Nickel Creek 6/22/23
Jul. 16th, 2023 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42Here's the concert review I posted on Tumblr from when I saw Nickel Creek last month. Figured I should share it here, too!
On June 22, I went to see Nickel Creek perform live. The show had been delayed from May 1st due to Chris Thile's vocal issues, and it's the only Chris Thile-related show I'm going to be seeing this year, so by the time I finally saw them, I was very excited! After work, I drove an hour to meet my mom at the venue. The tickets were comped and we had to pick them up at will call, so I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to get.
-The seats were GA, but GA turned out to be a section in the very back, so the view wasn't as great as I'd hoped it would be. Still, it was fun because my mom and I ran into some family friends in that section and we all ended up sitting together.
-The pre-show playlist was The Beach Boys' SMiLE sessions, which felt fitting as all the members of Nickel Creek are Beach Boys fans, and their new album Celebrants is a lot like their SMiLE in terms of it being an ambitious song cycle and probably their masterpiece. A lot of the tracks on the SMiLE sessions repeat, as they're the same songs but different takes of them, and after the show they started playing the playlist again and my mom's friend said "We've heard this song like three times already!"
-Because it was so far away, I couldn't tell if any band members were wearing glitter, as they've done at a few shows on this tour (I doubt they were, but who knows), or if Chris was wearing his floral-print shirt that I love so much, but oh well. Sara was not wearing her cute pink skirt, but she looked just as adorable anyway in her black pants and flowy white blouse.
-Hawktail rock! It was great seeing Paul Kowert in a different setting other than Punch Brothers. His skill at switching between finger-plucking and using the bow was very impressive. Brittany Haas absolutely killed her fiddle parts! She'll make an excellent Punch Brother <3
-They opened with "Where the Long Line Leads" and Sara kept waving her hand in the air and doing all these fun motions and at one point I grabbed my face and yelled "SHE'S SO CUTE!!" Fortunately, I'm not sure anyone heard me. :'D
-It was pouring down with rain so Chris made a big deal about how "You went out!!" while introducing the song "Going Out..." Later they did the piece "...Despite the Weather" and I realized that those titles are supposed to connect to each other. Now I have to play the songs back to back and see if they connect musically as well...
-I wish they'd opened with "Celebrants," because it sat really oddly in the set imo. I was fully prepared to get up and stomp-clap away, but no one else in GA was standing so I was afraid to stand and block someone's view (but I stomp-clapped in my seat). It was funny hearing the people beside me get thrown off by the rhythm at the start. Fortunately Sara took on the role of stomp-clap teacher, showing us when to clap and when not to. Chris seemed happy at the start when it was just stomp-clapping and said "Oh, you're already there!" At the end, they shone lights into the audience on the line "Heaven's always been in this cathedral that we rebuild nightly together," which was very heartwarming.
-My mom didn't know what the piece "Elephant in the Corn" was called and laughed when Sara said without explanation at the end of it, "The role of the elephant was played by Mike Elizondo!" (Speaking of which, it blew my mind that Mike Elizondo was playing bass for this show. Mike Elizondo is a famous music producer and the former musical director of Live from Here. I thought it looked like him but we were so far away, it was hard to tell. Apparently they only had three dates of the tour lined up with him as the bassist, so I feel very lucky to have seen him!)
-The song I wanted to hear the most was "To the Airport" and I was so happy they played it! Chris said that he struggled to find empathy with people in airports, and the only way that he had managed to do so was through song. Sara playing those sixteenth notes was NUTS. I love that part of the song so much. I also loved the wordless harmonizing at the end, when all of them gathered around the center microphone to sing.
-During the intro to "21st of May," Sean mentioned how appropriate it was to be talking about the Rapture (which the song was written about) while it was pouring down with rain. He said it felt very Biblical. That led Chris to say "Maybe we should give them some of..." and played a little lick on mandolin. No one appeared to catch on, so he said "Was that not enough for you?" and played the lick again, and then a few people sang back "Noah, Noah!" Satisfied, Chris said "I know who went to Sunday school!" Sara then asked how many people had gone to Sunday school, and a few people cheered. Sean then said that "When you're raised the way we were, when you see a billboard about the Rapture [which is more specifically what the song is about, a billboard that Sean saw proclaiming that the Rapture was going to happen on the 21st of May], there's a part of you that thinks 'maybe this is it...'" Then I forget what else they said, but there was some banter about how the Bible didn't make it clear who would survive the Rapture and where they would be going. It was very funny but I can't remember what exactly was said, sadly (it was mostly banter going on between Sean and Chris).
