The Indigo Girls at Wolf Trap

Tonight's post is from Barbara Parker.

If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, or even just since yesterday, you know that days in the Program and Production (P&P) office start much earlier than a few hours before show time. And so it was this morning, one of my interns and I were preparing ourselves for the day, and the 8 p.m. performance of Indigo Girls.

We’ve mentioned our intern program in this blog before. Ranked one of the best in the country, it is an incredibly hands-on experience. Interns in the P&P office play an essential role in ensuring that shows run smoothly. Typically, our interns have a background in, or, at least, a love of the arts. More often than not, our interns love music. But with a summer schedule as jam-packed and diverse as Wolf Trap’s, I don’t expect our interns to love everything we present. I don’t even expect them to know everything we present.

And so, my intern and I are preparing ourselves for the day, when she turns to me and says, “What do the Indigo Girls sing?”

Hold your shock and awe for just one moment and consider the facts. The Indigo Girls first, full-length album, Strange Fire, was released in 1987. My intern was born in 1988.

In 1989, I was going to church camp where everyone slung a guitar over their shoulder and played “Closer to Fine” around a campfire. In high school, girls were covering “Galileo” at the school talent show. Every summer, we used to sit on the lawn at the now defunct Strawberry Hill Amphitheater outside of Richmond and sing along to hit after hit after hit. I grew up on the Indigo Girls. And then I started working at Wolf Trap where they have made a visit almost annually since 2000. (Their first performance was in 1991.)

To return to my intern’s question, where do I even begin?

I started with the songs. Playing clips on itunes and youtube. Explaining their gift of songwriting. Singing in a voice that should not sing publicly, “What would you give for your kid fears?”

What do the Indigo Girls sing? Here you go. Their set list from tonight’s show. In their own handwriting, with their own notes. (The song "Go" was added in before "Galileo.")

I can’t write a review on this show. Because I grew up on the Indigo Girls. Because their songs are synonymous with memories. The songs are just as good now as they were when I was in middle school and high school and in 2009 during their last visit here.

I do know that tonight, they gained at least one new fan.