The Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge delivered the old gold at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sunday, Aug. 31, the stuff for which fans know and love them and will continue to know and love them: rawness, passion, power, message, and, in the Indigo Girls’ case, amazing harmonies.
Both acts had very few shiny bells and whistles in terms of eye-popping background graphics, innovative lighting effects, choreography, flashy costuming, etc… relying instead on vocal and instrumental strengths and rich songwriting, the true gold that glitters.
Etheridge, the more costumed, if you can call it that, opened wearing a black cowboy hat, black jacket with metallic glitter, black pants and what looked like bulky black high-tops. The Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, showed up in a sleeveless white shirt and black jeans with hanging suspenders, and a distressed red T shirt and jeans, respectively. For me, this few-frills wardrobe just accentuated the richness of their messages and talent.
Having performed since the 1980s, both groups are now in their 60s, but the decades seem to have done little to wear down their intensity and energy, the quality of their voices, or their relevance.
Etheridge, whose facial expressions and twinkling eyes conveyed humor, connection with the audience and a kind of rebel self-awareness that said, “Hey, I’ve been belting out these same songs for you for years, and now I’m having the time of my life,” pointed out the passage of time in monologues.
“Let’s go back to the 80s,” Etheridge pondered aloud at one point, “What can you say about the 80s?” then laughed and got the audience laughing by noting that ubiquitous camera phones, perhaps fortunately, weren’t available to record every detail, “So gather round, children, …we can tell the story.
“Bad choices.” Then later, with a laugh, Etheridge said, “The 90s? Same bad choices, just more expensive.”
Etheridge’s wry humor graced many of the oral segues to their powerful, perhaps autobiographically-inspired hits, the raw lyrics of which belied the ease and casualness of her/their stage presence. Examples include: “Don’t You Need,” “I Want to Come Over,” “Mercy,” “Come to my Window,” and “I’m the Only One,” songs with gut-wrenching, visceral honesty that resonate regardless of gender or orientation.
Etheridge, who came out in the 90s, as did the Indigo Girls, openly referred to their wife and the upcoming marriage of their daughter, along with a lengthy anecdote inferring some conflicts with her mother in younger days—but not without love.
As Etheridge shifted toward a sole piano number, “Letting Go,” she shared a memory of her father installing a piano in their small den and teaching herself to play based on guitar knowledge.
“I played around … and kind of mimicked songs” by Bruce Springsteen and others, Etheridge said, noting that as they started trying to write songs on the piano, their mother, listening in from another room, said, “Missy, you’re just making things up.”
Etheridge laughingly recalled that years later, her mother mused, “Well, I guess things turned out all right.”
The theme of family recurred, ironically enough, before “Born Under a Bad Sign,” where Etheridge talked about performing at SPAC in 1988 and how a couple attending the concert had “started following me around like The Grateful Dead.”
“Every time I played, this family came to see me in the Northeast… and it became kind of a strange road family.”
Etheridge went on to say that the matriarch of the “road family” bequeathed a 1979 guitar that had belonged to her brother. When he died, the guitar was gifted to Etheridge, who said it was a great instrument and had been brought along – amidst a large collection—especially for the bluesy “Born Under a Bad Sign.”
“I think they (the “road family”) are here tonight,” Etheridge said looking into the center section, and nearby fans responded by pointing their camera flashlights at the couple.
“The Letting Go,” while gentler than Etheridge’s hard-rocking guitar hits, was equally poignant, tracing the breakup of a relationship with lyrics such as, “I can say goodbye now that the passion’s done, still it comes so slow, the letting go…piece by piece I take apart this complicated heart…”
Mid-number, Etheridge interjected lines from Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” resumed “The Letting Go,” then softly brought closure: “I came here to let you know the letting go is taking place.”
“No Souvenirs,” which followed with Etheridge back on electric guitar, continued the theme of consuming love, as did “Mercy” with theatrical sass from Etheridge and strong male backup vocals: “It’s gonna be alright, it’s gonna be OK…oh mercy, mercy baby.”
The theme of obsessive love picked up ballistic energy with “Bring Me Some Water” as Etheridge crooned lyrics such as, “Can’t you see I’m burning alive?” and “Can’t you see it’s out of control… baby’s got my heart, baby’s got my mind, but sweet devil’s got my soul.”
The bluesy crooning alternated with guitar strumming so feverish you thought smoke might appear.
I had seen Etheridge in concert in 2017, and nothing has been lost in their ability to burn up guitar strings or send shivers with the power and pacing of vocals.
Etheridge, despite bringing it with the old gold, had a few new surprises for the audience: a short harmonica solo in “I’m the Only One” and a lengthy and energetic drum duet with drummer Eric Gardner during the closing number, “Like the Way I Do.”
After throwing guitar picks to the audience, Etheridge moved to the drums, then gave away the drum sticks to fans in the front rows.
“Saratoga, nobody loves you like the way I do,” Etheridge shouted before the last chorus of the song, then brought band members forward for a group bow.
“Spread the peace in these times,” Etheridge told the audience before the closing number. “Whatever you do, just fill yourselves up with love. That’s what its all about.”
