Melissa Etheridge Niagara Falls June 21st

The Lucky 13

After the show

Melissa Etheridge June 2009

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Angie Gives Melissa some "Bling"

May my heart remain open

Bright sunny morning strikes the black jacket that surrounds my flesh. Black also covers red. The words are all trapped somewhere in this body I refuse to connect to. Instead I fantasize of tearing off this aching flesh off my bones and feed it to the coyotes as I walk these barren dark nights, tired of journey. Endless without reprieve, just too much of too much of the same story I incessantly seek to mend.

I am 35 years old and continue to become my mother, every day that I find myself in these tumultuous tangos. Could I forgive her? Can I forgive myself?

I am so tired of holding on to hopeful hopes as I watch my carapace hardening and crusting over gentle heartbeats… My spine aches from the weight of rigid fibres and fascial restrictions that bind my feet to my throat.

I forget how to do this… Perhaps I have never known how… I ask myself what it is that I seek in this place of inequality… what wounds heals here… over and over where adults become children suffocating in confusion and fear…

I fall apart bit by bit as I witness the disintegration of who we were supposed to be and pray for some kind of miracle to cradle us into safety. I miss us!

As my feelings of inadequacy surge upwards and split me in two I consciously chose to disengage the less than perfect and search my back pockets for forgiveness.

May my heart remain open~
May my heart remain open~
May my heart remain open through this loneliness and sense of defeat~
May my heart remain open~

©Geneviève Nolet 2009

Guitar heaven and musical genius

Melissa Ferrick

Slack's January 18th 2009

Natalia, Melissa, Genevieve and Didi

Slack's January 18th 2009

If you have not yet heard Melissa Ferrick's "Goodbye Youth" visit her website and listen~

Serious Magic!

http://melissaferrick.com/

http://ca.youtube.com/melissaferrick (videoblogs)

http://melissaferrick.myshopify.com/collections/clothing (purchase your copy)

Love and light

G

So Brave

We are so brave!
Thank you for inspiring me to chose brave over easy!
This transiant discomfort is nothing compared to this foundation we build
Stone by stone
Wholesome and true
Hopeful and honest
Thank you!

Genevieve

My Christmas Present from Melissa Etheridge~

Photograph by Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge

Revival Tour

Ottawa

July 22 2008

Stardust

I get caught in these moments
In a flash of clear crystals
Like pearls of light
Weaving through fresh December snow
In which my heart breathes in the pure truth of you
Moments (set apart) from everything of this world
When every limb of my spirit
Recognizes who we are

There are no longer any words to explain what you mean to me
I am whole~
Home~
Found~
For the first time since the birth of these stars
That continue to fill our skies
As they imprint our universe
night after night
with the memory of who they were
a million years ago

© Geneviève Nolet 2008

Our Heaven

Your red toothbrush and empty coffee cup
Still wet from this morning
And traces of you
Swell around my apartment
Reminding me that just a few hours ago
Your sacred lips and hips and spirit
Were dancing on these old wooden floors

Your scent still here
Sways my soul from side to side
As it waits
Until my hand touches your perfect curves again
Until the world
Holds still
Where we can bathe in our heaven

© Geneviève Nolet 2008

Impatiently waiting for you my queen...

This day drags its butt along
Like a turtle on sleeping pills!

(C) Genevieve Nolet 2008

Poetry

Poetry is like
This incessant pull to remove
Layer by layer
The words
The images
The thoughts
That separate me from truth
That make truth truth
That make truth me

Like the peeling of bones
One molecule at a time
To capture life’s rapture
It is when I allow just enough time
And suspended space
For truth to exist in the brightest of light
Just before it fades

It is the trick of the magician
The prophet’s oracle
The precise moment before the mind realizes
Something happened
The unconscious fragments of suspended disbelief
Caught in my net

It is to reach
With bare claws
Digging with frail fingernails
Into the dirt-filled plump bloody organs
Which hide in the deepest of crevices
Across chasms and angled ridges
That form this body of which I am made

It is to extravagate
The Soul from its coffin
To extort
The Circle from the moon
To extricate
The Woman from the womb
It is to distill scent from light
Or to suspend flight
Without losing momentum

