POP MUSIC REVIEW : Indigo Girls Deliver a Low-Key Performance

Oh to be young, have an acoustic guitar and believe that a song can change the world.

At least the Indigo Girls, whose set Monday at the Roxy was cut short when an electrical problem caused one of them to be shocked by the microphone several times, stick pretty much to songs geared toward changes in their own personal world. As opposed to the opening act, solemn L.A. neo-folk trio Show of Hands, which seems to really, really believe songs can change the whole world.

The Indigos, two young Georgia women who are following Edie Brickell into the ranks of self-actualizing folkie hitmakers, are two low-key Judy Collinses for the R.E.M. generation. Amy Ray (the one who got shocked) and Emily Saliers are pleasant enough singers and performers, and their songs use occasionally intriguing--if not always purposeful--imagery in examinations of the questions--if not answers--of post-collegiate lessons of life.

But the bottom line Monday was that the pair do not really have anything new to say, nor any new way of saying it. Which didn’t stop the Roxy crowd from fawning at just about every vague anguish and insight offered.

“Maybe this is girls’ music,” suggested one female fan, and it was a woman’s voice from the audience that declared the Girls the “best new artists of 1989.” But plenty of guys were also on hand, and they appeared to be just as enthralled. Maybe people are connecting with the likes of the Indigo Girls and Brickell because in an age when pop heroes are increasingly distanced from fans, they come off more as friends than big stars.

In compensation for the scrapped final third of the set, concertgoers were offered free tickets for a Tuesday Roxy performance. The Indigo Girls will also be at the Bacchanal in San Diego tonight and at Bogart’s in Long Beach on Thursday.