Three-part Harmony

Tonight: band #2 in my current stretch of 5 concerts in 15 days: Nickel Creek. (Actually, it's 17 days, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it.) Anyway, this was my third time seeing Nickel Creek, and the first time they've been a true headliner. Openers were the Ditty Bops, who I'd seen once before on an ill-fated night when I came to hate their fans. Tonight was much better. They've really got this weird 1920's lesbian/flapper girl thing going for them, and it seems to work. Although, both times, I've come away with the impression that Tim Burton needs to use them on a soundtrack.

Then on to Nickel Creek. I've seen them in support of each of their three albums, and it's been an interesting process for me to watch them grow up with their music. Their current album, Why Should the Fire Die?, is the most mature collection of songs they've produced, and their show is beginning to show some of that maturity. NC has always been a literate band, (in the past, I've heard them cover everything from Beck to Bob Dylan to Bach) and tonight was no exception, as we heard The Band's "Cripple Creek", Kings of Leon's "Milk", and a crowd-pleasing cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic". Yes, you read that right. It's amazing what someone who can actually sing can do with that song.

And with that, I come to my point. The initial appeal of the group was that they were these three young virtuoso instrumentalists making bluegrass music beyond their years. But as they got older, (ha! they're in their 20's) their music began to change, mixing rock, pop and jazz into their repertoire. As they've experimented, they've figured out that their voices are instruments as well, and used them as such, building layers of vocals into the songs that carry just as much weight as their fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. Tonight's set leaned pretty heavily on songs from the new album, and it really allowed them to showcase how they've begun to rethink singing together. And that, to me, shows their maturation as performers more than anything else. Very, very satisfying.

Oh yeah, and Sara Watkins is still wicked hot.

If you're interested in hearing some Nickel Creek as they currently sound, check out this group of songs from Reg's Coffee House, including a cover of Radiohead's "Nice Dream" from The Bends. Again with the cover songs. (Click on the Nickel Creek photo on the right side of the site to bring up the music player.)