Melissa Etheridge & Indigo Girls
Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
Aug. 26, 2025
I never planned to end up singing every damn word to classic Indigo Girls tracks, but there I was. Just a few rows back from the stage, watching the iconic folk duo rip up the stage with a full band at Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill.
Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge have been touring throughout the summer, rotating headlining spots at outdoor amphitheaters like this one for the “Yes We Are” tour, which was packed all the way back to the lawn. It was a quintessential “Oh, I forgot they had that many hits” type of night.
Like, did you know Melissa Etheridge could absolutely shred on guitar? At one point, she soared through a three-plus minute solo on a cover of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” which I was not expecting sandwiched between massive alternative radio bangers like “Come To My Window” and “I’m The Only One,” which you could hear a million times but still be captivated by in a live setting. I certainly was, and it speaks to the power of her as a performer no doubt.
By the time the Indigo Girls came on, knowing every word made me feel like the “Manchurian Candidate” because I realized that my mom had played Indigo Girls CDs in the car so much while I was growing that all the lyrics were buried deep inside me, just waiting to come out. Seared into my brain. Rattling around the deepest nooks and crannies of my brain which, as I get older, is slowly becoming as smooth as a bean.
There I was, belting out lyrics to well-known tracks from their catalog like “Shame On You” and “Closer To Fine.” They also offered up a soulful cover of their own, a folked-out take on Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
One of the best surprises of the night during their set was realizing that Lucy Wainwright Roche (of the Wainwright family, including Loudon, Rufus and Martha) was throwing down backing vocals and stepped out into the spotlight to perform her own track “Open Season,” a highlight of the set.
It was perfect timing to learn all of this in front of the woman herself! My mom! She was my special guest for the evening. (I’m not going to tell you all the details of how hard I worked to get these tickets for her.) It was at least her fifth time seeing them. (She can’t even keep count at this point; it’s basically her version of Phish on a smaller scale.)
The whole night was a reminder that these touring legacy acts can still pack outdoor amphitheaters every summer on songs from years ago because the performance and the quality of the songs themselves have stood up against the test of time. The fanbases for both Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge are a dedicated, fierce many.
And I didn’t know it … but I’ve been one of them all along. (Thanks, mom!)
From the tour stop in Utah.
