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From Brad

posted on the MEIN Board on 7 Aug 02

Well, I have never wrote a Melissa Etheridge review or even chatted with her online fans before, but last night (7/31/02) she and I spent a truly wonderful evening together in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and so maybe this time I should pen a few notes about my experience. My background: I love Melissa’s music and it has long moved me, ever since that first album in 1988. But I would guess that it was about ‘94-95 when I became a hardcore tour junkie, going to see Melissa three to five times on every tour, and as my budget has allowed it, road-tripping to other US cities to see her live in concert.

But before discussing this concert, let me say that I love several things about her and her music in general (Do you have a minute? Wink, wink). First, she seems to be about as open and honest as a star can be, and I respect that. I recently was doing a little reading on my own personality, and it said I value authenticity in the world and in my friends, which explains that connection! Without knowing Melissa personally, I have the impression that she would be as warm and as kind and as cool in person, as she is on stage (at least on a good day, ha, ha). In one word: real! Not like some rock’n’rollers who play to the fans until the lights go down, and then turn into much less likeable personalities in their private lives.

Second, in my eyes she is a real rock’n’roller, not just a lesbian icon as some have made her out to be. Do not misunderstand me, I think it is great that the gay and lesbian community has embraced her, and as a heterosexual I am proud to stand amongst her many homosexual fans at her concerts, seeing how empowered and validated she makes them feel. But to me she hits chords that cut across race, gender, nationality and other dividing lines. The bottom line is she “rocks hard!” I have never been big on some of the mellower or acoustic-only guitar players, because I need that rush of pure energy that she brings to the table. Yet ironically, mixed in with the strong rock and blues aspects of her music, her delicate tracks stand stronger, as another great facet of a balanced and diverse catalog. I love the moniker people sometimes give her as the “female Springsteen.”

The third and final point on her music in general, although closely related to the first two points, is that Melissa is fabulous in concert. To my tastes, this is usually the hallmark of a true musician. We all know (and often like) many performers who make fun music, but they excel in the recording studio, depending on effects and overdubs that can not be easily replicated live. And we know of other performers who are really actors not musicians, who dance and have thirty piece troupes on stage but the music is all lip-synced, or who do not tour but have fabulous video careers. But these things are not Melissa’s primary form of expression. She is the pentultimate live performer, for the reasons listed in points one and two above: she is real, and she rocks hard. She is one of those where, no matter how great the albums are, twelve hours of those CDs in the car is simply no substitute for five minutes of the live show, the real deal, where it all hangs out in a way which is so prrimal it is hard to put into words.

But enough gushing for a minute, let’s talk about that fateful evening of July 31st, 2002 in Milwaukee. Over the past year, I have really been tracking Melissa in a big way. (Because my budget has allowed me to see more shows, not because I am a stalker, ha, ha.) I saw the following shows in the past twelve months: 8/25/01, 8/28/01, 8/29/01, 8/30/01, 12/1/01, 6/15/02, 6/29/02 and 7/31/02. (Sadly schedule conflicts made me miss other shows “in my neighborhood” such as 8/26/01, 11/30/01 and 7/6/02 which I would have otherwise seen as well!) So it has come to be an inside joke with a few close friends about whether Melissa knows who I am or not, as they all say I must be one of her biggest fans.

I keep telling them, “No, no, no, you don’t understand stars like her are so big, and they go to so many cities and they play every night…they probably never recall anyone, I am probably just another face in the crowd.” But after Wednesday, I may have to change that theory a bit.

Now bear in mind that I say “I love Melissa” but I do not delude myself about the relationship we really have (or more aptly do not have) like many fans do. I think it is far more respectful to her as a star to acknowledge that reality, rather than to pretend you are a best friend like many are wont to do. Of course I would love to some day meet her and see what we have in common, but I do not pretend we truly know each other just because I have listened to all her albums, you know?

So here it is a beautiful warm night by the lake in Milwaukee, and once again she starts out in the crowd, and works into her opening jam, “I Want to Be in Love.” What a beautiful one line synopsis of what she and so many of us in her fan base, are all about! Starting out I was a little nervous that she would be less jazzed to be in Milwaukee than in some of the other cities she plays in. I know she appreciates the midwest given her own heartland upbringing, but it still is not New York, San Fran, or Las Vegas, you know? And it was a weeknight, so the crowd was a little thinner than it might have been otherwise. But alas her performance appeared to contradict that theory right from the start. What was I thinking anyway, since about one of the crowning moments of her career took place her, ie. her encore with Bruce Springsteen back in ’95?

Well she belts out another crowd pleaser “I Want to Come Over” and now the crowd is really grooving, myself included. And so it goes. Early on, she is bantering with the audience as she likes to do, and as we fans also enjoy. And she spots me in the front row, as I am wearing a bright red t-shirt with “Wisconsin” (the name of my alma mater) emblazoned on it. Unbelievably, she makes a few comments to me, laughing that I have found a spot in the front row while leaving my wife a row behind me for less neck-craning on her part. One highlight of our brief chat went something like this:

“Have I seen you before? How many of my shows have you seen?”

