Review: Ani Difranco at Liberty Hall
with Andrew Bird opening
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Andrew Bird ***1/2 (out of 4)
Ani Difranco ** (out of 4)
Ani Difranco is more than today's single biggest DIY singer-songwriter. 'Ani' is an icon. Her lyrics are often inspirational and empowering, words you can memorize and take home with you, pithy snippets of wisdom that you can apply to life. Her poetry have inspired women and yellow dogs for more than 15 years now...but not so much last night.
Evidence of Ani’s influence was the hundred fans wrapped around the corner of 7th and Mass. an hour before Liberty Hall's doors were set to open. Evidence of her ethic stood in line, too, in the guise of purveyors of vegetarian literature, ‘Meat Is Murder’ hand stamps, and homespun art paying homage to Ani. Only one scalper was to be found. Those who wanted to be here were already here.
Unfortunately for Andrew Bird — the show’s opener — he was not Ani. The incessant chatter during his set made Liberty sound more like Free State Brewery on a packed Monday night. It was inconsiderate, given the unadulterated silence during most of Difranco’s performance; it was intolerable considering the magnetism of Bird’s set.
Bird has made his career out of experimenting with and combining unexpected sounds, and last night was a captivating showcase of his talent. Using a loop station as naturally as his violin, guitar, xylophone, and his Ennio Morricone-style whistle, Bird built swelling arrangements that rivaled the sheer magnitude of Sigur Ros’s recent performance at Liberty. His lyrics were sparse, and pointed: “Taking our own myths to the bank.” However, he was but one man up against insurmountable odds: opening a show faced with legions of Ani faithful.
A few years ago, Difranco effectively snubbed her fans by going (gasp) hetero and getting (gasp gasp) married to a (gasp gasp gasp) male. And last night — though she was charismatic and entertaining as ever — she managed to snub her fans again, and again.
First, by banning cameras and recording devices (the rumor in line was “If Ani sees a flash she’ll walk off stage”). This smacks of ego and/or profiteering, not gratitude for her fans.
She snubbed her audience, too, by failing to tell that arm-pumping dude down front to get off his girlfriend’s shoulders and stand like the rest of the crowd so people behind him could see.
Snub No. 3 came via literally laughing off requested non-new-album tunes (“Oh wow...yeah, right!”). About 3/4 of the way through her set, she did play an older tune — a straight-ahead version of “Gravel” — the crowd absolutely erupted in sing-along for the first time. Although that moment came near the end of the night, it seemed like the show was just beginning.
She later indulged the crowd with a couple more ‘old’ pieces, including the spoken word ‘Coming up.’ Though many a fan’s allegiance was cast in Difranco’s politico-firebranding, this pre-Dubya-era poem was the lone trace of her dissenting voice last night. And even that vigorous call for action was more routine than inspiring — quite short on the intensity she usually exudes (at least previous Lawrence stops). Perhaps most disappointing was that the whole show ended with a ‘commercial sell’ in the form of a projected Righteous Babe logo on stage immediately after her words:
“whoever's in charge up there had better take the elevator down / and put more than change in our cup / or else we / are coming / up.”
Perhaps I'm being overly harsh. I did enjoy the show, and my dissappointment was mostly born of Difranco having set the bar so high with previous shows. And in any case, no hard-touring musician can be expected to hit a homerun with every show. Still, she earned her fans' loyalty by treating them like royalty for years — the only thing keeping this 'good enough' show from being great was want of a little more than change in our collective cup.
Ad Astra Per Aspera :: This is not only the veteran Lawrence band's release show for their latest 7", it's also their last show in town before 2/5 of the band moves to NYC later this week ... More info
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