The New Pornographers "Miss Teen Wordpower" from Electric Version Live at Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI Feb 22, 2006 PODCAST EXCLUSIVE!

Although the show was pretty great all around, there was something a little weird about the beginning of the New Pornographers' set. Maybe it was the acoustics and/or the mix, maybe it was the awkwardness of coming onstage four months late, maybe it was not having Neko Case and Dan Bejar along. They got past it pretty quickly, whatever it was, and it wasn't long before A.C. Newman began extolling the wonders of the Canadian health care system after every song.

Speaking of the absent Neko Case, this clip features the set's first prominent singing part for her understudy, Kathryn Calder of Immaculate Machine, also A.C. Newman's niece. She did a pretty job as Not-Neko, probably as good as could be expected, and it didn't seem like they skipped anything in particular because Neko wasn't with them. I still can't help but be annoyed that we missed Neko but Milwaukee will soon get a solo show and a full-on New Pornographers show, though.

[Warning: Same bad angle mishaps as the Matt Pond clip in this one.]