Ani DiFranco Concert Review - Attwood Concert Hall, Anchorage, AK:North America - Late 1997

Attwood Concert Hall, Anchorage, AK

15th August 1997

Setlist Photos Tape

SETLIST Wanted Wanted

stirling's review tracy's review

Great show!! They opened up the first few rows for dancing, and I ended up against the stage looking right up Ani's nose! The opening act was a local folksinger, Coline Coadik, from Canada. She was really excellent. Ani opened with IQ, which seems to occur a lot lately, but always welcome! She says something like, " What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you all be on a glacier?" She then went into Untouchable Face, and then Worthy. Jewel had played in the same theater the night before Ani did, and she was given the key to Anchorage. Ani says, "I never got the key to Buffalo!" She played Gravel, then 32 flavors. She started talking about the festivals she played at in Europe. She said most "bands" didn't play instruments, but sound bites, which was all hidden by lights in front. She got up to play with her guitar, and people looked at her funny. She said she felt like a dinosaur. Then 2 Little Girls, which I am really starting to like. She talked of the relative open nudity in Europe and in the States. She talked about German TV, and said it was all just one big boob tube! Then a letter to John into The Slant. Someone screamed, "Purple nipple", and she said, "It does get cold in Alaska!" She goes into Dilate, and when she got the the lyrics, "so i'll walk the plank", she then forgot the next lyrics. Everyone was trying to help her, but she couldn't understand. She crouched and looked at me, and I was also a little messed up, and was yelling "and i'll do it with style". She shook her head, got up and sang, "so i'll walk the plank and i'll jump with a smile". I just laughed! She then played As Is, which I had never heard before. In the middle a guy jumped on stage, and started stripiing, and almost finished before being pulled off stage. Then Buildings & Bridges, and Anticipate:) She then played a song, that I had never heard of before; It was about cradling her softest parts, and cradling her hardest parts? [I now know that this song is called swan dive. Thanks Andrew] She then played not a pretty girl, and after made some comments on the article in SPIN. She didn't like how the author portrayed her as turning into a pretty girl, because she wears lipstick, and dresses. She said something like, "To me it's not about the surface stuff, but more of a lifestyle choice... It's the fair maiden who gets rescuded by the guy who has his stuff together on a horse... sometimes, I wake up and I want to be the guy on the horse...Why not take turns? one day I'll be the guy on the horse, and you'll be the maiden..." She said that to her the song, not a pretty girl, is about being a musician vs being a pretty girl. It was great to see what she thought of the article, and hear these things from her lips. Then Cradle and All, and then Shy. Then Shameless, and an encore of in or out. She came out for a second encore of Both Hands.

She had a bowl cut died bright green. She wore a brown leather vest, black pants, and the platforms shown in the SPIN pix.

Well, this is a long review, but I wanted to say everything!

This was my first Ani show and it blew me away.