Arts & Culture

photo credit: Grace Potter website

Thursday’s Red Butte show rocked.

Opening act Con Brio had a full band and a lead singer who channeled Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars in his sound and his dance moves. It was the most I’ve seen a Red Butte audience interact with the opening act. The band even got everyone up and dancing – a rare occurrence before the headliner.

Now, on to Grace Potter, the star of the night. I’m not sure if it’s blasphemous to liken Grace Potter to the trailblazing Stevie Nicks, but I pray that the post-Fleetwood Mac gods will forgive me, because Potter has that same girl-power rocker vibe that one doesn’t easily forget.

She flipped her long blonde hair and danced all around the stage while belting out her rock anthems with serious talent. Potter is loud, but she definitely knows what she’s doing when she pushes her vocal range. After all, this is rock ‘n’ roll.

My favorite moments of the show were when Potter chose to rock out on a bright red Gibson Flying V guitar (just in case anyone had doubts about her rocker status).

Songs like “Look What We’ve Become” and “Empty Heart” showed that Potter has made a great transition into a solo act. She loves her sound, and that love radiates in her performance.

However, just because Potter’s gone solo doesn’t mean she left her songs from the Grace Potter & the Nocturnals days behind. Potter put new twists on “Turntable” and “The Lion, The Beast, The Beat,” songs that were more indie pop before Potter added her solo rocker sound. Potter also gave some well-deserved love to her band, the Magical Midnight Roadshow. Her lead guitarist switched to an acoustic for a soft, intimate duet with Potter that the crowd was too loud to appreciate, until they realized what was happening and listened up.

Potter threw on at least four different ponchos over her minidress during the night, which gave me serious boho outfit envy, but I digress. Potter is an artist first and a performer second. She really does care about her shows, and it’s a privilege to watch. Her signature sound doesn’t get old.

“If rock ‘n’ roll can ring through these beautiful mountains like this, then something magical is going on,” Potter said.

Something magical, indeed. Potter’s rich, sultry voice and her incredible energy made for a rare show that I’ll be talking about for a long time.

Grace Potter performs at Red Butte Gardens Thursday night as part of her first solo tour. Potter released her first solo album, Midnight, last year. Before going solo, Potter was the leading lady in the band Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. She teamed up with country artist Kenny Chesney for “You and Tequila,” a number that earned the duo a Grammy nomination.

Potter had a quieter indie pop presence back when she was part of a group, but now she fully asserts herself as part of the rock scene. She sports long, wild blonde hair à la Stevie Nicks with the killer vocals to match. Potter is a Red Rocks veteran and started her own music festival in Vermont with headliners like Old Crow Medicine Show, The Avett Brothers and The Flaming Lips. Her song “Something That I Want” was on the soundtrack for the movie Tangled.

The show is sold out. Show starts at 7:30; gates at 6:30.

Everyone knows that the first song ever played on MTV was The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star.” What most people don’t know is that Pat Benatar’s cover of “You Better Run” was the song played right after The Buggles. That’s right, it was the beginning of girl power in the age of the music video.

By her side in that video, on guitar, was her now-husband Neil Giraldo—who has continued to collaborate and tour with her since.

A little over a decade later, Melissa Etheridge burst on the scene with a sultry voice and sexy lyrics—and as a out-and-proud lesbian she was breaking through barriers all on her own.

On Wednesday night, the three will join forces for a co-headlining show at Red Butte Garden. The show is sold-out. Gates open at 6, the show starts at 7.

I’m pretty sure that singer-songwriter Ryan Adams is my adolescent son’s soulmate.

No, no. Wait. I have evidence.

• He came onstage at Red Butte last night wearing the same Heavy Metal Shop tee shirt my kid has.
• Both have a bit of a reputation for their child-like tantrums.
• I don’t think either of them have brushed their hair in days. Maybe weeks. 
• Adams made a lot of booger jokes and one fart joke last night—and my kid is all about fart and booger jokes. Because he’s 12.

