Photographs by Lee-Ann Richer.
Two women with guitars should be no match for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s might, but when it comes to the Indigo Girls, that’s simply not so.
The venues may be more refined than the Southern bars and clubs that molded the Indigo Girls, but the crowd is as adoring as ever. When the Indigo Girls walked out on the Roy Thompson Hall stage with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as its backing band, you could feel the warmth of true fandom in the room. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have performed in every configuration imaginable for a folk/rock duo – sometimes unadorned in clubs with just two voices and two guitars, sometimes in theatres with accomplished musicians as backing band, and occasionally with a full orchestra behind them.
With 14 studio albums and over 25 years of touring in their blood, the Indigo Girls know how to play to their strengths. The two-hour set included new tunes like Happy in the Sorrow Key from their latest release, One Lost Day and old favourites like Fugitive and Ghost. Emily’s sweet, earnest, songs were given added richness and poignancy by the fullness of the string section; Amy’s more edgy, angry, protest-tinged tunes were enhanced by punches of horns and tympani.
The crowd, keenly influenced by its surroundings, were enthusiastic yet reserved until Emily’s call for them to “sing along” loosened the fans up. They gleefully sang to Galileo, a catchy ode to reincarnation, and Kid Fears, where the third part of the three-part round (originally sung by Michael Stipe of R.E.M.) was provided by a chorus of the devoted.
The Indigo Girls have been a successful duo for decades. Their 1989 hit Closer to Fine quickly became a fan favourite. Though well into an acclaimed career, Amy and Emily’s mastery of their craft and beautiful vocal magic is still captivating. Over the evening they played varied songs from their vast canon, Virginia Woolf, The Wood Song, Mystery, and Sugar Tongue among them. Particularly compelling when bolstered by the TSO, was the arrangement of Go, from the 1999 album Come on Now Social.
As the show drew to a close, the crowd was itching to sing along. When the first chords of the anthemic Closer to Fine rang out, the room was on its feet and the TSO had to compete with thousands of voices belting out the lyrics. After a great evening with the TSO and the Indigo Girls, the crowd spilled out onto King Street feeling much closer to fine.