It is breath
Choked
Or shamed
Or empty
Or discarded
Which finds a speck of voice
Against all odds

It is the deflated blister in my new boots
The return of sensation from nerve damage
The new cells willingly pushing through mature scabs

It is these waking moments
Which release me from these jackets
Birthing musculature for lungs
Offering wings to locked vertebrae
Stimulating flight

© Geneviève Nolet

Cacti and Agave nectar

Probable accusations, half gargled truths and partially masticated lies
Twisting and coiling around my body
Until they begin to make sense (embodying experience)
With a lost sense of knowing
Could it be buried deep to the center of the earth now
Where my feet no longer reach at all~

Today all the certainty
Like a mirage
Dissipates into a reminiscent mist of fairy dust
And leaves me confounded
And confined within these impenetrable walls of anxiety~

Without a map
Or any sense of direction
I curl in the middle of this desert
Under mounds of sand
With this half inverted sun
Scratching at my disoriented flesh
Disenchanted
Bleeding me slowly of light and colour
In a sting~

I search for my heart
Under cacti and Agave nectar
Wishing to hope for effervescence to fracture these clouds
But find instead
A lack of conviction for clear skies
And a swollen heart pounding under sand dunes
Like a third degree burn victim
Without morphine or Aloe Vera~

This familiar sense of emergency
With no hospital in sight
Depletes my spirit of light
I wish my eyes could see
I wish I could find the rope of hope
That pulls me to the shores of awareness
I wish I knew how to do this
But I must confess
I am not sure I have ever learned to cope
With this kind of heart crisis

I close my eyes beneath these desolate ridges
I breathe in this solid dust
Waiting for your clear waters like oxygen
To find me~
Choose me~
Clear me~
Cleanse me~
Save me~

© Geneviève Nolet

In this middle...

Gray skies overtaking paradise
Coffee steaming on my face with every sip of this delectable prize
Fleeting beauty in specks of snow
Gentle November morning waking skin with sun-covered glows

Minutes tick through time
Wrenching the poetic heart out of magic in a fray
And reluctantly I slip into this gray
Where I will ride this dull wave and bleak line

All day
Lost in this middle
Towards clearer images of you I will pray
To find solace in the memory of solving another riddle
A reprieve somehow in the lack of colour
With visions of us holding and mending within this cold autumn pallor

©Genevieve Nolet 2008

Catalysts to Healthy Relationships

I sit here at my desk
preparing my mind to slow down and join my empty bed sheets
and to begin the insatiable search for your skin amidst the pockets of cold
which heavily infiltrate my sleeping space,
pushing me to the empty center against my own aching body.
I resist the impulse to refuge into the very bed that makes me yearn for you tenfold.
And so~
allow for this compulsion to transform into the hunt
for the sweetest of your scent between the lines instead.

It is good to have a night to just hang out here with Grace the cat.
I know those nights to be important to me
However very difficult they are~
There is this knowing though, to enjoy and celebrate these quiet me-times as they are powerful catalysts to healthy relationships.
They afford me to remember myself in some ways…

I look to strengthen, every time, when I fall back here without you~
To fully mend that sense of self, so that I can be the most loving and grounded individual in this life commitment with you.
And so I find joy here too~
as I gather pieces of me around my feet~
fragmented but whole...

Nonetheless, these evenings are always filled with stings and pangs
which assault me at irregular intervals leaving my heart swollen and achy~
awake and alive.

© Genevieve Nolet 2008

Last night

I stand with hands on the wooden slats
My heart fills with joy as she swirls towards the full house
In her usual ways, she mesmerizes and inspires
Her soulful rhythms strum the strings of light we are all made of...
It makes me think of us~

I am moved and moved again
and I search for you in the crowd
I breathe in inspiration (but my exhale is half empty)
For I wish in these moments
between "Glorious"
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (her Barbra Streisand moment)
and "Light a Light"
for your hand to rest into the palm of mine
and feel our spirits affected by truth and life~

Instead, I share these moments with you
from miles away~
I envision you to my right
standing next to us
awake and alive
with that light in your eyes~

I leave the venue
Changed and inspired as always
knowing that maybe somehow you were here with me

Your energy did reached across countries
I collected pieces of you on the sea shore this morning
as you peeked through the clouds as effervescent as you are...

