So I took this week off from the blog to get some personal and travel time in, and oh maybe go see Nickel Creek in concert? Don’t minds if I do…
Quite the exciting prospect for this longtime fan (since around 2001). I’ve never seen the band live before; I had tickets for an Orlando show back around 2006 ish, but the gig got canceled and I don’t think they’ve been back to Florida since. Certainly not South Florida, anyhow.
For those who aren’t aware, Florida is a super long state to drive out of, if you live down South. Which I do (Miami native, Fort Lauderdale denizen).
But when Nickel Creek announced their latest tour in support of their fantastic 2023 album Celebrants (which I reviewed here, click that link you just breezed by!), I bought tickets for their Birmingham show. There were closer cities, but I’ve been to Birmingham several times over the past few years, visiting a close friend who moved there in 2019. The city won me over with its southern charm, easygoing nature, amazing food and breweries, and a vibrant music scene that is so much more engaging than that of my own metro area.
I could talk your butts off about how much fun I had driving up with a buddy, having fun around Birmingham in anticipation of the show, all the sights and sounds, etc. but let’s just get to the tragic twist already. On Tuesday the 25th of April, during my drive over to the VIP pre-show and Q&A, my phone buzzed with this message:
Well.
Fudge.
Look, first and foremost, health and safety above all else. So of course the show needed to be postponed. I was 100% on board with that. Disappointed, sure, but completely understanding. Plus two nights later the band was scheduled for the first of three sold-out shows at the Ryman in Nashville. That’s fairly monumental. The band needed to be at their best.
So it looks like I’ll be back in Birmingham. Next month. On Memorial Day. Another roadtrip sounds perfect to me.
And watch this space for the eventual review too. But not before our coverage of the Haken show at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale, May 15th, and just preceding our take on Dreamsonic (Dream Theater/Devin Townsend) at Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, June 22nd.
Disappointment is momentary. Good music cures all! Except the flu maybe. Feel better Chris!
Mills
A South Florida native and part-time iguana, Mills has slaved in the mine-pits of Information Technology since 1995, finding solace in writing about the things he loves like music, fitness, movies, theme parks, gaming, and Norwegian Hammer Prancing. He has written and published hundreds (thousands?) of reviews since 2000, because Geeking Out over your obsessions is the Cosmic Order Of Things. He is, at heart, a 6'3 freewheeling Aquarius forever constrained by delusions of adequacy.