The Indigo Girls concert Monday night was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I was front row, a little to the left (Amy's side of the stage); sometimes the sound is kind of crappy from the very front, but the sound was pretty good this time. There were so many nice moments. The opening band, Three5Human -- which takes its name from the historical fact that not so very long ago, here in the U.S., Black human beings were officially counted as 3/5 of a human being -- was AMAZING. The lead singer, Trina Meade, has the perfect rock'n'roll voice, huge and full of heart (think Janis Joplin meets Tina Turner); the guitarist, Tomi Martin, plays these awesome rip-your-face-off licks and makes it look effortless. Trina joined Amy & Emily onstage for their old old song "Kid Fears" and I got more goosebumps than I've gotten from music in a long time, and during the encore Trina & Tomi joined them for "Tether" -- all I can say is, if you think Indigo Girls are nice little acoustic folkies, you should have been there with those three electric guitars wailing to the heavens.
It made me think that everyone should have work to do that makes them feel that alive.
Afterwards, a small group of us waited around outside to say hello to Amy & Emily and get quick autographs. They are very very good to their fans and nearly always take the time to greet the hard-core hanger-outers at least briefly, even when (like they were this time) they're tired and it's cold. While we were waiting, Carol Isaacs (their keyboard player) came around and offered us all chocolates, really good ones too. (I love her!) The Indigo Girls appreciate their fans, and make a point of saying so, more than any other musicians I can think of at their level of well-knownitude. Every time I see them it's like they are actually surprised, and very pleased, that we all know the words to many of their songs and that we stand and dance along or sit and listen intently. "Wow. Thanks, y'all!" It's so endearing.
It makes me think that none of us do our creative work in a vacuum; that we are all in conversation with whatever audience we imagine, and with our peers and our influences; that being listened to (or read) is an amazing gift; that on a good day it is a very, very lucky thing just to be alive.
7 comments:
I love the Indigo Girls. I've never heard them perform live (I've gone to only a tiny handful of live music concerts), but I always like listening to them.
"It made me think that everyone should have work to do that makes them feel that alive."
and
"It makes me think that none of us do our creative work in a vacuum..." (the whole last paragraph).
Yes yes yes yes yes! ;~)
(The ever-reliable Blogger has been having server problems off and on this evening -- I tried posting a comment here a little earlier this evening but got a server error message. Here's hoping this one takes.)
Lyle: You're in or near Mpls, right? They're playing at the State Theater on Sunday. You should go! They're in Mankato on Monday, but I don't know where that is so I don't know if it would be a reasonable drive for you. If Ticketmaster only has lousy tickets left, I bet I have enough Indigo-fan contacts to find you someone selling decent ones, most likely at face value. Seriously, I guarantee it will be an excellent show.
And yeah, Blogger was being a pain for me most of the evening, too. I think it crashed right after I posted, actually. Eek, maybe I broke it!
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I wanted to say that I so much agree with the last paragraph of your post, about what we create being part of the conversation.
I couldn't agree more--doing work that brings out that kind of goodness in your own soul is quite a gift from the universe. We should all be so lucky.
I've only seen the IGs briefly--they did a segment of the Newport Folk Fest on tour several years ago. I'd love to see them on their own, and in a small venue. Glad your had such a great time.
Anne, thanks for the word about the Indigo Girls playing here. Unfortunately this weekend is already overcrowded for me -- won't be able to do it.
The State Theater should be a good venue for them -- beautiful old building with the original gray stone facade in front.
I love the Indigo Girls. They rarely come over to the Uk but a few years ago I was able to see them in concert three times in six months which just about makes up for the usual lack of their being over here. They are excellent in concert.
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