I continue to embrace my journey towards freedom
and yearn to reconnect
With the sound of silence
that envelops the vibrant space between us...
With your laughter and your magical scribbles on paper
and finally
to fall into the softest, gentlest, sweetest of landing
that is you~

Sweet dreams~
Genevieve

Little Christmases Everywhere

My words fall away
Fall down
Like these frozen spirals on your tongue

Beneath my feet
A carpet of stars
you offer willingly

Harrowing wind
Twisting and folding for days
Now curls into the palms of our perfect fit
And offers a long awaited reprieve
As your soul slips brave
Inside my frame
And coats the inside of my bones

© Genevieve Nolet 2008

Humbled by magnificence

I am here in bed surrounded by my messy apartment and a to-do list that hovers over the sheets but I am sinking into this mattress as the moon rises and early evening can be felt in the thick autumn wind outside my window.

I can almost recall the comforting weight of her arms around me, the smell of her hair and her skin, the sound of her voice, the light in her eyes that takes me on magical journeys.
Her eyes... Yes those soulful eyes that melt all the layers that ever surrounded my flesh, the layers that guarded essence.

My heart bursts more and more, each day humbled by this magnificence.
It swells with knowing and tender things.
It whispers to me ever so softly with undeniable truth.

Tonight I slip into my pajamas and think of her.
Of her most tender ways.
The soft and deliberate intentions of her hands.

Tonight the words are particularly disappointing
for my spirit rides the 401 towards (519) area code in search of you
and my heart swings off of every word you ever wrote me
and tumbles around in my chest lamenting its songs,
releasing your name deep into the night.

I have been waiting for you
I am vulnerable
Open
I am moved by you
I am changed by you
I am here with you

And so I rest my head on this pillow with a new found sense of peace.
The incessant pull to move through and beyond comes to an elating halt.
I feel satisfied.
Finally home and resting with these images of you.
Holding hands, we sit crossed legged in the deepest pockets of my heart.

© Geneviève Nolet 2008

she does...

My heart bleeds onto the pages of this days


streaking my thoughts with the most tender of ink~






Genevieve Nolet 2008

Heaven?

And what if I were ready to let go of these old ways?
Ready to peel those sticky clutching layers which leave flesh
bourgogne and weepy?

Could my powerful, fragile heart please remain open~
Can I be stripped of judgments, assumptions
and of those distorted visions
comforting, leading and feeding ego to gluttony?

I have asked with such clear intentions to mend that which is broken and shed the layers that separate me from touch~ That separate me from humanity.

And what if the gifts were unravelling right here under my feet
stepping onto heaven?

© Geneviève Nolet 2008

In the grip of our mothers

Why is it that most of us daughters
Take most of a lifetime
To pry open and release ourselves
From the grips of our mothers?

Daughters of daughters of daughters
Perpetuating this painstaking necessary ritual
Of clipping winding knotted umbilicus cord
Almost drowning in her amniotic fluid.

© Geneviève Nolet 2008

Good morning~

(I must say) there is nothing like good powerful period cramps
To yank a woman out of bed at 5:45 AM on a Friday morning!

Woke up at 5:30 to the sound of "I've loved you before".
The first thing my body did this morning was smile...
And then my uterus woke up too!
Wow... I am some crampy lady this morning...

For breakfast: strong coffee to ensure that no one can truly tell
That I had a great date last night
And only 3 1/2 hours sleep
With a side dish of Advil and Tylenol extra strength
to take some of this edge off!

May our hearts continue to fill with joy~
May we find delight in the simple things~
May our presence radiate through and touch all of whom we come into contact~
May our hearts truly know that we are seen, loved and wanted.

Geneviève Nolet (c) 2008

Serendipitous

And I return here, over and over again, in small spurts between unavoidable tasks to find you here between the lines~

You swoop me complete. Your angel’s eyes wrap themselves around my body and weaken me to the floor. Your presence leans into me ss if a natural extension of my own spine. The wall holds me up barely and only long enough for me to kiss your delicate breath before my knees buckle and eventually give in.

