Have you ever seen a bad concert at the Winspear Centre? I certainly haven’t and Melissa Etheridge was no exception on July 12, 2018. What didn’t surprise me was how spectacular the sound was. Not only did her voice sound exactly as it does on her now 30-year-old first album, but the sound in the room was so crisp that I found myself hanging onto every note.
Melissa is a remarkably charismatic performer. She clearly has an intensely personal relationship with each of her songs, which resulted in some sort of charming anecdote to accompany most of them. She spent a good deal of time interacting with the crowd and bringing them into her performing space; a crowd who were small but mighty and uproarious. Etheridge even took note on the raucous nature of their responses to each song saying “So it’s that kind of audience. Let it out, it’s good for you. It’s good for me”
The set was filled with her hits and a was heavy on her second album. She is not afraid of a lengthy guitar solo, or even an intimate dance with her guitar as she played. I got the sense that she was genuinely enjoying herself on stage, something that isn’t always so apparent with seasoned performers.