I saw what was supposedly Nickel Creek's farewell tour (though they're still touring), but not the one with Fiona Apple. They're great live. They were having an awesome time and played an hour longer than they were supposed to. That was cool and all, but the theatre where I saw them had really uncomfortable banquet seating and I had to pee, so by the end of it I was totally ready to bid them farewell.

I hope they change their minds, though. They're among the best live acts I've seen. Much better live than recorded.

Much better live than recorded.

Acoustic-based stuff like this almost always is.

I saw Nickel Creek at a small bluegrass fest when they were still little kids and one of their dads was in the band. They blew everyone away.

I don't know who these people are, but I dig that photo in the first link.

I've seen Nickel Creek and Fiona Apple live, but separately. The first time I saw NC was when they were doing a warm up for the tour promoting their last album. We got there late (stupid crappy ex-girlfriend) so got a seat with a pretty poor view (the gig was in a church so it wasn't possible to have an allocated space). Anyway, they announced a special guest on stage for one number and I didn't catch who it was so I didn't make much of an effort to shift myself to see. At the end they said "John Paul Jones, everyone!". DAMN! They were on excellent form that night - they played until they were told they had to leave the stage. We got loads of covers including Free Love On The Free Love Freeway!

I saw Fiona last year (I think) on her extensive European tour (one date in Paris, then one in London then back to the States). She was excellent although it was billed as "an evening with" which, to me, should be more than a standard set. But anyway, that's a minor niggle, I guess.

This is a strange tour and I've seen some not-good reviews. Although I'd *love* to see this, it seems that some fans (and reviewers) are either full-on NC or FA and don't like it when their artist of choice isn't perceived to be on stage as much as they want them to be.

TheDonF - yeah I think it's over with FA and them, now (14 dates only) .... and NC are going on hiatus! It's all bad news, I'm afraid.

Reading Sara Watkins's blog posts, there's a feeling that the hiatus might end up permanent, which would be a shame as NC are a really good group both live and in the studio.