lifeblood: listlogs: 2009v11n054-news

ig-news-digest saturday, june 27 2009 volume 11 : number 054

today's subjects:
-----------------
[ig-news] show review from the grand rapids press [sherlyn koo <sherlyn@p]
[ig-news] amy interview from duluth news tribune [sherlyn koo <sherlyn@pi]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

date: sat, 27 jun 2009 10:29:13 +1000
from: sherlyn koo <sherlyn@pixelopolis.com>
subject: [ig-news] show review from the grand rapids press

hey folks,

here's a review of the grand rapids show, from the grand rapids press
you can read it online at http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/06/the_indigo_girls_electrify_fan.html

cheers,
sherlyn

- ---begin forwarded article---

the indigo girls electrify fans at frederik meijer gardens in grand rapids
posted by john sinkevics | the grand rapids press june 25, 2009 07:29am

the chorus from one of the indigo girls' newest songs resounded through frederik meijer gardens & sculpture park's outdoor amphitheater wednesday night, generating as much on-stage electricity as any of their familiar old hits.

"what are you like, my go-to problem-solver?" amy ray and emily saliers crooned emphatically with their spot-on harmonies. "you shine a light in the darkest corners of my mind, what are you like?"

i'm not sure how the subject of the indigo girls' "what are you like?" might respond, but this veteran folk-rock duo continues to prove it is unlike any other folk-rock outfit, shining their musical light with that rare combination of powerful duets, rock-laced acoustic charm, political defiance and uncompromising social ideals.

as if to prove their loyalty, a fair number of fans in the sold-out crowd of 1,750-plus sang along to just about every word on the seven songs the duo played from the three-month-old album.

as saliers told me earlier, the indigo girls feel confident trotting out new material at their concerts because their disciple-like fan base "is not just dying to hear all the old stuff. our audience is just cool. they're more open-minded to new stuff."

actually, considering the steamy weather, concertgoers might not have been all that "cool" (until an evening breeze rolled through), but they certainly seemed eager to applaud songs from the duo's new cd, "poseidon and the bitter bug."

that doesn't mean they weren't eagerly awaiting those tried-and-true golden nuggets, of course, erupting with raised arms and screams for indigo girls' standards "galileo" and "closer to fine."

there is something undeniably unifying and inspiring about hundreds of people singing lines from "closer to fine" with the band on a sultry summer evening.

this tour's version of the song -- with about a dozen others -- is different and likely better, thanks to the addition of opening act brandi carlile on backing vocals.

after a strong seven-song opening set, the seattle singer-songwriter with the expressive, wide-ranging voice joined the duo and keyboard player julie wolf for a hefty portion of the indigo girls set, adding stunning harmonies to songs such as "world falls" and "don't think twice, it's all right."

another guest, friend and canadian folk singer ferron, who was on her way to a toronto show, joined the band on stage for a tune.

special guests and accompanists aside, it's still the indigo girls' blending of timbres and musical approaches that makes them a unique american institution -- ray's edgier rock vibe balanced against saliers' pristine folk vocals -- with the ability to play and sing almost as one.

after more than two decades, ray and saliers make music that is so natural, so in-sync, so together, they can deliver absolutely pitch-perfect harmonies from the opening note of their opening song, "love of our lives," or change their set list on the fly to accommodate a request.

hey, that's just what they're like.
3 1/2 out of 4 stars

the indigo girls
highlight no. 1: the dance-friendly "shame on you," with a sweet acoustic guitar solo by emily saliers
highlight no. 2: striking three-part harmonies on the encore's "don't think twice, it's all right" (with opening act brandi carlile), followed by crowd-fave "galileo."
time on stage: 1 hour, 44 minutes for indigo girls, 31 minutes for carlile

- -----------------------------------------------------------------
this has been a message from the ig-news list.
please send feedback, questions etc to owner-ig-news@smoe.org.
submissions are welcome - please send these to ig-news@smoe.org.
to unsubscribe send the appropriate command to majordomo@smoe.org:
bounce subscribers: unsubscribe ig-news
digest subscribers: unsubscribe ig-news-digest

