Grace Potter played the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon on Friday, February 12th, bringing along a new band and introducing some of the freshest material from her take-no-prisoners brand of pop-inspired rock n’ roll.
On a short tour supporting her new solo effort Midnight, Potter and her six-piece backing band played a full two-hour, 20-song set that included material spanning her entire career. This included over half of the songs from the new album. The band consisted of drums, percussion, bass, guitar, keyboards and a floating guitarist/keyboardist. Potter, on top of her soaring vocals, illustrated her multi-instrumental talents by playing acoustic and electric guitar in addition to keyboards. Her go-to instrument was her Gibson Flying V.
Potter was on point all night, delivering each song with indelible energy. An extended jam early in the show found her wispily whirling around the stage, and seemingly swimming through the energy in the room. Potter’s stage presence keeps the crowd enraptured, and the fact that her voice never once cracked during two hours of high energy vocal expression speaks to its power.
Since forming Grace Potter and the Nocturnals in 2002, she has released four studio albums, three live albums, signed with Hollywood Records, appeared on late night television shows and opened for Gov’t Mule, Dave Matthews Band and The Black Crowes. Her songs have been featured on All My Children, ER, and Grey’s Anatomy. Potter has collaborated with T-Bone Burnett and Kenny Chesney. She opened for the Rolling Stones and joined them on stage to sing “Gimme Shelter.” In other words, Grace Potter doesn’t really have anything more to prove. Except maybe to herself.
After all of her accomplishments, it seems she is taking a proverbial deep breath, assessing where she’s at in her career and where she wants to take it from here. Midnight finds her moving toward a more pop-influenced sound than the jam/rock explorations of the Nocturnals. Even so, the songs are rooted in Potter’s heartfelt vocals and infectious musical hooks.
Toward the end of Friday’s show, fan favorite “Paris (Ooh La La)” led into a drum jam, and then band introductions. During the introductions, the band teased both “Maneater” and “Not Fade Away” before brining it back for a final “Paris” chorus.
After a short break, Potter emerged, strapped on the Flying V, and began playing, first by herself, and then backed by the drum kit. Her inner rock star shining through, this jam sounded like it might drop into Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” at any point. Instead, Potter launched into verses of her “Nothing But The Water.” A far cry from the spiritual-turned-rocker version of the song that she performed at the Boston Music Awards ten years ago, this performance perhaps best illustrated her evolution as a performer. While she could easily live by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra, it’s apparent that she will continue to follow her muse into uncharted territory.
The rest of the band joined in for Midnight dance anthem “Instigators,” then they slowed it down for a beautiful rendition of “Stars” before a high energy “The Lion, The Beast, The Beat.” The crowd hadn’t had quite enough, and after a quick band huddle, they closed out the show with “Medicine,” from the Nocturnals 2010 self-titled album. And with that, Grace Potter proved that she is indeed good medicine for live performance and contemporary rock n’ roll.
