2009.10.26
Notes on Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, live at Jeff Center Sunday night
Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times
My review of the Grace Potter and the Nocturnals show last night was one of those that left me wishing I had more room to write. So I'll just add a couple of notes here.
I wrote that the recently retooled act was an improvement over the past lineup. New guitarist Benny Yurco is a strong psychedelic foil for lead man Scott Tournet. Those two, also at the heart of opening band Blues & Lasers, play great, extended harmonies together, giving the band more of an edge than it previously had.
And new bassist Catherine Popper added nice high harmonies to complement Potter, while laying down thick, solid bass lines.
Back to Blues & Lasers. I only got to write a short paragraph about this band, which also included Nocturnals drummer Matt Burr. He and drummer Steve Sharon worked really well together, particularly on tom-tom driven numbers. But ultimately, this band was too derivative of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Rick Derringer, Sprit, Crazy Horse and other classic acts.
Aside from the good guitar work, Blues & Lasers didn't really advance those old styles. And neither Tournet nor Yurco is a distinctive-enough singer to transcend that mashup of influences. It was a decent opening act, though.
