There's something special about the rare occasions when music documentary screenings at SBIFF segue into actual performances by the subject we've been spending time with onscreen. The "reel" morphs into the "real," ushering in a wave of extra-strength veracity. In recent years, that effect has occurred with Jakob Dylan and Sérgio Mendes onstage at the Lobero Theatre. We can now add another example of the list as of Friday afternoon, thanks to Americana legend and respected troubadour Peter Case.
After the world premiere of director Fred Parnes's soulful and thorough documentary Peter Case: A Million Miles Away, the director and producers of the film showed up, as did Case, guitar in tow. Case has played the Lobero stage many times as part of the legendary Sings Like Hell series, named after Case's 1993 album. He claims that Sings Like Hell was his first album that made any money. But as an artist who decided to go solo many years ago, he travels light and can light up any space. That includes the front area of a multiplex theater such as the Metro 3.
The charismatic artist confessed that he hadn't touched his guitar or played music "out" during two years of pandemic life, then quickly broke into a song-and-a-half with his open-tuned guitar. He played "Every 24 Hours" and a fragment of "Who's Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile," the song which opens the documentary.