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Indigo Girls offer folk flavored femininity |
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Written by and photos by ANDY ARGYRAKIS
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Monday, 19 September 2005 |
Halfway through the Indigo Girls' Park West set on Monday night, they belted out the empowering lines “Lay down your weapons and love your neighbor as yourself.” The lyrics, taken from the track “Our Deliverance,” may have been idealistic, but they were undoubtedly sincere and aptly summarized one of the pair's many missions.
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Indigo Girls
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 Entertainment
 Art
Park West
Chicago, Ill.
September 19, 2005
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Since their inception in 1987, Emily Sailers and Amy Ray have been pleading for peace, encouraging equality, reaching out for various social platforms and sticking to their beliefs in lieu of controversy. Perhaps that combination made the response during that particular selection especially mighty, and on a larger scale, accounted for the duo's continued longevity.
Despite being a bit hard to find on mainstream radio as of late, the second of a three-night stand in Chicago verified the group's staying prowess and dedicated fan base. And that fact was confirmed over and over again in what could've very well been dubbed a karaoke concert where diehards knew just about all the words to almost everything present. Some prominent cases in point included the obligatory “Closer To Fine,” “It's Alright” and “Power of Two.” Stylistically, these staples fell within folk and pop boundaries during which the Girls traded off vocals and rotated through a variety of acoustic guitars and mandolins.
They took the energy level up several notches with the country flavored barnburner “Chicken Man,” an aggressive, somewhat rugged romp that speed up so fast, the players almost lost count. Yet they rebounded with a mixture of goofiness and grace that paved the way for the introspective “The Wood Song.” Also along for the ride were several cuts from the Girls' 2004 CD “All That We Let In.” Like its past catalogue, the project is filled with easygoing instrumental expressions and brooding observations (like “Fill It Up Again” and “Heartache For Everyone”).
But even with these areas of enjoyment, the show wasn't without its shortcomings. For starters, the fact that the Girls spent most of their time on acoustic guitars made many tracks sound incredibly alike after while. Even within the first hour, casual observers were likely to have felt like tunes were being repeated, when they were in fact just similar bi-products of the sparse setting.
As a result of that stripped down approach, some songs lacked the fleshed out feeling of a backing band on record, missed most noticeably during “Get Out the Map” and “Yield.” Still, there was no denying that the nearly sold out house was pleased and all were especially comfortable in the intimate and acoustically sound venue.
Considering they were the ones who've supported the Indigo Girls' various causes through the years and continue to pack out shows, those were the opinions that mattered most and the ones likely to keep the duo doing what they've been since “Strange Fire” hit streets nearly two decades ago. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
