i was uber excited about the indigo girls at the oakland art and soul festival. for starters, the stage was, oh, six/seven blocks from my house. i have to say, it was pretty nifty seeing a band that i have followed all over the world in the middle of a street that i regularly walk/bike/drive down in downtown oakland. also, while this was a festival and obviously a fly in/fly out show (less gear), i actually thought it was better than the bulk of shows i saw this summer. the girls were ON FIRE. julie wolf (a hometown girl!) was with them for the first half of their set, but had to leave for another show halfway through. matt nathanson (who i had never really heard of but am now a fan) played a few songs with them too. they honored del martin. most of my friends (non IG friends) were there with me because oakland art and soul was another regular sunday for them, doing something fun in our hometown. it was fun to introduce my friends to the live IG experience! the weather was perfect too, the heatwave has ended. the downfalls were of course a shorter set because it was a festival and my favorite boy having to bail at the last second due to illness.

we were (of course) front row, dead center, touching the stage. that's what happens when you arrive before the gates even open. ;)

here is IG's setlist, as played:

shame on you
least complicated
become you
fill it up again
gone again (!!!)
(a speaker about del martin's life from the lyon martin health services)
power of two (dedicated to del martin and phyllis lyon)
go
get out the map
three hits (!!!)
the wood song
money made you mean
last tears
reunion (!!!)
pendulum swinger
sugar tongue
fleet of hope
closer to fine (w/ matt nathanson)

(encore)
kid fears (w/ matt nathanson - he blew it away! the only better kid fears guest i have heard is trina meade from three5human. seriously, matt's vocals kicked ass on kid fears!)
galileo

other festival highlights:

raysterfiend's rick springfield solo during matt nathanson's set

all of the obama people out in full force (hello, it's oakland)

sprinting 1/2 a mile to the stage

matt nathanson's set (and his gaggle of teenage girls. LOL) and meeting matt after his set. as i said, now i am a fan.

walking around the festival and being so proud to live in oakland (and proving to the OPD by rattling off five reasons why, "i hella (heart) oakland" (as my tee shirt said). just being at a festival in my hometown with the indigo girls!

all in all a great day.

edit: photos are here!