Grammy Award-winning songwriter Melissa Lou Etheridge is returning to perform another Chicago Millennium Park Concert and her longtime friends Indigo Girls are co-headlining.
The Yes We Are Tour arrives on Aug. 17 at Jay Pritzker Pavilion and promises to be a gay ol’ time in the park. Chicago is just one of the 30 stops that the trio is making across the country before eventually concluding on Oct. 12 in Arizona.
The 64-year-old vocal powerhouse has a great deal to be proud of after five decades of work. Her self-titled debut album led with a hit single, “Bring Me Some Water,” and she won her first Grammy with “Ain’t It Heavy” from her third record.
With hits kept coming and she has released 16 studio albums over time, eventually receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Etheridge earned more accolades with a Juno Award for Entertainer of the Year and an Oscar for Best Original Song for the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Broadway called her name with a brief role in Green Day’s American Idiot and later a one-woman show, Melissa Etheridge: My Window.
The accomplished out and proud artist talked on the phone about her upcoming gig and passion projects before she arrived in the Windy City.
Windy City Times: Do you enjoy playing outdoor venues or small, intimate spaces?
Melissa Etheridge: There are pluses to both, but I always get excited to play to a big crowd in the outdoors. The small spaces are nice to get sweaty and rock out to.
WCT: You never phone in a live performance and I have seen you roll around on the floor while performing. Have you had to pull back from doing this after so many years?
ME: I am still rolling around on the floor and I will probably do that at the Chicago show. Rolling around on the stage keeps me in shape so I can still get up. [laughs]
WCT: Audiences need to see you live to experience that and not just listen to your music at home.
ME: That has always been one of my hopes to be an artist that people would want to see in concert.
WCT: You and Indigo Girls are pioneers in creating safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ population at your concerts. How does that feel to look back on?
ME: It feels great because there is a lot of appreciation out there. We receive a lot of gratitude about it and that’s wonderful.
No, the job is not over and there’s still a lot to do. Looking out there, the audience is so amazing. Yes, it is mainly women, but there are also men, both gay and straight. They love the music and it’s a safe place with all generations present. It’s an exciting time to play music with the Indigo Girls.
WCT: I attended one of your concerts where a fan held a homemade cardboard window and curtains on a stick, waving it around.
ME: That’s the window girl. She would make these creations and then fold them up to bring them into the show. The next thing you know she is unpacking it and holding it up. I was playing Red Rocks one time and she was there. I looked over and there was another woman with a window. I was shocked that there were two women with windows at the same show.
WCT: Do you have a favorite Indigo Girls song?
ME: “Kid Fears.” I love the Indigo Girls. I like “Power of Two” and “Galileo” as well.
WCT: How do you describe Amy Ray and Emily Saliers after being on the road so many times together?
ME: They are the kindest, loving and most aware women that I have met. I have known them for many years and our love for each other is very deep.
WCT: They have talked to me in the past about needing to rest more after touring for so many years. Do you feel that way?
ME: We all need our rest and we did have some wild days back in the ‘80s and the ‘90s, but this is a very different time in our lives.
WCT: Speaking of the ‘90s, I came out of the closet around the same time that you did in 1993. Why did you feel it was the right time to come out as a lesbian at Bill Clinton’s Triangle Ball?
ME: Every time is the right time. I had been surrounded by some incredible leaders of the gay community and I was very inspired by them. They would take me to events and slowly show me everything that was happening in the world at that time. There came a point where I wanted to come out for myself and not for anyone else. I wanted people to not only like my music but also really get to know me.
WCT: Chicago is between two major outdoor music festivals, Lollapalooza and Riot Fest. Have you done either one?
ME: No. I never did Lilith Fair either. I was always on the outside of the categories. I remember when alternative rock came out. I remember thinking, “Well, I am gay and that’s as alternative as you can get.” I wasn’t a part of that, though. I was also considered too hard rock for Lilith Fair. I am fine with it because I certainly love the career I have.
WCT: After such a lengthy career, how do you curate a set list for this upcoming show?
ME: Chicago is always special. I look at last year’s set list when I played there and I don’t want it to be the exact same set. I will play my hits, but I want to include different songs too. It’s all pretty much high energy, so that’s the way it’s going to be.
WCT: Talk about the foundation you launched in 2020.
ME: It’s The Etheridge Foundation. I lost my son five years ago to an opioid overdose. I felt lost and didn’t know what I could do, but I had a deep belief in plant medicine. I thought it would be helpful, but there wasn’t enough research about it. I decided to make a foundation that raised funds for research into psychedelics and plant medicine. To show how it can typically help with addiction, pain and opioid use disorder.
WCT: That is why the lawmakers in Illinois pushed for the legalization of cannabis. It’s a solution to the opioid crisis.
ME: Absolutely, and it brings the numbers way down. Keep going, Illinois, I love your leaders and governor there.
WCT: My mother had stomach cancer in Tennessee and her doctor couldn’t get her medical marijuana because it’s still illegal.
ME: It’s all misinformation and people need to be educated. That is what we are aiming to do.
WCT: How was your experience on Broadway?
ME: That was a lot of work and fantastic. I really did love doing it and it was an amazing experience. It was personally and physically taxing. I don’t know how Broadway performers do it. They are a special breed of people.
I enjoyed it for the time I did it, loved it, but might not ever do it again.
WCT: What is your all-time favorite musical?
ME: It has to be Godspell. It was a big influence on me when I was a kid.
WCT: Did you see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl?
ME: I just saw clips of it. I have always dreamed about mixing up the casting in Jesus Christ Superstar, maybe because I wanted to play Jesus or Judas. I loved that they gave Cynthia Erivo the role of Jesus and she just killed it. Standing the show on its head has always been controversial and I loved what they did with it.
WCT: Think about the queer representation on that stage. They cast Adam Lambert as Judas and Cynthia as Jesus.
ME: We got to be the good guy and the bad guy.
WCT: You have been an author and done a documentary. Is there a project you would still like to do?
ME: I am still creating things in front of me, like a new album coming out in March. I can’t wait to share the new music with everyone. I always try to keep projects in front of me and keep walking this incredible path that I am on.
WCT: How do you navigate new music while still sounding like the past?
ME: That’s exactly what I did. It is very much like my other albums, but it sounds live with my touring band. It’s made with musicians who have played together for a long time, so they are a tight-knit band.
It covers the things I have been going through in life and it’s been many years since I have written new music.
It’s called Rise and I think people will love the rock music on the album. I feel rock and roll has just been sleeping and is not going away.
WCT: Well, your fans are not going anywhere either and they will see you rock out in the park.
ME: I just love Chicago and I am looking forward to it!
To purchase tickets to Etheridge’s extravaganza on Aug. 17 at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, 201 E. Randolph St., visit melissaetheridge.com.