Hopes were guarded. With a 4:30 start time we didn’t know if we
should expect a lot of people or not. Plus the band’s management was
a little freaked out to get them to and from The Botanic Gardens in time
for their high-profile opening gig for Steve Martin. So everybody was a
little on edge. Turns out, it was totally unwarranted. The band got there
plenty early and had time to eat lunch at our neighboring Encore
restaurant and then treat the building crowd to a three song
soundcheck. Right at 4:30 they hit the stage for a sweet four-song set
from their great new album Antifogmatic. They do it old-
school with all acoustic instruments and the members sharing
microphones in the classic Bluegrass tradition. Front man Chris Thile is
a wonder. As a member of Nickel Creel he has become a revered
legend in bluegrass circles, and because of his movie-star good looks
and completely charming demeanor he has legions of personality
admirers too. And those legions were present. Up until the last song,
people kept arriving until we had a crowd of well over 100. We sold
almost 40 copies of the new CD and then they were gone in a flash to
The Botanic Gardens to continue their pursuit of world domination. A
great time!
--Paul Epstein
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