April 10, 2018

Sheryl Crow and Melissa Etheridge Made Us Love Rock All Over Again

It was a wild night out west in Auckland as Sheryl Crow and Melissa Etheridge set out to make rock great again at the Trusts Stadium. The two make for a cracking pop-rock double act and continue their Australasia tour here for three dates. They met on the Michael Jackson 1987 BAD tour and the two 56-year-olds been friends since, both making it big in the early 90s and sharing multiple Grammy success.

The curtained off arena was just over half full as Crow’s six-piece band took over the stage. Then Crow herself strutted out sparkling in sequins with a guitar slung over her back and her country-pop style was right at home out west.

After opening proceedings with a pumping extended jam of Everyday is a Winding Road, Crow yelled out, “It’s been way too long!” Ten years in fact, which is crazy considering her Kiwi connections.

One of her most “glorious moments” was her first real tour supporting Crowded House. Her fondness for mate Neil and the band was evident during Can’t Cry Anymorewhere she briefly broke into Don’t Dream it’s Over.

The similarly-aged audience appreciated her genuine concert chat, hoots of approval as Crow said she loved the lines on her face, “that represent all the different traumas I’ve gone through, and come out the other side.” Before playing the smash hit that launched her career All I Wanna Do.

And fun was surely had as she pumped out the hits from Tuesday Night Music Club and her self-titled follow-up. There was a beautiful cover of Cat Stevens’s The First Cut is the Deepestand the cutest touch when her two adopted boys brought out a guitar.

She loved getting away from news about Trump – who got a roasting from both lefty musicians – saying it could only get better. Otherwise she was seriously thinking about “getting a real estate agent.”

It wasn’t just banter she was nailing either, there was some serious musicianship on display as Crow played guitar, keyboard and even cranked out the harmonica for The Best of Times. A honkytonk blast that showed off some serious skill.

Then the crowd were up on their feet for a giant sing-along to If it Makes You Happy, but the biggest roar came for Melissa Etheridge as she came out and joined Crow for a cover of The Allman Brothers Band Midnight Rider. The fans flocked to the stage and were treated to some duelling women of rock having way too much fun for a Monday night.

It was a half hour interlude as Crow’s full stage was reduced to a piano and an impressive drum kit. The crowd filled out, obviously here for Etheridge, and the Grammy award-winning rocker did not disappoint.

Fittingly for just around the corner from Cheryl West’s place Etheridge turned up clad in leather and started smashing out the intro to Your Little Secret on the drums, before picking up one of five distinctly designed guitars and rocking out.

Etheridge toured the vineyards here two years ago and was in vintage form again here. Not mucking around with new stuff either, “I’m playing lots of songs from that memory bank of yours and mine.”

It was a shorter set list than Crow but every number was stretched and flexed by Etheridge, who treated each side of the stage to extended virtuoso guitar solos that blew me away.

She was the preaching to the choir, at one stage arms wide silhouetted with blinding white light. It was an electric light show throughout the night, from flashing in time to the pounding closer of Crow’s There Goes the Neighbourhood or bathing Etheridge in red for Bring Me Some Water.

She was an absolute riot too, reminiscing on bad relationships, true love “the best two weeks I ever had”, and those songs you play on cassette as you drive and end up at their house, “Lord I’m a stalker.” Which was a great segue into 90’s hits I Want to Come Over and Come to My Window.

A fantastic bass line opened Chrome Plated Heart as Etheridge stated with a smile, “I’ve got bad intentions in the soles of my shoes.”

Crow wasn’t the only armed with a harmonica, with Etheridge one-upping her joint-headliner on the mouth organ on I’m the Only One. She then took a quick ‘Melfie’ on her phone before a bit of self-empowerment in this crazy world, “Keep loving yourself, be strong and speak true.”

80’s banger Bring Me Some Water closed the regular set, showing all her tricks she took it down then built it back up to a thumping conclusion. The sweet devil had got a hold of some souls at Trusts Arena as people were standing on seats and packing the previously heavily policed aisles.

Then she was back for an electrifying ten-minute encore of Like the Way I Do. Like she started she ended up on the drums, showing off as she played around her drummer.

My mum and I might have headed west for Crow but we both left converts of Etheridge. Thank you for making rock great again.

Clayton Barnett

Sheryl Crow/ Melissa Etheridge – Make Rock Great Again Tour, Trusts Stadium – April 9 2018

SETLIST

Sheryl Crow