Neko Case & Eric Bachmann at 9:30 8/16

The night started with delicious Ethiopian food, and then a walk over to the 9:30 Club. We decided to go to the front of the club, someplace I hadn't been before, but was quite nice, as there were no tall people standing right in front of me. And there was the Asian girl from Virginia who was also at the Arcade Fire show and stood somewhere near us in the front, based on her pictures (which weren't supposed to be allowed, so shame on you!).

Anyway, we had a while to wait before Eric Bachmann came out. He had pants problems and threatened to flash us all, but really he just said that his zipper was broken and that he didn't mean to flash us, if he did. His set started with a Spanish folk tune, then he played quite a varied set, which I will just attempt to get right, although I really am not nearly as familiar with his solo album as his earlier bands:

Spanish Folk Song
Genie Genie
Devil's Train
Sleep All Summer
Dead Red Eyes
New Drink for the Old Drunk
La Malatea Fea

I know I missed a couple songs from the solo album in there, as I wasn't writing anything down, but I do wish that he had played far longer than he did. Because, and I've said this since the first time I saw Crooked Fingers back in college, Eric Bachmann is an immensely talented man, and has such a huge collection of amazing songs to play that he's always worth checking out. And this time, unlike the other times I've seen him play as Crooked Fingers, I got an Archers of Loaf song, and from White Trash Heroes at that. I was thrilled from the instant he said the next song was from a long time ago, around 8 years. Which made it pre-Crooked Fingers. The four Crooked Fingers tracks were all outstanding. I was never impressed with Bring on the Snakes until I saw them live on their 2003 tour. Earlier in the day before their show at Southgate House with Spoon (a great show in itself), they played a short set at Shake It Records. And they had to go get percussion to be able to play The Rotting Strip, and I realized that there are no weak Crooked Fingers albums. So hearing Devil's Train was awesome, hearing La Malatea Fea only released on the extremely awesome 3 disc Old Enough To Know Better Merge compilation, and of course, the best song that Bachmann's done in New Drink for the Old Drunk were highlights for me. New Drink is better with the full band, but I didn't care, as it was awesome. For Sleep All Summer, from the Spanish influenced Dignity & Shame, he had Neko Case and her slide guitarist out to help and provide the vocals needed to come close to the album version. After that, he acted like he should just stop because that was what everyone was there for, and I get the feeling that he was kidding on the square.

After he left, and I complained loudly that he didn't play longer, Neko Case came out to tune. And then left for another 30 minutes. She didn't come on until 10, and was wearing a fairly boring black dress that had bows on the back. Now, I'm not a fashion maven, but bows are silly. Her set was fairly well-described by both DCist and ummm... Katherine (that's her name on Last.fm at least), and I want to say that it was quite impressive for that voice to come out of her. And that Kelly Hogan stole the show, starting out with grabbing Neko's breast in an attempt to "wake her up", and then claiming the show was all a fantasy, taking it to discussing Burt Reynolds (which Neko brought to Gator, what is supposed to be a pretty bad movie), and claiming to be the band secretary keeping track of what requests were made.

Things That Scare Me
That Teenage Feeling
Set Out Running
Maybe Sparrow
Dirty Knife
The Tigers Have Spoken
Star Witness
Deep Red Bells
Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan cover)
I Wish I Was the Moon
If You Knew
Ghost Wiring
Hex (Catherine Irwin cover)
Favorite
Hold On, Hold On
---
A Widow's Toast
Tightly
Lady Pilot
John Saw That Number

For the last one, Eric Bachmann and Lucy Wainright Roche (ummm, so much more talented than Rufus) came out and pretty much didn't sing very much at all. I have this feeling they didn't know the song at all, as they seemed to miss out on a lot of the chances for them to fulfill their roles as backup singers. Still, Neko and the band played for quite some time, around 80 minutes including the encore, and I think I only heard a few marriage proposals for her. I was sort of surprised as I normally expect attractive female band members to be propositioned fairly frequently, unless they're married, and then it's usually only once a show or so.

Now comes my normal time to bitch about the audience touching me. Damnit, stop touching me. I understand an occasional jostle, but to continually bump into me for five songs straight on the beat means that you know that something is bumping you right back. And when I move over and you still bump me and I ask you to stop it and I know you heard me and you still bump me, it just means I hate you. Yeah, and loud, smacking kisses are annoying as hell as well, you PDA'ing mofos. And the whistling right next to my ear... Man, I hated them. And I also hated the large groups of people who were talking loudly during the Bachmann set. I know that he's only playing a guitar and you're there to sexually harass Neko Case, but couldn't you at least try to not be dicks? Yeah, it's DC, but <GOB>COME ON!</GOB> When you continue to talk throughout Neko Case (who is who you had to have been there to see, right?), you're just being douchebags of the liberty persuasion. As much as I like to bring up the people who used to go to punk shows and sit in the back and read Joyce, at least they're not disturbing anyone. I am quite capable of enjoying shows without bothering anyone else. Why don't you try that, DC?