These walls will never be the same. And the kitchen floor turns into the most glorious waves
singing our diaphragms open. A serendipitous halt where our breaths, creating notes of heaven,
recovered all that which was ever lost.

The weaving spiral winds around my heart. Red wine seeps through every crack. Candle light and poetry leaks into flesh and fingertips as our bodies (mending), create masterpiece on hardwood.

I am alive.

Unafraid.

You are magic liquid in my veins, cleansing lungs toward love, purifying heartbeats.
Spellbound
I surrender my queen!


© Genevieve Nolet 2008

The lovely disasters of my life

ahhhh… the lovely disasters of my life…
they have been so good to me in so many ways…
I knew to be grateful for them
but I did not realize that I had lost faith
and so with you I walk through the day
and collect pieces of me
that trail around my feet like sunflower seeds.

Along this delicate trail,
I make peace with my broken heart
and begin to know that there may be,
after all and even for me,
Light,
Hope
and Promise.

(C)Genevieve Nolet 2008

Geneviève

"Years of carefully crafted armour explodes with one piercing thrust of your gentle sword"

Natalia

Withdrawal

"My thighs and my eyes and my lips and my hips and my soul all miss you... "

Natalia

In the hands of a young Goddess

Your silky butterscotch kisses
The most knowing of sensuous lips
my body has ever known

Moments pass
yet still
forever more haunted
by shivers and tides
Somehow still spellbound between your thighs

Sparkles and stardust
Bed sheets and shimmering moonlight
Pearls of communion
falling so soft along breasts and breaths

My waking body
dancing to these luscious rhythms of you
Curves that fit
honest

Tears drop
onto compassionate fingertips
Salt and rain on my tongue
offering flowers and secret roads
to enchanted forests

I walk these paths on your body
holding your hand
without a map
and no compass

I eventually come to your ocean
riding your waves
My arching spine
as if hypnotized by the thrusting movements
of your intuitive hips
curling more and more towards early morning sun

And then
your delicate cheek
rests on my heart beats
We fall
into the most generous of sleep
without losing our way

© Genevieve Nolet. September 2008

Thank you~

I rest here
with the memory of your lips on my mouth
Your kisses full of magic
curl on my pillow next to mine
Your delicate dance on my body
resonates deep into the night

Thank you for this rich, tender and honest experience
Your willingness to come undone
be vulnerable and truthful
your hands that melt layers of protection
your sensual curves and connected rhythms
moves me
moves me




Genevieve Nolet (C) 2008

slide show of my Melissa summer pictures...

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k62/Willowspiral/Melissa%20Etheridge%20Summer%202008/Revival%20tour%20best%20pictures/?action=view&current=ef7dc0c9.pbw

Enjoy!
Genevieve

Still so much

To watch her
young and sweet
peeking on the side of my mothers’ skirt
Visiting my own grown body now
still wanting
or at least looking (perhaps out of habit)
for her approval

I no longer resent
her childish ways
or even
feel
shame

There is still so much love left
even for her


© Genevieve Nolet (September 2008)

Once again...

Summer spirals down back to earth

like a silent movie in reverse

Petals and leaves towards ground

shifting colour in mid air



Silent transformation

offers herself once again

to the eyes that see

to willing and patient witness



I rejoice quietly

for another fall

to gather all my loose ends

to heal sun burns covering freckles



(C) Genevieve Nolet 2008

Sticky compass

Sticky compass
dripping with tears and honey
The back pocket of her favorite jeans

She holds on to words –like a map–
that come and go in a flash
Small lines and arrows leading further into unknowing

She wakes with the day
and searches for sky in the basement
in piles of dirt that covers nose, filling lungs

Is she lost?
Falling slowly
away from the world that ever knew her?


© Genevieve Nolet August 2008

Cleaning fairy!

Why is it that I always get a visit from the cleaning fairy
late late late into the evening
when I need to get up at 6 AM the next day?

Why?
Why?
Why?

