Before I get started, let me thank Rob S. for providing me with the opportunity to see this concert.
Rock and Roll music has a legitimate star in Grace Potter. I haven't felt this way about a female performer since seeing Joan Osborne live in the PGD Zone at a NARM convention in........San Diego, 1995? That would make sense since Relish came out that March, same month as the confab. The PGD Zone was Polygram Music's way of showcasing new artists in a club-like setting with free booze and snacks, with the performers playing on an end stage in the back of the converted conference rooms. The best part about the setup was that most people inside were jaded music biz people who were only in the Zone for the free liquor. Me, I was all about the performers, but Jack n' Coke on the major label's dime didn't hurt either. So there I was standing in front of the stage, close enough to have Ms. Osborne sweat on me, with about twenty-five other people who got it. "One of Us" wouldn't be a hit for months to come, but I had goose bumps all over me during the performance, knowing I was experiencing something truly revelatory.
Nearly sixteen years later, thanks to the Internet and YouTube, I was able to anticipate that same feeling for GP&N, and they did not let me down. You see the set list above (thanks, Greg A.) with "Oasis" as the opening song. Greg sent me the set list from the show he saw in Nashville ten days earlier and they didn't do this selection at all. The studio version is a slinky, seductive little number that could have been a Joan Osborne song back in the day. As the band opened the track, GP slowly weaved her way on stage behind them, moving just like a prime Stevie Nicks. As the song worked through its normal four minutes, one could sense a change a-comin'. That's when Grace, in her micro-mini with those Beyonce-like legs, bounces out from behind the B-3 to front-and-center, and the "rhythmic chank" ensued, fist-pumpin' rock and roll power crankin', with GP dancing her way around the stage. I had read several comparisons to Tina Turner, and now I know they were referring to her stage presence/dancing, but she’s nowhere near Ms. Turner, more along the lines of Christina Amphlett of the Divinyls. The “chank” finally winds down after twelve minutes, and if management had thrown me out of the venue because my jaw on the floor was getting in the way of other patrons, I would have been happy just seeing the one tune.
For the next eighty-eight minutes, the band played a cross-section of their three records, touching on the many styles they are capable of producing. (Disclaimer: The videos linked below are not professional in any way. The Plaza is an old theatre with little lighting but decent acoustics, so the view is dark but the sound is OK. I only want you to get an idea of what to expect and go see them for yourself.) Here is four minutes worth of a blues stunner called 2:22 from the debut GP&N from 2005. On another song I said to myself, “she’s channeling Janis Joplin,” and twenty seconds later hear a guy behind me tell his buddy the same thing. A few minutes later she’s chicken-struttin’ around the microphone stand a la Mick Jagger. Next thing you know, she’s strapped on a white Flying-V guitar, creating a triple axe attack. And let me tell you, the regular six-stringers are outstanding talents themselves. The female bassist, that tall, slender, dark-haired purveyor of sexy rhythms was more than capable of keeping up with everybody, just lose the chewing gum, please! The drummer, a dead-ringer for Lonesome Dave Peverett, was all smiles all night, huddled in the back shadows, enjoying the show in front of him.
Once they launched in “Paris,” most everyone thought they were boogieing to the show’s closer, but au contraire mon frere. Another concert-ready track from the current release, “Medicine”, occupied that nine-minute slot, and here it is. I knew what the encore was going to be, and one of the guitarists grabbed an acoustic and hit the first few chords, switching gears into a Led Zeppelin intro, but then laughing as he swings back into the encore. Here’s all I had left on the vid card, but you will know it well.
So let’s sum the evening up with numbers: 100 minutes of music from a band with a Top 20 Album, a Top 5 Rock Album, for $15 a head, for 1000 people. That, my friends, is a bargain in any economy, and one you had better get out and get if you have the chance. Trust me, she won’t be back in Orlando for that price in that size venue anytime in the near future.
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