I was given the song “GMF” by a friend, telling me that John Grant is her 2nd favorite singer next to Leonard Cohen. I got into his music then, and dove into it hardcore, only to find out that he was living in Iceland, and working on a new album, and that we knew several of the same people. I interviewed him back in 2020 prepping for the release of his next album ‘Boy From Michigan’. Since then he has released some great artistic work, in your face, and saying it exactly like it is. Touring on his new release “The Art Of The Lie”, really you don’t need to tax your imagination too hard to get where that came from.
Neko Case got her start in Neko Case and her Boyfriends, then on to the Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers, and she is one of those gender-fluid people who finds her identity to not be really static, or even relevant at times.
So, when both of these artists were announced on the same bill, guess what I had to do. GO SEE THEM.
The stage had an illuminated backdrop, of an abandoned drive in theater with the message painted on its walls “You are so powerful”, it looked like it was going to be there more for Neko Case, as there was a stack of electronic gear in the front of the stage, supporting two keyboards.
JOHN GRANT
Thought there was enough gear for two people, John Grant walked out on stage alone, “Good evening everyone, thank you for coming. This one is called “Diamond for a Nickel”, (must be unreleased, I don’t know this one) with his powerful vocals going out to a 3 tier venue reaching everyone. I was the really excited guy there, taking photographs, and excited to finally be seeing him live.
He switched over to the other syth rig and started playing around with some knobs and then for a moment sounded like his voice went through the vocoder, and he went into the classic “Touch and GO” from “Love is Magic”. A song that is nothing short of calling out someone, and refusing to put up with their shit. I love this song a lot, but it was so much weirder hearing it live like this.
Pausing for an explanation, John Grant explained how he is a polyglot, and loved learning languages. I know this because we have spoken different languages to each-other, bounced around with them actually. Though I didn’t know he speaks Turkish. He explained how in Icelandic, the term “Grey tickles” something from your beard actually is what they call “Midlife Crisis”, and in Turkish, “Black Pressure” means nightmares. He then went on to explain how this song is about the anxiety he has in middle age, and the things he really is bothered about. The song is 10 years old, and STILL lyrically covers the point really well. Hearing it live he just delivers the sheer raw feeling that you can feel is driven by that anxiety. Well, done John.
While I was walking back to my seat from the pit, he said “This one is for Sinead”. I cheered rather loudly for this one, for many reasons. First, it is by far the BEST “FUCK YOU!!!” song ever written hands down. Second, Sinead O’Connor did a cover of it on her “I Be Me” album, and she just rocked it. I love this song so much, and listen to both versions on my playlists a lot. He let into “Queen of Denmark”. The song so powerful and biting, I used it to roast an out of control FBI agent with it sometime back. THIS was the song I came to hear, more than any other. Should you ever want to unload on someone and call them out for being a useless waste of skin, “Queen of Denmark” by John Grant should be the first song to come to mind.
Another vocoder tweakfest on his voice and the synth he sang “Laura Lou” from the new album, which honestly sounded like it was straight out of the “Blade Runner” soundtrack. The lyrics “Laura Lou, Buffalo, can’t remember, do you like snow?”
He played a simple piano version of “MARZ”, a song that sounds like you are reading the menu at an ice cream shop, and being in outer space. What a gem, this one is “Old”, just going through memories of childhood, this one reminds me of early psychedelic lyrics from bands like Traffic.
He closed his set with “Zeitgeist” from the new album, “The Art Of The Lie”, this song makes you feel like it launched from the piano in Mr Rogers apartment, and somehow goes into the longing for someone, and his own psyche around it all. One of the best lines of his ever written was “This Zietgeist fruit is full of worms, and in the end I know that I need you”. He can change key mid song, when he needs to take you somewhere else with his lyrics. Just a phenomenal piece.
On the final line “The world is closing in on me tonight, and I can see it’s gonna be a long way to the morning light”, before the piano notes even faded he said “Good night everyone, Thank you for coming”.
And with that John Grant’s set was over as quick as it began, and I was blown away by it. He laid down the powerful music with his booming voice, and emotion with enough biting sarcasm to last for months.
I went downstairs and interviewed him, we were only supposed to talk for 5-7 minutes, but we went for 20. By the time I got upstairs Neko Case was already mid-“Deep Red Bells,” and the room had that rare, electric hush where 2,000 people collectively forget to breathe.
NEKO CASE
She stood center stage like a storm cloud that decided to wear red lipstick—tall, red hair catching the spots like fire, voice booming out over a band that played like they were trying to outrun their own shadows. The setlist was a greatest-hits séance mixed with fresh cuts from Neon Grey Midnight Green, and from “Deep Red Bells” onward it was clear: this wasn’t a nostalgia trip. This was Neko summoning ghosts and making them dance.
“Deep Red Bells” hit like a slow-motion car crash—those bells tolling in the guitars, her voice curling around the lyrics like smoke around a noose. The crowd leaned in as if she might tell us a secret we’d been waiting our whole lives to hear. Then came “This Tornado Loves You,” and the place lost what little composure it had left. She sang it with the kind of ache that makes your sternum hurt, the band swelling behind her like a heartbeat gone rogue. Little Gears followed, quirky and sharp, a reminder that Neko can write pop hooks that bite back.
The new stuff from Neon Grey Midnight Green landed hard—”Little Gears” and “Neon Grey Midnight Green” especially, the latter a shimmering, synth-touched dirge that felt like driving through a city at 3 a.m. after the apocalypse already happened. “Baby, I’m Not (A Werewolf)” got laughs and whoops—self-deprecating werewolf denial never sounded so sexy. “Magpie to the Morning” was pure dawn-light poetry, her harmonies stacking like prayer flags in the wind.
By “I’m an Animal” the theater felt feral—people swaying, some outright howling along on the chorus. “Destination” slowed it down to a crawl, voice cracking just enough to remind you she’s human (or at least pretending to be). “Lady Pilot” roared back with punkish snarl, then “Oh, Shadowless” floated in like a ghost ship. “That Teenage Feeling” had the room singing every word back to her, a communal exorcism of bad high-school memories.
“Rusty Mountain” built like a gathering squall, “Tomboy Gold” punched with defiant joy, “Wreck” wrecked us properly—raw, unfiltered longing that left no survivors. “Star Witness” closed the main set like a murder ballad lullaby, the final notes hanging in the air like cigarette smoke after the last bar fight.
Encore came fast: “I Wish I Was the Moon” was luminous, vulnerable, her voice dipping into that low register that feels like velvet dragged over gravel. “Hold On, Hold On” turned into a full-throated anthem—crowd roaring the chorus like it was the only thing keeping the world from spinning off its axis. And then “At Last”—slow, sultry, almost teasing. She let the final “at last” linger, a promise and a threat, before the lights came up and we all stumbled out into the cold November night feeling slightly more alive, slightly more broken, and entirely grateful.
Neko Case didn’t just play the Eccles. She haunted it. And for one night in Salt Lake, the city remembered what it feels like to be haunted by something beautiful.
(Neko Case photos credit to Kevin Rolfe, I couldn’t even have gotten these anyway, I was too busy living the moment—trust me, her red hair under those lights was biblical.)
John Grant: website , music links , previous John Grant interview
Neko Case: website , music links