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July 12, 2006
Nickel Creek @ House of Blues Sunset Strip: July 11, 2006
The 'good ole boys' may not like Nickel Creek because they aren't bluegrass in the traditional sense - they've frequently been described as 'newgrass,' a title which I'm sure Nickel Creek would resist mostly because Nickel Creek seems to resist being lumped into any category. Regardless of how one chooses to describe them, there is absolutely no denying the virtuosity of this band - they really are THAT good. What's most remarkable about them is that they have the ability to play each song just slightly differently than the last time you saw them - not so different that it's unrecognizable, but just enough to show that they can do THAT, too. In addition to a nice sampling of their three albums, the band also covered that song about "Short People Have No Reason to Live" and a very funny acoustic version of a Britney Spears song I probably would have found even more hilarious if it had been a song I was familiar with (I think the name of the song is "Toxic," but I'm not versed enough in the Brittany discography to say for sure). They closed with each member performing one solo song (fiddle player Sara Watkins performed a Tom Waits song that left me in tears), before closing the show the way they work best - all of them feeding off the others' energy and talent that makes bluegrass seem cool to the young people, too.
Posted by darlin at July 12, 2006 9:53 AM
