Indigo Girls inspire Studio Park, Incubus invades Van Andel

Jan 19, 2024

Memorable Songs, Rapt Audience: Indigo Girls on Wednesday at Studio Park. (Photo/Holly Holtzclaw)

SCROLL DOWN FOR INCUBUS AND INDIGO GIRLS PHOTO GALLERIES

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At one point on Wednesday night — to the cheers of a record-setting crowd of ultra-devoted fans packing the Studio Park piazza in downtown Grand Rapids — Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls issued a jubilant, mid-week call to action: “We’re bringing it on a Wednesday night.”

Indeed, the Indigo Girls – Ray, Emily Saliers and violinist Lyris Hung — brought a lot of history to their appearance, including sing-along anthems from the iconic indie-folk band’s extensive catalog that engaged and inspired the 800 or so concertgoers attending the most-anticipated show in Midtown’s 2023 Listening Lawn series.

Record-Setting: Wednesday’s Listening Lawn attracted the biggest crowd ever at Studio Park. (Photo/John Sinkevics)

They also brought an attention-getting, energetic opening act: Michigan-bred, queer electro-pop artist Bitch, who took over the Listening Lawn stage with powerful pop anthems and feminist messages. (Read more about Bitch, born Karen Mould, at American Songwriter.)

While the violin-wielding Bitch’s music contrasts with the Indigo Girls’ sonically, the sentiment behind it was spot on.

Ray and Saliers have always been vocal about the causes they are passionate about: LGBTQ+ rights, environmental conservation, and Black Lives Matter to name a few.

So, one of the most powerful moments from Wednesday’s show came from the duo’s 1999 song, “Go.” The live rendition of the track included a spoken word segment about current political issues for which the opening act was invited back to the stage. It was surely a departure from some of the more lighthearted songs in the set, but an important one nonetheless.

SING-ALONGS FOR INDIGO GIRLS AND INCUBUS (JUST A BLOCK AWAY)

The crowd and the band alike sang every song with the same passion it once was created with. And while Saliers’ voice has grown more warbly over the years, fans of every generation were every bit as engaged and excited as they were when the duo first made a splash more than three decades ago.

From classic hits such as “Get Out the Map” and “Galileo” to the more recent “Howl at the Moon,” the duo captivated the packed crowd — along with folks gathered for impromptu parties on apartment balconies overlooking the piazza — with warm harmonies and skillful guitar plucking.

Not surprisingly, the group closed with its enduring 1989 hit, “Closer to Fine.”

Incubus: Played the arena just a block from Studio Park on Wednesday. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)

Before the song, Salier mentioned the new “Barbie” movie, citing it as the reason for the song’s renewed popularity. The pink stage lighting and iconic opening chords were met with excited screams and phones being lifted in an attempt to capture the duo’s last few moments on stage. (Next up for Studio Park’s Listening Lawn: The Crane Wives at 7 p.m. Saturday and more tickets have opened up for the previously sold-out show. Ticket link here.)

Also on Wednesday night, just a block away, another iconic band pumped up an even bigger audience of about 4,500: California alt-rock’s Incubus rolled through a 19-song performance, following opening sets by Paris Jackson and Badflower.

Kicking the night off with “Magic Medicine” from 1997’s “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” (the band’s second studio album), Incubus instantly had fans singing along, something that continued throughout the main set that wrapped up with the favorites “Dig” and “Wish You Were Here.”

The two-song encore wrapped up with 2000’s “Drive,” arguably the band’s biggest hit. (View the complete set list via setlist.fm here.)

PHOTO GALLERY: Indigo Girls, Bitch at Studio ParkPhotos by Holly Holtzclaw, John Sinkevics

PHOTO GALLERY: Incubus at Van Andel ArenaPhotos by Chelsea Whitaker

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