Babe-y Blues

By Jeffrey Barg
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 20, 2009

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Ani DiFranco at the Electric Factory. (Photograph by Lauren Trzaska.)

10) House of Blues at the Showboat, Friday night: room for dancing. Electric Factory, Saturday night: sold out.

9) First words to the Atlantic City crowd: "Is anybody actually from here?" First words to Philly: "I'm so excited to be playing in the city," as opposed to her frequent stops at the Keswick in Glenside. "You can take rapid transit to the show!" (A bit oblivious to SEPTA's shortcomings, but a nice sentiment nonetheless.)

8) At the House of Blues, a call for requests is nearly aborted until someone screams out perennial crowd-pleaser "Both Hands." She obliges immediately--a bit suspicious given that she changes guitars and tunings nearly every song, and yet she was ready with the proper instrument right away.

7) Representative male in Atlantic City: That Guy, wearing an Ani DiFranco shirt ("Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right") to the Ani DiFranco show. Representative male in Philly (overheard in line for the women's room): "You know, there's nobody in the men's room. You can really go in there."

6) A.C. setlist: 19 songs. Philly: 20.

5) Philly: world premiere of new song "Emancipation."

4) At the Electric Factory she introduces "Red Letter Year," a stellar new song about life in her current hometown New Orleans and a close friend of hers who got seriously ill, with a sad, moving story about the tune's inspiration. At the House of Blues, she introduces the same song only with a reference to the pseudo-gumbo vibe of the joint.

3) On recently seeing a doctor for her lost voice, Philly: "I got to see my vocal cords on a screen. That's like some slimy, pale postmortem pussy. Now you can carry that image around with you too."

2) After "Present/Infant," a new song about her 1-year-old, an Atlantic City concertgoer screams, "Ani, will you be my mommy?" (The answer is no.)

1) Philly setlist includes "Untouchable Face," giving the masses the opportunity to obnoxiously scream "Fuck you!" along with the lyrics. Few do.

Ani DiFranco at the House of Blues, Atlantic City
Fri., Jan. 25

God's Country

Manhole

Your Next Bold Move

Coming Up

Lag Time

Swim

Half-Assed

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