UPDATE: This event has been canceled, with this statement posted to the venue website:
The September 3 Neko Case performance at Memorial Hall has been cancelled due to a positive COVID-19 test in the touring party. The performance will not be rescheduled at this time. If you would like to receive a refund, no action is required at this time.
Refunds will be issued to credit cards automatically the week of September 20. Ticket holders should check their email for additional refund and exchange options.
We sincerely apologize for this unfortunate situation. We know that many of you have held tickets to this performance for nearly two years, and that this will come as a disappointment.
Has it really been nearly a quarter century since Neko Case started making records? Bill Clinton began his second term in the White House when her twangy solo debut, The Virginian, surfaced, revealing an artist with a gift for storytelling and a singing voice both powerful and seductive.
On the other hand, Case’s enduring presence shouldn’t come as a surprise — her music is a timeless mix of moody torch songs and rootsy Folk, Pop and Country.
A Virginia native, Case left home at 15, the result of an upbringing affected by her parents’ messy divorce. In 1994, after nearly a decade of soul-searching that would become a staple of her nomadic life, she enrolled in art school in Vancouver, Canada, where she would also expand her creative horizons as a drummer in various Post-Punk outfits.
Armed with a fine arts degree four years later, Case released the aforementioned The Virginian, but it was the one-two punch of her next record, 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby, and her vocal contributions to a new Vancouver band called The New Pornographers that would break her to a wider audience. Three increasingly successful solo albums followed, as did contributions to four more New Pornographers records.
In 2013, Case dropped arguably her best record, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, an impressively textured, emotionally satisfying effort that moves from majestic Power Pop to stark slow burners with equal effectiveness. Case’s most recent album, 2018’s Hell-On, surfaced not long after her then-home in Vermont burned to the ground, leaving her homeless and adding another chapter to her turbulent life and songwriting subject matter. As usual, she responded with perspective: “If somebody burned down your house on purpose, you’d feel so violated. But when nature burns your house down, you can’t take it personally.”
Case performs at 8 p.m. Sept. 3 at Memorial Hall. Masks are required, as is proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test from the prior 72 hours.
More info: memorialhallotr.com.
