it’s concert season here and mr. h-s and i shocked ourselves earlier this month by purchasing tickets to go see two concerts in the span of less than a week. (the shock was the total sticker price for 4 tickets. ouch.) we then later learned about a third concert (in that same span of a week) that we would have liked to attend, but… we couldn’t justify it and i have prior plans for that night.

so last night was the second of these concerts. we went to see nickel creek. i’ve always wanted to see them in concert, so i was thrilled to have the chance. very different concert than the one earlier this week. very. different.

i actually liked the opening band (the ditty bops)–they were a lot of fun and at times reminded me of something from the triplets of belleville soundtrack. they put on a very vaudeville-esque show and it made me really wonder what sort of show they put on when it’s not the night before halloween! this one included frankenstein carving a pumpkin, skeleton costumes, and a pirate sword fight/juggling.

nickel creek is a group that you can tell has known each other for forever. they seemed much more comfortable with each other than they did with the audience. remember how i said that the ben folds concert seemed to have karmic energy flowing between the stage and the audience? this concert seemed to have most of the energy flowing all over the stage for us to watch, but not necessarily involving us. that’s not to say they didn’t interact with us. there was chatting and by the end of the concert, there was a large group of dancers at the front by the stage. i would say the most fun thing to watch about them is the way they interact with each other. plus, sara took her shoes off after about the first song and it’s just fun to watch someone bouncing all over the stage in bare feet. you could tell that they were all totally comfortable being on stage. i was just thrilled that they encored with “fox went out on a chilly night.”

this week i went to see ben folds. i like his music okay–sometimes it seems a bit repetitive (but some might just say that he’s got a unique style and he sticks to it), so i wasn’t expecting to be blown away by the concert, but…wow. he is absolutely fascinating to watch. i have never seen a pianist be quite that… active! he was in a semi-standing position for most of the concert and the few times that he actually sat down on his stool to play, his leg was tapping out the same crazy rhythm as his left hand. he plays with such physical power…it’s just something you kind of have to see for yourself. i was so glad we sat on the correct side of the stage. i think if you sat on the wrong side and missed seeing his hands, you’d miss a lot. i mean, he’s not afraid to pound on the piano with his arm or his fist (and it still sounds good!) or reach into the piano and fiddle around with the strings to alter the sound–it was fascinating. plus, i’m a complete sucker for any concert where the musician plays with the audience–giving us parts to sing along and then “directing” us. the only song of his that i know pretty well that he didn’t sing was the sweater song–he sang a lot of our favorites! it was amazing to watch the energy he got from being in a room full of people who loved his music. you can tell he absolutely loves what he does and it makes a huge difference in the amount of enjoyment the audience got from watching him. it was like this huge electric karma exchange where everyone got more and more energy from each other. i would like to make this analogy–

watching a ben folds live concert : listening to a ben folds cd :: seeing a painting in a museum : seeing a reprint of a painting in an art textbook.

the reproduction is never going to be as good as the original.

(did i do those punctuations correctly? it’s been a long time…)