As we've mentioned previously, Neko Case and The Sadies have returned to NYC playing to a packed house at The Bowery Ballroom. And what a triumphant return it is. Over the course of the last six months or so Case and The Sadies have really gelled as a band, with The Sadies surfacing more of Case's rocky undercurrents and Case in turn refining The Sadie's down home grooves. The interplay between the musicians was every bit as much fun as the moments when Case speaks to the audience.

The set seemed shorter than the last time they were in town but I'm trying to figure out what was missing and it's harder to do than I thought. Most, if not all, of the tracks from The Tigers Have Spoken made it on to the list. The real standouts this time were Train From Kansas City, Loretta, Rated X. That will come as no surprise to those of you familiar with her work given my comments above. It goes without saying that Blacklisted and Furnace Room Lullaby were genuine crowd-pleasers.

What surprised me was how taken I am now with songs like Favorite and Hex... for whatever reason they never resonated as much with me before. I think that could have something to do with a lack of familiarity (Favorite has only been available on the hard to find Canadian Amp disc and Hex was new to the shoddily edited Tigers). Still, it's something of a shame that Deep Red Bells and Karoline fell by the wayside.

Case's set was likely reduced (if it was at all) to make room for a set by The Sadies of their own material. The Brothers Good, Dallas and Travis, alongside drummer Mike Belitsky and bassist Sean Dean. This was my first time seeing them really take to the stage on their own and man, was it an eye-opener. These guys are blisteringly good. Belitsky is wiched fast on the skins and I'm surprised that Dean and The Goods have any flesh left on their hands keeping pace with him.

Low Skies were the opening act for the event. I'm not sure what sort of following they're building in their native Chicago but I'd be shocked if it was growing by leaps and bounds every show. They're a tight, somewhat experiemental full-bore rock unit. Like most young bands they were their influences on their sleeves -- in this case predominantly Jeff Buckley but also Radiohead to a degree -- but given time they could very well move past such overtness. Still, they were a joy to watch perform. Nice measures of rock swagger and shoe gazer coyness, great pacing, some real subtle moments and the ability to wail when needed.

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