Punch Brothers: Bass Concert Hall: September 13, 2018

These guys are absolutely amazing.  If you, like everyone else I talked to before this show, don't know the band or have never seen them live, then you are missing out.  This is Chris Thile, the mandolin player and singer from Nickel Creek, with a new(ish) band of four other guys who are all super amazing at their instruments.

Thile is the best mandolin player I've ever seen, and it isn't even close.  He can do things with ten fingers that I don't think I could do with twenty.  He can go insanely fast, or get tricky and technical, or just strum out a nice melody, or use staccato little plucks to keep time.  And his voice is likewise wonderful, comfortable in the low range or up in a falsetto at any given time.  he really is insanely talented.  His banjo player, Noam Pikelny, can likewise break it down with the plucked banjo strings at a pace that will make your jaw drop.  Literally, at one point during the show, my wife gave me a funny look and asked if I had just climaxed because my wide open mouth had just let out some sort of weird involuntary grunt of pleasure.  I don't recall doing this.  The guitar guy, Chris Eldridge, is also fantastically good with timing and melodies and counter-melodies.  When the three of them get rolling, and the bass (Paul Kowert) is thumping the beat and the fiddle (Gabe Witcher) is taking the high road, its magical.

They opened with "Movement and Location," that track up above, which is a perfect way to get the crowd into it.  Also, I saw that ACL taping shown in that video, and it was tight as well.  The banjo guy's thumb must be freaking exhausted after all of that exact little plucking.

Also, near the end of the show, they all unplugged their instruments and walked up to the front of the stage, away from their microphones, and finished the show like it was a campfire singalong.  Even if you don't like bluegrass, and I get it that some people would be turned off by that musical style, you need to see these guys do their thing.  If you enjoy music, and I assume you do because you are reading this blog, then seeing people who are amazing at their chosen instrument should be a mission.  Great show.