Ani DiFranco: Soverign Performing Arts Center, Reading PA, April 23, 2002Dec 20 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line A must see show INTRO My dad is a huge fan of Bob Dylan, for almost 30 years now. Growing up I always made fun of Dylan's whiny voice, if only for the reason that my Dad was a cult like fan. What teenager would admit to liking a musician their father idolized. As I got older, I turned into a big fan myself. Since my dad sees Dylan live about 2 or 3 times a year, he asked me to go with him to a concert. My choices were to see him with Phil Lesh opening, or to see him with some obscure Ani DiFranco. All I knew of Ani at the time was that she was on the cover of Spin with green hair. So I opted to wait for the Phil Lesh show. At least I knew HE was in the Grateful Dead. Well, my dad came home RAVING over this Ani chick, which was weird for two reasons. 1) My dad doesn't give credit to any musician other than Bob Dylan, and 2) If he does find someone worth listening to, its never a woman So, being that my dad is a fairly good judge of music, I had to check this chick out. BUYING TICKETS After being a huge Ani fan for almost 2 years now, I heard nothing but great things about her live show. I unfortunately didn't get a chance to see her the first two times she hauled a** through PA. So when I saw she was coming through Reading PA, an hour from where I live, I quickly planned to buy tickets. Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't actually PURCHASE tickets until March 17, roughly a month before the show. So, our seats were- row Z, seats 19 and 20, Orchestra Left. All this for 30 bucks a pop. My girlfriend had never heard of Ani until she met me, so she was less than thrilled to find out we were sitting in the last row. THE VENUE The Soverign Performing Arts Center had only been standing about a year prior to this concert. While I prefer to be in an outside setting for a concert, it was a really nice place. Finding it was a nightmare since every building in town said Soverign Center on it, but we just followed the Ani crowds through town. The wait in line for the doors to open was everything I expected it to be. People were walking around asking for signatures on petitions, girls were taking their pictures under the Ani concert sign, and there were girls walking up and down the sidewalk selling gay pride jewelery trying to collect enough money to get into the show. My girlfriend and I had left for the show quite early so we had some time to size up the scene out front of the Center. DOORS OPEN AT 7:00 Finally we are allowed in. We took a look at the T-shirt table and picked up a few postcard like flyers. We then stopped off at the drink center and picked up a 3 dollar bottle of water. Cheap at half the price. We said hi to a few people we knew from our hometown, and we were on our way to our row Z seats. It turned out the theater wasn't all that big and row Z wasn't too bad. Wasn't too bad in the respect that, it was good we left my parents binoculars in the car, because we wouldn't have needed them. The girls who were out front peddling bracelets were sitting front row center. We discussed how upsetting this was with the couple in front of us. The four of us had all purchased our tickets 1 to 2 months ahead of time only find last row seats while these two peddlers come the day of the concert with no tickets and secure front row seats. We flirted with the idea that maybe they lied to try to sell their sh*t when they really had front row seats the whole time. Either way, it didn't matter, we were jealous. By the time we were done discussing this, the opening act was on the stage. DRUMS AND TUBA The opening act was a band signed under Ani's label, Righteous Babe Records, Drums and Tuba. Overall they sounded like Ani's band minus Ani. There were no words just poppy jazz instrumentals. The excitement of waiting for Ani was too much to worry about some fringe band. We listened to the fist song then decided to go for a smoke. I will say the second song was really catchy, but we were on our way out already. ANI Drums and Tuba were just about done when we got back and Ani took the stage only a few short minutes later. Dressed in khaki Lee Dungaree carpenter pants, a pair of black boots and a baseball shirt that simply said "baseball," Ani took the stage with a guitar slung over shoulder. The whole experience of seeing her in person for the first time was so overwhelming, I actually had tears in my eyes. I managed to stand up with the rest of the crowd and before I could even comprehend what song she was singing, my girlfriend had practically lifted me down the aisle and before I knew it, I was standing some five feet directly in front of Ani DiFranco. My girlfriend had almost bought two 2nd row tix off some people standing out front while we were smoking. She was going to ditch the sixty bucks we already spent and spend 60 more. Yet here we were standing directly in front of Ani with our row Z tix. It was truly amazing. NAMES AND DATES AND TIMES So here is my 2 year idol standing in front of me with an acoustic guitar and no band, and she opens with Names and Dates and Times. Not my favorite song but everything was so amazing that it sounded awesome. I'm not sure at any point during that