When Nickel Creek performs live tonight (11/2) at Washington DC nightspot 9:30 Club, National Public Radio’s microphones will be set up, carrying the entire concert live via online streaming at NPR.org.

The band is in the home stretch of their Farewell (For Now) tour, after which the three members (Chris Thile, Sean Watkins and Sara Watkins) will go their separate ways, pursuing other musical ventures. Thile has been recording with his new group, Punch Brothers, and the Watkins sibs have done shows with The Watkins Family Hour, and Sara has started work on a solo project.

This evening’s concert begins at 9:30 p.m. (ET) and will feature Nickel Creek with special guest, Bruce Molsky. Live streaming will be available at npr.org.

Speaking on Nickel Creek… We have been told that the band’s two final concerts – 11/28-29 at The Ryman in Nashville – will be filmed for a concert DVD, expected in 2008 from Sugar Hill Records.

Nickel Creek launched the final push in their Farewell (For Now) tour yesterday, with two weeks’ worth of dates with pop singer Fiona Apple. All involved seem excited about the collaboration, which will feature Nickel Creek both performing their set, and also serving as Apple’s band during hers.

The band is counting on concert goers to help them compile some video from the shows, and has asked fans to upload concert clips to YouTube. They will choose the best clips, and feature them on the Nickel Creek web site, and on their MySpace page.

As soon as you upload a video, they ask that you send the link by email.

These days stories of bad customer service are everywhere. I could tell a few of my own from right here in small town Virginia. Here’s a story of bad customer service set strait by Nickel Creek.

Nickel Creek hits the road next month on their much anticipated farewell tour. The tickets are hot commodities for fans that are eager for one last chance to see them in concert. The Washington Post reported Tuesday about a fan that had purchased tickets online through Ticketmaster, only to be told later that Ticketmaster wasn’t authorized to sell the seats she had purchased. The venue offered her alternative seating in a much less ideal position. She was, of course, upset by this turn of events and rightly upset that neither entity would take responsibility and make things right. She also found tickets, in the section she had originally purchased, for sale online at inflated prices. Yet neither the venue or Ticketmaster offered to buy those tickets for her after they messed up.

That was the story on Tuesday. On Thursday the paper ran a follow up to the story. In Thursday’s follow up, the story develops that Nickel Creek learned of the injustice and swooped in to save the day. The band replaced the fan’s tickets with three seats front and center, demonstrating that at least they understand customer service.

I’m glad to see Nickel Creek delivering a quality of customer service that is commendable. You don’t see that everyday in America, at least not anymore.

The dates for Nickel Creek’s spring 2007 tour are posted on the band’s web site. They will be out from mid-April until mid-May, and again breifly in the fall, and will then suspend touring and recording together for the indefinite future.

Given the excitement and interest that always accompanies “farewell tours,” anyone hoping to catch Nickel Creek live before they disband might be well advised to seek out tickets as soon as possible.