“Why would you want to be anywhere else?”
The question — more of a statement, really — came from the group walking behind me as I crossed Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., last weekend. The sun was finally relenting as a much-needed breeze swept across the crowded street, but the almost 90-degree temps had taken some of the fight out of me, and I was flagging a little. After all, to paraphrase the well-known quote from the film Clerks, I wasn’t even supposed to be there.
My brother, Patrick, and I had flown down south to visit our mother. But after realizing a friend of mine was working at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, I made some calls and boom — we were smack in the middle of one of the coolest music festivals on the East Coast. My Morning Jacket, Sparks, Geordie Greep, Built to Spill, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and a ton of other amazing acts packed a killer lineup.
I thought about the overheard comment all weekend: Why would you want to be anywhere else?
I’d voiced that same sentiment multiple times over the years while walking around the rotary in Winooski, marveling at the spectacle and sheer hipster cool of the Waking Windows festival. Hopscotch is a much bigger deal, located in a large, thriving city with oodles of venues and parks. But the minute I arrived there, I felt the nostalgic tug of Waking Windows memories, followed by a sense of loss that the Vermont music scene no longer had that crown jewel.
“It’s so easy to focus on what’s been lost or to say something is crumbling,” Grace Potter told me over Zoom recently as we were talking about the state of Vermont’s music scene. “It gets kind of boring. Like, OK, what are you going to do about it, then?”
Indeed, no one could accuse Potter of sitting on the sidelines. Besides her status as one of the Green Mountain State’s most successful musical exports, the singer, composer and producer launched her own festival, Grand Point North, at Burlington’s Waterfront Park in 2011. For the past 14 years, she’s brought an array of big-time touring acts such as Kenny Chesney, the War on Drugs and Lucius, alongside many Vermont artists.
This year’s iteration, starting on Friday, September 12, and culminating with a sold-out show from jam band Goose on Sunday, September 14, is Potter’s boldest lineup to date. There’s New York City indie-rock bands Melt and Ista, as well as Baltimore singer-songwriter Brittney Spencer, but otherwise the bill is made up of local, female-led groups and artists. Singer-songwriter Grace Palmer, punk-rock bands Slob Drop and the Burly Girlies, Brattleboro synth popper Dutch Experts, rapper Heady Betty, and surf-rock act the Wet Ones! fill out a lineup that Potter is incredibly excited about.
“We’ve got great weirdos on this bill who bring the humor and the atmosphere that makes people want to move here,” she said, the enthusiasm in her voice unmistakable. “I wanted to take some chances with the booking and show off the colorful creatures making art in Burlington and in Vermont. This city’s heartbeat thrives on culture.”
Potter has something special planned for her own performances as well. On Friday and Saturday night, she plays sets backed by the awesome power of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. She first collaborated with the orchestra back in March for sold-out shows at Paramount Theatre in Rutland and the Flynn in Burlington, which is when she met VSO artistic adviser and project conductor Matt LaRocca.
“The first thing I did was ask Grace what she wanted to do with an orchestra,” LaRocca said in a Zoom call. “Are we just adding accents or actually reworking these songs? We drew up a list of 20 songs and started paring down from there, figuring out which songs could really shine with the orchestra.”
Potter grew up seeing the VSO perform outdoor concerts, so not long after meeting LaRocca, she knew she wanted to collaborate for Grand Point North and bring the show to the Burlington waterfront. And while she was nervous at first about feeling like the rock and roller among highly trained classical musicians, that feeling didn’t last long.
“I’ve worked with orchestras before, in Norway and even at the Kennedy Center, and yeah, it was a little odd. I felt pretty out of place,” Potter admitted. “But Matt’s specific energy as a conductor and a leader never really let that happen this time. His willingness to explore beyond the bounds of what’s on the sheet is just so incredible and unique.”
For LaRocca, expanding and reworking Potter’s songs was a thrilling endeavor. He zeroed in on tracks such as “The Lion the Beast the Beat,” “Little Hitchhiker” and some of the music from her most recent albums, Mother Road and the T Bone Burnett-produced Medicine.
“The effect of what Matt and the orchestra are doing to the songs is just wild to hear,” Potter said. “It’s like rewilding a field and watching the seeds grow.”
“I started by just listening to the songs, over and over,” LaRocca said. “Then, I’d pull away from it and let my imagination just run with the possibilities. And that’s where you can start hearing different melodies appear, or notice some things already there that the orchestra can amplify.”
For Potter, the collaboration with the VSO and her daring, eye-on-the-scene booking all represent something of a new era for Grand Point North. She has more control than ever, having refashioned the event into a showcase for her newly formed nonprofit, the Grand Point Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting arts and culture in her home state. She hopes to use the foundation and her status as one of the state’s leading musical lights to help guide the scene out of a turbulent time.
“The scene is just so full of talent right now, even with fewer stages or venues for people to play,” Potter said. “Just imagine what it could be like with a bigger spotlight.”
I’m not sure if we’ll ever see something like Waking Windows again — check out this week’s On the Beat for an event that strives to get there, though. But Grand Point North has evolved into a singularly cool festival in itself. Here’s hoping that people look out at Lake Champlain as Potter and VSO make beautiful music together and ask one another: “Why would you want to be anywhere else?”
The original print version of this article was headlined “Classical Rock | Grace Potter and the VSO at Grand Point North”
This article appears in Sep 10-16 2025.
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