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The party really started when Melissa Etheridge hit the stage.
As it got dark Monday night and a warm wind started to blow, the rocker came out hot in a spotlight, belting out her 1993 Grammy-winning hit 'Ain't it Heavy.'
The sell-out crowd of 1,100 wine-lubricated fans at the outdoor amphitheatre at Mission Hill Winery in West Kelowna immediately got to their feet, cheering.
At the end of the song, Etheridge kept the chatter to a minimum because she wanted to get right back to the music and the party.
"Good to see you again," she yelled.
"I remember this view (in reference to the vista of vineyards, lake and mountains out the back of the open stage and that she'd played this venue before in the summer of 2016). I love playing music outside."
And so, she resumed doing just that by going straight into her 1988 hit 'Similar Features'.
Etheridge looked every bit the seasoned rocker she is -- wearing a cowboy hat and dressed in a gold leather jacket and black leather pants with multi-chain belt, strumming her guitar and pacing the stage confidently.
She took another brief talk break to comment on how the chairs for the audience are stuck into the ground with spikes to keep them in place on the steep slope of the amphitheatre and then got right back into the hit parade.
1996's 'I Want to Come Over' was followed by 'A Burning Woman', a raucous new anthem Etheridge wrote to perform at a concert at a womens' prison in her home state of Kansas that's also part of the new docuseries 'Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken.'
By this time, a boomer mosh pit of dancers is in front of the stage and up the first several rows of seating.
Thus, the crowd was primed for the homestretch of banger sing-along hits -- the 1995 Grammy-winning 'Come to My Window', 'Somebody Bring Me Some Water' and her best-known, signature smash 'I'm the Only One'.
Jewel
Etheridge is touring with singer-songwriter Jewel this summer, so Monday's Mission Hill concert was a 2-for-1 affair.
The pair came to West Kelowna high off being the wrap-up act at the Calgary Stampede.
The four-time Grammy-nominated Jewel opened the concert with a 80-minute set that started as just her and her guitar and ended with her belting out her first hit -- 1996's 'Who Will Save Your Soul' -- accompanied by Etheridge's three-piece band.
In between, she sang her other hits 'Foolish Games' and 'You Were Meant for Me'.
Jewel praised the amphitheatre as "the coffeeshop that blew up into a winery" in reference to her getting her musical start playing coffeeshops.
She also showed off her quirky style wearing a hat that's come to be called the 'big wine-tasting hat', a glittery bra over a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and jean shorts under a long, string skirt.
Second of three
The Etheridge-Jewel show was the second of three sell-out concerts that will be staged at Mission Hill this summer.
The first was the Barenaked Ladies ('If I Had a Million Dollars') on July 4 and the next is Grammy-winning Sarah McLachlan ('Angel', 'Sweet Surrender' and 'I Will Remember You') on July 29.