The last time we saw Grace Potter was towards the beginning of the Covid pandemic when she visited the Paste Studio and was touring in support of “Daylight”. In fact, she was sick at that NYC show in January 2020 and could possibly have had Covid when we were all just a bit clueless. She has been quite busy since then, touring non-stop the last couple of years as well as hitting the festival circuit. Just last month, she released her latest studio album “Mother Road”. While the new record ditches the more pop sensibilities of her last two albums and heads back towards the rock and roll of her Nocturnals days, it’s not quite the hard hitting rock that we remember but more of a story-telling vibe of country western. There were some songs that sounded familiar like the beginning of “Masterpiece” which reminds me of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” or parts of “Futureland” which, oddly enough, sounds like “On and On and On” by ABBA! But whether it’s solo or with the Nocturnals, it’s her live show that really shines so we were happy that Potter was stopping by ArtPark in Lewiston, NY to close out its outdoor season!
Opening for Potter was Baltimore-based rock and roller Cris Jacobs. His bluegrass roots was the perfect setup for Potter’s new country road trip music.
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The stage setup for Grace Potter was completely western road trip themed, complete with cacti, a taco stand, an old style gas station pump, and even a guy in orange walking around with a Stop sign and a Detour sign!! Fun!
But Potter was the main event, kicking off her set with “Ready Set Go” from her latest record. She then went straight into an oldie “Ah Mary”. In fact, while much of the first half of her set were newer solo material, the second half of the set were older Nocturnals songs, thrilling some of her older fans in the crowd. Grace Potter herself has always been the complete package: a great voice, proficiency on guitar and keys, gorgeous from head to toe, and an amazing personality…everything you’d want from a rock star. During the show, she’s so at ease with back and forth banter with the crowd, whether it’s confirming that Lewiston/Buffalo is considered western New York rather than upstate New York, joking about whether a guy shouting from the back was wearing a crop top, borrowing a fan’s cowboy hat for “Lady Vagabond”, or running offstage with another fan’s glittery jacket! You’d be hard pressed to find someone in the audience without a big smile on their face.
Understanding that “Mother Road” would be the focus of this tour, I was still happily surprised about the number of older songs that were played during the set. That being said, I would have loved to hear “Medicine” and “The Divide” as well, basically a longer set than actually replacing anything! And while it was nice to see such rocking songs like “Stop the Bus” and “The Lion, The Beast, the Beat” being performed, there weren’t the searing guitar solos from former guitarists Benny Yurko and Scott Tournet, or joy you could see from the extra long jamming between those two and Potter’s Flying V. Nevertheless, Potter continues to shine as she tours the country. Looking forward to see her again on her journey down Mother Road.
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