My Melissa Etheridge Concert Reviews / How I stole the show with my twin bro

[Nicks Fan]

So Montreal was warm and breezy and the crazy people were out in full force. It made me laugh at how some of them had the most outrageous antics and signs. One pair had a sign that said "Need money for Pot and Cigarettes". As if you would say that. We checked in to the beautiful Hyatt Regency which we scored for 100 bucks a night compared to the regular rate of 240+ a night. Low and behold the Hotel is right across the street from the Place Des Arts where the concert was being held.

After doing some sightseeing we all went to the Mikes Cafe in the shopping centre below the hotel for the pre show MEIN dinner and chatted about all things Melissa Etheridge.Since I had seen Melissa only once before in 2004 at the Casino De lac Lemay which was one of the best shows I have ever seen I had allot of high expectations. Sadly tonight's show was marred by problems. It all began when we went to the booth to get our tickets and see where are sitting as with the MEIN fan club you have to present a card mailed to you in order to get your tickets and only then do you know where your seats are. They explained that there was a major problem with the floor and the stage and that things have changed.

What had happened was that during the day they were extending the stage in a way that allows the front portion to expand and lower to the floor and thus the equipment is put on stage for the show. After lowering it they discovered that it would nit go back and couldn't fix it in time for the show. The problem was that with the stage extended it covered the first three rows of seats on the floor and for those that had seats in those rows it meant that were dispersed elsewhere (Most of them got put up in the balconies). For me I lucked in as my seats were sixth row on the row but with the giant extended stage sixth row became third row !!!. Unfortunately it left no room for any body to be up close to the stage unless you were in the first row

She opened the set with the title track from her last album of all new material 2004's "Lucky" After greeting Montreal and joking about the problem with the stage she stormed into a rocking version of her hit "If I Wanted To" from 1993's "Yes I am". What I admire most about her performances is that she mixes it up so much that one second she is playing a major hit that even non fans would recognize and the next she is playing a non single album track that has the audience hanging on every word. The set list included her trademark hits such as "Come To My Window, "I Want To Come Over:, and "I'm The Only One". At one point before introducing the new single from the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" she talked about how like Bonnie Raitt and some other performers she runs her tour bus and trucks on Bio Diesel fuel and then explained just how important Global Warming really is and that if we all do our part we can change the world a little at a time.

My favourite part was when during the piano solo where she randomly picks one of her songs to perform four of us in total had two large signs with a request for the song "The Letting Go" which is one of all time favourite songs from her and one that she hasn't done in a while. After making a commotion she laughed and said "all right all right the peanut gallery over here wins". We had added on the the back side of our sign "Thank You" just in case she played our request.
The main set ended with her amazing version of "Piece of My Heart" from Janis Joplin. She was on fire for that one.

The encores consisted of her 1988 hit "Like The Way I Do" from her self titled debut which always get stretched to 8 - 10 minutes with some great guitar solos. It was followed by "Keep It Precious" from her 1992 album "Never Enough" which was a fitting way to end the nearly 165 minute show. She could probably play more songs and still have the same running length but she does a lot of talking / fan interaction between songs which keeps the set list at 20-25 songs each night which is OK by me. At the end of the show I snagged one of the hard to get copies of the Set list which is like the most coveted item at the concerts. there is about 5 of them one of which is at the sound booth and the others are placed in front of each Band Member somewhere on the stage.

The show was good but not great. The technical problems made for a distraction which kept the show being a great concert , I was hoping Sunday's show would be better with the stage fixed (Fingers crossed).

Matt

Set List

Montreal, CAN
Place des Arts
August 5, 2006
Lucky
If I Wanted To
No Souvenirs
I Want To Come Over
You Can Sleep While I Drive
Similar Features
Precious Pain
Come To My Window
Angels Would Fall
I Need To Wake Up
Silent Legacy/Scarecrow/Tuesday Morning
The Letting Go (Piano Solo)
Yes I Am
This Is Not Goodbye
I Run For Life
Kiss Me
Bring Me Some Water
I'm The Only One
Piece Of My Heart
Like The Way I Do
Keep It Precious

Matt

For the second night in a row the venue had problems. However this time it was only a small thing in the scheme of things. When we get there the same french man from before told us that the regular red chairs for some reason were being switched in favour of black chairs for the first three rows on the floor which had been covered the previous night due that mishap. he started to tell the whole story again and we were like " We know the story we were here last night" then he said "I have worked all night and performed a miracle". My seats for this show were even better as we in the 2nd Row !!!. You could almost touch her that is how close we were .

Once again the folks at Mein (Melissa Etheridge Information Network) came through for the fans with primo seats for all even my pals Golfie and Eagle Feather as they are known on the MEIN message board got great seats too. I felt bad as they were one of the ones sent up to the rafters the night before. however they kept sneaking down until the usher gave in and let them stand near the corner of the stage. They were directly in front of us and so we had a great time.

