.
And Neko herself was, well, brilliant of course. Her voice sounded perfect from the very first song and she and Kelly are hilarious between songs. Plus, she looked super cute. She was all dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt and just looked generally adorable. Also, I think she has the most perfect shade of red hair; it's so pretty.
I attempted to remember the setlist in order but realized that it would be impossible. So the first two songs and the last one and the encore are in order. The rest are totally not, I just know that they were somewhere in between it all. With commentary.
The first thing Neko did after coming out was claim that the entire audience was drunk because a few people got rowdy when her microphone wasn't loud enough. Love it.
Things That Scare Me
MAYBE SPARROW (Flawless. And I was happy to hear this; it's one of my favorites on Fox Confessor.)
People Got a Lotta Nerve (She or Kelly, I can't remember which one now, introduced this as a song about a "homicidal picnic" and then went on about how we looked like we were having a homicidal picnic because everyone had picnic baskets and shit but were also... drunk. Or whatever. This stuff doesn't seem as funny paraphrasing it like this.)
Deep Red Bells (This was great. During the "Where does this mean world cast its cold eye?/Who's left to suffer long about you?" part, all of the instruments dropped out and Neko belted it out a cappella. It was amazing.)
The Pharaohs (A song about "an imaginary boyfriend" who everyone has, even guys. And according to Neko all guys' imaginary boyfriends look like Clint Eastwood. Then, after the song, she and Kelly were talking about how sexy he looked even in some really old movie where his pants are pulled up to his chest. A style which, for whatever reason, Neko called "jail pants". Amusement.)
Red Tide
I Wish I Was the Moon
Hold On, Hold On
Margaret vs. Pauline (I seem to always get stuck next to obnoxious people. The people sitting next to me, I believe, were actually drunk, and before this song, one of the guys yelled out, "JOHN THE BAPTIST!!!" and then when the song started he was all like, "IT'S EVERYTHING'S SO EASY FOR PAULINE!!" Thanks, dude. I don't need your commentary.)
Middle Cyclone
Prison Girls (About "how sexy prison is". "Have you ever been there?" Neko asked defensively when the audience laughed at this. Because she has... in elementary school on a tour that was supposed to "scare [her] straight". According to Kelly, it did exactly the opposite. This story was much longer and funnier but I couldn't accurately represent it in type.)
Fever
The Tigers Have Spoken
I'm an Animal
Don't Forget Me (This was the only song that left me slightly disappointed... the recorded version is probably my least favorite song on Middle Cyclone but I still like it. Neko sounded great but I like the piano on the record so much better than the weird guitar sounds it was replaced with live. They just sounded out-of-place on such a calm song.)
That Teenage Feeling (I'm not positive this was second-to-last but it's the only song I can place here with any certainty. Anyway, during the last two songs, this drunk woman way up in the front started dancing, which was mostly a lot of waving arms and swaying hips, and at the end of each song, she would put her hands together and bow like everyone was cheering for her. It was both hilarious and annoying as fuck. I was trying to focus on Neko but it was very hard. She reminded me of the chick back at Tori in '05 who was interpretive dancing to "Tear in Your Hand".)
This Tornado Loves You (I was able to focus entirely on Neko for this because, damn, this is such a perfect song. And she sounded - shocker - amazing.)
About ten seconds after they went offstage, they came back for the encore. Which was nice. I hate when it takes ages for the band to come back out. And the encore was totally made of win. She played five more songs and I was a happy camper.
VENGEANCE IS SLEEPING (I adore this song and I had given up hope on hearing it by this point so I was excited when they played it. It was so beautiful and everyone was standing for it and swaying (in a non-annoying-drunk way) and it was magical.)
Lady Pilot
Star Witness (She stated at the beginning of the encore that they were going to play this even though they hadn't practiced it in awhile and it would sound like crap. But it sounded great to me.)
FAVORITE (This was the song that excited me most because I love it a whole lot [and the live version is so much better than the album version] and sometimes she plays it a lot and sometimes she doesn't. But her voice is so fucking perfect on this song. It's intense.)
Knock Loud (I don't particularly love this song but I wasn't expecting it so it was still exciting.)
So, yeah, it was great. There was lots of banter I am either forgetting right now or is just too impossible to describe without making it sound totally lame. The only complaint I have about the whole thing is that her merch was kind of expensive but, whatever, it's Neko; I'm willing to throw a few more dollars than I'm used to her way. Also, even though she played quite a few songs, her set seemed very short. The encore made it a bit better but after "This Tornado Loves You", I was just like, "What?... That's it? But she just started." I have a feeling I wouldn't have been fully satisfied without hearing her last three records nearly in their entirety though which is a bit of a lofty request. Anyway, AWESOMENESS.
