Finally, Melissa

So, we packed up yesterday, with my husband throwing cookies and potato chips into the cooler for our picnic in the car. We left around 4:30 p.m., headed for The Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount, which is at least an hour's drive away.

We were going to see Melissa Etheridge in concert. Finally. I'd originally planned to see her there in March 2020, and the pandemic hit and the show was rescheduled and rescheduled and I ended up asking for our money back because it was rescheduled to a day when we couldn't go. And even when she was close by for other shows, I couldn't make it to see her.

But that was then. Last night, we arrived at The Harvester around 5:30 p.m. because we somehow missed most of the traffic. We drove around to the back of the space where there were supposed to be handicapped spaces for parking, but there was a big tractor trailer parked there, taking up the whole lot. I also saw two buses, which I assumed were all for Melissa Etheridge's show. 

The other option for close parking was the bank parking lot. I saw that it was sloped and might be a bit of a difficult walk for both of us - me with my weird abdominal adhesion pain and my husband with his fused ankle and hip replacement. But it was as good as it was going to get.

We sat in the car with the windows down and ate ham sandwiches. I watched people go in and out of the building, which surprised me. The Harvester wasn't supposed to open until 7. 

Finally, about 6:40 we went on up to the door and lo, they said go on in. They didn't search anything, but by then I'd opted to just wear my jacket and put my inhaler in one pocket and my cell phone in the other and left my bag in the car.

We went in and headed straight to the restrooms, and then I bought a T-shirt for her new album for $40.

The crowd was mostly older folks. Maybe we all look harmless, with our gray hair and aging bodies, because they didn't search bags that I saw. We found our seats, end of the aisle so my husband could stretch out, and that meant of course we had to let people by but that was fine. 

Melissa came out on time at 8 p.m. and she had her custom Les Paul as her first guitar. What a lovely instrument that thing is, black with gold plating, and it looked like she had 5 pickups on it. Definitely a thing of beauty. 

That was the first of her guitars. I believe throughout the night she used at least 6 guitars. I lost count, but the Les Paul and her 12-string Ovation were the two she played the most. 

She played a few songs from her new album, Rise, and one from her album Lucky, but the songs that people sang to were her older songs, like the ones from her album Yes I Am, such as Come to My Window. That song I couldn't help playing air guitar with because I know it. 

She also did I'm the Only One, Bring Me Some Water, and I Want to Come Over, which everyone sang along with. That one got especially fun - my husband stood up and went over to stand against the wall for a while, so I shouted and sang along because I had more room to move. It was the only time I almost needed my inhaler. 

There was a lot of perfume. It wasn't bad at first, but after they shut the doors so it would be dark in there, it grew a bit cloying. 

She played Like the Way I Do around 9:40, so I knew it was over. But she surprised me by saying she had one more song, one she sang without a guitar. She sat down to sing it. It was called More Love, from her new album. 

And then . . . she stood up and jumped off the stage and started hugging people. 

We were up and in the aisle, actually heading toward the door, but I moved forward . . . and Melissa Etheridge hugged me. I am not the sort of person who idolizes people, but when she hugged me, I got teary. It felt like good energy. Melissa Etheridge exudes good energy, and she felt strong enough to reach out and hug at least 50 people. She kept singing, "More love, more light," the whole time, and then she led the crowd through a chorus of that at the end.

It was rather spiritual, like being lifted up.

And that's one for the bucket list.

Melissa Etheridge with her Les Paul guitar.