Ani DiFranco performs for two
Ani DiFranco performed in St. Louis on Saturday.
Oct. 17, 2006
"I just woke up one morning and my tits were bigger," said the ever-refined Ani DiFranco about her pregnancy on Saturday at The Pageant in St. Louis. "My boy was like, 'Are your tits bigger?' and I was like, 'I guess that's what happens.'"
The seven-months pregnant DiFranco has been an icon for just about every liberal movement out there (most notably feminism and gay rights) since 1990, when she released her first album.
At 19, when DiFranco couldn't find a record label that she liked, she created her own, Righteous Babe Records. Since then, she has released at least one album every year.
Her latest, Reprieve, brings the total to 19 solo albums and two collaborations with Utah Phillips, another Righteous Babe artist.
She seems to have lost none of her vigor — and gained some moderation — in the past 16 years.
She still has no problem encouraging the audience to sing along to the song "Untouchable Face," especially the part when she says, "Fuck you/ and your untouchable face/ and fuck you/ for existing in the first place," or taking time from her set list to criticize the president.
But she did focus more on the music than the message.
Her banter focused mostly on her impending motherhood and replies to the audience's repeated requests for songs that she insisted she didn't remember how to play but promised to perform in another city.
DiFranco's songs can mostly be categorized into "angry," "sad" and "happy," though the "angry" and "sad" far outweigh the "happy."
In fact, "As Is" from 1998's Little Plastic Castle might be the only purely happy song she has in her repertoire, which was not played as DiFranco focused on the more mellow angry and sad songs.
Highlights included the angry "Gravel" and "Knuckle Down" and the sadder "Fire Door," the only song performed from her first album.
She performed one spoken-word poem, "My I.Q.," which was more amazing than her music.
The audience, for its part, was hearty in its praise but not quite as excited as the type of fans who scream and form mosh pits. DiFranco tends to attract about 15 female listeners to every male.
The Ani concert-goers stood out on the streets, the ones with the piercings, tattoos and American Apparel clothing. Special standouts included the 6-foot man in overalls with dreadlocks and the girl wearing three shirts, none of which matched each other or anything else she was wearing.
The Pageant staff members tried to match the trendiness of its patrons, but only managed to be douchebags.
They refused to allow people into the area by the merchandise booth after the show, which seemed to be bad business and frustrated hopeful customers. Fortunately for them, they book amazing shows (coming up: Slightly Stoopid, Death Cab for Cutie, Imogen Heap) so people will probably keep coming.
Ani's show was everything promised by her CDs. She played to a large crowd as if there were 10 people in the room and managed to keep her energy up for an hour and a half despite the giant baby inside her stomach. Hopefully she will continue to tour and record even after she pops it out.
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