"GRACE! GRACE! GRACE!"
The set-lists were hand-written in black marker. The crew battened down the hatches with a masking tape lock-down of the baby blue colored set-list to the miniature piano. [the kind that you found in your grandparents basement and played while everyone was upstairs] The list taped to the floor, center stage, was pale yellow.
Five glitter soaked silver and gold discs accented the stage. Rows of guitars lined both sides of the stage like stacks of books at a library. The band mascot, a white snow tiger, kept watch from its perch atop a set of speakers. Then the stage turned to black: show-time.
Standing, she is Heidi Klum's twin. Singing, she is the epitome of the lead singer of a hard rockin' band. Grace is a force to be reckoned with. Her voice is strong. She has an unmatchable energy. She gets down and dirty at the piano, pounding the keys with an appetite for destruction. As Grace performs, she throws her body around with the fierceness of a caged beast trying to escape imprisonment.
There are many aspects to Grace Potter & the Nocturnals music. There is a noticeable aversion to country twang with some heavy Black Sabbath forcing its way through. There are parts that conjure up a mythical romanticism with a seventies undertone- but, although most likely inspired by the seventies, it is not nostalgic. It is modern.
Interludes of jamming don't turn into excruciating, drawn-out tirades. The band keeps it interesting by implementing a raging three guitar attack. The upbeat, swinging tempo reflects the antics onstage- musicians laughing and having fun at their own rock 'n' roll circus.
At one point Grace rocks a white Flying V guitar, plugged in, electrified. It starts out edgy and heavy, transforming the show into a wild frenzy. Then she breaks it down- blues style. Way down. Things got stickier as the song progressed.
Then she brings it to a standstill.
When she picks it back up- Grace trudges around as if in a swamp, slinging her nasty blues around the stage and swinging her arms around like a marionette in molasses. Then she emerges from her cocoon and leaves it behind, emerging unscathed from the havoc she just created.