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REVIEW: Nellie McKay @ Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR – – 8/15/08)

16th Aug 08 (Sat) 4 comments

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM

Early shows are problematic, especially if you have to drive 2 hours to get to them. Oh, and also if the artist thought they started later. Blame for this goes squarely to the Doug Fir Lounge, in my opinion. Double-booking a night is horrible. Horrible. Nellie McKay* would have likely played much longer, had she been allowed to… argh.

*– for the newbies, her last name rhymes with “McPie”

Anyway, the opener Amorèe Lovell started right at 7pm, and played a stellar 40 minutes. She is from Portland, and plays a mean piano with quirky lyrics and fun banter. I’d say she fits in with the likes of Regina Spektor & Nellie McKay with a touch of Tori Amos. She also brings her own charm & style. She was very entertaining. She played mainly originals, but also threw in some Tom Waits, Johnny Cash & David Bowie. On to Nellie…

Nellie‘s start time was supposed to be 8pm. She didn’t hit the stage until nearly 8:30, due to a mix-up with her start time. Most of the crowd was getting antsy (myself included), as the late show had a “doors open” time of 9:30. Yikes. With that being said, Nellie came on and put on a great just shy of an hour show. She seemed more comfortable and confident, and she was as funny / spunky as usual.

Nellie’s Setlist:

Toto Dies
Old Enough
Mother of Pearl [on uke]
story about prince chunky, the 44 pound cat
The Dog Song (a fav of the set)
Real Life
Tipperary
Don’t Fence Me In [on uke]
Vote for Mr. Rhythm [with Obama tag at the end]
Sari (a fav of the set… with Dylan impression at the end)
Feed the Birds
Politan
Don’t Fence Me In [false start… she remembered she already did it] :)
Me Gusta Mañana [on uke.. a silly spanish song]
explanation about her NPR song “Cavendish”… she didn’t have time to brush up on it, but sometime soon
Zombie (a fav of the set)
Encore 1: Really
Encore 2: Ding Dong