The laneway named Angel Place seemed like an appropriately-named locale for that gal with the angelic voice, Neko Case. All in all, it appeared to be a grand place to hear her play some songs from Middle Cyclone and her previous releases.

There was good access to the bars (and $25 dollar glasses of champagne if you were cashed up) and ease of entry to the attractive fans who had shown up early for good general admission seats.

Settling into the third row, I perused the equipment and was glad to see that Jon Rauhouse and his steel would be directly in front of me. Within moments, Neko, the bearded John, feral-faced bassist Tom V. Ray, fabulous singer Kelly Hogan and drummer Barry Mirochnick settled into position.

Things That Scared Me was imbued with a dark banjo and guitar intro and we were then on the receiving end of Neko’s powerful vocal prowess. Her voice sounded gorgeous, but not quite loud enough. Time and a little bit of tweaking at the mixing desk should solve that, I thought.

Maybe Sparrow was next up, and by the time that song was almost finished you could sense that something was wrong. Neko was making faces and then said something about the place being dead. But the show must go on. She burst into People Got A Lotta Nerve, one of the top pop songs on Middle Cyclone.

Flicking her hair, Neko announced, “I just want to make it clear that when I said it was dead in here I was referring to the sound in the venue, not you.”

From here on in there was an uncomfortable feeling between the stage, the audience and the evaporating sound in the Recital Hall. We won’t even go into the distraction of her amp failing for a bit.

The show progressed in a strange fashion, with 11 songs from Middle Cyclone (including the Nilsson-penned Don’t Forget Me ) and five from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, with a few others tossed in. Although the sound was far from perfect we were treated to some excellent playing by her band and of course those reverb soaked vocals of Ms. Case.

Kelly Hogan lived up to all my expectations, and when the two sang together you could hear the beauty that they can create. Besides her amazing backing vocals, Kelly was able to keep the crowd amused with anecdotes about recitals. She owned up to having to play Colour My World by Chicago and Neko spoke about doing a violin recital.

Hogan also mentioned it was her birthday a few times, exclaiming more than once, “I’m still alive!” Very cute. She had to keep her chatter going while Neko spent a good minute-and-a-half tuning her guitar. She claimed it was rented equipment, but I do believe she was being ironic.

With the gear difficulties, the dead sound and a fairly quiet audience (they did applaud, but no one yelled out “Happy Birthday” once to Kelly), you could see the frustration sort of disappear and morph into bemusement on stage. By the time Neko sung about holding out for that Teenage Feeling, you could tell she was done. She had motioned to the band prior to that song that after two more songs they were gone. I could sense an encore was not forthcoming.

Leaving us after This Tornado Loves You, the audience made their loudest noise of the night and Neko finally reappeared with her fellow minstrels. The encore must have been forced because she already had put her hair up and put on a hoodie, ready to go home. One more song and she disappeared into the night.

Being my first viewing of Neko Case live, I would go back almost any time – just not to the high-ceilinged vault that is The Recital Hall. It was simply not a proper fit for Neko Case and her music.