File Under: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

October 9th started with a 5:30 am alarm, to assure my participation in putting away freight at the restaurant. As I made my way to work, I thought to myself "this is going to be a long day." Quite simply I was right, it was a long day, but it was also a great day.

After quickly completing my work, I headed home and finished packing and preparing for the 8.5 hour drive ahead of us. Upon Mom's arrival we headed south on our way to Northampton, MA. I won't bore you with all the details of the drive, but to say, the music and conversation was good and the traffic was bearable.

After settling into our hotel, we headed downtown to meet Jan and Gary of who are fellow members of the Potterville Posse street team. After driving around downtown for 20 minutes looking for parking, we finally found a good spot around the corner from the venue. We stopped into Zen (where I would try Sushi, for the first time, the next day), and said hello to K. Cortez and his lovely wife. We then had a lovely meal with J and D. I had a roast pork pannini that was quite tasty. While gnoshing we had a visit from Van, who is one of the more intersting characters in the GPN story. I won't tell you his story, as it is his to tell.

The Pearl Street Ball room is a decent facility. The staff was quite friendly, which was a nice change from other places. After getting our tickets and heading up stairs we said hello to Nicole, GPN's merch master. While talking we also checked out the new shirts and such. Alas, the one I really wanted only came in medium and large, still it was a sweet shirt.

Van, Jan and I had a good bit of conversation while waiting for the show to start. We talked about the economy, music (duh) and a bet I would like to make with Grace. They both informed me it was a bet I would lose. To which I said, "it would be worth it." No, I won't disclose the nature of the bet ( I didn't get to make it, she took off to see Dr. Dog after the show).

The opening act was The Farm. I don't really know what to say. They had some great moments, but overall I was bored. They did an interesting thing; they all took a turn playing the various instruments. I say interesting, because I am not sure it was entirely successful. The three members of this band are very talented, they just need some honing. They definitely needed some microphone coaching, I could barely understand anything they sang or said. Their music reminded us of early Floyd and sometimes Wilco.

After an unusually long intermission, the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals took to the stage with a palpable sense of energy. The music was, as always, amazing. I love the way they seem to feed off of each other and the crowd.

The setlist courtesy of Van:
Stop The Bus
Meantime
Ah MAry
Ain't No Time
Ragged Company
Treat Me Right
Mastermind
Apologies
Sugar
Paint it Black
Paris
Cortez>NBTW>Cortez
//////////////////////
Jet Airliner w/ Benny Yurco

The Paint it Black was flippin amazing.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals-Paint it Black (clip) from The Real Kired on Vimeo.

There was also a great moment involving a young man who snuck up to the front.

Grace Potter and the Half Pint from The Real Kired on Vimeo.

The "holy shit" moment of the evening was a special shout out to K. Cortez, who runs the amazing blog This Is Somewhere. I apologize for the audio and the fact that I ran out of memory and didn't get "Nothing But the Water" and the reprise for "Cortez the Killer".

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals-Cortez the Killer from The Real Kired on Vimeo.

Benny Yurco (from Blues and Lasers) joined the band for the encore. It was great watching the interaction between him and Scott. They surely enjoy playing together.

After the show, we hung around talking to K. Cortez, Van and Sparky (Grace's dad). While they continued to chat, I wandered over to retrieve a package I had left with Nicole. I went back and presented K. with a special gift of a limited edition Blues and Lasers DVD that I worked on (thanks to Danado for starting the whole thing off with her video). He and his wife then went back stage and flushed out Scott so I could give him his copy. I also gave Benny, Steve's copy (Benny had already snagged K. Cortez's). While Scott was talking to the others, Aya (The Leaves) came out to say hi (she gives good hugs)

While we were all chatting, Bryan treated us to an impromptu Theramin performance. I also gave him his DVD. Van got us back stage so I could give Matt, his and Grace's DVD (she ran off remember). We chatted a while longer and then we all took off so the band could crash. It was a great night and a good time was had by all.

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/therealkired/