Casey Neill, Mission Theater, Portland, Oregon, USA (Saturday May 12, 2007)
When I was offered the chance to see Casey Neill & the Norway Rats at the beautiful Mission Theater Pub in Portland, Oregon, I jumped at the chance. Seeing anything at the Mission is a fantastic experience, and Casey Neill's music couldn't have been showcased in a more appropriate setting. The pub offerings and the décor are to die for, and the elegance of the place has an edgy undercurrent, perfect for the Celtic ballad-punk sounds of Neill's new CD, Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn Bridge (to be released on Portland-based indie label, In Music We Trust Records) has been a long time coming. Production was delayed by the death of the CD's producer, legendary Scottish fiddle player Johnny Cunningham. Cunningham's untimely passing in 2003 devastated Neill and so many others in the music scene and around the world. At the Brooklyn Bridge release party that grief came to life on stage -- along with joy, love, anger, and hard-edged exuberance -- in the gravelly, Celto-punk voice and strummings of Casey Neill.
Especially when viewed as a whole, the entire evening's performance has an extremely satisfying arc. The opening act, Bonfire Madigan -- a self-described "avant-pop, chamber-rock experiment" -- packs a lot of wallop for such a tiny package. Her performance is passionate, political, and almost too personal. Her intensity of emotion sets the tone for the rest of the night, and her classical virtuosity and unexpected use of her instrument (cello) gives credibility to her activist lyrics.
By the time Casey Neill & the Norway Rats take to the stage with "Brooklyn Bridge", the crowd is primed. The proper numbers of pints have been drunk for true musical appreciation (have I mentioned the lovingly hand-crafted beers on tap at the Mission? Oh yes! Any number of excellent brews; Terminator Stout, Hammerhead, Ruby, Edgefield Wheat, Black Rabbit Porter, Sunflower IPA... but I digress), and the band looks great. A stylish, good-looking bunch they are, and they launch straight into the performance. So much talent on this stage! Nobody lags behind, though the music wends its way through traditional-sounding Celtic reels, past American twang-rock with a country edge, delves into romantic ballad territory and finally, toward the end of the evening, settles firmly into fabulously-delivered Celto-punk. This energetic crescendo is reached in the last quarter of the evening. The audience has thickened, surged forward, and as in the glory days of punk-rock, people press around the edges of what at times looks suspiciously like a mosh pit.
The crowd's frenzy is compelling. I hover on the periphery trying to take it all in, but the center of the dance floor is as a magnet. Here is music so genuine, delivered with such talent and confidence, its lure is undeniable. In the crowd, hair is tossed, arms are raised, and by the time Neill is belting out "Hooray for the riff-raff!" ("Riffraff", from Memory Against Forgetting), fists are pumping the air in celebratory audience participation.
This is what genuine live performance should be; something which pulls you in and grips your blood and invites you to be a part of something larger. This is folk-music, but also country and punk and opera and jazz and the hardest of rock-n-roll. This is what we look for when we see a band live. This is what Casey Neill delivers.
