When she found herself as part of the Women of Substance Series on a lush residential campus of a Catholic women’s college, India.Arie  admitted that she had some reservations. But when she asked for the houselights to be turned up shortly after she took the stage Wednesday, she saw a packed house of mostly women and she felt reassured.

Her 110 minutes onstage were part church, part Oprah and part concert. She talked about empowerment, sang about self-love and made the evening into one big communal celebration of enlightenment, oneness and love. With India.Arie leading the way, sisterhood is indeed powerful.

Frankly, not all the sermonizing introductions to her songs were necessary because the lyrics speak for themselves. And she gave too many plugs for her new album; again, the songs speak for themselves.

As for the music, India dispensed with “Video,” her 2001 breakthrough hit, as almost a prelude to the main part of her concert. Joined by reggae singer Gramps Morgan, she did “Therapy” from her new disc and immediately thereafter did a remix (and superior) version of same song with a more pronounced Jamaican vibe. 

Other highlights included “River Rise” with its Southern soul/gospel feel, the nasty funk of “Better Way,” the psychedelic soul of “Brown Skin” and her acoustic set with harmony vocals including “Back to the Middle” and “God Is Real.”

Keeping it real, India.Arie confessed that at times during her career she has been misguided by industry forces, questioning how she ended up doing a song with Akon (that would have been 2006’s “I Am Not My Hair”). During the encore, she brought out her mother Joyce, who designs India’s colorful outfits, to sing. And Mom vocalized like a bird.

Women of substance, indeed.

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