Love Nickel Creek, hated that opening act

[piscesvirgo]

First of all, y'all ROCKED in Memphis this week! We loved your show and were thrilled and amazed at your talent. HOWEVER...Ben Lee was horrible. Sorry to be blunt here, but his music was uninspired, vapid and generally of very poor quality. I can't believe I wasted an hour of my life listening to him...but it was worth the wait to hear Nickel Creek!

Need an opening act? Ask a band like HEM--I can't imagine what a cool tour that would be (HEM/Nickel Creek)!!

Just had to write this--again, LOVE you guys! D

[thebiglargeness]

HEM..ya mean HIM or is this another band?

[piscesvirgo]

Originally posted by thebiglargeness
HEM..ya mean HIM or is this another band?

http://www.rabbitsongs.com/

HEM ... if you haven't yet heard them, they are really great, and a much better match for Nickel Creek than the earnest but pathetic Ben Lee.

[lerdave]

I would love to see HEM live, but they might be a little low key for a Nickel Creek crowd. Not enough youthful exuberance.

[NCFreak]

Never heard Ben Lee, but I can't say I've absolutely loved the music of past opening acts. However, I guess that's the point. A lessor known, many times not as good band opens for a bigger band to gain exposure. However, most people hate the opening act because that's not the one we're there to see. So, we're forced to wait around for 1-2 hours before the people we like come out.

There are exceptions, of course. I would love to see the Ditty Bops, but haven't ever had to opportunity to see them open for the 'Creek.

[NCkitty]

I just wanna hear creek. I could care less about the opening crap

[Jimmie]

Originally posted by NCFreak
There are exceptions, of course. I would love to see the Ditty Bops, but haven't ever had to opportunity to see them open for the 'Creek.
I saw Ben Lee open for them last week. I have to agree with some of the folks here - he didn't have much to offer.

The Ditty Bops just released their new album 'Moon Over The Freeway', and it's great stuff. They are currently touring the US to support it - but they are doing so ON BICYCLE! You can follow their progress via their website. They've got some great videos on the website as well, so if you've never gotten to see them, you can get a good idea of what they're about. I particularly like their two music videos and also their Conan O'Brien appearance.

Their website is http://dittybops.com/ (though it wasn't responding when I tried it this morning - hopefully that will be fixed later).

Here's a photo of them at Merlefest:

[Jimmie]

And one more, just for good measure:

[Cheep]

I was at that show, and man, I must agree. Ben Lee was just very amateurish to me. His songwriting was almost as elementary as his performance. This guy has made a living at this for several years now?

I have to say, and it's certainly no fault of the band, but man the sound was disappointing in general. GPAC is usually a great-sounding venue, but the show was too loud, too muddy, too much high end. I mean, Nickel Creek are an ACOUSTIC band, and always (as far as I've seen) have a really captivated audience. With no live drums and minimal effects, is it that hard to mix? I just can't hear everything I want to hear, and I've noticed that at the past several shows I've been to. Just sounds like a big muddy mess.

Otherwise, loved the show, as always. The musicianship never ceases to amaze me.

[gelfling]

Am I the only person that has found poor Ben Lee the least bit entertaining? His music was kind of catchy, he was amusing, and there were some crowd sing-a-longs. At the least, you have to admit that the girl playing alongside him was amazing (maybe she only played with him at the show I saw???). She was usually doing at least three different things at the same time; during one song, she played a tambourine with one foot, the bass line with the other, a keyboard with one hand, a tiny toy piano with the other, all while she was singing backup. Quite impressive! She also used an apple as a percussion instrument at one point...

Maybe I'm just in a minority of people that likes to hear the ''opening crap?'' I saw the Ditty Bops with NC back in November and now own both of their albums. That is not to say that I rushed out and bought Ben Lee's cd (there weren't any for sale at the merch table anyway), but I was obviously tempted. And I definitely had the song ''Gamble Everything for Love'' stuck in my head for awhile afterwards. I think if you're talking about wasting an hour of your life, you're talking about listening to Matt Pond PA back during the spring tour. And even they had a couple decent songs (when I could hear the lyrics). I guess I just don't understand the mentality of shutting out the opener just because ''they're not Nickel Creek.'' It's still music...

[JeffLester]

Eliot Morris is opening at the Britt Festival show in OR on Monday. I saw him at Largo once opening for Glen Phillips and was quite impressed.

[iamalighthouse]

Originally posted by JeffLester
Eliot Morris is opening at the Britt Festival show in OR on Monday. I saw him at Largo once opening for Glen Phillips and was quite impressed.