Now my house is tidy~
It is near midnight~
The fridge is clean and organized~
The garbage and recycling is out~
Everything is in its' place~
The candles are shimmering...
Melissa plays on my Ipod in the kitchen~
I should go to bed but all I want to do
is write and draw until the sun comes up!
I feel awake for the first time in days!
So...
I promise you my dear Genevieve
that tomorrow evening
we will do the creative fairy dance together
and invite her to spend the evening with us!
We will make organic carrot/squash/ginger soup~
light the candles~
play the soulful music~
Until she comes...
But first we need to go to bed now!
So that we are not too tired to let the artist live a little!
Love and light~
Genevieve

Last show in Toronto July 28th

Melissa Etheridge
July 28th 2008
Massey Hall
Toronto Pictures by Genevieve Nolet (C) 2008

Last show at Massey Hall! What a trip the last few weeks have been for me! Wow!

I decided that I was going to go to the show with very few signs and a gift to make Melissa laugh a little...since all my signs have been so intense I thought it was time for a bit of laughter...

I also did not take many pictures as I really was soaking it all up, strengthening to path in my brain for these memories.

Camille and I made our way to stage right half way between Melissa and the end of the stage. It was a good place to be. The crowd was psyched and the travel package was sold out! Melissa opened with All American girl...

Actually here is the set list:

O Canada (Phillip on the guitar)

All American Girl

Into the Dark

California

Don't You Need/Similar Features/Don't You Need

Unexpected Rain

Bring Me Some Water

I Want To Come Over

My Lover (spotlight by Melissa on Philip!!)

Let me go

Please Baby Please/I'm The Only One

If I Wanted To

Down to One

I Want To Be in Love (Melissa starts solo and finishes with the band)/Mercy

For a good recording of it and a few other recordings from this tour go to http://www.youtube.com/Willowspiral

I Run for Life

2001/I Need to Wake Up

Message to Myself/Come to My Window

All We Can Really Do

Kingdom of Heaven

Open Your Mind

The Universe Listened/Imagine That/What Happens tomorrow?

Encore

Like The Way I Do

(Yes my flag is still touring with them! )
Melissa spoke early on about her love for Canada and her day off the day before~going out for Indian food... I figured I needed to give her the present at this point and so I waived my 8 by 11 Honourary Canadian citizenship certificate~ She looked at me and said "Mama can't read that far!" LOL! She told the audience before she walked towards Camille and I: "Excuse me for a moment". She took the certificate and walked back to the microphone reading it out loud for the crowd to hear~ "Honourary Canadian citizenship!"and the crowd went crazy! It was so cool to feel that all of Massey Hall took part of this little gift! It was also signed by many fans Canadians and not! It was nice that it became a group thing! She continued to read it and then told me "You are so sweet!"
ohhhhhhhhh what a way to start my last show!


The concert was amazing!
Phillip was on fire and Melissa looked rested and centered! I really soaked in as much as my little heart could handle.
I had a few tears through the show~
The good kind!
The overwhelmed with joy kind!
Moments of complete harmony!
Filled with gratitude~
Melissa was grooving and dancing and I believe she came up with a brand new move! I can't explain it but Camille should know what I am referring too!

Melissa blew me kisses when she read my sign before the encore
"Thank you SO much~Come back soon~ Only love and light"

I stood there completely overcome as she ended the show with "Like the way I do".
Feeling so empowered and reminded once again of what truly matters.
I return to my life now... with an even stronger sense of higher consciousness.
I feel so honoured to have connected with another woman warrior who speaks my language...
and who speaks out! At the end of the show when Melissa did her round of hand shakes/taps... She found my hand...looked at me, bent down, placed one hand in my hand~ the other on top of our hands and looked at me with intent as she said (shaking and holding my hand) "Thank you so much". Wow! I could not have asked for a greater gift than that. I leave Massey Hall with the inner knowing that my hero finally knows who I am and that she knows how much of an impact she has had on my life... and most of me truly believes that she may be reading my book!
Here are some more pictures!
Enjoy!
Only Love and light!
With much gratitude!

Camille at the end of the show!


Speak soon!
Love and light!
(C) Genevieve Nolet 2008

My beautiful dad after the show!

So... Dad survived after all!