“About 5.”

“Really, did you see the show a few years ago when I played with Springsteen?”

“Yes, but I meant about 5 shows on this tour…”

“Security (joking)!”

So she keeps playing the early part of her show, which is heavy on tracks from ‘Brave and Crazy’ and ‘Yes I Am.’ While typical of the song selection throughout this tour, I was both pleased and surprised by the choices. I think I had expected a tour without a new album to be a straight shot through her recent greatest hits with less emphasis on the ‘deep cuts’ like those on B&C.

As she plays, she seems to notice that I am really enjoying the show, and perhaps even trying to infect my neighbors with my enthusiasm. At one point in here, she asks me something about the other shows on the tour. I say that I am going to Austin to see her again in a few weeks and that I am really excited. She laughs saying, “Isn’t Austin a long way from Milwaukee?” I do not recall responding to that one…I think she proceeded into the start of another song. (Forgive me, but the night was such a rush that it is hard to recall all the details in their correct sequence!)

But later she asks me about whether I am from Wisconsin, and somewhat tongue tied, I explain that I went to school there. I am enjoying the conversation but trying to make it brief since I know it is hard for her to understand the crowd comments. But at some point in here, she asks me what song I would like to hear her play that night. Now this is a real WOW moment for me! Here I am just a face in the crowd and I get to help redirect the show?! Truth be told, I was trying to not pick something too obscure and embarrass her, or I would have said “Dance Without Sleeping” or “The Letting Go” which are too of my all time favorites. So instead, I said “Your Little Secret,” which is probably close behind those tracks and “Like The Way I Do” in my personal pecking order. I knew she had played this on her last tour so I thought it might still be on the rotation. (Ironically, this night she played no tracks from that album, as I recall.) But when I requested this, she got a bit sheepish, and said that they had not rehearsed that track, so she could not play it for me. But then she paused and said, “But I promise I will play it when you come to Austin!” Frankly, I was dumbfounded. Then she turned sidestage (to her guitar tech Trace Armstrong I believe), and said, “Now you heard me…don’t let me forget we have to play that one in Austin.”

It was still early in the show but I was already on cloud nine the way I usually am at the end of her shows and then some. I mean there were about 7,000 people in this outdoor ampitheatre, what the hell was Melissa doing talking to me so much?! But here is the bad part of being noticed by her: I had splurged for a few beers before the show since my wife was driving, and so at one point I just had to get up to pee. Since someone had found their way to my original seat, and I did not want to make her move, I decided to do it during the sit down number “The Weakness In Me.” Note: this is a wonderful piano number she does (a Joan Armatrading cover), but I have to admit I was lukewarm on it when she first started playing it. However, it has been growing on me like crazy the last few years. So, I felt so bad when I came back and my wife said, “Melissa was looking for you while you were gone! After the slow song she looked over at me asking where you went and I motioned that you had to go to the bathroom.” But once again I chuckled at Melissa’s empathetic, and good-humored nature as my wife said, “But she seemed to indicate that she understood, and that it was OK!”

Somewhere after this point in the show, perhaps around the time she played her new (unreleased) ‘Tammy track’ ie. “Secret Agent,” the crowd started surging forward, and I found myself pressed against the front of the stage. Things were really heating up as she moved into signature hits “Bring me Some Water” and “I’m the Only One.” She was rocking and the crowd was too. Even after the dozens of shows I have seen, it is always incredible the way Melissa is so adept at directing her live audience to a terrific crescendo like a symphony conductor. And she is a virtuouso, although more in the Keith Richards vein than in the Boston Pops one. She leaves the crowd hungry, and then she comes back to help them tear into the dessert course, playing her first encore, “Like The Way I Do,” the never tiring anthem that goes back to the beginning. Yes, this song still beckons to the diehards like it did ten-plus years ago, when it screeched across our car speakers and boom boxes for the first time on it’s way to becoming a Melissa staple. It is truly only ripening with age, especially with stud drummer Kenny Aronoff banging away on the skins and Mark Browne on bass. (Oh, by the way the new guitar player was not bad either, but boy I still miss John Shanks…)

But then as if she had not given the crowd enough, she reins in her raw power and sends the crowd out on a little sweeter, a little easier, and a lot more optimistic note with her second encore, “Heal Me” from the Skin CD. The music itself was so dizzying that when she came up to the edge of the stage to tussle my hair and carefully pass me her guitar pick, I was nearly fainting. And then as a final postscript, after the lights went up and I was getting ready to clear out, one of the crew members handed me a drum stick and a set list and said something like “we sure had fun tonight, didn’t we?” (Was it you Trace? Unfortunately I never got a good look as I was starting to turn away.) All I could think was, “you have no idea…tonight was a dream come true!”

Next day at my office I shared the story with a confidant and fellow Melissa fan, who joked, “One of these days she is going to ask you to do lunch or something!” Well, I don’t know about that, but needless to say I am looking forward to my trip to Austin!!!!

Peace everyone, and remember Melissa’s immortal words ‘Love Is Never Wrong!’

XO,
BRAD

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