-They played "Hayloft" and it was fucking awesome!! I completely forgot about that song and I was so happy to hear it!
-Chris introduced a song by saying that it was time to get political, and he hated to do it, but he was sure we'd all heard the news... I was convinced that something had happened, even though the only recent news I'd heard was about that submarine that went missing, and I thought "there's no way he wants to talk about THAT onstage..." But no, Chris then explained that the US is decommissioning lighthouses! My mom immediately gasped and looked at me, knowing what song was supposed to come next. Chris said that the explanation for decommissioning them was that GPS exists, and how ridiculous he thinks that is. "But it's okay, because they're auctioning off lighthouses! If-- nay, WHEN you buy your own lighthouse, call ya boy! I know what it needs. I know how to care for it. It's kind of my whole thing. Because y'all, I AM a freaking lighthouse." And then they played "The Lighthouse's Tale." I wasn't sure if they were going to play this one, but I guess Chris has warmed to it more recently- even though I haven't (I still think the lyrics are poorly written and overly dramatic). My mom and I gave it a standing ovation at the end. The reactions to Chris' intro from the people behind me kind of annoyed me, though- they said "As if we could afford to own property!" and when Chris said that lighthouses were "his whole thing," they said "other than playing the mandolin?" I just didn't think they were as funny as Chris was trying to be and it briefly annoyed me to hear them try to make jokes, but whatever.
-"Strangers" was cool- Chris' drumming on his mandolin was so fun to watch, especially- but my mom chose THAT song to sing along to and I couldn't hear the band over her voice. Sigh. At least she's an actual trained singer so it wasn't like she sang BADLY, it was just very distracting.
-"Sabra Girl" was fucking gorgeous. Saraaaaaa <3
-Chris announced that he understands the subjectivity of pretty much everything, "except in my own field, music," and declared that there was one song in the world better than all the others. I thought "wait, are Nickel Creek going to play Bach?!" But no... It was "Toxic" by Britney Spears, of course. :'D I couldn't believe they did that and flipped out. It was SO good, especially with Chris' trademark gyrations and combing-back of the hair :'D Also, at the end, Sean sang the "I think I'm ready now" line, but his mic was turned down so it was hard to hear, and Chris said "Oh, Sean, I know you're ready now!" He then said, after the applause, in regards to his claim in the intro- "I'm not joking."
-I headbanged so much during "New Blood," it almost hurt me. Wish I'd been close so I could jump around and clap during that song. Loved seeing Chris play that crunchy rhythm part, it almost distracted me from the rest of the verses when I was watching him, trying to figure out what he was doing. At the end of the song, I saw Chris give Sara a thumb's up, which she deserved because that song is very vocally demanding (the intervals alone are insane).
-The last song of the main set was "The Fox" and we all stood up and clapped and danced. It was awesome!
-The last song of the night was "Holding Pattern," which I thought was a weird choice for the last song because it was so downbeat, but it was very sweet to hear Chris dedicate the song to the audience and fans and talk about how we've supported them for so long (well, I personally haven't).
-I can't remember what song this was, but there was one point where Chris started hopping on one leg while playing and almost fell over. :'D He also did his trademark heel clicks after returning for the encore.
-I never did learn the names of all their instrumentals, but it was really fun seeing the band move around the stage as they played. A very different experience from Punch Brothers, since they play around a single microphone and have to stay in place to get the dynamics right.
-In general, seeing Chris with Nickel Creek was very different from seeing him with Punch Brothers. Somehow, he felt more like part of a whole with Nickel Creek? Like, not that he steals the spotlight or anything with Punch Brothers, but he seemed so much more seamlessly integrated into Nickel Creek. Of course, it probably helped that my love for Sara outshone him. :'D She is the band's secret weapon, I swear. So much love for her fiddle playing.
-I did feel like the concert was too long (a full two hours), but probably only because I'm not a huge Nickel Creek fan to begin with. For hardcore fans, I bet they never wanted it to end.
