That's the thing about support bands. Even if they are good the audience will try to ignore them as they are actually here to see the main band. It doesn't matter how good as musicians they are - and Black Gold were certainly good musicians - but the audience were here to see Neko Case. Sure, most of Black Gold's songs were melodic indie rock reminiscent of Panic at the Disco but right at the end of their set was truly rousing "The Comedown" that punched a big hole in the assembled indifference. That's a song to take home.
Whilst awaiting Ms Case, the opportunity to assess the audience demographics was taken. Women who needed both hands to count their lapsed gym memberships. Lots of balding middle aged men - many with half thought out beards - who probably had a little blue pill in their wallet (just in case). There were even some young bucks (and buckettes) showing a practised coolness that disguised the fact that they recognised that their future was in the same room as them.
Neko Case and her band appeared on stage without fanfare. It took her a good few songs to warm up. She seemed alternately confident and distinctly ill at ease. Maybe it was the presence of a man with a 10 megapixel penis substitute at the front of the stage - have you noticed how small cameraphones have got, by the way? - but he got dispatched in a remarkably polite manner. Maybe that is the big part of Ms Case's appeal. She doesn't seem like a star. More like the girl next door on stage. Maybe she's even approachable. However, you don't write songs like she does without real talent. "Middle Cyclone" truly soared out over the adoring crowd. You could feel the magic then, but many of the other songs in her set failed to sparkle. Perhaps that was the result of jet lag or perhaps she is just happier in a studio environment. She got dragged back for an encore so I might well have been the only one that felt that way about her performance.
As I left, it wasn't disappointment that I felt. It was more of a feeling of curiosity. What makes Neko Case tick? Nothing I saw or heard tonight answered that. Then my thoughts turned to the feisty backing singer. Does she have a boyfriend and, if not, would she consider a man with a pen as a candidate? She was my kind of woman.