Eliot Morris, to me, is absolutely brilliant. His voice is great and his guitar skills are great. And I LOVE the songs he writes. He recently recorded a song with NC for his upcoming album called Faultline .

I saw him open for Collective Soul and Lifehouse. He randomly mentioned his friendship with Nickel Creek during the show. So I talked to him after the concert about NC and all. He's a great guy. Anyone going to those couple of shows he's opening will really enjoy him.

Oh and he's always very appropriate in his lyrics and his talk on stage, for those of you who have complained in the past about other acts being vulgar.
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[e-rock2]

The very first time that I saw Nickel Creek was when they opened for Lyle Lovett back on August 10,2000 in Chicago so I will never will say anything bad about having to sit through opening acts because you just never know what you are about to discover. I had only heard of Nickel Creek at that time and not heard their music.

[Lewis Smith]

Ben Lee has some song called catch my disease,thats suppose to be good.I heard.Think he also dated Claire Danes for awhile.Not sure if he is opening for them all the way to Austin show.Ditty Bops are great.Great writing of songs also.Have both cd's.

[gelfling]

You can listen to a couple of Ben Lee's songs on his myspace (Ben Lee's Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/benlee)). I think Catch My Disease is there, too.

[riversabine]

I agree, gelfling. I thought Ben Lee was highly entertaining. Often with opening bands, I find myself just sort of spacing out. But with Ben, I was definitely listening to the lyrics and participating. I thought he was quite a charismatic performer and I totally agree his accompanist was amazingly talented. The coordination it must take to do five things at once...

Opening bands are tricky for me. The majority, I just don't get into, but even the others that I think are entertaining, like the Ditty Bops and Ben, I'm never sure if they will translate from being enjoyable live to enjoyable in recording. In the past I've liked bands live and so bought their albums only to be disappointed, but I'd like to hear more of the Ditty Bops and Ben. lol, it wouldn't be a huge deal if I had money to throw away;) But as it is, I'm leary.

[gelfling]

Haha! While watching the girl performing with Ben Lee, I couldn't stop thinking about trying to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time! Impossible...

Riversabine, if nothing else, check out the Ditty Bop's first self-titled cd! It's quirky and catchy, and I like every single song on it. Since you liked them live, I think you'd enjoy it and agree that it's a pretty good translation...with sound effects and all!

[Jimmie]

Originally posted by gelfling
....if nothing else, check out the Ditty Bop's first self-titled cd! It's quirky and catchy, and I like every single song on it.
You can hear both Ditty Bops CDs in their entirety at the Ditty Bops website. Not just clips, not just certain songs - the entire collection of music is there. Some pretty cool videos, too.

They've just been booked here for August 18th, so I'm really looking forward to seeing them again.

[riversabine]

Thanks gelfling for the rec and Jimmie for the info. I'll definitely check them out:)

[Anson_fiddler]

I think that one reason you had to suffer through an uninspiring act, is that NC has a soft touch and wants to give struggling artists a hand whenever they can. I got the that feeling when I saw them in South Carolina last fall and a magician (yawn) was up first. But the wait was well worth it!!!!

Love this group and I'm scanning the tour dates for another accessible venue.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Originally posted by gelfling
Am I the only person that has found poor Ben Lee the least bit entertaining?
Not at all! I was definitely entertained by the little guy. I'm not going to run out and buy his albums, but I thought he was just precious. That girl was pretty awesome too.

As for Nickel Creek's openers, I was most impressed by the Ditty Bops. I didn't hate Matt Pond PA (though they were probably my least favorite).

I am still a little distraught that Andrew Bird only opened for them on the west coast. His latest album is one of my very favorites ever, so seeing both him and Creek would have been like seeing two headliners.

[Ericular]

Originally posted by Cheep
I just can't hear everything I want to hear, and I've noticed that at the past several shows I've been to. Just sounds like a big muddy mess.

Were you at the St. Paul show in the Great Hall at Bethel University?

Just wondering how that sound compared. Supposedly the hall is very acoustic-friendly and I thought sounded excellent. If anything, Chris' mandolin was too quiet though. Some nuances of his freelancing during louder parts of songs were hard to hear.

[CANspeakCHINESE]

I like Ben Lee! I actually like him a lot more than I like the Ditty Bops, who seem unfamiliar with their instruments. Of course, I agree that neither of them are anywhere close to Nickel Creek...

[lifeisgood]

I really like Ben Lee, even though I've never seen him live. Catch My Disease is my favorite song, it's really catchy. And he's not quite a new, struggling artist. He's been very very big in Australia for some time, one of their top artists, winning awards comparable to our grammys here. Maybe he just wasn't as good live, but I hope yall give him a chance.