Last night I went to see Ani Difranco in concert- on her birthday! I have seen Ani several times before, but never like this! Ani is a happy 41 year old and that is what her new songs sound like. Highlights from the concert included many old, great songs (Use Both Hands, Not Angry Any More), a lot of new songs, and a cover of Pete Seeger's 'Which Side Are You On' and John Prine's 'Angel from Montgomery'. One big difference was how chatty she was. It was like I was attending a session of 'VH1 Storytellers'. It was great. She told stories about who or what a song was about, and reflected on the course of her 20 albums. The concert was a beautiful exclamation point to my previous blog/reflection about the good old days- Ani is different. Still immensely talented and a forceful presence on the stage, but different. She admitted it herself. At one point when she told the audience she was going to play some new songs she said, "You can choose. Would you like to hear up beat songs about being in love and happy, or slower songs about being in love and happy?". She threw in an angry, 'f*ck you' (Untouchable Face) song of the past for fun, but clearly only as a tribute to her musical career, it no longer came from her heart.
For people who are disappointed in how normal and happy Ani is, come on, give her a break. I have to admit that I felt the same way at a NIN concert 10 years ago. I went to a NIN concert expecting to see a skinny, sick looking Trent Reznor all heroin-ed out, but instead I saw a happy, healthy beef cake. I felt betrayed. Now, as I left Ani's concert for my first time sober and driving a mini-van, I realized how silly that was. I've changed, why can't they?
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