Sunday, October 25, 2009
Potter drops hints of potential hits
Concert Review
Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals performed Sunday night at Jefferson Center in Roanoke.
Related
Show notes
Time may soon tell if Grace Potter will become the music superstar she deserves to be.
She clearly has all the tools — a gorgeous, soulful voice with range and resonance, multi-instrumental capabilities and no fear of strutting in high heels. It doesn’t hurt that her floppy bangs and long, blonde hair frame a beautiful face.
The whole package was on display Sunday night at Jefferson Center’s Shaftman Hall, where she led her band, The Nocturnals, through about 80 minutes of high-octane rock, blues and soul. The act kept the crowd of 525 — near capacity with balcony access limited — on its collective feet.
In April, the Vermont-based Potter will have a new, T Bone Burnette-produced album on Hollywood Records, with the marketing and publicity that accompany such labelmates at the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. And while she’s nothing like those acts, Potter dropped a couple of musical hints of potential hits.
But first, she got the crowd going with familiar favorites, opening with the Motown-flavored “Some Kind of Ride” and “Joey,” about an abusive lover. Those songs and others — “Stop The Bus,” “Mastermind” and the wonderful “Apologies” — exposed her vault of talent. She can take her voice beyond the atmosphere but never overdoes it. She rocks hard, either behind a Hammond organ, with a guitar strapped on, or standing at the microphone shaking a tambourine.
The recently retooled Nocturnals, guitarist Scott Tournet and drummer Matt Burr joined by new bassist Catherine Popper and guitarist Benny Yurco, is an improvement.
Later, the band played two new numbers. “Things I Never Needed” was a slow, soulful tune. She didn’t announce the name of the second one, a swampy groove that devolved into psychedelic guitar work. The latter was a good companion piece to the band’s only cover, Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”
Opening act Blues & Lasers featured Nocturnals Tournet, Yurco and Burr in a double-drum battery with Steve Sharon. Its 40-minute set was reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