Anyway, the opener was Jason Lytle from Grandaddy. I wasn't too excited about him so I read through his first two songs and while I was casually listening, I was thinking, "Well, this is nice enough." Then I finished my book (should've brought another one!) and by the fifth or sixth song was thinking, "Haven't I already heard this?" Yeah, all of his songs kind of sounded the same. And they all sounded like they were at least six minutes long too. And he went on forever. I swear, he played almost as long as Neko did. Anyway, he wasn't offensively bad or anything, just really boring.
And Neko herself was, well, brilliant of course. Her voice sounded perfect from the very first song and she and Kelly are hilarious between songs. Plus, she looked super cute. She was all dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt and just looked generally adorable. Also, I think she has the most perfect shade of red hair; it's so pretty.
I attempted to remember the setlist in order but realized that it would be impossible. So the first two songs and the last one and the encore are in order. The rest are totally not, I just know that they were somewhere in between it all. With commentary.
The first thing Neko did after coming out was claim that the entire audience was drunk because a few people got rowdy when her microphone wasn't loud enough. Love it.
Things That Scare Me
MAYBE SPARROW (Flawless. And I was happy to hear this; it's one of my favorites on Fox Confessor.)
People Got a Lotta Nerve (She or Kelly, I can't remember which one now, introduced this as a song about a "homicidal picnic" and then went on about how we looked like we were having a homicidal picnic because everyone had picnic baskets and shit but were also... drunk. Or whatever. This stuff doesn't seem as funny paraphrasing it like this.)
Deep Red Bells (This was great. During the "Where does this mean world cast its cold eye?/Who's left to suffer long about you?" part, all of the instruments dropped out and Neko belted it out a cappella. It was amazing.)
The Pharaohs (A song about "an imaginary boyfriend" who everyone has, even guys. And according to Neko all guys' imaginary boyfriends look like Clint Eastwood. Then, after the song, she and Kelly were talking about how sexy he looked even in some really old movie where his pants are pulled up to his chest. A style which, for whatever reason, Neko called "jail pants". Amusement.)
Red Tide
I Wish I Was the Moon
Hold On, Hold On
Margaret vs. Pauline (I seem to always get stuck next to obnoxious people. The people sitting next to me, I believe, were actually drunk, and before this song, one of the guys yelled out, "JOHN THE BAPTIST!!!" and then when the song started he was all like, "IT'S EVERYTHING'S SO EASY FOR PAULINE!!" Thanks, dude. I don't need your commentary.)
Middle Cyclone
Prison Girls (About "how sexy prison is". "Have you ever been there?" Neko asked defensively when the audience laughed at this. Because she has... in elementary school on a tour that was supposed to "scare [her] straight". According to Kelly, it did exactly the opposite. This story was much longer and funnier but I couldn't accurately represent it in type.)
Fever
The Tigers Have Spoken
I'm an Animal
Don't Forget Me (This was the only song that left me slightly disappointed... the recorded version is probably my least favorite song on Middle Cyclone but I still like it. Neko sounded great but I like the piano on the record so much better than the weird guitar sounds it was replaced with live. They just sounded out-of-place on such a calm song.)
That Teenage Feeling (I'm not positive this was second-to-last but it's the only song I can place here with any certainty. Anyway, during the last two songs, this drunk woman way up in the front started dancing, which was mostly a lot of waving arms and swaying hips, and at the end of each song, she would put her hands together and bow like everyone was cheering for her. It was both hilarious and annoying as fuck. I was trying to focus on Neko but it was very hard. She reminded me of the chick back at Tori in '05 who was interpretive dancing to "Tear in Your Hand".)
This Tornado Loves You (I was able to focus entirely on Neko for this because, damn, this is such a perfect song. And she sounded - shocker - amazing.)
About ten seconds after they went offstage, they came back for the encore. Which was nice. I hate when it takes ages for the band to come back out. And the encore was totally made of win. She played five more songs and I was a happy camper.
VENGEANCE IS SLEEPING (I adore this song and I had given up hope on hearing it by this point so I was excited when they played it. It was so beautiful and everyone was standing for it and swaying (in a non-annoying-drunk way) and it was magical.)
Lady Pilot
Star Witness (She stated at the beginning of the encore that they were going to play this even though they hadn't practiced it in awhile and it would sound like crap. But it sounded great to me.)
FAVORITE (This was the song that excited me most because I love it a whole lot [and the live version is so much better than the album version] and sometimes she plays it a lot and sometimes she doesn't. But her voice is so fucking perfect on this song. It's intense.)
Knock Loud (I don't particularly love this song but I wasn't expecting it so it was still exciting.)
So, yeah, it was great. There was lots of banter I am either forgetting right now or is just too impossible to describe without making it sound totally lame. The only complaint I have about the whole thing is that her merch was kind of expensive but, whatever, it's Neko; I'm willing to throw a few more dollars than I'm used to her way. Also, even though she played quite a few songs, her set seemed very short. The encore made it a bit better but after "This Tornado Loves You", I was just like, "What?... That's it? But she just started." I have a feeling I wouldn't have been fully satisfied without hearing her last three records nearly in their entirety though which is a bit of a lofty request. Anyway, AWESOMENESS.
