<object width="521" height="293"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7756946&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00adef&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7756946&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00adef&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="521" height="293"></embed></object>

As you can see by the video above Grace is in full on "performer" mode on quite a few songs in the set. This is, of course, a good thing. The crowd reacts well to Grace being out front. As she has said herself the addition of Benny and Cat allows her to concentrate more on delivering a great vocal performance since she doesn't always have to have an instrument in her hand. Both show were stellar performances from all involved. I'm really digging Benny's fills especially on the slower songs where his addition to the mix really helps. As someone else pointed out harmony vocals are in evidence in a way they haven't been before. Cat's high harmony on Apologies is especially sweet and Scott, most likely due to the extended Blues and Lasers runs earlier in the year, is now adding a nice second lower harmony to the mix on many tunes, "Tiny Light" being the most recent example. That said, I've never personally been a fan of the new harmonies on "Stop The Bus" - I find them distracting.

Something I hadn't considered before was this - is this now a "girl band"? Grace and Cat are certainly up front but with three guys on stage the balance is just right. As Grace says "We've got girls in the band but we're not a girl band. I don't want it to look like we're trying to do the 'girl' thing but it's clearly a part of it. We just want to rock out first."

As I mentioned before the band really seems to be enjoying themselves. I sense that they're all feeling good about the new record and their own interpersonal relationships. This run with Brett Dennen is short enough to be manageable but long enough to allow them to experiment. One quibble, while the atmospheric echo on "White Rabbit" is all in the name of groovy it was so over the top in NYC as to almost ruin the ending of the song for me. The new stuff is easy to absorb, especially "Goodbye Kiss", "Oasis" and "Tiny Light" - all of which seem right in the GPN wheelhouse. All in all, the band has kicked it up a notch both in music and visual performance. Don't miss your chance to catch them on the road.