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By: Alexander Borsody
Galactic/Grace Potter and the Nocturnals :: 01.12.08 :: Jannus Landing :: St. Petersburg, FL
 Grace Potter by Rod Snyder |
Jannus
Landing is billed as Florida's largest outdoor concert venue, but to locals it's much more than that. Jannus is the cultural cornerstone of downtown St. Pete. The majority of the city's thriving nightlife is an offshoot of this venue's activity. Tucked between two city buildings is a large courtyard with palm trees, a wooden deck and balconies for VIPs. The music from the large sound system inside can be heard blasting throughout the entire downtown area, bringing the city to life.
Galactic is a Jannus favorite. One of the granddaddies of the Southern jam scene, they always bring out a large, colorful crowd. Even with a light rain, fans of the funk came rushing in to party with the legendary NOLA crew.
Opening the show was one of the hottest young bands on the circuit, Grace
Potter and the Nocturnals. Potter's charisma, beauty and stage presence have earned the outfit plenty of acclaim and awards in just a few short years. 2007 was particularly big for the group with relentless touring and heavy press coverage. Near the end of their captivating performance, saxophonist Ben Ellman and drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic joined the Nocturnals, setting the stage for collaboration to come.
 Galactic |
Galactic is touring right now behind their hip-hop/funk album From the Corner to the Block, which features collaborations with some of hip-hop's best known rappers including MCs Mr. Lif and Boots Riley, who shook the Florida audience up as they exploded onto the stage. Each came out alone, delivering a high-energy performance that caught everyone off guard. This was definitely a high point of the show. Mr. Lif briefly went into a freestyle, coming up with clever and candid rhymes on the spot like, "They wont play me on Viacom/ So I just might buy a bomb," which inspired ringing laughter from the band. The tone of the music was on the harder side, with loud, roaring sax distorted with heavy effects, combined with crunchy, hard rock guitar riffs. Those expecting to hear the lighter jazz-funk side of Galactic were blasted by the hard sounds.
The night ended with the stellar collaboration between Galactic and Grace Potter on Zepplin's "Whole Lotta Love" and an all-star jam on Zep's "Immigrant Song" with both MCs onstage. Grace Potter's sexual-energy controlled the stage, and this performance showed why she's a stand out in the male dominated world of rock & roll.
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