Rufus Wainwright, Nickel Creek & Fiona Apple

I spent the last two evening at the Mann Center in Philly seeing two exceptional concerts.



On Friday I saw Rufus Wainwright. He played his entire new album with some olde favorites here and there. As always, he put on an excellent show. Its been a while since I've seen him with a band. It was nice to hear the songs live with the full force of his arrangements, especially with the addition of a small horn section (saxes/flute, trumpet, french horn). For the second set, Rufus delighted the audience by donning his now trademark lederhosen. For his encore he changed outfits again, this time coming out in a bathrobe, which was shed after a few songs to reveal him in drag. And as cliche as it is, the only word that truly describes the night is "fabulous".



Yesterday I went and saw Nickel Creek and Fiona Apple. Im sure everyone has heard of Fiona Apple, but perhaps not Nickel Creek. This must change. They are incredible. A typical double billing would have each band doing a set and then maybe combining for a handful of songs at the end. This show was a bit different. Nickel Creek started out on their own for a little bit, but once Fiona came out they stuck around and played as her band. It was really great to see these very different artists working together. Fiona's songs lended very nicely to the bluegrass instrumentation. The only instruments played were fiddle, guitar, upright bass and mandolin. No drums, no electric guitars, no keyboards. It was excellent. Truly a unique concert experience.
(I also only paid $20 for my tickets and had better seats than my friends who paid full price, which is always a good thing)