Grace Potter and her band took the stage at Brooklyn Bowl for a special performance in celebration of the beloved Brooklyn, NY music venue/bowling alley/fried chicken restaurant’s 15th anniversary.
The intimate gig, announced just over a week before show day, found the ever-engaging rocker in her element: Throughout the night, a loose and loquacious Potter told old Brooklyn Bowl stories with disarming irreverence and cracked jokes to (and sometimes at the expense of) the adoring audience with endearing charm.
Backed by a stellar band featuring guitarists Indya Bratton and Ricky Dover Jr., drummer Jordan West, bassist Kurtis Keber, and keyboardist Drew Malone, Grace was free to prowl the stage like a tiger in a sequin mini skirt, weaving back and forth between the microphone, an acoustic guitar, a Flying V, a tambourine, and a Wurlitzer as the mood struck and entertaining tangents about hitchhiking on Phish tour and other such misadventures between songs. The music rarely stopped even as Potter seemed to pull out new ideas on the fly, giving the entire show a feeling of fluidity despite the wide range of material on display.
“Not so long ago I remember bowling here,” she mused. “I remember friends telling me a rock venue in a bowling ally with really good friend chicken is gonna be the thing. … Now, I think, Hell yeah!” At another point, she noted that even the smell of the wood in the Brooklyn Bowl dressing room brings back vivid memories for her—including the time one of her bandmates threw a beer bottle at her head (don’t worry, they’ve buried the hatchet). “I never wanna leave the Brooklyn Bowl, ever,” she added later to a hearty round of cheers.
Over the course of the evening, the Vermonter would often seem to become lost in the music (and her thrashing blonde locks)—like during a distinctly White Stripes-like guitar-and-drum duet with West on “Nothing but the Water (I)—but some funny thought or witty remark would quickly snap her out of her trance and sync the audience with her flow state once again. For her encore, she spoke with moving vulnerability ahead of a solo rendition of one of oldest tunes, “Ragged Company”, before welcoming the band back to the stage and taking requests from the crowd for the final four songs of the night.
A familial sense of security underscored her abundant charisma throughout the night—quite literally, at one point, when she got some help from the front row to pull her boots off and get more comfortable—and Grace is surely not alone in feeling at home at Brooklyn Bowl. For 15 years, the New York music scene’s de facto living room has provided a space for countless memorable nights and magic moments. After Thursday night, we can go ahead and add this last-minute, midweek bonding session with Grace Potter to that list. Happy 15th, Brooklyn Bowl!
View the full setlist and from Thursday’s Grace Potter performance at Brooklyn Bowl below and scroll down to check out a gallery of photos from the performance via Ken Spielman.
For a full list of upcoming Grace Potter tour dates, head here. For a full list of upcoming events at Brooklyn Bowl, head here.
Setlist: Grace Potter | Brooklyn Bowl | Brooklyn, NY | 8/8/24
Set: Lady Vagabond, Medicine [1], Ah Mary, The Man in Me (Bob Dylan), Empty Heart, Mother Road, Toothbrush and My Table, Walking on the Moon (The Police), Apologies, Nothing but the Water (I) [2], Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr.), Turntable
Encore: Ragged Company, Masterpiece [3], The Lion the Beast the Beat [3], Love is Love [3], Paris (Ooh La La) [3]
[1] Got My Mojo Workin’ intro
[2] Grace Potter (electric guitar) and Jordan West (drums) rock duet
[3] Played by request from audience
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