Words: Dave Schultz
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals @ Webster Hall, June 12
Since emerging from the snow-filled, granola-flecked mountains of Vermont, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals have let themselves be a tabula rasa upon which their growing legion of fans could ascribe a whole host of rock & roll imagery. For the jamband crowd, they were earnest roots rockers with Potter playing the role of their flannel-draped earth goddess; for the classic rock lovers, GPN kept alive the dream that Neil & Janis could hold sway over a new generation & for the tweens who discovered them from Grey’s Anatomy or One Tree Hill, Potter could be their musically adept BFF.
After years of being whatever people needed them to be, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals are making a concerted effort to define themselves on their own terms. The resulting declaration of independence, the self-titled Grace Potter & Nocturnals, described by guitarist Scott Tournet as sounding more like them than anything before, may surprise many that thought they had Potter and her gang all figured out.
By creating an album with definite mainstream appeal, albeit one that still unabashedly dares to rock, rather than find a new set of Cheap Thrills, Potter & The Nocturnals have thrown down the gauntlet, challenging many of the preconceived notions that people may have formed. The weekend after the album’s release, GPN packed an ardent throng of fans spanning all ages and sexes (both of them) into New York City’s Webster Hall. Any worries over whether the Vermont-based collective had toned down their act or softened their rock and roll edge were quickly allayed within moments of Potter bounding onto the stage to the opening bluesy riffs of Medicine. By the time Potter, Tournet, bassist Catherine Popper and guitarist Benny Yurco picked themselves off the floor near the close of their unplanned second encore of Stop The Bus, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals had made clear that not only are they one of the most exciting, young rock and roll bands to come around in quite some time, there may be no limits as to how high they can will rise.
READ ON for more of Dave’s thoughts on GP&tN @ Webster Hall…
