Nellie McKay sure wowed them at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Francisco. The last of 6 shows over 3 days in San Francisco, her set which largely centered on her new album of Doris Day covers was a delight from start to finish. I had a bizarre seat in the front row about 3 feet from Nellie, which would have been even more fantastic if I didn’t have to stare at her back for the entire concert. Fortunately I could watch her with a decent side angle when she’d sing center stage, but it was the most expensive shitty seat in the house.

At times, I could only see the back of her wild blonde hair, so it was a bit like watching a stunt double pretend to be Nellie. But it really let me focus on weird things like her fingers intricately pounding away on the piano. But that’s just nitpicky fun. I’d rather attend a Nellie McKay concert in the dark than most anyone else with a better view.

Her personality was fantastic with her characteristic seemingly stream of conscious banter filled super digressive introductions delighting the crowd throughout the show. She introduced one tune as a song she wrote in high school with elaborate detail about how she made the All-State Jazz Band but hid the accomplishment from her peers in a vain attempt to be cool, only to proceed with a Doris Day hit.

Nellie was joined on stage by a fine quartet called The Aristocrats who traded drums, keyboards, saxophone, violin, flute, and guitar duties to great effect. I believe they’ve only been touring together for a short time but they sounded like seasoned pros together and had great chemistry.

It was fun to see the crowd, many of which were older well to do looking city elite get charmed by her, and then nervously giggle when she’d sing lines like “Give me head or you’ll be dead” just moments after crooning “Sentimental Journey”. Deep down, those jewelery encrusted cougars totally dug what she was saying.

Do yourself a favor and check out her show. You’ll be glad you did!