Okay. So I’m exaggerating a little, but here’s another thing the singer-songwriter and my kid have in common: youthful exuberance. In fact, when Adams took to the stage at Red Butte last night in front of a sold-out and enthusiastic crowd, his centered and enthusiastic energy was infectious (maybe that’s thanks to the personal bonsai tree he kept in front of him all night).

Starting with “Trouble,” Adams’ setlist was full of favorites, spanning the length of his solo career (still no Whiskeytown for this long-time fan, sadly), but most notably, the songs were longer, turning into an almost Grateful Dead-ish concert full of long jams with Adams’ band, The Shining. This band, one he’s toured with for a couple of years now, make big sounds and make the effort that goes into creating them seem easy, not unlike their frontman. Adams spent lots of time moving around the stage and shredding his guitar from lots of different positions, including the classic rock-star-on-knees-with-arched-back yoga position.

There seem to be very few casual Ryan Adams fans in Salt Lake. Members of the crowd last night are among the ones who have been following him from the beginning of his career. They pay attention to set lists and pick up on the nuances of songs on the docket and the significance of those left off. They sing along and they watch in rapt attention when his band riffs at the end of a song in spectacular fashion, as they did during a truly incredible “Magnolia Mountain.” But, I think for fans, new and old, the stand-out moment of the night was when he brought opener Amanda Shires onstage to sing “Sweet Carolina” with him—her role, the one Emmylou Harris played in the studio version of that song—resulting in a beautiful rendition of a heartbreaking song.

Adams’ banter, though less plentiful than it was a year ago, still engaged the audience through the show. Because here’s the thing, Ryan Adams is a genuinely funny guy. And it’s not just booger jokes and fart jokes and jokes about an audience member looking at the stage like the band looks at the “good stuff” in their tour bus refrigerator (you really had to be there). He lead the crowd in a “freakout countdown” for two members of the crowd whom he said were “losing their (expletive)” and sang a little ditty about our fair city he called, according to a setlist published on his Instagram account, “Another Beautiful Goddamn Night In SLC, it even referenced an infamously bad show here several years ago—I think, and not the excellent show last year at Red Butte—with lyrics, “I’m so glad it’s not the last show, that was shitty. So glad the moon is out in Salt Lake City… I’m wearing my Heavy Metal Shop t-shirt, feeling good, just another beautiful goddamn night in Salt Lake City,” and he handed out tee shirts to the crowd, calling out folks in the front for their positive concert behavior. A change from the Ryan Adams who used to storm off-stage if the audience was too loud.

And so, Ryan Adams has grown as an artist and entertainer. And he he has grown up. It was fitting still, at the end of the night, that he closed (without an encore, ““This is our fake encore,” he said, “I normally would’ve left right now, but I’ll just stand here.”) with “Come Pick Me Up,” a great song, but a tale of immature love gone wrong. After all, there really were a lot of booger jokes.

Sunday night may have been a perfect night at Red Butte. The weather was lovely and turned into a crisp late summer chill as the sun set, the sunset was beautiful (thanks, inversion) and there were two safe (and sold-out) acts on the stage who were too polished to seem genuine, despite their considerable talents.

Everything old is new again—even in music. There is no doubt that vintage sounds are making a comeback—for proof look no further than Alabama Shakes, Leon Bridges, Vintage Trouble, etc. Lake Street Dive is no exception. The band, who met at one of the best music schools in the country, are a well-oiled machine. And their crowd, younger and hipper than many Red Butte Shows, ate up every minute of it.

Lead singer Rachel Price’s voice is a powerhouse, there’s no doubt about that. And, she’s beautiful. And she wails. She growls. She carries the band with her vocals—and this is a good band. Her vocals are tremendous, but that Broadway classical training comes through as a bit too perfect.

At no point in the night was her range and perfection more obvious than during the encore, a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”—she’s not Freddie Mercury good, no one is—but girlfriend delivered the best cover of the classic that I’ve ever heard.

