Nicole Atkins & the Black Sea Tickets

What a great set. I find your music carries a hidden power on your album that is always right there for me to either sit back and enjoy or crank it up and experience. On stage, you simply explode. I am looking forward to your new album and will be checking in on the tour dates. I will see you again. You will always be Barbs first at the Pony, and my second to none. Rock on Nicole!

nicole atkins has a fantastic voice, writes very good songs and is a cool chick. band sounded great too.

Nicole's voice was beautiful as usual! Great show and fun openers Workout and My Best Fiend

Nicole Atkins is one of the best live performers I've ever seen, and her guitarist is amazing. Quite the show.

WORKOUT was amazing!! They put on such a great show - can't wait for them to get big time!

Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea delivered an amazing performance and I hope they stop in Atlanta again!

Nicole Atkins is not only a great song writer but she is also and foremost one of the greatest voice ever. Her voice is so powerful and sounds even better live. I highly recommend seeing Nicole Atkins.

Nicole Atkins was beyond amazing and was extremely friendly with the crowd. Cotton Jones was fantastic, one of the best opening bands I have seen. The venue was very intimate and provided a great atmosphere! Will go there again!

Nicole Atkins is an awesome singer. I wouldn't miss one of her shows. It's a puzzle why she's still playing venues the size of the Magic Stick, and even more of a puzzle why she couldn't come close to filling the Stick on her latest visit. Blame it on a Sunday date, or on it being Oscar night, or maybe ineffective PR, who can say. Whatever the reason, the hundred or so who did show up got a double treat. It started with Cotton Jones, an alt-country duo backed by a tight band, marrying quirky and complex lyrics to some offbeat instrumentation (xylophone!) plus faux-steel guitar sounds from an Omnichord. A great, if short, opening set, and nice little guest spots in the main act, too. Then came Nicole and her new band the Black Sea. This tour is in support of her latest, 'Mondo Amore'. We saw a basic rock combo of drums, bass and lead, with Nicole on rhythm and even wearable tambourine. Excellent musicianship overall, with some great bottleneck work by Irina Yalkowsky. This woman has The Voice. She's been compared to Roy Orbison for range, Mama Cass for pipes, and Edith Piaf for control. And she lives up to the hype, for real. Unfortunately, for the most part even so powerful a voice often got buried in the sheer volume of the mix. I like it loud, too, but this was overwhelming. Maybe they were expecting to play a stadium instead of a loft. They certainly had the horsepower. Without another tour stop to compare this to, this could just be the fault of the venue. The overall result seemed like a lost chance -- very good, but could have been great. Her dynamics were often forced flat by being up against 11, when some subtlety would have allowed this incredible voice more room for expression. Absolutely nothing at all like her recordings. In the places where it was dialed back -- maybe not surprisingly, mostly in tunes for her previous CD -- it was compelling. She's the real deal and she deserves more. I keep hoping for her sake that she'll break out, and I'll get a chance to pay $40 to see her in a concert hall instead of $12 at the Magic Stick. And if she comes this way again, let's do us all a favor -- bribe the mixer to keep the SPL down below "jet engine", and let The Voice carry the night. (same basic review posted at Det News)

Cotton Jones, who drove four days straight to play, did not disappoint- they mixed a country twang with Southern California harmonies, and it makes a perfect soundtrack to a summer morning on the beach. Nicole's voice was clear and strong as always, and her guitarist is not to be missed! This was a crowd-pleasing show, for sure.