The sun was out today – yay! – so even though it was still chilly, it just seemed a lot warmer at Waterfront Park for the second day of Grand Point North presented by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals.
I had a lot of work to do at the office before I headed down to the lake so I missed surf-rock openers The Hot Breaks and only caught a song and a half from bluegrassy group Gold Town. But here’s a quickie synopsis of what I did hear:
Anders Parker and Cloud Badge, with ex-Vermonter and current Brooklynite Mark Spencer sitting in on keys.
- It’s always a treat to hear Burlington’s own Anders Parker, either in his quieter solo stuff or like today when he was rocking out with his band Cloud Badge. They only did four songs from Anders’ new album “There’s a Bluebird in My Heart,” but they were long ones, and for the most part they were blistering. Never underestimate Anders Parker’s guitar playing.
Look carefully and you might see that the drummer is wearing the same shirt in this photo as the drummer in the Anders Parker photo. Either that or the shirt is wearing the same guy – Steve Hadeka.
- Parker’s drummer Steve Hadeka slid over to the adjoining stage and didn’t miss a beat, literally, with Lowell Thompson’s similarly named band, Crown Point. Similar vibe, too – rock built on tuneful songwriting with an Americana bent, which sets the tone nicely for the Nocturnals’ music to follow.
Bruck Tesfaye leading Debo Band in yet another of my iPhone photos from Grand Point North.
- I had heard good things about Boston-based Debo Band but hadn’t seen them live until today, and, wow, what a show. They set an energetic world-music vibe that almost captures the punk flair of Gogol Bordello. Vocalist Bruck Tesfaye is a captivating front man, and when he did what looked to me to be a subterranean limbo dance I was sold. I will definitely go see those guys again.
Dr. John bringin’ the voodoo on stage.
- Somehow in all my years of concert-going I had never heard Dr. John live. Happy to have changed that tonight. He does classic New Orleans funk/soul/blues, and has that same gravelly voice he’s sung with distinctively for years. Just to hear “Right Place, Wrong Time,” a song that’s been part of my life soundtrack since I was but a wee lad, was worth the entire show, which was excellent in its own right. Dr. John doesn’t get around so well anymore, but when he’s behind the keys and the microphone he’s on top of the world.
The Devil Makes Three will hold down the fort for Higher Ground’s New Year’s Eve celebration this year.
- I’ve heard southern Vermonters The Devil Makes Three a couple of times, and both times it was after the (late, lamented) Brown Bird opened for them. I liked Brown Bird so much that it made The Devil Makes Three less interesting to me. This time, in the expected one-band-after-another set-up of a festival I was more prepared for The Devil Makes Three and enjoyed their fast-paced, slightly debauched take on bluegrass and Americana. They even had Spencer Swain, brother of Brown Bird’s MorganEve Swain, join them on stage for a song. Her partner in Brown Bird, David Lamb, died this year of leukemia, a sad day in the music world that I still haven’t quite accepted yet.
- I took a break to get food and chat with a few folks during the Trampled By Turtles set, but I did hear enough to dig their raucous take on bluegrass. Their cover of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind” was a pleasant and unexpected moment.
This is Grace Potter singing “Hot Summer Night.” Wishful thinking on a chilly but blessedly dry night along Lake Champlain.
- For the second straight night, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals rounded out the day’s music. I was curious to hear how different the set would be from last night. It was and it wasn’t. They did several of the songs from last night again (“Medicine,” “Turntable,” “Paris”) though with slightly different changes in style and length, but also tossed in a few fresh ones. “Ragged Company” is one of my favorite Grace Potter ballads and one they don’t haul out all that often, so that was a welcome addition.
As I mentioned after last night’s shows, they always pick tasteful covers, and tonight was no exception. Grace dedicated John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” to a dear family member she recently lost. (She told me yesterday in our pre-festival chat that an uncle died suddenly.) And just like last night, when she brought out musicians who had played throughout the day for a finale of “With a Little Help From My Friends,” she had today’s performers join her on stage for an electric version of Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher.” Speaking of which, that was a perfect high note to end a great weekend of music at Grand Point North.
