Written by: Geoff Tischman

It may have been freezing outside, but inside the Capitol Theatre the other night (1/18), it felt like a warm summer night in 1977.

Touring behind her latest album Mother Road, Grace Potter and her band played a scorching set filled with bluesy swagger and a pure rock and roll heart and by the end of the show nobody would remember the frigid temperature lurking just outside the doors of the Cap.

Potter, playing in front of a retro gas station motif, was a typhoon of energy, ripping through numbers like “Lady Vagabond” and “Ready Set Go” with commanding ferocity.

Her band was fabulous and while they stormed through “Good Time” and “Lion The Beast The Beat,” it was hard to take your eyes off Potter and her Gibson Flying V.

There were riveting covers like her take on Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” and Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” (along with opener Brittney Spencer) and the show ended with a brilliant reading of “Stars” which is a track Potter recorded with her old band The Nocturnals.