The rapid-fire concert announcements that have come our way in the past few weeks mostly pointed toward next spring and beyond. Now, we’ve got something to look forward to a bit sooner, as the Pabst Theater revealed a Feb. 11 date with 88Nine favorite Grace Potter.
The four-time Grammy nominee is first and foremost a delight, evidenced by the Studio Milwaukee Session she treated us to back in 2023. The brightness and fun you can hear in that performance finds their way into much of Potter does, including the recently released Trespasser, her seventh studio effort and a sequel of sorts to Mother Road.
Both of those albums represent a throwback idea of rock and roll that ties it to dirt-swept roads and seemingly interminable stretches of highway disappearing over the horizon. It’s a romantic notion and one that holds up because Potter sounds so damn good. Her voice is a versatile instrument, with a beckoning rasp in quieter moments and a power that demands attention in its most forceful presentation. Couple it with a rock sound that can be rootsy or cosmic or poppy, and you’ve got the ingredients for a memorable live experience.
See it for yourself when Grace Potter comes to the Pabst Theater on Feb. 11, with tickets going on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. this Friday, Nov. 13, online via AXS and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices. If you're reading this right away, you can also listen to 88Nine between Nov. 10 and 13 for a chance to win tickets before they go on sale.
Artist bio
With her new album Trespasser, Grace Potter introduces a beautifully unruly cast of characters who step into forbidden spaces with absolute abandon.
As the spiritual sequel to 2023’s Mother Road, the four-time Grammy nominee’s seventh studio LP continues the kaleidoscopic storyline drawn from bicoastal life between Topanga Canyon, Calif., and the family farm in her native Vermont (a road-trip journey she’s made eight times in the last five years, usually on her own).
But while Mother Road was born from a desperate need for solace in the midst of emotional freefall, Trespasser reveals an artist firmly anchored in her singular vision. The latest chapter in a career marked by endless transformation and elite recognition — including sharing stages with rock-and-roll icons like the Rolling Stones and Robert Plant, and earning praise from legends like Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt —Trespasser ultimately lights the way toward a more unbound and expansive means of moving through the world.
“I believe we need to challenge the way we’ve been told to navigate our lives, because so many of the boundaries we’ve set up aren’t working; we’re not living authentically,” Potter said. “I respect boundaries when they’re clear and meaningful, but when they feel arbitrary or put in place without question, I think we need to push against them.
“So many of those fences exist in our own minds. But when you step beyond them, it completely shifts your perspective. It can open everything up, like suddenly seeing the world in Technicolor.”
