Neko Case Awkward At Massey

Massey Hall

Toronto, ON

on Jul 14 2009

Liisa Ladouceur (CHARTattack)

07/15/2009 1:53pm

Playing Massey Hall is a big deal. Toronto's grandest music venue has been blessed with legendary past performances by Canadian icons such as Neil Young, Rush, and Gordon Lightfoot and every major music star from across the planet for the last 100 years.

So perhaps that's why there was more worshipping going on there last night for the Neko Case show than at her two still-talked-about gigs at Trinity Church here a few weeks past.

The woman has earned her spot on this stage: she has been on a slow rise for the public to catch on to her talents — enough so to fill this great hall — since her 1997 solo debut with her Boyfriends, The Virginian. And when she stepped up — all red hair and redder high heels — and sang, her voice mighty, echoing to the rafters, it silenced the room rapturous. So why so nervous, Neko?

She tugged at her dress, fidgeted with her hair and let her vocalist side-kick Kellie Hogan wisecrack at length. (They make quite a pair — an electrifying current of girl power, even if it meant reducing the band to background Boyfriend status.)

Since Case's songs are mostly short, and she plays six different guitars that need tuning in between, there were a lot of these moments. It was a bit of a shame, to burst the magic bubble she was creating with spellbinding performances of favourites like "That Teenage Feeling," "Deep Red Bells" and the mighty title track from the latest, Middle Cyclone.

You can keep calling her "alt.country" or "indie darling" if you like, but Case is a singing and songwriting superstar on par with the best of her generation, in any genre. Her down-home presence is endearing and genuine and nobody would want to see choreography or stadium-sized ego added to the show just because the venue is bigger. And by the time she played two encores she was sailing more smoothly through the night.

But this is freaking Massey Hall – by her own admission, "awesome!" – and the sense of occasion just seemed to slip away with every awkward pause. Toronto music fans are fortunate that Massey's stage is being booked again for talent not nearing retirement pension age. (City And Colour sold it out for three nights recently.) It will be even more amazing when that talent feels comfortable commanding it.