Written by: Meredith Berke
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals played to a sold-out show on Saturday at The Capitol Theatre. Dressed in a short gold-lame dress, that only Potter herself could pull off, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is touring to promote their new album "The Lion The Beast The Beat." These two shows at The Capitol Theatre are the last US shows, and from the looks of it, last night’s show seemed like the band is strong and has had a great tour.
They started with the opening title song from "The Lion The Beast The Beat," an instrumental version of the MGM opening credit theme, and then kicked it wide open with their hard-rock guitar frenzy. For those who have not seen Potter before, her band’s style is hard rock, sweet riffs, great lyrics and her voice is somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and her own sweet signature style. She is an accomplished musician as well, playing a Gibson Signature Flying V guitar, the Hammond B3, a Fender Rhodes, and a Wurlitzer. It’s a treat to see a woman playing all the various instruments, singing, dancing, and being a sexy vixen all mixed into one great performer on the stage.
Highlights were The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” which the crowd went crazy for, “Apologies” was a slower ballad, but obviously a crowd favorite which everyone was singing in the standing-room-only crowd, and an acoustic “House of the Rising Sun” where I counted one slide guitar, two acoustic guitars and a snare drum, while Grace Potter did her best Joe Cocker imitation on the stage. They nailed that one, and the crowd went wild. Potter sang “Nothing But The Water” solo, just her and her Hammond B3, and a new song “Paris” was also well received by the crowd. The encore songs were their hit song, “Stars,” and ended the show with a nod to the Grateful Dead with “Casey Jones.”
The crowd was jumping, and by the end of the 2+ hour set, it was hot and steamy on the floor, smiling faces and dancing people having a great time. Tonight’s second show, and last show of the US tour is tonight — Don’t miss it!
