Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real
California State Fair, Sacramento
July 25, 2024
Photos by Paul Piazza
Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real (POTR) recently played a headlining show at the California State Fair in Sacramento. Nelson, the son of 91 year old country titan Willie Nelson, is a very talented and energizing performer. Nelson shines as a frontman who plays a scorching lead bluesy guitar and sings in an emotive twang that is somewhat reminiscent of his father. According to lore, he was obsessed with the electric guitar as a youngster and particularly infatuated with guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was very likely in his room and practicing for hours every day as a youngster. Naturally, that and growing up being surrounded with a musically rich environment most likely forged his path and his sound, which is a tasty bit of a blend of alternative country and bluesy rock.
The origins of Promise of the Real date back to 2008 when Nelson met drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert. Later, bassist Corey McCormick (Chris Cornell) joined and they toured together as a trio for over half a decade. Eventually the group added keyboardist Logan Metz and percussionist Tato Melgar and became a five piece and have remained that way ever since. Along with all of the great music they have written, some of their career highlights include going on tour as Neil Young’s band and garnering a role in the film A Star Is Born as Jackson Maine’s (Bradley Cooper) backing band. On this night, Xander Hitzig was also sitting in with the band on fiddle and guitar. Hitzig had performed at Sacramento’s legendary blues spot The Torch Club the previous night and Nelson was in attendance as well, much to the surprise of local patrons.
POTR have been at it now for over 15 years and they have achieved a reputation as a high energy live outfit who play super tight and engaging music. They’ve released eight records over this time span and their most recent is 2023’s “Sticks and Stones.” So it came as a bit of a surprise, that prior to this tour, it was announced that after this brief summer run they would go on “an indefinite hiatus” as they will take a lengthy pause to pursue other projects. But they “do intend to work together again in the future.”
Naturally, it seemed that the stakes were high to those of us who had heard this news. It would likely be the final time we’d be seeing Lukas and POTR, at least for an indefinite while. And at a State Fair stop in Sacramento, with only four gigs remaining as a band afterwards. Surprisingly, no mention was made of the hiatus by the band on this Thursday evening. They simply got down to business right away when they hit the State Fair stage. Perhaps it would have altered the mood of the show? Hard to tell. Nonetheless once they got going, the band was locked in, fine tuned and firing on all cylinders with high efficiency.
The majority of the songs played in the set were from the band’s killer debut album “Promise of the Real” and 2016’s “Something Real.” They hit a few others in between. All good stuff. Some of the early highlights were “Fooled Me once,” “(Forget About) Georgia” and “Carolina.” The set kept building and building and Nelson’s guitar playing, particularly on the Telecaster, got more and more heated. The band played “Find Yourself” (which was co-written by Lady Gaga) and things got downright convulsive onstage and in the crowd. The band extended this tune to great new lengths and pumped the audience for all they were worth with the dangling relationship heart wringer as Nelson and the band poured it on pretty heavily. The crowd response was emotional and strong.
By the time things ended with the song “Something Real,” it felt that the band could have kept on going all night long, but they didn’t. The entire set length was 70 minutes, which is probably average for a State Fair gig. Either way, it did feel like they had given us a great set. Regarding the band’s impending hiatus, it seemed like the majority of the crowd were unaware of this and it was likely a good call not to bring it up after all on this night. Just give the people what they want on a somewhat cool for Sacramento mid summer Thursday night.
Only the future can tell us what paths Lukas and the Promise of the Real will pursue, but one can be sure they will all be worth checking in on. Some would like Nelson to be the savior of country music, others would like to see him continue to explore all the realms in his own quirky fashion. It’s also very likely he is pulling away to be more available to his father, who at the age of 91, continues to remain on the road and touring. One thing is certain: he will pursue an engaging path regardless, and it’s likely that all of his talented bandmates in POTR will do the same.
Links:
