The Atlanta folk duo famous for their haunting harmonies delivered a set which delighted the loyal fans who packed out Concorde 2. The audience were singing along, applauding and shouting out both praise and requests for favourite songs.

The Indigo Girls rose to fame in the late 80s with signature melodies between Amy Ray’s deeper timbre and Emily Salier’s sweeter yet more plaintive tones. Over 30 years into a career in which they have cemented themselves as the pre-eminent LGBTQ+ heroes of folk, their voices are as beautiful as ever on their first UK tour since 2009.

Their 21 song setlist was a pitch-perfect showcase of their varied work over the years – moving between the country register of Get Out The Map to the electric roar of Go. To describe the the Indigo Girls in simple terms of their melodies and their folk roots runs the danger of making them sound inane.

While their music certainly offers hope and happiness, their uplifting notes are radical, carrying messages of protest. The final three songs were the defiant highlight. Galileo made an enthusiastic but previously rather static crowd dance – and led perfectly into the encore.

Playing The Rise of the Black Messiah, a song in honour of a man wrongly imprisoned, they said: “this is a song about the need to look at our own racism and change our criminal justice system.” This was greeted by cheers of agreement.

The beloved single Closer to Fine ended the gig, offering hope on the back of protest, leaving the crowd energised. The girls were able to stop and let their audience sing their most famous anthem of survival right back to them.

Freya Marshall Payne