Music: Melissa Etheridge With Jewel At The Astro

On Wednesday the Wife and I went out to catch a concert at the Astro Amphitheater.  We arrived early and had dinner at the City Pub across from the venue.  It felt like a long time since our last time eating out but it really was only a couple weeks.

The Astro Amphitheater was the same venue I went to for The Offspring.  The difference was, for The Offspring there were no chairs, but for Melissa Etheridge chairs were set up - I suspect because of an older more mature crowd.  We had great seats near the center towards the front with a front on view of the stage.  It was a bit warm but not as bad as a few days earlier and it became near perfect once the sun went down.  This is a good thing since the Wife doesn't handle heat well - she came close to biting it but got better as the temperature dropped.

Jewel rocked the joint.

The first act was Jewel.  She's had a long and successful career.  I haven't followed it that closely but I do remember her first hit "Who Will Save Your Soul" back in 1995.

She went through a lot of her hits, often asking the audience to make suggestions.  There were a lot of Jewel fans including the couple behind us singing nearly every word.

She brought out her teenage son who played the drums on a couple covers including a Tom Petty song.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Jewel but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed her set.

The main show was Melissa Etheridge.  Now, something weird (not in the current political meaning of the word) was going on.  Both the Wife and I were very sure that we'd seen her perform at Lilith Fair in 1998.  We'd gone to that festival during our Southwest vacation.  Turns out Melissa Etheridge has never performed at Lilith Fair (this link to Xitter proves she hasn't).  We were both so sure that we've seen her but cannot for our lives remember when or if we actually saw her.  I found a place that listed all her concerts and it seems we've never seen her before.  Very strange.

Melissa Etheridge at our first Melissa Etheridge concert.

Her performance was awesome. She can play the guitar ... and drums ... and piano ... and harmonica ... and she can sing.  I knew a lot of the songs and we really enjoyed her show.

We were in the proper age range for this concert but I was on the wrong side of the gender ratio.  Far fewer men than women.

Photos I took with my crappy phone can be found in my 2024-08-07 Melissa Etheridge w/ Jewel, The Astro, La Vista, NE Google Photos album.