Daddy’s at the Emerald Queen this weekend. And now Miley Cyrus will follow with a big blowout in September. The tweener-pop idol will headline the Tacoma Dome on Sept. 16, promoter AEG Live announced today.

The tour will kick off two days before that, on Sept. 14 at the Portland’s Rosegarden.
Ticket prices will range from $39.50 to $79.50, according to today’s announcement. They’ll go on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on June 13, but American Express card holders will be allowed to purchase tickets online beginning 10 a.m. on June 10; www.ticketmaster.com/mileycyrus for details.

In case you missed the Wintergrass story I wrote with fellow staffer Ian Demsky for today's paper, festival organizers are considering moving to Bellevue for 2010. Click here to get the skinny.

Wintergrass co-director Patrice O'Neill followed up with an e-mailed response to this line from the story: City Manager Eric Anderson told the Council members at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting that Tacoma was fighting hard to keep festival and had offered organizers “a small sum of money” to stay."

O'Neill writes, "Just so you know, we have not ever spoken to Eric Anderson and this is the first we've heard about a small sum of money being offered to us. No such thing. We would love to hear directly and officially from anyone at the city but have not. There has been no small sum of money offered to us for anything."

Forget that “papa” guy. Neko Case is the real rolling stone, having switched cities like an overgrown army brat in the decade and a half since she left our “dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound.”

The red-headed chanteuse has moved to Seattle, Vancouver, B.C., Chicago, Tucson, Ariz., and most recently settled down on a farm in rural Vermont; you know, where she recorded the amphibian chorus you hear on the last half hour of her dreamy, new “Middle Cyclone” album.

But you know what they say about absence. “I’ve never played here before,” Case confessed at the beginning of her headlining set Tuesday night at Tacoma’s Pantages Theater. “I’ll try to do this without bawling.”

Case wasn’t joking. The mood was mostly light, with funny Frisko Freeze and Steve Miller references dropped in between song banter between Case and backup singer Kelly Hogan. But tears did eventually flow during a loving, set ending performance of “Thrice All American,” Case’s ode to Tacoma, her home in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Case said it had been eight years since she did the song. And she dedicated it to her friends in the crowd, asking them to imagine they were back at the Community World Theater. That would be the short-lived but locally legendary punk venue located at 56th and M streets in the late ‘80s. (Case was into the local punk scene back then, and could have caught a fledgling Nirvana at CWT, before those lads were even called Nirvana.)

Fans stood and sang along with Case’s nostalgic, bell-clear vocals. “Well the factories churn and the timber's all cut down, and life goes by slow in Tacoooooma.”

The singer's excitement was palpable as she danced with a bashful little girl named Opal, who had been brought onstage by daddy, Kelly Mickelson of Tacoma garage-rock fixtures, the F---ing Eagles. And as the Case coasted to a cathartic close, joyful tears could be seen streaming down here.

Tacoma was happy to finally see you again, too, Neko, even if it took you way too long. And guess you weren’t kidding about that “I sadly neglect you” line in the song. (Now if only we can get the Sonics to do a hometown show.)

Case’s homecoming was all the more special since, a decade and change into her solo recording career, she’s achieved a commercial breakthrough with “Middle Cyclone.” The album reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 this year, 51 spots higher than her previous studio album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.” And while she’s still not quite a household name, appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman,” NPR and in the pages of Paste and other glossy rock rags have definitely raised her profile.

Backed by Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, guitarist Paul Rigby, drummer Barry Marochnick and bassist Tom V. Ray, Case delivered a healthy dose of the new disc, with the title track, lead single “This Tornado Loves You” and ballad “Don’t Forget Me” providing high points. “I Wish I Was the Moon” from 2002’s “Blacklisted” disc packed and emotional punch, too, even if Case zoned out and skipped the song's bridge.

“I’m sorry,” Case acknowledged, laughing. “I’m just nervous.” Honestly, the song sounded great, and she could have acted as if the mistake hadn't happened with most fans none the wiser.

Rauhouse's rousing pedal steel guitar playing elevated many of the songs. And granted parts of the set were sloppy, with awkward pauses for tuning, miscues and technical glitches. But with Case and the witty Hogan trading jokes, the lulls and responses to fan outbursts were pretty funny. Hogan's spirit animal is “the cougar,” in case you were wondering. Go wherever you will with that.

Artist Kathleen Judge’s mostly impressionistic videos clips provided eye catching backdrops for the songs. Hazy clouds drifted by. Galloping Gerty bounced and buckled during "Thrice All America." Killer whales, deer and tigers (lots of tigers) underscoring the natural themes running through “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” “The Tigers Have Spoken," "I'm an Animal" and Case's cover of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth.”

And a note on security: Before we even sat down for Calexico's opening set, no less than three little old lady ushers warned us that our cell phones would be confiscated if we pulled them out during the show.

Huh? They were very polite with their warnings, but I'd never heard of that kind of phone scrutiny at a rock show. Can they even do that? Was this a mandate from Neko's handlers, attempting to put the kibosh on YouTube bootlegs? Or was there something else going on here?

Anyway, I posted the set list here, in case you missed it. And you can find find details for Thursday night's show at Seattle's Paramount Theatre here. Assuming you can still find a ticket.