"Neko Case, from the world."

About three-fourths of the way through the set, after Neko Case introduced the other band members, Kelly Hogan took a moment to introduced her - "Neko Case, from the world." And there's no better way to describe her.

I found out about the Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival early last week when I checked her site on a whim, and I'm so glad I did. The whole thing was free, but since I left work early I can say I gave two hours' pay for a ticket. Well worth the opportunity cost. Waiting through two opening acts while sitting behind tall people and having had to buy dinner instead of cooking it myself didn't help me feel good, but I'd brought a book to read and knew it'd be worth it to wait. And it was. When she came on, it was almost dark, with the blue light at the end of the day suffusing the world and making everything dreamy and, as she herself said, making everyone look very sexy. It occurred to me I've almost always seen Neko Case perform by rivers. Here it's the Hudson, and in Pittsburgh it was the Monongahela. Nice bit of continuity there.

When she sang, it was like being plunged under the waves. Being whelmed by the feelings she stirs in me - it all came from her, I saw her perform, and it's like she's from somewhere else, with that voice of hers. Passion from every inch of her body, meaning and purpose, and sheer joy in what she does and how she does it. When she got on stage, before she started to sing, she did a couple of curtsy-ballet type poses, holding her arms out and dipping down, and as far as I could see it was just because she wanted to do that. And then she started singing.

I didn't grab a set list, and couldn't have, because her speakers blew out two songs in and she had to focus on acoustic productions from there on out. So I wrote it down:

That Teenage Feeling
Maybe Sparrow
People Got A Lotta Nerve
The Tigers Have Spoken
Favorite
Things That Scare Me
Margaret versus Pauline
Hold On, Hold On
Middle Cyclone
(some new song whose first line was "baby come out" and will probably be on her next album)
I Wish I Was The Moon
Star Witness
Knock Loud
encore song: Don't Forget Me

I was crying, choking up, in both "People" and "Tigers" and the reason I didn't cry at "Moon" was I'd already shed my tears and was dizzied from the new song I hadn't heard before, trying to catch the words for the first time. New Case music is coming, and the reason I'm not bouncing around in anticipation is I'm worn out from almost two hours of beautiful, powerful music, from a woman from the world.