Indigo Girls Concert Infused Me With a Sense of Consternation

I’m probably overreacting. Looking into things that aren’t there. Maybe being over-paranoid.

I’ve diagnosed someone I don’t know and I only was face to face with one brief time, with a CNS disease. I’m not a doctor or any kind of expert. And this is completely unsubstantiated.

All that said, I felt like Emily Sailers might have Multiple Sclerosis.

We all noticed her voice (which I vehemently defend in another post) which could be a symptom of something. People with MS can have spasmodic dysphonia from it.

More than that I noticed things were different than before. Before last week I had gone to 7 other Indigo Girls’ performances just so you know I have some kind of reference point for their norms. What I’m about to describe could definitely be attributed to:

the fact this was a make-up concert (from Covid cancellation)

it was I think the first show after a break, and before their actual tour kicks off

it was with the symphony

They could have been tired/hot/cold/hungry–whatever

I won’t call it an “off night” by any means (they ALWAYS put on a great show, and did last Sunday as well) but maybe one or both felt off.

They might not like Saint Louis

Maybe they’re still recovering their relationship after the alcoholism we just heard about

I get it. And I AM NOT saying the performance was less than Excellent. I had a lot of fun and was jazzed up. The entire crowd (an unusually straight mix of mostly older straight couples, who I think may have been symphony season ticket holders, not necessarily IG fans) were engaged and really into it. It was just a different dynamic than I’m used to seeing from them. And remember, after I noticed one thing I really started scrutinizing so this could just be my own drama talking.

I couldn’t hear well, but at one point Emily said something like this is a song full of “spit.” I heard “spit” loud and clear, though I absolutely could have missed some kind of joke. But hearing it so fast like that, I got the impression it was more of a word-finding difficulty. I thought she was trying to say something else and accidently said spit instead.

In another comment, Emily told us the following song will “speak truth to power…” Then the song was “Able to Sing” which I have always thought of as a benign, a-political song for a friend’s wedding. I totally could have missed the point of the song, and missed an underlying meaning. But after she said that, I thought–Emily is confused tonight..

During “Chicken Man” the orchestra percussion was distractingly loud. Somebody should have turned it down, because it was a bit overpowering. But it was like that threw Emily off. And I saw the Indigo Girls at Seattle Zoo Tunes. A show where people just go to chat and drink wine and consider the music background. The Indigo Girls ALWAYS get the crowd involved and have everyone riveted to the experience every time I see them. They settle distractions routinely like the pros they are. I’ve never seen even an inkling that either are thrown off by a chaotic audience. They masterfully reign in unruly crowds. Anyway, I think the drums made her lose her place and Emily messed up a part of the song. And in my memory (which could be faulty) I think I even saw Amy’s hands fly after the song was over in a fit of exasperation.

They did “Love of our Lives” during the concert, which is normally an Emily-led song. But it seemed like Amy was taking the lead this time. And that may have been a pre-planned change. But it also could have been a spur of the moment save, because I’ve never heard the song like that before.

Several times it reminded me of Carter helping Boyd-Amy turned her body toward Emily as if to deliberately play to help her back on track. And Damn it anyway! I looked at length to find one of the clips that I’m thinking of from DMB, but to no avail. There are several times when Boyd had a violin solo and it was off beat or too slow, always out of tune. Anyway, Carter would like look at Boyd and do more drumming than usual–like metronoming him to help keep him on course. I thought I saw Amy turning toward Emily several times in more of a helping way, than a vibing way…

As a matter of fact, Amy seemed frustrated with Emily at times, and their chemistry just wasn’t the same as every other time I’ve seen them.

Once I was looking for possible symptoms, I noticed Emily was very careful around the cords on the floor. She gingerly stepped around it at least 3 different times. This might be her normal, but I never looked for it before, or noticed at previous shows.

Anyway, I had fun, fun, fun at an awesome show as usual, but went home a bit sad. I couldn’t sleep all night. I hope Emily is OK. I hope she’s on top of her health and seeing doctors and specialists for ANYthing unusual. And I hope the Indigo Girls don’t quit the band/break up the Indigo Girls. Worst nightmare! The Indigo Girls have been so influential in my life I would hate for anything bad to happen. But like I’ve said throughout this post, hopefully this is just my own confirmation bias 😦