Grace Potter at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA

Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
Show photos HERE
Grace Potter will always have a special place in my heart. My kids always have to listen to my music when I’m driving them around to their various activities (my car dammit). That means they get a lot of exposure to heavier rock and that may be the reason my younger daughter is kind of a metal-head, However, my eldest is more into musical theatre and show tunes. She does a lot of professional acting, and we are very proud of her, but I am deathly sick of the soundtrack of Hamilton.
She taught herself how to play guitar, and one day she pulls my wife and me into a room. She sits down and plays for us the most heart-breakingly beautiful cover of Grace Potter’s Stars that I have ever heard. She just blew me away. Thanks for that Grace.
I got to see the real Grace Potter last week at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion. The venue was pretty full, no small feat for such a large place. She puts on a high energy show, dancing around the stage and flipping her long blonde hair around.
The set list consisted of 7 tracks off her new solo album Midnight out of 19 song set. The new stuff does feel a bit more like pop than Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, but not too much. It’s a different sound, but I liked it. There’s also lots of material off the previous albums for Nocturnals fans.
She played Falling or Flying as a solo, explaining in the intro the origin of the song. Apparently, they found themselves in a tight spot once at an RV park down south. Yikes.
She ended the main set with two of my favorites: The Lion, the Beast, the Beat and Delirious.
During the encore, she talked about the losses the music world had this year with Prince and David Bowie’s deaths. She played a heartwrenchingly beautiful version of Prince’s When Doves Cry, slowly and mellowly, like a lullaby. I’m not really that emotional of a guy, but I have to admit that I teared up a bit. From that, she segwayed into Stars (of course).
Thanks to Grace Potter and the band for a great night of music, and for finally giving my daughter something to sing that isn’t Hamilton.

Set List

  • Hot to the Touch
  • Loneliest Soul
  • Ah Mary
  • Empty Heart
  • Your Girl
  • Never Go Back
  • What We’ve Become
  • Turntable
  • Timekeeper
  • Let You Go
  • Falling or Flying (GP Solo)
  • Nothing But the Water
  • Instigators
  • The Lion the Beast the Beat
  • Delirious

Encore

  • Never Cry
  • Stars
  • The Divide
  • Paris

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