She was late again as the show was due to start at 8:00 but she came on 10 or 15 minutes late. Not sure why though. The show opened with a rocking version of "Come on Out Tonight" from 2004's Lucky then just like the previous show she segued into her her hit "If I Wanted To". A surprise came for the next song when she performed from the 1995 film "Boy's on the Side" a song called "I Take You With Me" which she admitted she doesn't do very often. I like that song and was glad to have heard it live. There some very emotional moments and was she introduced the song "The Late September Songs" by talking about the inspiration for the song came from when she was involved in a relationship with a woman who wanted to see other people as well . She explained that she said it was OK until the other woman actually started seeing other people as well and then one day she up and ran off with someone else and when she tried to get her on the phone all she could hear was the dogs barking down the street and since it was late September that is where the title came from. I never knew the song had such a personal connection to her. I assumed it was just a well written song about love gone bad.

When she repeated the trilogy of Silent Legacy/Scarecrow/ Tuesday Morning she stopped during the intro to Scarecrow talking about a young man named Matthew Sheppard who was beaten and burned and tied up to a fence left to die all because he was Gay and that when his dead body was found they said it looked a scarecrow strung up on a fence. She was pretty emotional talking about she and Ellen DeGeneres went to the sight of the crime and was shocked by what they had seen and so she went home and wrote this song.

Before singing Tuesday Morning she explained that this song was written about one of the four men who helped overtake Flight 93 on 9/11 and how as soon as the USA found out he was gay they acted like it was wrong to be a hero and be gay and how as months went on the stories kept leaving out the fact that he was gay,so she wrote a song to tell the truth so that everyone would know the real story.

The set list was a nice mix of hits and non single album tracks all played with passion. For the second night in a row the group of us conspired to see if once again she would play our request during the Piano Solo and we won again. this time we all chose "How Would I Know" from the dark 1999 album "Breakdown". This time we both had a sign up with our request and she laughed at the signs . When she realized their were twins in the audience she started talking to me and my brother saying "I guess you guys had fun in school" and then said "Well you both have good taste in music and I thank you for coming out tonight". When the group of us said that were doing all of the Canadian tour she was laughing saying something about us crazy Canadians and their love of music and how they seem to be the most devoted fan's she has ever seen.

Before singing the song, she talked allot about her relationship with Julie Cyphers and how it was falling apart and that if it wasn't for their kids she would have gone crazy. She explained how this song was all about how she kind of knew the relationship was over but neither of them would admit it to the other It is so interesting to listen to her open up so honestly about her life in song.since one of us had a digital camera we were able to record the performance of the song.

When the show built to it's climax the audience was on fire. You had o see it to believe it the sweat and energy coming off the crowd was contagious . The energy was insane.

The encores this time consisted of "Like The way I Do"done the previous night as well and for the first time I got to hear one of top 5 favourites "All The Way To Heaven. This is where it gets bad.
My brother and I as well as others had rushed to the stage and my brother brazenly tried to recorded the song and looking back now I think she saw him and said something as she was being escorted off the stage cause when the guards were throwing out the guitar picks (of which I got one) the woman returned and made him delete the song. He was scared but someone from the group tried to calm him down. Nothing happened and he did manage to get away with the performance of "How Would I Know" still saved on his camera. I was like "Don't ever do that again"!!! as we could have gotten in deep trouble.

Hands down this show was the best concert I have been too and that is no exaggeration. Trust me when I say that Melissa Etheridge has a way of igniting such an energy into the shows that going to one of her concerts is like a three hour workout.I was drenched in sweat from how much dancing singing and foot stomping I was doing. A class act all the way !!!

Matt

Montreal, CAN
Place des Arts
August 6, 2006
Come On Out Tonight
If I Wanted To
I Take You With Me
I Want To Come Over
Don't You Need
The Different
The Late September Dogs
Come To My Window
Angels Would Fall
I Need To Wake Up
Silent Legacy/Scarecrow/Tuesday Morning
(Piano Solo)
Brave & Crazy
This Is Not Goodbye
I Run For Life
Meet Me in the Back
Bring Me Some Water
I'm The Only One
Piece Of My Heart
Like The Way I Do
All The Way To Heaven

Matt

So the time has come to experience Melissa Etheridge in my own city and I was stoked. Having had such a good time at the Two Montreal Shows I was looking forward to seeing her at the Nac. Sadly this was to be a very poor concert. The ushers were out in full force stopping anyone from taking pictures and the seating configuration meant that there was little to no leg room to stand and dance etc. She was late again by about 10 minutes (What gives?) She opened the show with "Lucky" and then yet again did "If I Wanted To" The set list was a disappointment as all but two songs were repeats from the two Montreal shows.