song, that I could feel my feet on the ground. THE BAND After that number the band took the stage. Line-up Ani DiFranco: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar Daren Hahn: Backing Vocals, Drums Jason Mercer: Backing Vocals, Bass, Upright Bass Julie Wolf: Backing Vocals, Keyboard, Accordian, Melodica Hans Teuber: Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute Todd Horton: Horns While I'm not a big fan of the revamped Ani horn band, I have to say that live, it was quite an experience. They continued to play Willing to Fight, Letter to A John, Tamburitza Lingua, Your Next Bold Move and Slide. I was still in amazement during these songs, however my girlfriend, not being a huge Ani fan was ready for some Plastic Castles or Untouchable Face. Fortunately, Ani then played Not a Pretty Girl. This performance was enough to keep my girl interested through the next two; What How When Where (Why Who) and Cradle and All. After these two songs, Ani took the stage with Julie Wolf to sing a new song, Educated Guess. With Ani on lead vocals and guitar, Julie played accordian and backup vocals. I had downloaded this song and listened to it a few times before this, and my girl liked it somewhat, but hearing live was amazing. It became one of my favorite songs and a highlight of the concert. Ani and the band then jammed on Revelling and right as the song ended, everything became suddenly quiet. It was as if the entire audience knew something great was about to happen. CLIMAX The band seemed to have taken a backseat and everything focused solely on Ani. No instrument, no person made a noise. Ani stood there for what seemed like forever, and then she began, "Yes, us people are just poems..." Self Evident; Ani's tribute to the World Trade Center. Her words, her movements, her hand gestures, her voice, her passion, everything was perfect. It was truly the most amazing thing I have ever heard or saw in my entire life. Whether you agreed with what she was saying or not, it would have made you shut your mouth and stop in your tracks. My girlfriend was mesmerized. I saw the look in her eye and I could tell she was beginning to feel for Ani the way I do. The audience roared in all the right places. We raged against Reublicans, big corporations, the news system, war, the death penalty, capitalism; we cheered for pro choice, the folks in El Salvador, Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan. The whole ordeal was so affirming, to see all these people who shared the same beliefs as myself with my idol leading the show. To see my girlfriend feel so much passion for the things I believed in so firmly, just the overall empowerment that this 5 foot 2 person could instill in such a large audience. The remaining songs were a blur as my mind kept going back to this point in time. I only faintly remember her playing Hour Follows Hour, Done Wrong, and Heartbreak Even. I remember her doing the band introductions because I was so disappointed to hear that the evening was coming to an end. To my relief she then played Jukebox and I was hopeful the introductions were just an intermission. To my dismay, Ani then left the stage. After a few short chants she returned to do a captivating version of Not So Soft. If she hadn't already taken my breath away with Self Evident, I probably would have focused this review on this song. I will say however, that I was very disappointed that this song along with Educated Guess was not included on the double album release, So Much Shouting So Much Laughter, which is a compilation of songs taken from this tour. Going Home We followed the crowd back to the parking garage and made our way to find our SUV with Righteous Babe Stickers on it among the rest. We said very little on the few block walk, trying to adjust to normal sound levels again. Once we made our way out of the garage, I asked my girl what she thought. I feared she would complain how long it was or the fact that Ani didn't sing either of her two faves, Napoleon and Untouchable Face. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had been converted. My once thug like love of my life and turned into a full fledge Ani fan. Turned out, I did see that spark in her eye during Self Evident. When the song was released on CD, my girl was the first in line. We discussed the night the whole way home, which was 2 hours due to being lost in the outskirts of Reading. I ran into a gas station and found about 100 other concert goers, who were more than happy to direct me out of the city. One of the things we talked about was how amazing the crowd was. Every person who bumped into me looked me in the eye and said "sorry." No one apologizes at concerts, they just push you out of their way. These people apologized. And no one pushed anyone. Not even when we were fighting to stand at the stage. We also talked about how empowering Ani was, and her stage presence. We couldn't stop talking about Self Evident. My best friend who I thought I couldn't possibly get any closer to just blew my mind once again. Not only did I just see the best concert ever but I got to be so much closer with my girlfriend. There wasn't a thing I would have changed about the night, not even my row Z tickets.  |
| Read all comments (1)|Write your own comment |
|
Ads by Google
|
