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Grace Potter and the Nocturnals played a FREE show at Long’s Park Amphitheater as part of their Summer music series on 06-06-2010 in Lancaster, PA.  Grace Potter is a young blues/rock artist from Burlington, VT that finally got the attention deserved when the album “This is Somewhere” was released and Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule selected them as an opening spot for their tour.  Now, the band is over 5 years old and have a new self-titled release album, “Grace Potter and the Nocturnals”.
 
One thing that is apparent on the new album is that the band was looking for a more slick and produced album than the previous offerings.  The band played a show last year in which they covered the entire 80′s soundtrack to the Top Gun movie, and it feels as though this album was written with that show as inspiration.  “Only Love” is a good example of the 80′s sounding streamlined pop offerings with high soaring choruses a la Top Gun music.    Grace has admitted in interviews that she likes the Hollywood sounds and would love to be Hollywood so this maybe the band’s new direction for the immediate future.

While Grace’s CD’s are great listening, her live performances shadow them by far in my opinion.  Her pitch perfect bluesy voice really comes to life and her band, the Nocturnals, have a lot more room to improvise and jam off one another. Songs like “Only Love” transform from a pop song into a rock song with a lot of emotion when played live.  Grace and the band let it all out on the stage, night after night which means lots of guitar solos, lots of rocking, and of course Grace tearing up the vocals.  Last year, the Nocturnals replaced their bassist with Catherine Popper (formerly of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals) which added an opportunity for Grace to write in some fantastic harmonies. 

This band really blossoms on the stage, go see them live when they are in your area and you will see what I mean.