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By Ellen Rawson
Ani DiFranco's music has evolved over the years. She's gone from sounding like a punk-influenced folkie who sang merely to the accompaniment of drums and a wild acoustic guitar to an artist who now includes funk and reggae sounds with trumpets and saxophones in the background. Despite these changes, she's maintained a loyal fan base willing to follow her wherever she goes. Her recent Shepherd's Bush show is an example of such avid popularity. It was her one gig in the United Kingdom outside of a set at the long sold-out Glastonbury Festival; fans queued to get in to a full house that night.
There often is a problem with said house, however. While Shepherd's Bush is a popular venue, its sound quality can be very uneven. There even is a rumor that opening acts do not get a sound check. While that rumor definitely is unconfirmed, it made sense that Sunday night. Amber Bela-Muse, a young up-and-coming British singer-songwriter, has a lovely voice. Unfortunately, her short opening set was marred by poor sound. Her vocals came through fine, but the various other instruments seemed to be fighting with each other for attention. Her guitar was turned up way too high, and the cello sounded out of tune here and there. It's too bad because it seems as if her music would have a rich, lush sound otherwise.
DiFranco's problem was just the opposite. Fortunately, the keyboards, drums, flute, trumpet, and all of the other musical instruments blended together nicely. However, her voice was barely there. It was impossible to hear her at first. Her lips were moving, but it was difficult for anyone not standing next to her to realize she was singing. After a few minutes, it was possible to hear and understand what she was saying between songs and she was audible when the music was gentle, but when the band cranked into full gear, she needed more vocals.
The fans didn't seem to mind too much overall, however, as they whooped and cheered while she featured songs from her latest album, the double-CD set Revelling and Reckoning and went back into the archives for older material. She opened the show rapping with a flute in the background. "Ain't That the Way" is truly Ani gone funk, and the crowd roared with approval. "I've gotta take requests once every couple of years," she said with a laugh and launched immediately into "Untouchable Face" from an older album, Dilate.
She continued pretty much to go back and forth between newer and older material, following up "Untouchable Face" with "Marrow," then heading back to "Letter to a John," for example. A highlight of the show was when she debuted a couple of new songs. One was fun and funky, with a slow, mechanical-sounding beat. The other featured flute and contemplative lyrics, talking about how "I'm always trying to get there to that quiet place where I accept myself/but I never really get there."
The major highlight of the show, however, was when she performed "Self Evident," her poem about September 11th. It needs to be noted that DiFranco had been "political" throughout the show. Unlike some other politically aware and generally liberal-thinking American performers who have travelled to Britain since September 11th, DiFranco still dares to make critical and negative comments about President George W. Bush's administration. Most others have ignored the issue and focused instead on their music. Fairly early on in the show, DiFranco made comments about how Bush "isn't the president" ? how he's just pretending. "Self Evident," which is a poignant piece about September 11th, dares to critique the current American administration. How she executes it goes beyond her "old days" of merely reciting poems on stage; now, moody music plays in the background as she becomes a performance artist or, at the very least, a participant in a big-league poetry slam. While there were a number of American ex-pats in the audience, non-Americans outnumbered them. The response was still extremely favourable, particularly to anti-Bush and anti-war lines. Without segue, DiFranco went into "Cradle and All" immediately following "Self Evident." It was an excellent choice; the juxtaposition of the lines about people as poems against "I live in New York, New York, the city that never shuts up" really struck a chord.
While the two pieces were well balanced, there was slight problem with "Cradle and All." It's the trumpet. Comparing this show to older Ani shows, when it was merely Ani and her guitar or Ani's guitar and drums, is difficult. She now has a full band with her. There are trumpets and saxophones, bringing back the debate that first appeared with her Little Plastic Castles CD when she really started to expand her musical arrangements. It's one thing to have these instruments appear on the newer songs, which were written with them in mind, but it can be disconcerting to have them featured on some of the older songs she performed that night, such as "Cradle and All" and "Not a Pretty Girl." It seemed more reassuring when both she and her drummer, Daren Hahn, faced each other center stage with two drums; and she performed "Not So Soft," her first encore, without any other musical accompaniment. Overall, however, her audience didn't seem to mind the added instruments; they cheered and chanted her name regardless.
Although she's added more and different instrumentation to her live show, it's good to know that some things don't change. Regardless of what is happening on the world front or where and how she performs, DiFranco remains a righteous babe to the last. She used "Cradle and All" to give the main show a rip-roaring conclusion; the band members all had featured solos and spotlights. Julie Wolf's keyboards and Jason Mercer's bass, in particular, took off and ran with it. Her final encore, "Gravel," was a popular choice with the fans; they whooped and whistled for more even as the lights came up. Her London stop was more than just a warm-up for Glastonbury; she pulled out all the stops and left the crowd wanting more.
For more information visit www.righteousbabe.com
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