With the house lights down and a backlit stage, the show started off with the intro of Prince’s “When Dove’s Cry” that flowed right into a swell of synthesizers as the band took the stage.   From that moment on, the volume and the excitement in the theater continued to climb.

What may be the biggest understatement of the night is that Grace Potter has a lot of energy…she pretty much defines energy…and seems to have enough to entice a similar reaction from the crowd.   Never standing still, Potter dances on nearly every square inch of the stage, all while singing at the top of her lungs and often playing guitar, keys, or tambourine.

Her musical styles ranged from a bit of funk to blues to country to soulful ballads as she brought us hits like “Hot to the Touch”, “Apologies”, and “Nobody’s Born With a Broken Heart”.   Her six piece band was absolutely outstanding, and she added to the excellence providing us with moments on the keys, the acoustic guitar, and a strong command of her Gibson Flying V.

Throughout the night she encouraged the normally reserved Eastman Theater crowd to get out of their seats and onto their feet and ‘get their freak on’… and though it took some coercing, eventually the front of the theater was completely filled with fans dancing and singing their hearts out.

A particularly stellar moment was guitarist Benny Yurco’s sweet guitar work that worked it’s way into a vocal and guitar only version of “Low Road”.   The combination of her raspy vocals on top of the sweet tone of Yurco’s Gibson was the thing that goose bumps are made of.   It was musical perfection and clearly showed us that these are musicians at the top of their game.   That serene moment quickly morphed into a head banging, high energy, all out distortion laden performance of “Nothing But the Water”, with nothing more that Potter on her Flying V and vocals, backed by Matt Burr on the drums.

The evening continued to bring us high energy hit after high energy hit…interrupted only by a brief trip off stage teasing the end of the concert but quickly returning to put on an outstanding encore.  The crowd was on their feet most of the night, enjoying an outstanding concert by an extremely talented singer and a stage full of world class musicians.

The Rochester Jazz fest is one of the best music festivals, anywhere…and Grace Potter was the perfect opening headliner to this nine day musical event.

More info on Ringo Starr’s Summer Tour can be found here.

We had heard that city officials expected nearly 8,000 people for the block party, so I knew to get into my Relatively Random t-shirt and grab our red collapsible lawn chairs and hit the highway for Grayson early to be there in time for the gates opening at 6:00. We arrived in plenty of time, encountered very little traffic, and found a terrific free parking spot close to the parking lot where the event was to be held. We had the place nearly to ourselves and sat up our chairs behind where the small crowd was forming. (Luckily, the other patrons left ample room between themselves and us, as we would soon need the space as a dance floor.)

As the first blistering hot sun of the summer moved across the sky and dropped behind the local church steeple, shade fell upon the large parking lot, setting the mood for Friday night fun. Two different local acts performed songs they had written and covers of popular hits, priming the growing crowd for the main event.

At about 8:30, Old Dominion took the stage, opening with their current chart-topper “Snapback.” Over the nearly two hours that they performed, fans enjoyed all of the tracks from the band’s current album MEAT AND CANDY, along with some other well-known compositions the band members had written for other popular country music artists. Now, this is where we became seriously impressed. We love Old Dominion. We own their CDs and we know every word to every song, but like the title of the album suggests, most of the songs are “candy” – feel good, bubblegum tracks. Only a couple of songs give us any “meat” to provide substance, so we worried the concert might leave us a little empty, but when they shared some of the pieces they’d published previous to their pop-country success, they gained a new level of our respect.

Of these compositions are the heartbreaking “Wake Up Lovin’ You” (released by Craig Morgan 2013), Tyler Farr’s popular “A Guy Walks Into a Bar” (2014), and much to our surprise, a favorite at our house, Blake Shelton’s “Sangria” (2015). Learning that the Old Dominion guys penned these tunes impressed us tremendously, and scored them some additional street cred in our book.

Overall, we were very pleased with the event. We danced all night and laughed along with the band as they conversed with the crowd from their platform. Old Dominion gave a top-notch, feel-good, party-in-the-parking lot performance, leaving it all on stage, just as they would have for a larger venue. Indeed, they turned this little one-horse into Vegas.

We recommend that you catch them on their summer tour. You can see them at their upcoming stops to upstate New York (Canandaigua and Hunter), in good ole Nashville, way up in Wisconsin, or out on the beach in Virginia (the state from which most of the band hails). For a complete list of concert dates, visit their website.

A couple months ago, I heard that John Mellencamp was bringing his Plain Spoken tour to Rochester, NY’s historic Eastman Theater. I’ve listened to his newer music, and he’s one of those artists that has continued to evolve musically through his years as a performer. I was pretty confident that this concert would not be a travesty…though I was curious how his older hits would sound.

The Eastman Theater is one of the best indoor concert venues I’ve ever been to. Filled with history, this nearly 100-year-old concert hall offers great acoustics, outstanding architectural detail, and there is not a bad seat in the house. Mellencamp’s stage set was pretty simple … with a backdrop from his Plain Spoken CD cover, there wasn’t much more on stage than the drum kits, keyboards, some guitar stands, and mic stands. It was a no-frills, down-to-business setup.

The ‘much more mature’ than I expected crowd waited patiently for the show to begin. Carlene Carter, the daughter of June Carter Cash, was the opening act. Full of energy and stories from her youth, she entertained with just her strong vocals with nothing more than her acoustic guitar or piano to accompany her. About an hour into the night, the lights dimmed for John Mellencamp and his band to take the stage. Six musicians took the stage, all dressed in suits, except for violinist Mirium Sturm, who came out in a long formal dress. John Mellencamp slowly made his way to center stage, also wearing a suit, stopping along the way to acknowledge the cheering crowd.

He started the night with “Lawless Times” from his Plain Spoken album, and it was clear this was going to be a great night of music. From there we were treated to a great mix of new and old music, mixed with stories and the occasional soft shoe. He introduced “Longest Days” with a funny story about his 100 year old grandmother, who affectionately referred to him as Buddy, that tried to pray him into heaven with her…to which he quickly told her he had a lot more sinning to do. Of course, he covered his classics… “Pink Houses”, “Paper In Fire”, “Crumblin’ Down” and more with the same energy and strong vocals that we remember from the first time we heard these songs hit the radio. Before he launched into “Jack and Diane,” he told us that he only plays it to make the crowd happy…and shared a story of the night he wrote it. I’m not sure if it was fact or fiction, but it entertained. In the middle of the show, Carlene Carter came back out and sang a couple songs with Mellencamp from an album that they have recorded together, and though the material was not familiar, they sounded great together.

His band was simply outstanding. Guitarist Mike Wanchic has been in the band for 45 years, and many of the others for over a decade, and we could tell. The music was tight and they seemed to have a lot of fun while they were playing.

I’ve been to a lot of shows over the years, and this one was high on the list of my favorites. With a down-to-earth style, gravelly and soulful vocals, and a fun mix of stories, it was a perfect night of music. As a musician whose career has spanned over forty years, Mellencamp finished the evening reminiscing and talking about the old times…a fitting intro to “Cherry Bomb,” which was a great way to end a great evening watching a great performer do what he does best.