Speaking of encore: Here’s a first, opening act and singer-of-sad-songs Gregory Alan Isakov played an encore AS THE OPENER. I have never seen such a thing before.

In fairness to Isakov, he’s just come off a headlining tour, and he’s a local favorite in Salt Lake. He had a small but committed group of fans, most of whom sported tattoos and handlebar mustaches, gathered near the stage for his entire set. But still, opening acts don’t do encores. It was cocky and seemed out of place with his humble guy schtick.

In all truthfulness, Isakov shouldn’t be opening for anyone—and certainly not the peppy, upbeat Lake Street Dive. But, the one thing the  headliners, Isakov had in common was that they both seemed a little too perfect and comfortable in their roles.

On Thursday evening, Red Butte was treated to a virtuoso performance of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez by guitar maestro Pablo Villegas.

It was a strange night at Red Butte, where a small but enthusiastic crowd had plenty of space to spread out and crack open their picnic baskets. The lady next to me had brought what appeared to be a small banquet, served on compact table complete with a tablecloth. “Ok, where’s the vodka?” asked one of her group as she handed out the ringed cloth napkins—Red Butte definitely makes for better people watching than Abravanel Hall.

In contrast to their audience, the symphony orchestra were positively cramped for space on the Red Butte stage as associate conductor Rei Hotoda lead them through a performance of Dvorak’s classical overture to kick off proceedings.

The charismatic Pablo Villegas then made his entrance for his debut performance in Utah and spoke at length to the crowd about the music he was about to play and why it’s so important to him. He explained that the music is about a conversation between a man who has recently lost an infant and god, with the guitar representing the man and the response from god being channeled through the orchestra. Heavy stuff indeed and, to my right in preparation for this intense musical journal, more vodka was opened at the banqueting table.

Rei Hotoda told us that she considers the second movement of Aranjeuz’s 1939 masterpiece to be one of the most beautiful pieces of music she has ever conducted. It’s difficult to argue with that statement, as the performance by both Villegas and the orchestra was immaculate. The first and third movements are much lighter and draw on flamenco and folk influences, and Villegas was able to hold the audience in rapt attention. Although returning to the stage for two encores after the performance of Concierto de Aranjuez did seem like overkill, especially as the temperature had started to drop.

Once Hotoda was convinced that Villegas had finally and permanently exited the stage, an intermission was called. Although the already small crowd dwindled further as scores of folks headed out of the exit in response to the falling temperatures. The orchestra, now under patio heaters, reemerged post intermission to perform some Strauss, Smetana and Tchaikovsky.

The fairly sparse crowd was probably due to a combination of the cooler weather and the fairly expensive tickets. After all, there are biweekly opportunities to see the orchestra at Deer Valley. But overall a it was pleasant evening, despite the cooler weather later on.

To the best of my recollection, Ryan Adams has played Red Butte Garden twice. Once, in 2007—and it did not go well. And again last year—and it went really well.

I have been a fan of  Adam’s music since I first heard Whiskeytown’s Strangers Almanac—one of the best alt-country albums ever made. Adams started Whiskeytown with the angelic-voiced Caitlyn Cary, and though the band didn’t last long, their three albums are still on heavy-rotation at my house.

After Whiskeytown, Adams launched a solo career starting with the phenomenal Heartbreaker, but quickly became prolific and released albums at a manic pace—at the detriment of quality. But, he’s slowed down. He’s got a new band and a new outlook—maybe divorce made him grow up a little, that happens to the best of us. And did y’all hear the cover he did of an entire Tswift album? That could have gone really, terribly wrong, but I dare to say that his 1989 is better than hers.

Amanda Shires, who plays a mean fiddle, opens. Shires is married to singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, who I would not be at all surprised to see take the stage for a song or two on Monday night.

The show is sold-out, but you know the drill. Highly motivated buyers will find a way in or hike up the hill. Gates open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30.