Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, long known for their rock’em sock’em live shows, are the latest group to tap into their vast vault of concert recordings for official release. They launched the series, dubbed Vaulturnal, with the release of a complete headlining show recorded at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA on the night of Aug. 19, 2013.
The band currently plans to release several live recordings a year, all of which will be fully mixed and mastered soundboard recordings. In a press release issued by GPN, Grace Potter said, “We’ve been talking for a long time about launching a live site for fans to access our music, and we have a fanbase that really does feed off the live-music experience.” Drummer Matt Burr added, “We’re excited to handpick shows that we’re really passionate about and get them out there.”
The sound quality of the initial release is excellent, and the 22-song set list includes a good two hours of music. The show really starts to take off during guitarist Scott Tournet’s trippy jam in the middle of “Treat Me Right,” followed by a typically scorching “Stop the Bus,” one of the band’s signature live tunes. Other treats along the way include a sampling of “Cortez the Killer” inside an acoustic “Falling or Flying,” a great pairing of “Turntable” and “The Divide” near the close of the main set, and three widely varied covers, of Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” Heart’s “Crazy on You” and Pink Floyd’s “Time.”
Vaulturnal Vol. 1 is available at http://www.vaulturnal.com in MP3, FLAC, ALAC and CD form.
