I love the Indigo Girls, there's really no other way to put it, and the Zoo is one of the best venues to see them (except for receiving the only mosquito bites of the whole summer). I have seen them maybe a dozen times or more over the years, with different band configurations, but I somehow always miss the shows where it's just the two of them, until this concert. The night started out with Becky Warren and her band. A little on the country/Americana side, Warren presented songs from her new album, War Surplus, a semi-autobiographical work about a newly married couple, Scott and June, Scott's deployment overseas, his return and struggle with PTSD. The songs cover pretty intense subject matter, but Warren made it personal as she explained the storyline and the background. The band was tight, and singer Mary Bragg also joined on a couple of songs. I love discovering 'new' acts, and tonight, I added Becky Warren and Mary Bragg to the rotation. I think it's really cool when the headlining act picks their opening act (sometimes they don't and there's no connection or support) because you may get some crossover, like when Folk Uke opened for the Jayhawks, and that's what happened (more later).
As the crew was clearing off the stage from Becky and the band, I noticed they weren't replacing any equipment, no new set of drums, keyboards, violins, and I thought, hmm, this could be interesting. Sure enough, the two of them walked on stage, to the crowd's cheers, and started of with "Jonas and Ezekiel", one of my favorite songs, honestly, the night was filled with my favorite songs. I think it's fair to say that they tend to alternate between songs written by Amy and Emily (they do not usually write together), trading lead vocals. If you might think that two women with guitars are just going to sing gentle, quiet folk songs, you are seriously mistaken. Emily traded off between acoustic, electric and electric banjo and Amy switched between acoustic guitars and mandolin, and they had their 'quiet' songs, but had no problem filling the amphitheater with rock on songs like "Go", "Driver Education", "Shame on You", naming just a few. The night covered pretty much every album, going back to Strange Fire with "Land of Canaan", which I don't think I have ever heard live.
The crowd was fully participative, and took this job very seriously, singing loudly on "Watershed" and "Ghost", giving up a big cheer when Emily sings "And the Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota". Emily's songs tend to have these big choruses. I was thrilled that they did Amy's songs "Devotion", and "Spread the Pain Around" and "Rise of the Black Messiah" (which is about the mass incarceration and executions of black men, specifically at Angola Prison in Louisiana). This was a pretty magical night, because they each did a song from their solo albums; Amy sang "More Pills" from Goodnight Tender, with Mary Bragg and Becky Warren joining on backing vocals; and Emily sang "Train Inside" from her just released album, Murmuration Nation, just her on guitar. Jonatha Brooke, recently moved to the Twin Cities, came on stage and sang "So Much Mine" with Emily on harmonies. One of the constants of an Indigo Girls set is "Closer to Fine", an opportunity to bring on any guests they have and for the audience to sing one last time; Jonatha and Becky joined, Amy provided the whistle, and we all sang.
The experience of an Indigo Girls is not easily captured in a one dimensional blog, even with videos and photos (which are admittedly crappy, and I apologize), but their performances are transcendent; it's not just music, it's a sense of community, and not just the GLBTQ community, it's all everyone, an incredibly inclusive community; it's uplifting, even the songs looking about tough topics; a feeling that we are all in it together; the Indigo Girls are invested in their message, and back it up in words and actions. Their music has touched a lot of people, and this night was no different.
