Published: July 15, 2007 02:22 am      

Nickel Creek packs the PAC

Stop on group’s Farewell (For Now) Tour sells out venue

ASHLAND — No doubt, Kentucky’s hottest musical ticket Saturday night was for the Police reunion tour’s stop in Louisville.

But, as Sting and Co. were taking the stage at Churchill Downs, another musical trio was playing to a sold-out throng of its own rabid fans on the other side of the state.

Grammy Award-winning acoustic music maestros Nickel Creek rolled into the Paramount Arts Center, one of the approximately two dozen stops remaining on their Farewell (For Now) Tour. The performance was the third of four in this year’s Kentucky Music Trail series at the PAC.

Nickel Creek — siblings Sean and Sara Watkins on guitar and violin, respectively, and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile — is taking a breather after the tour ends.

All three members of Nickel Creek are in their 20s but have played together since meeting as pre-teens at a San Diego pizza parlor in 1989. The group has sold millions of albums and received widespread critical acclaim for its eclectic musical mix, which synthesizes pop, jazz, bluegrass, modern rock and numerous other styles.

“You never really know what you’re going to hear at a Nickel Creek show,” said Nathan Bentley of Harrodsburg, who, along with his wife, Krissie, was waiting in line to see the trio in concert for the sixth time.

Bentley said a major part of Nickel Creek’s appeal was the instrumental prowess of all three of its members.

“They’re very good at what they do,” he said.

As a mandolin player himself, Bentley said he was particularly impressed by Thile’s artistry.

Saturday night’s performance was Nickel Creek’s second at the PAC. The group previously played the venue in November 2001. And, as was the case with Saturday’s show, they sold out the place, which seats just more than 1,400.

Saturday’s show was officially declared a sellout Friday afternoon. However, a few additional tickets were released the following day and were snapped up quickly, said Tammi Holbrook, development director at the PAC.

“There’s always a lot of electricity in the air here whenever there’s a sold-out show,” she said.

It was a stroke of good fortune the PAC was able to book Nickel Creek on what figures to be its last tour for awhile, said Tyson Compton, the arts center’s marketing director. Compton said he believed the fans’ response the last time the group was in town was a major factor in it deciding to come back.

Compton said he was also hopeful the group would schedule another performance at the PAC once it decides to end its self-imposed hiatus.

He said there were a number of people who traveled long distances to be at Saturday’s show. Among them were Patrick and Robin Mauney, who made the five-hour trip to Ashland from Charlottesville, Va.

The group actually has a performance scheduled in Charlottesville next month. However, the couple said they wouldn’t be able to go to that one because they’ll be on vacation.

“We definitely wanted to catch them one more time, so we just picked the next closest one,” Patrick Mauney said.

The Mauneys said Nickel Creek’s music would always be special to them. They chose to have one of the group’s songs, “Out of the Woods,” played at their wedding.

Nickel Creek is known for attracting a diverse group of fans, and the crowd waiting outside on the sidewalk prior to Saturday’s concert was proof of that. Folks were dressed in everything from scruffy T-shirts to evening wear.

Beth Monohan of Louisville, who’s seen a number of the group’s performances, said fans at the shows also typically range from very young to the very old.

Aside from liking their music, Monohan said another reason she’s been to so many of the group’s shows is that her son, Justin Taurplin, is employed as Nickel Creek’s monitor engineer.

Monohan, who was attending the show with her friend, Suzanne Oxley of Huntington, a first-time Nickel Creek concert-goer, said she had met the members of the group a number of times “and they’re very, very nice people. That’s one of the reasons I like them so much.”

So what does her son plan to do once the Farewell (For Now) Tour grinds to a halt in Bloomington, Ind. on Oct. 18?

“He may do the same thing for another group,” she said. “But, it would have to be another group with the same caliber of people that are in this one.”

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.