Venue: Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA)
Date: June 17, 2007
Opener: Thao Nguyen
Despite the Rainy Day
It's always a little bit of a downer when a summer concert series kicks off in mid-June in Seattle. Despite the festivities half-way across town (the Fremont neighborhood celebrating its Solstice Festival), summer hasn't officially begun here or anywhere else in this hemisphere. While most of the country kicks back on its front porch with a fiddle and a glass of mojito, here in Seattle, it's still acceptable if it's a little chilly and overcast. Or, as this particular evening would have it, there's an ever-present rain—too light for an umbrella, too persistent to ignore.
Thao Nguyen
The show kicks off with opener Thao Nguyen, whose vocals call to mind, alternately, KT Tunstall and Jewel, while her band plays music that feels as if it's dangling between reggae, pop and circus music. She didn't have a lot of friends growing up, she admits, so she learned how to beatbox.Standing onstage in front of a large lawn strewn with soggy, cynical Seattleites, Nguyen plays as well as humanly possible for a relatively unknown singer/songwriter, and I make a mental note to see her some other time in a venue better suited to her craft.
Indigo Girls and Their Special Guest
The Indigo Girls, however, are seasoned pros. They hit the stage on time, on the dot, welcoming their dedicated crowd (some of these folks, I find out, were waiting in line near to seven hours), and looking on the bright side. "At least it's nice and warm," Emily Saliers says before the Girls open their set with a brand new song.At the back of the stage is Brandi Carlile camping out, sitting just out of view of 2/3 of the crowd and indicating that it's only a matter of time before she is introduced as the evening's special guest. In fact, the whole show quickly turns into the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile Show, much to the appreciation of the crowd. In addition to singing backup on several Indigo Girls tunes ("Last Tears," "Galileo," "Kid Fears," and more), Carlile sings the final verse of "Closer to Fine," and leads the Girls in Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," as well as her own "Cannonball."
Indeed, the only thing that can trump the sweet counterpoint harmonies of the Indigo Girls is to throw an incredibly strong third voice into the mix. It becomes quite clear I'm not alone in thinking Carlile and the Girls make a chills-inducing vocal combination, and the presence of the night's guest is more than welcome.
Highlights
Other highlights that don't feature Carlile include "Pendulum Swinger," "Money Made You Mean," "Shame on You," and crowd favorite "Get Out the Map."Alternating between guitar, mandolin and banjo, Saliers and Ray trade lead vocal duties in the typical musical tennis match that has come to characterize their records and live shows. Notably, though, their musicianship feels far more cohesive in this year's performance than it did on their most recent recording—last year's Despite Our Differences (Hollywood, 2006). Maybe it's the rain, or maybe it's just the excellence of their decades-long collaboration, but the Indigo Girls show no signs of letting any of it slow them down.
