Indigo Girls

Recently I attended an Indigo Girls show at Tipitina's Uptown in New Orleans. I tried to think back to the times I've seen them. First time: Jazz Fest afternoon show. Skipped out of school early with friends senior year of high school. 1993. Liberating, sunny, beautiful afternoon in the grass. Sometime mid-college. New Orleans. 1995? Some arena setting. Wrote a paper about it for anthropology class. Summer of 1995, Denver. Another time somewhere around here, another arena setting, with sister and friends, the least favorite of the shows, where we joked that they played every song we never wanted to hear. The glorious Chastain Park, summer of 1999 (I think). And that was the last time. Beautiful, outside, transcendent, circled back to that first Jazz Fest show.

Can't believe it had been 10 years. Because I am a nerd and like my iPhone's notes function, I typed the songs in as they played on Saturday night. This is organized by album and not by order of when played in show and will likely only appeal to longtime fans. Basically all you need to know about the setting is that it was standing room only at Tipitina's, shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip with strangers and friends, totally smoky (only downside), and that the crowd was very enthusiastic and it was basically one big massive singalong. The Girls seemed psyched to be there and very moved to be playing at Tipitina's -- one thing about shows in New Orleans is that the artists really romanticize the city and love it, which makes for a cool vibe. Amy Ray definitely dominated; she also rarely wiped the huge grin from her face, which was endearing; Emily's voice was still really beautiful but was a little tired every now and then. Emily said to the sweaty crowd that it's like taking a bath all the time when you're in New Orleans. Only missed opportunity: Southland in the Springtime. Seemed like a no brainer to me. Major annoyance: couple next to me who slumped over each other's shoulders, closed their eyes, and swayed back and forth the entire night, bumping me with every sway, like they were on their own personal dance floor or competing on Slow Dancing with the Stars. Otherwise, no complaints. Okay, here goes. (I'm going to link to some video, high quality if possible, for some of these ... not necessarily from this show but good recordings. Some of them will include Brandi Carlile, just because that makes me happy.)

Indigo Girls

Land of Canaan: Super fun, of course.

Closer to fine: Last song before encore. Audience member bid $9,000 to walk onstage, drink in hand, to sing final verse onstage with the band and get CD recording of it. She really knocked it out and turns out my friend knows her. She is an OBGYN. Money went to charity (Sweet Home New Orleans).

Nomads, Indians, Saints

Watershed: This one came out of the blue for me and I was so glad they played it. What a beautiful song. One of my all-time favorites.

Rites of Passage

Galileo (2nd encore song, last song of show, with Bonerama -- lots of horns, random but good): Since Closer to Fine and Shame On You had already been played, I was having trouble thinking of a really upbeat encore song. I turned to my sister and said, "I guess all they can play last is Chickenman?" She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Um, GALILEO!?" Duh. Obviously. She is smart. It was a fantastic closer.

Swamp Ophelia

Power of Two
Least Complicated

These are not my 2 favorites from this album -- Mystery and The Wood Song and Language or the Kiss are -- but they were fun to sing along to and the crowd loved them.

Shaming of the Sun

Get Out the Map: My sister and I worked on a top 10 of all time list to kill time while driving to New Orleans, and I'm pretty sure this made it, though we didn't write it down so I can't remember. I never thought they would play it, and it was great to hear. Meant something to my brother since he's leaving for a 3-week Europe backpacking trip in a week. Beautiful song.

Shame on you: I've always really loved this one; also a surprise to hear. Really fun in concert, clearly. Almost explosive joy from the crowd.

Come On Now Social

Oziline: I have never really gotten into this album.
Go: Ditto.

Become You

Become You: Decent song, kind of random. Not my fave from this album, but I like it well enough. (Those would be Deconstruction, Collecting You, Hope Alone, Our Deliverance, and She's Saving Me, all of which I love.)

All That We Let In

Fill It Up Again: They played these back to back and I felt they were totally random.
Heartache for Everyone -- Cute songs, sure, but nothing epic.

My two favorite songs from this album are the title track and Come On Home. It would have been nice to hear them in the place of these, but I am not going to quibble.

Prom (Amy Ray Solo Album)

Let It Ring: She did this onstage by herself and blew the roof off the place; hard to put into words; beautiful; spiritual; a prayer. Awesome!

Posiedon and the Bitter Bug (New Album)

Love of our Lives
Sugar Tongue
Driver Education
What Are You Like
Ghost of the Gang
Digging for Your Dream
Fleet of Hope: My fave song on new album.

when I was a girl

all of my fancy took flight

and I had this dream

could outshine anything

even the darkest night

now I wait like a widow

for someone to come back from sea

I've always known

I was waiting for me

I'll Change: My 2nd fave song on new album.
Second Time Around: First encore song.

It was a wonderful road trip with my sister and her new husband and our little brother. We ate pizza on a Magazine Street sidewalk and drank beer beforehand. We sang until we were hoarse. The staff held tall stacks of plastic cups to hand concertgoers on the way out to pour their drinks into and carry out into the night. We didn't get home until morning. When I woke up, my hair and pores and pillowcase smelled like smoke. I'm a little too old for that. But I will always go back to see the Indigo Girls. I love them forever!