The only new songs I had not heard before were Ruins for which she did an acoustic arrangement with Fritz her drummer using a speaker box instead of his normal drum set. The other song has a little story behind it (Don't my concert's always have some stories?) During the Piano solo Eagle Feather and Golfie held up a sign with please play "Ready To Love" which is a song she joked she wrote when she was 17 and somehow bootlegs surfaced of a one off performance of that song and so now she gets requests for it. Somehow she has already forgotten that the song is wildly available on her 2002 Live and Alone DVD. Anyways she tried to sing but the words just didn't come. At One point she joked that she was thumbing through her internal Rolodex and all she come up with her Barry Manilow songs. So after a valiant attempt she gave up and instead performed "Meet Me In The Dark" from 2004's "Lucky". She was on fire as usual but the crowd was so dead.. Anytime people tried to stand the crowd rudely demanded "sit down" !!! I was soo angry. As well the set list was too much the same. I was hoping for more new songs.

When we were leaving the crowd was so rudely insulting the people that tried to stand for the duration of the show.

Melissa was great but the next time I hope she doesn't play the Nac as it is a very bad venue for a rock concert.

One more show to go TO here we come.

Ottawa, CAN
National Arts Centre
August 7, 2006
Lucky
If I Wanted To
No Souvenirs
I Want To Come Over
Don't You Need
Similar Features
You Can Sleep While I Drive
Come To My Window
Angels Would Fall
I Need To Wake Up
Silent Legacy/Scarecrow/Tuesday Morning
(Piano Solo)
Ruins
This Is Not Goodbye
I Run For Life
Bring Me Some Water
I'm The Only One
Piece Of My Heart
Like The Way I Do
Keep It Precious

Matt
Well to start this review. All I can say is that it was not my intent to steal the show but it just happened. I had gone to Grand and Toy with the intent to get Bristol Board and make some signs for the show. I was figuring since other people had luck with their signs getting requests and autographs and such I figured I could give it a try. We took the bus from Ottawa and headed down to TO for the final show on her Canadian leg of the 2006 summer tour at 11:30 and arrived at 4:30. This concert was being held at the Hummingbird Centre which I was told she played before in 99 by someone in line at the venue. Before the show we had dinner at a local deli called Shopsies Deli which was across the street from the venue.When we got to the venue we waited in line talking to other fans while we awaited the doors to open. When they did we took our seats and awaited the concert to start. Before hand were given a lecture by some big bad birtha who said that we could not rush the stage until you saw her chair disappear during the show. The moment Melissa took the stage the crowd stormed to the front of the stage and she did nothing but sit in her chair keeping watch.

She came out rocking to the song Come on Out Tonight followed by If I Wanted To. Then after doing a few more numbers she addressed the audience and commented on the signs saying something about the people having their requests all ready on their signs. Then when she saw our sign requesting Refugee (Her cover of the Tom Petty Classic from the new Greatest Hits album) she looked at us and my brother said while pointing to me that he even wore his Tom Petty T shirt too. ( I had put on the Tom Petty T shirt and then over top of it I had her T shirt on, but when the moment came I took hers off to show the TP shirt) Seeing that she came over and realized we looked identical and said "you guys must be brothers since you look look identical"."Yes" I replied and "I am the oldest". She was taken a back and commented on how you do not see that at a concert very often. She said to us "So you both want this or did one put the other one up to it". I yelled out "no we both want to hear it" and so she took the sign and agreed to play the song. Then after the song she came back and said "So how old are you guys?" "25" I replied and she said "What a great age". At one point she said "That she adored us ,but in a singer/Fan kind of way"

The show went on with a slew of great songs and her passionate singing For the piano solo Golfie and Eagle Feather had created a sign with the lyrics for Ready To Love the song she tried to sing in Ottawa but could not remember the words. She commented how only the Die hard fans / bootleggers would know this song (Somehow she forgot that she sang it on her 2002 DVD) She took the sign and then it all came back and she sang it . It was magical.

When the show was over she gave us our sign back signed by all of the band members and with a drumstick from Fritz. It was great.

Then walking outside there were people saying hey look there goes the twins from the front row. It was insane how many people were like great job guys getting your song requested. Then today I find out that we made the local papers as the reviews talked about us stealing the show and getting a requested song played.

I do not think I will ever forget this concert for a long time. This confirmed my belief that she is the consumate performer and a real generous singer to her fans.

thank you Melissa and sorry for stealing the show.

Toronto, CAN
Hummingbird Theatre
August 12, 2006

Come On Out Tonight
If I Wanted To
Similar Features
I Want To Come Over
You Can Sleep While I Drive
Refugee (In place of Lucky)
Nowhere To Go (In Place of Don't You Need)
Come To My Window
Angels Would Fall
I Need To Wake Up
Silent Legacy/Scarecrow/Tuesday Morning
(Piano Solo)
Yes I Am
This Is Not Goodbye
I Run For Life
Kiss Me
Bring Me Some Water
I'm The Only One
Piece Of My Heart

Like The Way I Do
Talking To My Angel



Matt