File Under: GPN at Unity College

The trip started off late, as usual, so our caravan was hauling down the interstate. As we neared the exit for my sis-in-laws (our bed for the night), "Ah Mary" came on Sirius, from the back we here a little girls voice, "Can you turn that up?" I turn it up, "a little more?" Up it goes, "A little more!" What a great start to my Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Weekend.

After a quick drop off of the kids, Ellyn (3rd show), Matt (2nd), Curtis (virgin), and I (5th); made our way to Unity as quickly as possible. Once inside the venue, we see Potterville Posse member Todd doing he email gathering thing. The usual greetings are exchanged, excitement was palpable. I introduce myself to Nicole, the new Merch person. I must say, she is a sweetheart comparable to our Jen. It turns out she got the job by answering a Craig's List ad. She didn't even know which band it was for. While chatting with her, I finally laid my hands on the Blues and Lasers CD. Woot!

When we enter the venue, we can't find seats together. Turns out the 200 seat venue had sold around 300 tickets. Mom heads down to sit with Van, Matt and Curtis end up in the back and Ellyn finds us seat next to Shawn Mercer's family. Shawn Mercer would be the opening act for the night.

Shawn's set was damn good. He definitely has some interesting songs, including topics such as Sweetbread, climbing trees, and taking out compost. The gentleman who was playing lead for Shawn that night (he has a rotating crew) was damn good. During one of his solos, he performed a pitch perfect scat to match his playing. Super cool.

The thing that made the set so sweet, Mr. Scott Tournet came out and sat in. He would later confess that he didn't know the songs at all. I'll tell you, with out noticing the concentration on his face, you would never know. It is my humble opinion, that Scott is just getting better and better; and this author can't wait to see just how good he gets.

During the break, I made my way up to the front to talk to Todd, Van and Mom. I just happened to be standing in front of Graces monitors (when on guitar), when the band walks on stage. SERENDIPITY! I stayed there too, for one damn rocking, floor bouncing, ass kicking show. I could do that every f'n night of my life. I was hearing the guitars off of their amps, Grace's voice from her monitors, and the drum nice and clear. It was so damn good I tell ya!

The drum jam, or "orgy" as I call it, was interesting as the stage was so small. I'll tell you it may have been a pain for them to get around the kit, but they rocked it anyway.

Unfortunately, I was "stuck" up there without my camera, so I tried to get the best shots I could out of my phone. So the pics are a little dodgy. The set list that appears here, does not tell the correct story. Paris was moved to the encore, I assume due to a broken E1 string (see pic of Scott, it's the weird line) on the flying V and the encore ended up being "Ah Mary" followed by "Pain in My Heart" and "If I was from Paris"As the boys left the stage, Grace pushed the merchandise and assured us that anyone who bought a Frisbee would receive some play time.

After the show, we chatted while the crowd filed out. Eventually we ended up in the lobby, where we got to chat with Scott, Bryan and Grace. I got to talk about my new Jazz Bass with Bryan, which was neat. I even understood what he was saying, most of the time. The best part, Matty finally got to meet Grace, they had a nice conversation about his name, car dealerships, and Matt Burr's not being anything but Matt. After assurances about seeing them the next night, we departed for the evening. A Good time was had by all.

Listen to the show over at This is Somewhere.