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Nicole Atkins Tops West Coast Run With 'Conan' Performance -- Road Report

Lucia Holm


Nicole Atkins is currently on tour in support of her sophomore album, 'Mondo Amore,' backed by a collective of musicians known as the Black Sea. Four years after the release of her debut record, 'Neptune City,' the 32-year-old singer-songwriter is back to showcase her unique blend of rootsy-folk and indie rock, exemplified by her latest single, 'Vultures.'

After kicking off her winter tour with a sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom in New York City, the free-spirited songstress and her band traveled west, hitting Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Read all about her adventures, including an energized performance on 'Conan,' in Atkins' second action-packed Road Report below.

So much has happened since the last time I wrote, I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll start with Seattle. When we got to Seattle, we met up with our "sound couple," Teresa and Evan. Teresa and Evan are in love and they both do sound and tour manage. Being on the road so much, they rarely see each other, so being on the road with us was a bit of a romantical reunion for them. We were touched. Hahaha! But seriously, they are super cool and do our sound job just right. We even got to accompany them on a hot Valentine's day date to Outback! Love is not dead, mate!

Caption: Outback | Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Atkins


We were in Portland at Mississippi Studios, and once again, Cotton Jones killed it. Such beautiful harmonies. The venue was nice enough to let us stay in the apartment they had above the bar. It was a sprawling space with two bedrooms. We gave our sound couple their own room and the rest of us stayed in the "kids" room that had two sets of bunk beds. Our good friend Paul from home was recording a record out there and met up with us. At the end of the night, and one hundred beers later, we somehow set up the living room as a classroom and gave each other lectures. I don't remember what they were about, but they were very important at the time. Very important.

Caption: Nicole and Mike from Cotton Jones | Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Atkins

San Francisco was sold out! Two people in the crowd brought flowers and others bought Jameson. The crowd was so much fun we played an extra three songs. We couldve played ten more but we knew we had a lot to do in Los Angeles the next day. I woke up the next morning not realizing I had a flight early in the morning to get to a meeting in L.A. Thank goodness I got a text message: "Dont forget your acoustic for your meeting this morning." Shoot!

Caption: Nicole and Irina | Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Atkins


Got to the meeting, played some songs, ate some empanadas and then headed to the Troubadour where our friends Jared, from Minerva Lions, and Leah, from the Nouvellas, met us and joined our band for the evening on keyboards and backing vocals. The show was packed and so much fun. A highlight was this one very enthusiastic and drunk woman threw 30 bucks on the stage. Thanks for the bagels, lady! Also, the Iron Sheik's (from old school WWF wrestling) niece, Mojan, came to the show and brought me a gift from the Sheik himself ... a t-shirt that had a picture of himself on it and said: "THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR IS A NO GOOD MOTHER****." Life is pretty cool sometimes.

Caption: Panda | Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Atkins


The next day we did the Conan O'Brien show. Mike and Whitney joined us on backup vocals along with Leah and Jared on keys. We spent most of the day having a dressing party thanks to All Saints bringing us some fancy duds to wear, which was nice. Our good friends Wendy Parr, Pete and Jim Turner (our tour manager from the Kickstarter video) met up with us, and with lots of time to kill we sat on the WB lot in the sunshine waiting to go on.

Caption: Nicole, Wendy, Dawn, Jared and Jim Turner at Conan | Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Atkins

The sunshine was such a treat from the rainstorm we've been following since Vancouver. The taping went by in a blur. I was so proud of everyone in my band, they killed it! It was cool too that Conan remembered me from a few years ago. What a trip. After that, we took advantage of these awesome massage chairs they had in the lobby and took pictures with disembodied panda heads. Good times.

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