On the eve of March 14th, Neko Case graced the stage at Washington’s in Old Town Fort Collins, marking her first-ever appearance in the city. Neko Case’s illustrious three-decade-long career has been cultivated through her own solo work and her formation of multiple alternative and indie rock bands, including Vancouver groups The New Pornographers and Maow. Case was supported on Saturday night’s concert by her opener Destroyer, led by fellow (now former) New Pornographers bandmate Dan Bejar. Enshrouded in ambient light, Bejar closed his set with a mellow rendition of his 2008 “Don’t Become the Thing You Hated”.
The concert featured an even distribution of Case’s hit albums, with a majority of tracks belonging to her most recent release, 2025’s “Neon Grey Midnight Green”. The album cover embraces the mystifying and ornate, with Case seated in a luxe green coat and a small cloud hovering above her right hand. Her new LP comes after a seven-year hiatus from personal releases, focusing this time on cultivating a grandiose orchestral sound. Neko Case opened with “Bracing for Sunday”, the only track in the show from her 2013 album “The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You”. Her mellow acoustic guitar melded seamlessly with the harmonies Case’s backing vocalist and guitarist elicited.
Midway through the concert, Case reflected on her distinctive tendency to feature songs named after birds in her releases, lining up her tracks “Maybe Sparrow” and the thoughtfully downtempo “Magpie to the Morning”. She followed these up with “I’m an Animal”, a track with lyrics that spoke to life’s fleeting nature and the abandonment of all things proper for an unrestrained life. A self-described “critter”, as noted in a 2013 NPR interview, Case’s lyricism and melodies added a freak folk edge to her free-spirited Americana whirlwind, diving into the more feral sides of human nature.
Case later reminisced on her experience working with k.d. lang and Laura Viers and evoked a beautiful rendition of “Super Moon” from the supergroup’s 2016 “case/lang/viers” release. Her striking and achingly emotive vocals were the standout of the evening, adding a raw edge of feminine energy to each number. The latter half of the show wove Case’s country-noir sensibilities with an indie levity, pulling tracks from her 2008 alt-country album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood”. Her lyrical prowess shone through on her performance of “Star Witness” from the album, wielding metaphors and further allusions to the avians.
The atmosphere of the night was filled with vitality and rapt attention, in part due to the artist’s sage prohibition of mobile phones during the show. Despite the sold-out status of the concert, Neko Case’s performance still felt intimate and touching, a seamless representation of her repertoire. What was equal parts a resurrection of her 90s New Pornographers sound and a display of her ever-changing personal songwriting style drew fans of all ages to Washington’s.