-I only wish they'd played "The Meadow," but hey, they played a lot of cool things that I wasn't expecting so *Chris Thile voice* I caaaan't complain...
On June 22, I went to see Nickel Creek perform live. The show had been delayed from May 1st due to Chris Thile's vocal issues, and it's the only Chris Thile-related show I'm going to be seeing this year, so by the time I finally saw them, I was very excited! After work, I drove an hour to meet my mom at the venue. The tickets were comped and we had to pick them up at will call, so I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to get.
-The seats were GA, but GA turned out to be a section in the very back, so the view wasn't as great as I'd hoped it would be. Still, it was fun because my mom and I ran into some family friends in that section and we all ended up sitting together.
-The pre-show playlist was The Beach Boys' SMiLE sessions, which felt fitting as all the members of Nickel Creek are Beach Boys fans, and their new album Celebrants is a lot like their SMiLE in terms of it being an ambitious song cycle and probably their masterpiece. A lot of the tracks on the SMiLE sessions repeat, as they're the same songs but different takes of them, and after the show they started playing the playlist again and my mom's friend said "We've heard this song like three times already!"
-Because it was so far away, I couldn't tell if any band members were wearing glitter, as they've done at a few shows on this tour (I doubt they were, but who knows), or if Chris was wearing his floral-print shirt that I love so much, but oh well. Sara was not wearing her cute pink skirt, but she looked just as adorable anyway in her black pants and flowy white blouse.
-Hawktail rock! It was great seeing Paul Kowert in a different setting other than Punch Brothers. His skill at switching between finger-plucking and using the bow was very impressive. Brittany Haas absolutely killed her fiddle parts! She'll make an excellent Punch Brother <3
-They opened with "Where the Long Line Leads" and Sara kept waving her hand in the air and doing all these fun motions and at one point I grabbed my face and yelled "SHE'S SO CUTE!!" Fortunately, I'm not sure anyone heard me. :'D
-It was pouring down with rain so Chris made a big deal about how "You went out!!" while introducing the song "Going Out..." Later they did the piece "...Despite the Weather" and I realized that those titles are supposed to connect to each other. Now I have to play the songs back to back and see if they connect musically as well...
-I wish they'd opened with "Celebrants," because it sat really oddly in the set imo. I was fully prepared to get up and stomp-clap away, but no one else in GA was standing so I was afraid to stand and block someone's view (but I stomp-clapped in my seat). It was funny hearing the people beside me get thrown off by the rhythm at the start. Fortunately Sara took on the role of stomp-clap teacher, showing us when to clap and when not to. Chris seemed happy at the start when it was just stomp-clapping and said "Oh, you're already there!" At the end, they shone lights into the audience on the line "Heaven's always been in this cathedral that we rebuild nightly together," which was very heartwarming.
-My mom didn't know what the piece "Elephant in the Corn" was called and laughed when Sara said without explanation at the end of it, "The role of the elephant was played by Mike Elizondo!" (Speaking of which, it blew my mind that Mike Elizondo was playing bass for this show. Mike Elizondo is a famous music producer and the former musical director of Live from Here. I thought it looked like him but we were so far away, it was hard to tell. Apparently they only had three dates of the tour lined up with him as the bassist, so I feel very lucky to have seen him!)
-The song I wanted to hear the most was "To the Airport" and I was so happy they played it! Chris said that he struggled to find empathy with people in airports, and the only way that he had managed to do so was through song. Sara playing those sixteenth notes was NUTS. I love that part of the song so much. I also loved the wordless harmonizing at the end, when all of them gathered around the center microphone to sing.
-During the intro to "21st of May," Sean mentioned how appropriate it was to be talking about the Rapture (which the song was written about) while it was pouring down with rain. He said it felt very Biblical. That led Chris to say "Maybe we should give them some of..." and played a little lick on mandolin. No one appeared to catch on, so he said "Was that not enough for you?" and played the lick again, and then a few people sang back "Noah, Noah!" Satisfied, Chris said "I know who went to Sunday school!" Sara then asked how many people had gone to Sunday school, and a few people cheered. Sean then said that "When you're raised the way we were, when you see a billboard about the Rapture [which is more specifically what the song is about, a billboard that Sean saw proclaiming that the Rapture was going to happen on the 21st of May], there's a part of you that thinks 'maybe this is it...'" Then I forget what else they said, but there was some banter about how the Bible didn't make it clear who would survive the Rapture and where they would be going. It was very funny but I can't remember what exactly was said, sadly (it was mostly banter going on between Sean and Chris).