------------------------------

date: sat, 27 jun 2009 10:34:33 +1000
from: sherlyn koo <sherlyn@pixelopolis.com>
subject: [ig-news] amy interview from duluth news tribune

hey folks,

here's an amy interview from the duluth news tribune. you can read it online at
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/123709/

cheers,
sherlyn

- ---begin forwarded article---
published june 25 2009
the indigo girls are coming, and there's one song you're sure to hear
by: christa lawler, duluth news tribune

at some point during the indigo girls concert on sunday at big top chautauqua, the woman standing behind you is going to cry out the name of the band's most-requested song, "galileo."

the song from their 1992 album "rites of passage," was the one that gave the indigo girls a boost into mainstream pop culture. and for that, it is their own personal "freebird."

amy ray, the raspy rocker half of the duo, said in a recent phone interview that she thinks it's funny.

"people yell that song out the whole show. ... we always go: 'we're gonna play it. we're gonna play it,' " ray said.

the indigo girls -- ray and emily saliers -- are singer/songwriters/politically engaged musicians who have been friends since elementary school, and in the interim have released 12 studio albums since 1987. their most recent, "poseidon and the bitter bug," was released in march and came after they were dropped by their label. it is packaged as two cds, one with a band, one re-created acoustically.

here ray discusses the new cd, how she writes, her sibling-like relationship with saliers and nostalgia. for more from ray, go to www.areavoices.com/fun.

on the double disc

"it was really our producer's idea, mitchell froom. he was just joking around one day a long time ago -- before we made this record -- about how he thought our fans didn't like him very much because he put too many instruments on our records. they just wanted to hear us by ourselves. that kind of made him think maybe we should do that with this record, you know, just for fun. these songs really lent themselves to it. so we felt like we could do good acoustic versions of all the songs. we set aside a few days at the end of the recording sessions and re-did everything, just me and emily."

on the writing process

"we've always written our songs separately and taken our own creative space and our own time. we don't even live in the same town. we're usually in our writing process in a very alone way. even on the road we have our own dressing rooms. we tend to just spend a lot of time apart because we spend so much time together. the creative process is part of that for us. it's probably one of the things that keeps us alive, together and engaged and energetic -- because we have that space that is just ours. we spend a lot of time working on it, and then we come together before we do our record and spend a month practicing maybe four days a week, working on arrangements, taping things, sorting out harmonies and what instruments we're going to play and what tuning ... and just doing the songs in a lot of different configurations until we find the one we feel is right."

on their relationship

"it's like siblings. i mean, we're friends, but we're more like sisters than anything in the way that we don't hang out all the time together. but we know each other very intimately. and our families know each other and our siblings grew up together, so there is a lot of history and shared kind of experience. you know, we don't really fight. i'm sure we have an undercurrent of sibling rivalry, which i've always thought was interesting. and we've never been lovers or girlfriends, so we always really have been siblings. it's just an interesting dynamic. we don't really fight, but we're very different. we have different opinions. we temper each other in some ways. we wouldn't choose to do the same thing on a day off, for instance."

on songs and nostalgia

"i think you have to have a balance for when you're playing a song. for attaching memories to it, and making it feel current -- a current energy to it. there are some songs we play that are really old. we'll pull out "love's recovery," one of emily's songs. i feel some current-ness to it and it's always going to be a great song to me. but for some reason, some songs have more of a certain sentimental value. that one, for me, really takes me back. i feel emotional in a certain way when i'm playing it. almost like tearing up. it's something i can't even put my finger on. there's just certain songs where i tear up when i'm playing it. i think it's because it reminds me of the beginning days when we first started. when we were playing in high school and early college. we were playing a lot of cover songs and emily was already writing. she was really good and i was catching up. one of the first songs, you know, early. that was on our first record and it was a song emily wrote, an!
d it was a really stand-out song early on."

go see them
who: indigo girls with brandi carlile opening
when: 7:30 p.m. sunday
where: big top chautauqua, near bayfield
tix: $45-$65; call (715) 373-5552, (800) 244-8368, go to www.bigtop.org or e-mail tickets@bigtop.org.

------------------------------

end of ig-news-digest v11 #54
*****************************