Brokers and Brokerage

SAC spring concert to feature Nickel Creek

Date 3/16/2006 12:00 AM | Topic: Arts & Culture

While the rest of campus may hush to near silence next Wednesday, the Center for Faith and Life will be jumping with the bluegrass beats of Nickel Creek.

The Southern California-based band will perform March 22 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now and are free to Luther students with CAF cards.

The Ditty Bops, also from California, will open for Nickel Creek.

With less than a week until the big show, only two hundred tickets remain for sale. Thirteen hundred tickets have been sold thus far, making this concert as popular as the Ben Folds concert that took place in the CFL two years ago.

Grammy-winning Nickel Creek has performed on Country Music Television and MTV.

Hit songs by the bluegrass band include, "When You Come Back Down," "The Lighthouse's Tale" and their most recent single, "When in Rome."

The three-person band features Sean Watkins on guitar, Chris Thile on mandolin and Sara Watkins on violin. The trio have been playing together since 1989 and met as children in a pizza parlor.

The band's sound has been compared to that of country acts Allison Kraus and Union Station.

Shawn Kennedy ('06) and Scott Povolny ('07), co-chairs of the SAC concerts committee, said Nickel Creek offers a unique style of music especially suited for a college crowd thirsting for new sounds.


"One of our main goals as a committee is to try to please as many different people on campus as possible," Kennedy said. "We try to change up the type of artists we bring in from semester to semester.

"It is hard to find a group that everyone wants," Povolny said. "Nickel Creek is not too rock and not too country, and ticket sales have shown that people are exited."

Kennedy and Povolny are in charge of asking the concert committee to vote on who they would like to see perform on campus, setting the concert date and getting in touch with an agent that contacts the band.

But before anything can be finalized the committee has to find a band that will agree to come to Luther.

Povolny said playing in the CFL was a major draw for Nickel Creek.

"They were excited to play in the same venue as the Dave Matthews Band," Povolny said.

SAC concert committee member Andy Ferron ('07) is excited about welcoming Nickel Creek to campus.

"I think Nickel Creek is a group that a lot of Luther students can appreciate," said Ferron. "They offer something different than other acts we've brought in."

Stephanie Shimak ('06), who is attending the concert, said she has downloaded a lot of Nickel Creek songs in preparation for the show.

"I love them!" Shimak said of the band. "I like the bluegrass style. It's kind of mellow."

Annalise Conaway ('07) is also attending the event. She was so thrilled to see the group she got her tickets the first day they were on sale, along with 11 of her friends.

"I've heard a few of their songs, and I like the bluegrass style of music," Conaway said. "My favorite song by them is 'Solid Ground.'"

Nickel Creek also gets a stamp of approval from Luther's college radio station.

"I think they are really good musicians," said KWLC Rock Music Director Michael "Coz" Lindsay ('07), who will be attending the concert. "They will be appreciated by the Luther Community because they are a different style of music."

Kennedy can't decide whether the band or the students are more excited about Wednesday's show but assures, "This show is going to be amazing!"

--

Andrea Jennings

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]