His top two favorites:

I run for life

What happens tomorrow

He enjoyed the concert and said that it was nice to see how much fun I was having too.

He had some good Melissa moments (massage moment other blogs for details).

Merci papa!

:)

Genevieve

The meet and greet with Melissa!

So...
hard to put into words but I will try.
My dad and I were sitting down (well I tried to sit but I ended up standing to try to calm my nerves! It did not really work)...
The meeting was very short but amazing! A dream come true really.
The big highlights were my prayer flag and the art piece I drew for her.
She was obviously impressed bright eyed looking at the art work and I was honoured beyond words!!!
Here is how it went:

She arrived into the room where we (6 of us) were waiting to meet her.
I stood right behind her as she spent some time with a woman and her son.
Steve was standing by Melissa. I had made a prayer flag (their set/stage has a few strings of blank Tibetan flags and Steve had asked the fans on his blog what our prayer would be...I was so moved by his blog and honest reflections that I decided to make him a flag which read as follow:

"May our hearts remain open

in propelling change

with love and light

Hope and promise

with clear intentions"

I managed to pull him aside to give him the flag. He was so excited and made a joke about the fact that he thought no one read those blogs... He read the words on the flag and said that he was going to do something with it... I explained to him how much his blog had impacted me and thanked him for what he did!

There I was now waiting for my turn with Melissa...
My brain kind of disengaged and I was trying to be as present as I knew how.
My dad helped allot I have to say with his wise comment of "there comes a time that all preparation needs to go and you need to rely on being present" or something like that anyways....

Melissa turned to me and offered a strong hand shake "nice to meet you!" I introduced myself and asked for a hug which she gladly offered. As I was recovering I turned to my dad and introduced him as "this is my father"

MLE: "ahhhh because you are such a GOOD dad!"
Dad: smile and internal giggles and he gave her my record for her to sign saying "can you make it to my daughter? "

MLE: (looks at me) You are going to have to spell your name for me...

I did...slowly!
Here is a picture of the signed album

me: I was babbling about how much her music has been part of my life for many years and felt like her and I were not really connecting so somehow right there my grounded self kicked in and I started to talk to her in my natural ways! Which was such a releif!!!
me: Melissa! I have a Story for you about the power of intentions!

MLE:Well TELL me about it (she turned towards me and was serious and intense in her gaze~ all ears.

Me: Last July I sat in my backyard and made a long list of things to do before I die. The top two things were to publish my poetry/art book and the other to meet you and now this July both are coming true. (exactly one year later!)

MLE: wow! See! you get it, you know how this work! You do!!! (she talked a bit more but I forget now...)

Me: so I have some presents for you (I gave her my book and talked to her about the fact that there was layout problems but that I really wanted her to have this proof because the final product was not ready yet) and then I followed with my art work and Melissa said WOW! or something like that...and she took a moment to really look at it.~she seem to really like it! then she signed my picture as I thanked her for her guitar pick in Newport...

MLE: ha!!!!!! that Was you! (she explained to me that I was having so much fun/a blast at that show and that it why she gave me her pic!)

She looked at my dad as she was ready to move to the next group.
Dad: (in an emotional quivering voice said) I am really here because you mean so much to my daughter. Melissa looked really touched by my dad's presence~it was beautiful!

Steve: wait Melissa look what Genevieve made for us! (Steve gets Melissa to stop walking away from me and they both turn towards me as they look at my flag)

Steve: She read my blog and wrote a prayer on it (Both reading now)

MLE: SEE! SEE! (to Steve)

Steve: Maybe we can do something with it...put it up or rewrite it on a flag or something

MLE: That is great!!!

and then we got escorted out with the first group of two while the last two chatted her up some more. So voila that was my meet and greet. It was such a blessing to finally make a real human connection~off stage~ and have the opportunity to show Melissa the impact she has had in my life even if it was short and mainly through my art... But I walked out feeling like one of the person who has been a great influence in my spiritual journey got to know me just a little. It is funny how easy it is to feel so invisible. It is so difficult to walk with a heart filled with overwhelming gratitude andn ot be able to transmit that message. I finally got to do that!

