the indigo girls are amazing musicians. this is obvious. they are also amazing people, which has not always been obvious to me. maybe it was my learned response to the homosexual community; a response that has been wrong, though many may have viewed it as righteous. i guess i objectify people very easily. no, i don’t guess. i know i do that. i automatically see ‘fat’ or ‘thin’, ‘pretty’ or ‘ugly’, ‘nice’ or ‘butthole’. this is not unique, i know, but what sets me apart is my subconscious choice to allow that person to remain labeled this way. in other words, i have to work to see people as people. they easily are merely objects to my evil mind.
well, i say all of this to describe my struggle with people that are superficially different than me. the crowd waiting for the doors to open at the indigo girls’ recent jacksonville concert could not have been more so. for those who do not know, amy and emily (the ‘girls’) are lesbians. thus, their fan base is largely homosexual. i would be foolishly mistaken to say that they are known for their sexual preference. their music speaks for itself. they need no extra publicity to sell albums, but this explains the crowd’s superficial difference from me.
now, i use the word ‘superficial’ because the major difference between myself and these folks is surface. not wanting to dig too deep into personal philosophy and theological debate, let me simply say that human beings are human beings. we are searching for something bigger. we need love, and perfect love that cannot see our flaws. we also long to love someone else in this same way. this connects me with a lesbian at a concert or an elderly gentleman bagging my groceries with the same strength of connection.
okay, hoping i have not bored you or made you angry… i press on. :)
i arrived at the florida theatre, where i saw dar williams earlier this year, at about 7:25pm or so. i had purchased my ticket over the phone, and was told doors would open at 7:30pm. after picking up my ticket at the box office window, i headed to the restroom, not wanting to miss any show to tinkle. while in the bathroom, i had a funny thought. i think the greatest thing about being homosexual would be the bathroom situation. think about how many conversations have to be stalled in order to split ways to go to different restrooms. i go to the movies with my mama when i am in orlando. we usually philosophize about the movie, and each of these conversations have to be stopped when we head to the restrooms. when i am with female friends or a current romantic interest, the same thing happens. if i was homosexual, i would never have to split ways with my significant others while in the restroom. we could continue our conversation without pause. this is a big draw for me, since i love to gab. i decided not to become homosexual, but i thought i would share my funny musing.
okay, so i had been standing at the doors for less than 5 minutes when they opened them up and let us in. my seat was 13 rows back… seat 13. i am so thankful i made it out of the concert alive with this extremely unlucky seating assignment. i was alone for a while, and decided to jot down some notes. i noticed the blue stage lights and realized that i love blue stage lighting. it seemed that there may have been some light red mixed in with the blue, but the color was perfect. i was soon joined by folks on either side of me. unfortunately, some yuppy scum decided they did not need to be on time, and their seats happened to be on my row. i wish… aauuugh, i hate it when folks are late!!?! okay, sorry for the out burst, but it bugs me. i am often late to things, but concerts?? never.
okay, so the opening act was paul melancon. (i had thought it was ‘mellenson’ based on the pronunciation.) well, he had a band with him, and i really enjoyed him. he started with an acoustic guitar, but played 5 different guitars, i think, during his 8 or 9 song set. he sang lead, and his bass player sang harmonies. he also had a drummer (who was amazing), and a female lead guitarist. y’all, this woman was amazing. first of all, she wore a floral print skirt with a polyester blouse, and… she could wail on the guitar. that outfit and skill made me grin and sway a bit to their music. they were a lot of fun, and their style was eclectic, though a few of their songs reminded me of r.e.m. paul came back on stage for the last song that the girls played, and with that segue…
see, i had read that this leg of the girls’ tour was acoustic, so the band set-up scared me before i saw that an opening band would be playing. they got rid of every instrument and set up a clothed table in the center of the stage. there were capos and water bottles on top. then, the girls arrived. there set list is as follows:
1. hammer and nail; from ‘nomads indians saints’
2. become you; from ‘become you’
3. get out the map; from ‘shaming of the sun’ (amy on mando; emily on banjo)
(at this point, amy pointed out a ‘badass stained glass guitar lamp’ that was propped uo behind her on the stage. a man had made it for them, and they had all the house lights turned down to show it off. it gave me this spookily right feeling.)
4. starkville; from ‘become you’
5. power of two; from ‘swamp ophelia’
6. yield; from ‘become you’ (amy on mando; emily on guitar)
7. deconstruction; from ‘become you’ (during the first few lines of this one, someone in the crowd yelled, “this is a great song!”, and emily lost her concentration, stopped playing, laughed along with the crowd and began again.)
8. shame on you; from ‘shaming of the sun’
9. cold beer and remote control; from ‘come on now social’
10. ozilline; from ‘come on now social’ (amy on mando; emily on banjo)
(amy shared her that she had taken a great nap on a park bench in the city earlier that day. then she said, in reference to it being the day before election day, “we don’t even know yet if democracy works because everyone doesn’t vote yet. let’s try that out.” folks chuckled, of course, but they got the message, too.)
11. hope alone; from ‘become you’
12. chickenman / bitterroot; from ‘rites of passage’ / ‘become you’
13. collecting you; from ‘become you’
14. dairy queen; a brand new song (amy played mando and sang alone on stage. emily had not learned the song.)
15. closer to fine; from ‘indigo girls’
16. jonas and ezekial; from ‘rites of passage’
17. land of canaan; from ‘indigo girls’
18. our deliverance; from ‘become you’ (amy on fat mando; emily on guitar)
19. galileo; from ‘rites of passage’
encore:
20. least complicated; from ‘swamp ophelia’
21. kid fears; from ‘indigo girls’ (paul joined the girls to sing harmony vocals.)
the girls both played guitar on the songs where it is not noted otherwise. i was so grateful to be at this concert. i was writing like crazy on my ticket envelope because i did not know all of the song titles (i am not so great at those, anyway.), and i wanted to remember lyrics so that i could later look up the set list. of course, they post their set lists on their site, which i was unaware of, and now i have the whole thing in front of my on the computer screen.
ummm, not much other news. i went alone, so i was gone pretty quickly, and back home. go buy an indigo girls c.d., or at least listen to them… here you go. ain't i nice??
you can visit there site here.
enjoy.
