Melissa Etheridge is electric! She’s a lightning bolt piercing into your very core and sending you on an exhilarating joy ride.
Going to a Melissa Etheridge concert is truly a euphoric experience. She delivers on all cylinders with that signature powerhouse voice still in top form, rich, gritty and never quits. Her musicianship is effortless on any one of her many guitars that she changes throughout the show like other performers change pieces of their costumes. She is versatile playing harmonica and joining percussionist Eric Gardner, on drums. In addition to Gardner, she is backed by stellar musicians Eric Kertes on bass and Max Hart on guitar, keyboard and backup vocals.
Melissa Etheridge is currently on her solo Spring Tour 2025. This review is of her recent concert stop at The Paramount in Huntington, where she performed to a house that was standing room only.
She started the evening strong, ejecting the crowd from their seats and keeping them rockin’ throughout the two-hour set with one rousing hit after the next. Even when she treated us to lesser-known songs, they were spectacular, filled with her poignant lyrics and edgy sound.
Melissa Etheridge took her audience back in time on her personal journey as she said, “Let’s go back to the ’80s and a magical world where no one took any pictures and we got away with everything!” Her guitar sang with so much emotion as she punched out “Let Me Go.”
She segued into the ’90s, saying, “We wanted so much and when we didn’t get it, we wanted it more.” Then she brought the house down with a passionate “I Want to Come Over.” Next up was “Shriner’s Park,” a lament about a former friend whom she later learned had suddenly disappeared because her parents took her to “one of those places that were supposed to fix you.”
Read more: Exclusive Q&A: Melissa Etheridge to electrify LI at The Paramount
Etheridge even did a rap song, “Ain’t That Bad,” which she explained was composed while in the recording studio with rap producer RoccStar. The song was catchy and further proof that she can do just about anything.
Melissa Etheridge, who as she put it, “grew up in the shadows of Leavenworth Prison in Kansas,” spoke of how Johnny Cash came to perform at the prison. She was eight years old at the time, but that made a lasting impression on her and when she got older, she went inside and performed together with other musicians. She was so taken by the appreciative response of the residents that it was always her intention to return and play for them again. She explained how, in 2024, she did just that with a two-part docuseries, I’m Not Broken, recorded live at the Topeka Correction Facility.
Then she broke into one of the songs she performed on that docuseries, “The Shadow of a Black Crow,” with lyrics full of angst like, “He’s been on my tail for close to three days, just a little souvenir of my wicked ways … The scratch marks on my soul from the shadow of a black crow.”
After that she said, “I wanted to write something that was not an indication of where they were going.” She belted out “A Burning Woman,” a song filled with uplifting lyrics like “I’m a burning woman, I’m not broken, I’m worth it … And I don’t wanna hurt no more.” On the heels of that, Etheridge hit the crowd with a driving “Come To My Window,” bringing them to their feet again and keeping them standing for “Bring Me Some Water.”
Etheridge rocked the night away tirelessly with the crowd hanging on her every word and note. She was personable from start to finish and wrapped up the evening saying to this Huntington audience: “Long Island, you never let me down. I love this place. I love the feeling. Remember, until we meet again, stay strong, speak truth, choose love, it’s a choice.” Then she sent chills with “I’m the Only One” and treated us to a soaring harmonica solo.
After that, Melissa Etheridge and the band waved goodbye and they were gone. The crowd audibly deflated like taking all the air out of a balloon, but they stood waiting, hoping for one more song — and to their overwhelming delight, that’s just what they got when Etheridge and the band returned for their encore. Thankfully, she wasn’t done with us yet. She grasped on again and shot us into the stratosphere with an intoxicating “Like The Way I Do.”
After the show, the crowd filed out, elated and filled with memories of her captivating musicianship, mesmerizing stage presence and incredible playlist.
Etheridge goes from her current solo concert tour into some upcoming dates sharing the bill with Joss Stone before reuniting this summer with the Indigo Girls for their co-headlining tour Yes We Are.
For a thoroughly thrilling concert experience, catch Melissa Etheridge on one of her tour stops happening now through 2025. You will be so glad you did.
Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist and photographer whose celebrity interviews, concert and theatre reviews, features and human interest stories appear in major publications. She is author of the children’s chapter book, Madison Weatherbee The Different Dachshund, and playwright of Madison Weatherbee The Musical. Her one-act plays have been produced across Long Island. Her children’s picture book, Life According to Lexington, is due out later this year.