So then the next day I show up for Ottawa and the show starts and I look up at the flags and my tiny flag is up there on a string along with the rest of her set! Steve came to talk to me after show asking me if I saw my flag up there! He looked like a happy kid, proud as he pointed to my flag! He said something that implied that my flag was now part of the set! Thanks Steve for putting my prayer up there. I feel like I am one with the gang across North America propelling change!
Thank you for all of what you do!!!

May my heart continue to be open~
May I continue to be offered courage in propelling change~
Love and light~
Genevieve

Exchanges with Melissa (The neon signs)

I could not have imagined that my signs would have had this much of an impact. I felt so honoured to be in the front row for both Montreal and Ottawa~ I decided to bring signs with me to bring an extra layer of dialogue with the artist who has inspired me the most to honour my life, the world we live in and who is a consistent reminder of accountability, love and light. For now here are the signs I put up during the show and what happened when I did.

Montreal~July 21st, 2008
Here's the set list:
All There Is
Chrome Plated Heart (YES!)
Ruins
California
Don't You Need/Similar Features
The Angels
Unexpected Rain
Bring Me Some Water
I Want to Come Over
Enough of Me
I'm the Only One
If I Wanted To
When You Find the One (Tour Premiere)
I Run for Life
2001/I Need to Wake Up
Message to Myself/Come to My Window
All We Can Really Do
Kingdom of Heaven
Open Your Mind
The Awakening:The Universe Listens/Imagine That/What Happens Tomorrow

Encore:Not Tonight
Like The Way I Do

The crowd was on their feet from the moment the band came on stage! I stood there by the front by my father's side, so happy to finally share this with him. Melissa was on fire!!! or so it seems to me! About 45 minutes into the show, my dad's left shoulder was getting sore and so I started to massage his shoulder while dancing to the beat of Melissa. She looked at us with one of those smiles that was priceless. She giggled and then nodded her head as she continued to smile from ear to ear while singing. It was funny...there I was taking care of my dad shoulder (being the good massage therapist) while Melissa is singing one of her hits! It was too funny! She was right there with us for that little massage! LOL! I did not put up any signs until "I need to wake up" which has moved me over and over and not just in a global warming kind of way but at a deep spiritual level like a wave that has empowered me to wake up~speak out~be the change in my own life~ So in the tale end of "I need to wake up" I put up this sign (see below)
Melissa took a few seconds to really read it and seemed quite moved by it. Major smile and nod our way. At the end of the song I put up the thank you sign (see below). The crowd was going crazy in a good way. Melissa saw my thank you sign and into the microphone while looking straight at me she said "NO! Thank YOU!" and point deliberate and strong at my little smiling tearing eyes! It was so good to share such greatness! We are the change! I am changed! Every day we are the change!

At the end of the show right before the encore and during "Not tonight" I put up the "Keep it precious" sign. Mark bent forward and screamed at me "I LOVE THIS SONG" and Fritz was all psyched with the thumbs up! I was hoping to hear that song live as it is one of my ultimate favorite songs ever!!! Melissa saw it a bit later, smiled and sang with a kind of a pout "Not tonight". Maybe in Toronto, there is still time!

Ottawa

National Arts Centre

July 22, 2008

Front row upgrades!

Stage left!

Set list:

All There Is

Ain't It Heavy

Shriner's Park

California

You Used to Love to Dance/

Dance without Sleeping

Unexpected Rain

Bring Me Some Water

I Want to Come Over

Let Me Go

Please Baby Please/I'm the Only One

If I Wanted To

A Simple Love /Yes I Am

Heal Me

I Run For Life

2001/I Need To Wake Up

Message to Myself/Come to my Window

All We Can Really Do

Kingdom of Heaven

Open Your Mind

The Awakening: The Universe Listened/Imagine That/What Happens Tomorrow

Encore:Not Tonight

Piece of my Heart

During I need to wake up I put up the sign below...
Melissa, once again full of smiles and acknowledgement~ connecting with the truth of it! it was magic again!

During what happens tomorrow I put up this sign! At this point I felt that even if I had 4 more signs, it was time for me to shut up and let her do her thing! and so I did...this was the last sign I put up. At the end of the show her hand shake to me was a strong deliberate hold! Loved it!

