Fighting Windmills asked me to describe the concert I went to on Friday, and so here’s my best shot at it!
Ani Difranco, at the 930 Club in DC on Friday November 16, 2007. I’d seen her in Baltimore at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall the previous Saturday, so it was interesting – the Symphony Hall was exactly what you’d expect of a symphony hall, and the concert was the sit-in-your-assigned-seat variety, which I’ve been to before for Ani, but which always strikes me as somewhat odd. As best I can remember, she didn’t play songs like gravel, which isn’t to say she didn’t rock out at all, because it is Ani – of course she did. But she did a lot of “reverberant” songs, as she described them, and unless I’m totally misremembering, she played hypnotized, which I don’t think she did on Friday at the club.
I should disclaim – I’m not good at remembering playlists, so this is as best I can remember, keeping in mind that I saw her twice within a week, and so I might be completely wrong!
Friday, at the 930 club, it was sort of classic awesome Ani. The club is small – 1200 people max, and it is mostly a dance floor, so some of the people were right up there like a foot from Ani, and there was also a U-shaped balcony. That’s where Leanne and I stood. Leanne’s not much of a club kind of person, and the crush on the dance floor would have been disturbing to her, and personally I was happy to stand somewhere I could see something other than the back of the (invariably tall) person in front of me. So it was good. I can go out and dance any time! Ani is someone I want to see as well as hear, because she is so expressive, and plus we were standing in a great spot in terms of acoustics.
Buddy Wakefield was her opener again, and he spoke (being a slam poet rather than singer) the same poems as the previous week, which I expected. It was interesting to me to hear some of the different reactions of the crowd – this crowd was just a bit more hyped, I think, yet no one reacted to some of the names he dropped in one of his poems like they did in Baltimore. Buddy is great – filled with energy and in some ways he makes me think of a bouncy and male version of Ani, but without the guitar. And no electrical tape on his fingers.
She started out with some of the same songs, can’t remember which ones, just that I know the first three or so were the same as in Baltimore. She played 4 or 5 of her new ones – short, because as she told us, she’s happy and the happier she is the shorter her songs are! And then she made fun of herself a bit, with how she had an album or two (hello, Dilate!) where she was going through really rough times, and had no song under 7 minutes. She was filled with energy and enthusiasm on Friday, and manages to be so completely real, it is always inspiring. Hey not all our heroes have to be full of themselves, go figure!
I have mixed feelings about her new songs, but maybe I’m just not used to such a cheerful Ani. I’m used to (and comfortable with) the pathos that she does so well! Yet it is nice to see her happy, hear her happy, and maybe she’s finding her rhythm with that as well, trying to figure out how to translate the happiness into guitar chords that take us along for the ride. Actually, one of them did just that. It was funny and real and happy without sounding impossibly romantic and idyllic. Maybe it is me, but I thought she was perhaps a little self-conscious about the others. Maybe she’s afraid that so many of her fans, just like me, aren’t going to be sure what to think of an insanely happy Ani!
Overall she was completely “on”. She played gravel, 32 flavors, and I think one other for the encore. Those were really fun. Everyone was extremely excited (who doesn’t love to hear gravel?), and pretty much sang along for them, which is always adds this intensely intimate feeling to a concert that already felt pretty intimate. I can’t sing worth beans, so I just listen and enjoy the sound of a thousand singers backing up Ani.
I think it was my favorite concert of the ones I’ve been to. A possible exception of the very first one, which was held in a venue with a similar feel, and for which I was in the second row. I only had a couple of her early albums at that point, and she’d just come out with Little Plastic Castles, so the vast number of songs she sang were completely new to me. I was enthralled, but that was about 10 years ago, so I can’t remember well enough to compare to Friday night. Still no “Not a Pretty Girl”, but it is hard to be upset about that when I loved both of these recent concerts so much!
I can’t think of much else to say about the concert. It is possible I’d remember more details if asked, but no guarantees.
Who knew pigs like pumpkins so much?
Three things for Friday:
- Ani, Ani, Ani
- Dinner at Chinatown Garden
- Mark and Patty while waiting in line outside for that cold hour or hour and a half.
Three things for Saturday:
- Vegan pie (keylime AND coconut creme AND pumpkin cheesecake, and yes I had some of each)
- Holding Clementine, one of the sweetest hens at the sanctuary, and being able to show a young (unmutant and parentally supervized) girl how to hold her.
- Falling asleep gratifyingly quickly.
November 18, 2007 at 8:07 pm
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November 18, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I was at the show on Friday and remember most of the songs but can not for the life of me remember the very last song! any ideas?
November 19, 2007 at 5:44 am
Ooh, could you list the songs for me?
I’ll try to remember the very last song. I know it was gravel, then 32 flavors, and then I’m pretty sure she played a third in the encore, but I can’t remember which. I keep thinking it was from one of her early albums, but that’s not much help. Do you remember if people sang to that one as well?
November 19, 2007 at 8:28 am
Thank you for writing about the concert, Deb! 😉
November 19, 2007 at 4:12 pm
My DH and I have a running joke about pigs playing “pumpkin ball” with their snouts. Your photo looks like a great illustration of the game!
November 19, 2007 at 5:15 pm
I thought it was just two songs at the end and I think you are right with the 32 flavors, gravel was the first one of the encore and people sang to both. I remember most of the songs she played, just not in the right order. Let’s see: Dilate, Napoleon, God’s Country, To the Teeth, 78% water, Shameless (I think she opened with this song), Anticipate (?), Fire door, You had time, and two or three new songs. That is about all I got, I think most of them are right but again not sure of the order. I am really hoping she releases a bootleg of this show 🙂
November 19, 2007 at 6:25 pm
fightingwindmills – you’re welcome!
Sandra – if you and your DH imagine the pigs to steal the pumpkin balls so they can gobble them up, you’re not far off! Pigs have such a sweet tooth!
Kim – yeah, the encore I remember really well for some reason, at least the two songs – gravel, and then 32 flavors. I felt like there must have been a 3rd, but maybe not! I was listening to some Ani at work and had my memory sparked about some more of the songs she played – in addition to the ones you listed, there was Names and Dates and Times, Shameless, Swim, Paradigm, Manhole, and that one about the Atom – Ode to an Atom? Something like that! I was thinking also maybe Overlap, but I’m not sure. I’m not sure about Anticipate either. I have a funny memory, and I have to listen to the songs and wait for a memory of the concert to flash! It isn’t perfect, because I could be remembering last week as well. (And no real idea on the order either, except for the encore.) 😀
I hope she does a bootleg of this one as well! I was thinking that during the concert, and today as I tried to collect the songs!
November 19, 2007 at 10:20 pm
The way I kept track of the songs was to write a text message draft on my cell phone, but my husband thought that was annoying, distracting, and not living in the moment. So the moral of the story is: you can either enjoy the concert and not remember the songs/order of songs or you can text message yourself and be accused of not enjoying the concert. 😆
November 20, 2007 at 5:37 am
Well I’m glad it seems to be pretty normal to not remember without some help! 😀