-They played "Hayloft" and it was fucking awesome!! I completely forgot about that song and I was so happy to hear it!
-Chris introduced a song by saying that it was time to get political, and he hated to do it, but he was sure we'd all heard the news... I was convinced that something had happened, even though the only recent news I'd heard was about that submarine that went missing, and I thought "there's no way he wants to talk about THAT onstage..." But no, Chris then explained that the US is decommissioning lighthouses! My mom immediately gasped and looked at me, knowing what song was supposed to come next. Chris said that the explanation for decommissioning them was that GPS exists, and how ridiculous he thinks that is. "But it's okay, because they're auctioning off lighthouses! If-- nay, WHEN you buy your own lighthouse, call ya boy! I know what it needs. I know how to care for it. It's kind of my whole thing. Because y'all, I AM a freaking lighthouse." And then they played "The Lighthouse's Tale." I wasn't sure if they were going to play this one, but I guess Chris has warmed to it more recently- even though I haven't (I still think the lyrics are poorly written and overly dramatic). My mom and I gave it a standing ovation at the end. The reactions to Chris' intro from the people behind me kind of annoyed me, though- they said "As if we could afford to own property!" and when Chris said that lighthouses were "his whole thing," they said "other than playing the mandolin?" I just didn't think they were as funny as Chris was trying to be and it briefly annoyed me to hear them try to make jokes, but whatever.
-"Strangers" was cool- Chris' drumming on his mandolin was so fun to watch, especially- but my mom chose THAT song to sing along to and I couldn't hear the band over her voice. Sigh. At least she's an actual trained singer so it wasn't like she sang BADLY, it was just very distracting.
-"Sabra Girl" was fucking gorgeous. Saraaaaaa <3
-Chris announced that he understands the subjectivity of pretty much everything, "except in my own field, music," and declared that there was one song in the world better than all the others. I thought "wait, are Nickel Creek going to play Bach?!" But no... It was "Toxic" by Britney Spears, of course. :'D I couldn't believe they did that and flipped out. It was SO good, especially with Chris' trademark gyrations and combing-back of the hair :'D Also, at the end, Sean sang the "I think I'm ready now" line, but his mic was turned down so it was hard to hear, and Chris said "Oh, Sean, I know you're ready now!" He then said, after the applause, in regards to his claim in the intro- "I'm not joking."
-I headbanged so much during "New Blood," it almost hurt me. Wish I'd been close so I could jump around and clap during that song. Loved seeing Chris play that crunchy rhythm part, it almost distracted me from the rest of the verses when I was watching him, trying to figure out what he was doing. At the end of the song, I saw Chris give Sara a thumb's up, which she deserved because that song is very vocally demanding (the intervals alone are insane).
-The last song of the main set was "The Fox" and we all stood up and clapped and danced. It was awesome!
-The last song of the night was "Holding Pattern," which I thought was a weird choice for the last song because it was so downbeat, but it was very sweet to hear Chris dedicate the song to the audience and fans and talk about how we've supported them for so long (well, I personally haven't).
-I can't remember what song this was, but there was one point where Chris started hopping on one leg while playing and almost fell over. :'D He also did his trademark heel clicks after returning for the encore.
-I never did learn the names of all their instrumentals, but it was really fun seeing the band move around the stage as they played. A very different experience from Punch Brothers, since they play around a single microphone and have to stay in place to get the dynamics right.
-In general, seeing Chris with Nickel Creek was very different from seeing him with Punch Brothers. Somehow, he felt more like part of a whole with Nickel Creek? Like, not that he steals the spotlight or anything with Punch Brothers, but he seemed so much more seamlessly integrated into Nickel Creek. Of course, it probably helped that my love for Sara outshone him. :'D She is the band's secret weapon, I swear. So much love for her fiddle playing.
-I did feel like the concert was too long (a full two hours), but probably only because I'm not a huge Nickel Creek fan to begin with. For hardcore fans, I bet they never wanted it to end.
-I only wish they'd played "The Meadow," but hey, they played a lot of cool things that I wasn't expecting so *Chris Thile voice* I caaaan't complain...
