Arts & Entertainment
Amy Grant: live and unguarded
Gay-friendly gospel singer in generous mode at lengthy Birchmere show
Amy Grant at the Birchmere. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
Sometimes sacred/sometimes secular singer/songwriter Amy Grant played an exceedingly generous two hour-plus set at the Birchmere Thursday night, her first visit to the iconic Alexandria, Va., venue.
Her usual self-deprecating self, Grant (52) is touring behind current album “How Mercy Looks From Here,” which dropped in May and was her first album of all-new material in a decade. Thursday’s show found her darting all throughout her vast discography (she started in the late ’70s) from tender early gospel hits (“Father’s Eyes,” “El Shaddai” and “Thy Word”) to big pop hits (“Find a Way,” “Baby Baby” and “Every Heartbeat”), five cuts from the new album and several singles that had — at various times — spent eons out of set list rotation like “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” and “1974.” “You’re Not Alone,” a non-single from Grant’s landmark 1991 album “Heart in Motion,” was an especially nice opener.
Grant sometimes tours with just a small acoustic combo, but had her full band with her at the Birchmere. They’re a solid and robust group of seasoned pros. The only downside? Grant’s lead vocals — decent sounding but not as powerful as they were in the ’80s and ’90s — sounded buried in the mix for much of the night. This has been a problem at other shows for her. It would seem an easy enough thing to fix — simply raising her mic level slightly, yet this never seems to happen. A lengthy sound check open to fan club members in the afternoon seemed to address every issue but that.
Many gay and lesbian couples attended the show and represent a large chunk of Grant’s hardcore fan base. Wary for years of saying much one way or the other, Grant (who’s straight and married to Vince Gill) gave a gay press interview earlier this year expressing somewhat measured acceptance. An album of Grant’s hits remixed by top DJs is expected this fall.
Grant’s set list:
1. You’re Not Alone
2. Takes a Little Time
3. Father’s Eyes
4. Find a Way
5. What the Angels See
6. Saved By Love
7. Everywhere I Go
8. Every Heartbeat
9. Our Time is Now
10. Don’t Try So Hard
11. Oh How the Years
12. Here
13. 3rd World Woman
14. Free
15. Baby Baby
16. Sing Your Praise to the Lord
17. Better Than a Hallelujah
18. Thy Word
19. El Shaddai
20. Helping Hand medley
21. Emmanuel
22. Love of Another Kind
ENCORE:
23. Put a Little Love in Your Heart
24. Birthday (Beatles cover/Pat leads)
25. 1974
26. That’s What Love is For
27. Say Once More
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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