Last night I saw the Indigo Girls at San Francisco's Fillmore. I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again: Seeing the Indigo Girls live in San Francisco is an experience unlike any other. They are incredibly beloved by their fans, and they love right back, and in San Francisco, just multiply that by a factor of ten and you have the energy at last night's concert.
I hadn't even checked out who the opening act was, so when a very young-looking woman with long dark hair, two bald guys who looked like twins, and a guy with a cello came out, I asked the Indigo Girls fan standing next to me. She said, "That's Brandi Carlile," which meant nothing to me.
The 26-year-old Carlile is from Seattle, and her band consists of twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth and Josh Neuman on cello. She's apparently gotten quite a bit of exposure on the
Gray's Anatomy soundtrack, which is off my radar. Her second album,
The Story, came out in April of this year, was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who also produced the soundtrack for the Coen Brothers film,
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, as well as the soundtrack to
Walk the Line.
Last night, Carlile started to sing, ripping through a song called "What Can I Say" that made me want to put the concert on hold and go home and buy it so I could listen to it forty million times again. It's really just an alt/folk little sad heartbroken love song, but between her gorgeous voice and the beautiful tune and the pure simplicity of the lyrics, it was irresistable. It's got a video, much tamer than the live version, but it gives you an idea.
More Carlile, more video, and the Indigo Girls, including a set list, under the jump.
She followed with a couple of numbers that were a letdown to me; the lyrics were a bit banal, and the band didn't catch fire. Then she snapped back with a gut-ripped rendition of what I later learned was her best-known number, "The Story." The official video is
here, but this is a live version -- the quality isn't great, but it has more of the raw beauty of last night's performance.
She delivered another couple of numbers that didn't make much of an impression on me, then laughed, said she was "going country," and tossed out a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison" that was so full of energy and life that it just made the listlessness of the earlier numbers stand out all the more sharply. Another song or two that didn't do much for me, then she sent her band offstage and, with just her guitar for accompaniment, sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." I have seven versions of this song on my iPod: Three by Cohen, one by Rufus Wainwright, one by Jeff Buckley, one by kd lang, one by Bono. Make that eight, because I just bought hers. Her arrangement and delivery owed a lot to lang's rendition, and that voice is a hard one to compete with, but she did it, by breaking and cracking in true Cohen fashion. It was breathtaking, and the audience went nuts.
She did "Cannonball" with Amy and Emily of the Indigo Girls, but despite the energy the crowd met their idols' arrival with, it fell flat for me. I know it's hard to believe that this is a positive review, but I bought her music the next day, and my date bought one of Carlile's CDs before we got out of the Fillmore, and that's the acid test for me. Her voice isn't absolutely consistent live, but god, it's gorgeous when it's right. She seemed nervous in the beginning, which is kind of endearing, and her rapport with the crowd was exceptional. I'd see her again in a minute. Also, Brandi? Please give me your boots. Thanks.
Now, the Indigo Girls.
I'm not a fan of their recordings and have exactly three of their songs on my iPod. But live? There's almost nothing to touch them. Seeing them perform is like watching pure light pouring down from the sky, shattering into a thousand pieces on the stage, and showering like confetti all over the audience.
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers trade off lead vocals and swap out guitars, banjos, and mandolins on every song. They're consummate professionals who have never lost their connection to their fans, who respond with worship. They sang favorites old and new, including "Closer to Fine" with Carlile singing along, which was for me the highlight of the night.
Indigo Girls Set List
Devotion
Pendulum Swinger
Become You
It's Alright
Money Made You Mean
Fill It Up Again
Heartache For Everyone
Power Of Two
Three County Highway
Run
World Falls
Hope Alone
Dairy Queen
Get Out The Map
Go
The Wood Song
Johnny Rottentale (Amy Ray solo)
Lay My Head Down
Kid Fears (With Brandi Carlile)
Closer To Fine (With Brandi Carlile)
Encore:
Tried To Be True (With Brandi Carlile and her band)
Last Tears (With Brandi Carlile)
Rock And Roll Heaven's Gate (With Brandi Carlile and her band)
Galileo (With Brandi Carlile)