Row A, Seat 31 – front row (other than pit), rightmost “center section”
seat
As usual, Amy and Emily (along with violinist Lyris Hung) put on an
excellent, high-energy set at Wolf Trap, starting around 9:00 with “Hammer And
A Nail” and finishing (with “Closer To Fine”, naturally) just 10 minutes or so
before the venue’s 11:00 curfew. While they threw in some relatively new
material – “Elizabeth” and “Spread The Pain Around” early in the show, and a
solo number from each of them closer to the end – most of the night consisted
of such crowd favorites as “Get Out The Map”, “Shame On You”, and “Chickenman”. Nevertheless, every time I see them, I come
away discovering a song or two that I had either never heard before or had
forgotten about; this time it was “Devotion”, “Come On Home”, and “Let It Be Me”.
The vocals haven’t lost anything over the years, and Amy Ray remains among the
most intense, charismatic live performers I’ve seen.
Other highlights:
Power Of Two
The Wood Song
Watershed
The War & Treaty consists of African-American married couple Michael
and Tanya Trotter, supported by instrumentalists on guitar, bass, and drums.
(Michael handles the keyboards.) Their 40-minute opening set primarily featured
songs from their upcoming album Healing
Tide. They drew standing ovations for each of their last two songs, the
sultry “Til The Morning” and “Wanna Get Out Of Here” (my favorite), which
segued into “When The Saints Come Marching In”. The duo was most notable for
their powerful, soulful vocals, although they could perhaps have benefited from
stronger material.
