Epiphany in Baltimore

2002-05-11

Melissa Ferrick concert, posted at 11:41 a.m.

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

Damn, it was good.

This woman has a passion that I admire more than anything. There were times I thought she was going to break apart on stage, only to be realed back into her fierce persona.

When she repeats the line, "I am singing to save my life," it becomes a mantra. And I believe every moment of it.

There's another moment that I've become used to at her shows - the moment in the middle of "Welcome to my Life" in which she screams out, "Whether you are queer, straight, transgendered, black, white, Native American, Muslim, Latino-American, heterosexual, bisexual (etc, etc), you are welcome here. There is no prerequisite required to get into my shows, and there never will be. We are not afraid of who we are" that still gives me a tingle down my spine. I felt so much pride at that moment. I'm not gay, unlike most of the fans who were there. But I felt so empowered by the show, by her singing, by her presence. The line is mostly a dig at the Michigan Womyn's Festival, but she's turned that sad little incident into a way to unite her fans.

At one point, she thanked the numerous male fans there for the bravery to come to the show. It was my 6th show, so I didn't feel brave. It felt natural.

I got to share Melissa with Michelle last night, and she enjoyed it. I passed out fliers to Kristin's shows.

Best moments: Melissa called out the talking fans. She said, "It still boggles my mind as to why someone would spend hard-earned money to go to a concert and then talk all through it. It doesn't bother me up here, but I'm trying to look out for the rest of the fans here." There was then a big cheer. The people still wouldn't shut up, so Melissa (playing a sad, slow song) stepped away from the microphone and walked to the front of the stage. The drummer stopped. Her fingers were barely flicking the strums of her guitar as she sang totally without amplification in the noisy bar. By her second line, you could hear a pin drop. She stared over at the wall of talking lesbians, and sang the lines, "I am singing to save my life" over and over again, in a moment of pure artistic grace and beauty.

It was one of the most powerful moments I've ever seen in live music. Ever.

There were a lot of fun moments. Melissa has this new song called, "Back in Love" that is so catchy the melody is still in my head. She sang the decade-old "Honest Eyes," and it was the first time I'd heard that live. She sang "Massive Blur," one of my favorites. She didn't skip through "Til You're Dead," which is my all-time favorite MF song. I loved the new songs, especially this one about a drunk father that I can't seem to find on the new CD that I bought last night. At one point, she broke into, "No Woman, No Cry." It was astonishing.

Though not without the usual slight MF irritations (She bashed the sound guys, who did seem like deserved it; not playing "Moses" or "Willing to Wait"; no encore), the show was incredible. It's amazing this woman can still wow me this much after I've seen her 6 or 7 times.

It's Kristin tonight, and Dan Bern on Sunday. This amazing weekend of live music is only just beginning.