Indigo Girls, as soccer fans, embrace headlining Decatur WatchFest finale
In the mid-1980s, newly formed act the Indigo Girls performed on Decatur Square.
Four decades later, the now-seasoned and much-beloved duo of childhood friends Emily Saliers and Amy Ray will perform before a much bigger audience for a free ticketed concert Sunday at Decatur WatchFest celebrating the end of the FIFA World Cup. Registration was required for tickets, which were snapped up quickly.
For the love of Decatur
When the city of Decatur asked the “Closer to Fine” act to close out the six-week tournament, which featured eight games in Atlanta, it was a no-brainer.
“I live in Decatur, so it’s awesome for me,” Saliers said in a Zoom interview. (Ray now lives in North Georgia.) “We both are big soccer fans. It’s a coming together of soccer and music and hometown fun.”
Saliers is an Atlanta United season ticket holder; Ray also attends games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
WatchFest was a big enough deal that Ray and Saliers persuaded their band to perform this one-off concert in the middle of a three-month hiatus between the Indigo Girls’ spring and fall tours, which includes a stop at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Oct. 2.
It will also be a far bigger event than their appearance four decades ago when they were a local act building a fan base as college students at Emory University.
“We played there on a tiny little gazebo stage,” said Ray, who remembered hanging out in the square as a kid before the Decatur MARTA station was built in 1979.
A local cable show at the time taped the concert, and a snippet of their performance of “Land of Canaan” pops up in the band’s 2024 biographical documentary available on Netflix, “It’s Only Life After All.”
“You’ll see footage of us with kids running around on the grass,” Ray said. “I’m glad we have that because it was a big event and we were so young. We had played in a lot of little clubs here and there but never in a park setting like that before. It was cool.”
Over the years between that first appearance and the upcoming concert, the Indigo Girls have played political rallies in the square and festivals such as Amplify Decatur in 2021.
And they have watched the square evolve into a popular draw for shopping and dining. “It’s a place where kids can hang out, which is cool,” Saliers said.
Ray said she recently discovered a clothing shop called Sole Play, where she likes to browse the jerseys.
The city of Decatur recently spent $8.5 million to freshen and modernize the square, with a permanent performing arts stage, a green room and a large viewing screen set up in time for the World Cup. The gazebo is gone.
WatchFest has been a success, with more than 140,000 people attending a variety of events in June, far more than expected, according to the city of Decatur.
Decatur Square, which will be fenced off for the Indigo Girls concert while they perform 8-9:30 p.m., after the final match is over, can accommodate the 5,500 attendees who procured tickets. A WatchFest spokesman said there will also be room outside the fences to watch and listen.
Indigo Girls soldier on
The Indigo Girls began a spring tour soon after Saliers announced on social media she is grappling with two incurable medical conditions: cervical dystonia, a neurological movement disorder, and an essential tremor. They have affected her voice, causing involuntary vibrato.
“Amy and I have always been honest about everything,” Saliers said. “It was just like, people have noticed and some people were concerned. This just felt like a good time to let people know.”
Saliers admitted it was difficult to talk about: “It’s emotional. I’ve reached this point. There’s not a fix for it. In my own life, it’s been a journey coming to terms with it. My voice has been my portal to the expression of my songs. Thank God I have Amy. Her voice is as beautiful and strong as ever. We can still play shows together.”
So far on the tour, Saliers said, fans have been supportive and engaged.
“We’ve had great shows,” she said. “A lot of singing along, a lot of love. The whole thing has been wonderful.”
Ray said she has worked hard to collaborate with Saliers through her challenges.
“Vocally, it’s a different picture doing harmonies,” Ray said. “We’re working with different voices. My voice is strong, but it’s different. I’m getting older, too. We are evolving in a way that plays up what our strengths are and maintains that core of how we deliver and engage.”