Icons Ray and Saliers took the stage at 9:25 p.m. after their crew hung a backdrop of a flag in one corner and signage including “What to do if ICE comes…You have rights” and “TACO”, among other politically-charged reminders of the social-conscience facet of their music. Ray’s left arm bore a large tattoo of a wolf in nature, a subtler comment on the Indigo Girls’ earth advocacy.
To the audience’s delight, Etheridge joined Ray and Saliers for part of their opening number, “Kid Fears,” while band mates accompanied with bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, keyboard, backup vocals and violin.
The versatile Carol Isaacs on keyboard later demonstrated her prowess on the accordion for numbers with a Celtic flavor, including the folk ballad, “Faye Tucker,” third in the set.
“On the night they killed Faye Tucker,” Ray began in a strong, clear alto voice before any accompaniment, but by the end of the narrative, Isaacs was making the accordion cry, violinist Lyris Hung sawed away on the fiddle, and other band members added to the haunting intensity of the folk/bluegrass/Celtic mix.
Saliers led the vocals in the fourth song, “Get Out the Map,” with a higher voice, while Ray took a turn on mandolin and provided harmonies. Jeff Fielder, normally on guitar, contributed on dobro.
The Indigo Girls’ trademark harmonies were again showcased in “Devotion” and “Fill It Up Again,” fifth and sixth in the lineup, and those songs were also great examples of the complex lyrics for which the duo is known.
In the past, Saliers has described herself as a “lyric person” influenced by Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and Ray as “more music and lyrics” with a strong interest in alternative rock.
The team has arranged their music together and produced nine albums with major labels between 1987 and 2007 before forming their own production company, IG, in 2009.
Multiple dobros came into play for the lively “Chicano City,” which brought audience members to their feet, dancing, crowing and singing along, “La, la, la, shame on you.”
The tempo sped up even more with the fast-spoken lyrics of “Trouble,” with Ray back on mandolin, and intense strumming on accompanying guitars.
The pace slowed down when Ray introduced the eighth song, “From This Room,” a somewhat mournful but inspirational tune she said she wrote for her country band. With Saliers accompanying on acoustic guitar but not singing, Ray crooned:
Anyone can sing this song
It’s been written a million times
The way we watch our life unfold
And the love comes down the line
I want you to have this light
Hold it up in the darkest night
While you are sleeping on that long, long road
Lucy Wainwright Roche, a guest singer-songwriter whom Ray introduced as traveling with the Indigo Girls for the last couple weeks, sang a soft, sweet solo of one of her songs in the twelfth slot of the lineup, accompanied only by her own acoustic guitar.
Ray and Saliers shared the spotlight again when drummer TK Jones, the newest member of the band, showcased her voice as lead singer for a cover of “Midnight Train to Georgia” while still playing the drums. Meanwhile, Wainwright Roche, Ray and violinist Hung formed a back-up singers’ line to accompany Jones vocally as other band members provided instrumentals.
The spontaneity and humility continued in the next number when the band started playing then suddenly stopped as Saliers said, “All right, what are we doing?” and the audience chuckled.
“Sorry, guys,” Saliers said, “Gotta tune this guitar up in a different key.” A moment later, she apparently found the combination and rallied to lead a moving rendition of the soul-searching, vulnerable “Lay Me Down.”
“I wanna lay my head down on you,” Saliers closed softly. “You’re the only solid thing in this room.”
The tempo ticked up with the fuller sound of guitars and the fiddle for “Chicken Man” and “Galileo,” during which Saliers encouraged the audience to sing along, yelling, “C’mon y’all!”
The show wound down with a powerful social conscience song penned by Ray in tribute to Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who was beaten and left to die outside Laramie, WY in 1998.
“This is for all the trans kids, queer kids, nonbinary kids and their parents and teachers,’’ Ray said. “You gotta love them.”
The song, “Laramie,” started out as a ballad but soon became a passionate instrumental jam, with a long electric guitar interlude by Ray and Fielder that graduated to hard rocking as Ray jumped, reeled and strummed fast and low on her guitar.
Ray and Saliers saved some of their oldest gold for last, closing with their vibrant signature song, “Closer to Fine.” The audience sang, the band played hard, Isaacs delighted fans with a brief Irish flute solo and the harmonies soared.
Solid gold.
Melissa Etheridge Setlist: All American Girl, Angels Would Fall, Don’t You Need, I Want to Come Over, (With lines from Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova”), The Letting Go (With lines from Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road”), No Souvenirs, Mercy, Born Under a Bad Sign (Albert King cover), Come to My Window, Bring Me Some Water, I’m the Only One, Like the Way I Do
Indigo Girls Setlist: Kid Fears, Change My Heart, Faye Tucker, Get Out the Map, Devotion, Fill It Up Again, Chicano City, Trouble, From This Room, Least Complicated, Heartache for Everyone, Original song by guest Lucy Wainwright Roche , Midnight Train to Georgia (Gladys Knight & the Pips cover), Lay Me Down, Chicken Man, Galileo, Laramie, Closer to Fine
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