This was just what happened with my crazy neon signs! During "open your mind", the line " but don't you want too know why" Melissa and I shared a crazy head shaking YES!!!! it was fun!

I feel very honoured to have connected to this extent! I also wanted to say that the light/glow in the dark people in one of the side balconies were magic! She got them to spell something and they spelt LOVE as a group! It was so good! Love the glow in the dark people!!! Thanks for being there who ever you are!

(C)Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge in Ottawa

Ottawa was tender and sweet with usual Melissa rocking times
but the night in general felt very soft and gentle.
It was magic really...
More reviews and stories to follow in a few days.Enjoy the pictures for now!
Genevieve

Melissa Etheridge

Revival Tour

July 22 2008

NAtional Art center~ Ottawa

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
NAtional Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
NAtional Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
NAtional Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet


Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
NAtional Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge

Revival Tour

July 22 2008

National Art center~ Ottawa

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Phillip Sayce and Melissa Etheridge

Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Phillip Sayce and Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Phillip Sayce
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge

Revival Tour

July 22 2008

National Art center~ Ottawa

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge
Revival Tour
July 22 2008
National Art center~ Ottawa
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge in Montreal

So.. the details of this experience shall come in a few days but at least here are the pictures from the Montreal show which was amazing!She was in great spirit and the audience was on their feet for 3 hours!

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour

La Place des Arts~ Montreal

July 21st 2008

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival Tour

La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour

La Place des Arts~ Montreal
July 21st 2008
(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
Ottawa

July 22nd 2008

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Melissa Etheridge~The revival tour
Ottawa
July 22nd 2008

(C) Genevieve Nolet

Here is a great review!

Le Journal de Montreal

Melissa Etheridge

http://www2.canoe.com/divertissement/mu%20...%20-jdm.html#

Photo copyright Olivier Jean -

Du rock puissant et vibrant
Bruno Lapointe
Le Journal de Montréal
22-07-2008 10h51

Melissa Etheridge a fait vibrer la Place des Arts hier soir. Généreuse, l'icône du rock féminin a offert à ses fans survoltés un survol complet de sa carrière en près de trois heures.20 heures, hier soir, les lumières s'éteignent dans la salle Wilfrid- Pelletier. Aussitôt, les fans bondissent sur leurs pieds. Cris, sifflements assourdissants et tonnerres d'applaudissements. Et la rockeuse n'est pas encore apparue sur scène.Lorsqu'elle émerge finalement de la pénombre, c'est la folie.
«Bonsoir, Montréal !» lance la chanteuse, toute souriante. Ça y est, on sent que le plafond est sur le point de lever. Tout ça seulement sur les premières notes de la chanson All There is.Puis, les hits s'enchaînent. C'est un survol exhaustif de son imposante carrière que Melissa Etheridge livre. De I Want to Come Over à I'm the Only One, en passant par les incontournables Bring Me Some Water et California, aucun succès ne semble être oublié.Du Kansas à HollywoodTous s'enchaînent, consciencieusement présentés par la rockeuse. À l'aide de ses chansons, elle recrée son périple, sa propre histoire, qui l'a menée de son Kansas natal jusqu'à Hollywood, mue par sa soif de succès.Impossible de parler de Melissa Etheridge sans souligner son énergie remarquable et contagieuse.
Combattante, elle a vaincu un cancer du sein récemment, devenant ainsi un modèle pour beaucoup de femmes.La rockeuse se donne corps et âme pour combler ses fans. Et ils le lui rendent bien. Debout durant la totalité du spectacle, ils accueillent chaque chanson avec des cris d'admiration, se déhanchent sans retenue sur les rythmes rock et s'improvisent choristes dans chacun des tubes de la chanteuse.Massés dans la salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, ses fans sont réellement de tout âge. Mais majoritairement féminins.
Ouvertement homosexuelle, Melissa Etheridge est devenue en quelque sorte une légende dans le milieu gai international.Mais son langage est universel. Le rock que Melissa Etheridge nous sert est incontestablement puissant, vibrant et entraînant. Bref, c'est du bonbon. Si bien qu'on en redemande. Même après trois heures.