Ani DiFranco Concert Review - Palace Theater, New Haven, CT:North America

Palace Theater, New Haven, CT

11th April 1998

Setlist Photos Tape

SETLIST PHOTOS YES

This has to be by far one of the best ani shows I have ever seen, it is a close call between this and the show at the Congress Theater in Chicago last October, but the set list as you can see is amazing, and she was really on, she was wearing a leather dress and there was a lot of photographing going on and stuff, but whatever, she was great. She told a few funny stories, but I think that overall there was probably less talking than usual which was okay since it meant a lot more of that great thing that ani does called making music. Lets see individually the songs that were best was the awsome rendition of a woodie guthrie song that I don't know, and great versions of all of the new songs, much better than the other two shows that I saw on this tour ( amherst, and providence) when doves cry was great, chris brown and kate fenner came out, and sarah lee came out, it was great to see the two of them together (ani and sarah) it is so obious that they are so close and they played off each other alot. I think that is really all that I can say about it, it was just awesome you really cant label it with words at all. The tape of it came out okay, i didn't miss any songs, so that is nice, and you can usually hear her talking over the crowd, it was nice because the crowd was fairly respectful and shut up when she was trying to talk and sing. One time they were talking, it was during the intro to come away from it, which tends to be kind of quiet, and someone up front yelled out something like shut up she is trying to sing a song, and ani started laughing but kept going with a big grin on her face, and then people were being rude during the intro to gravel, I think that they were just really impatient to hear her sing, and didn't really want to listen to the piano. But they eventually shut up.

Chris

ok...this was definitely the funnest night of the 3 day trek...the 1st night was the most intense, the 2nd was the most annoying (at least crowd wise), and the 3rd was the most fun and bouncy btw, i taped this show also so anyone who wants a copy email me

it was the 1st night ani wore a dress (black leather over black pants she looked so fucking cute..hehe)...it was also the 1st night i had really good seats (6th row)....

the opening act (chris brown and kate fenner) were much more appreciated tonite than the night before (chris actually made a reference to the "you suck" comment the night before and talked about how ani was so sweet and funny and how she fixed everything) and being that it was the last night of their tour w/ ani i thought it was cool

the crowd was also much cooler this night than in albany--in the parking lot before hand all these people were blasting ani from their cars...i felt like the crowd was much more old school ani than new school..hehe the only annoying thing was these loud obnoxious girls up in the balcony that kept SCREAMING at the top of their lungs and at one point during anis new slow songs i yelled "shutup" along with a few other people and i think ani was amused..hehe...at any rate they did shutup for awhile

setlist:

Little Plastic Castle (very bouncy and cute)
Fuel (liked this version the best out of the 3 nights)
Every State Line (same as other 2 nights)
Two Little Girls (the crowd was very into this one)
As Is (there wasnt one quiet moment when ani wasnt singing...im not sure why but everyone seemed compelled to scream at the TOP of their lungs)
Letter To a John (every time i hear this song live i love it more and more.....it used to be one of my least favorite ani songs but she does SUCH an incredible live rendition...especially w/ the double drum beat...it really adds to it--i also thought it was cool how everyone screamed out "$10 a song" in the last verse...i think most ppl there went farther back than LPC)
Pulse (beautiful as usual...ani waited for everyone to get semi-quiet before starting....then the "sssshhhhhh"ing started after those fucking balcony girls just wouldnt shutup---they actually started dog yelping halfway through...they HAD to have been piss ass drunk or on some heavy crack...theres no other way to explain it)
This Dance is Mine (fucking AWESOME new song...i liked it even better in new haven than in albany...it just ROCKED!!)
Up Up Up (i like the harmony w/ julie and andy/jason...im not sure which one it was)
Anticipate (got a great crowd response after only the first few notes...julie rocks on this!....very energetic performance)
Come Away (the screaming at the beginning was so bad that it led to this huge chorus of "shutup"'s and after that the entire crowd was silent throughout the song and it was so beautiful...it was so cool how the whole crowd like banded together to get those girls to shut the fuck up......she performed it alot better than in albany)
new song (lyrics "from the height of the pacific to the depth of everest")
coming up (poem....one of the highlights of the night...i was so excited she did this)
do re mi (fucking INCREDIBLE....talked about how woody was actually the one that paved the way and not dylan and she also talked about the woody tribute album she put together---people started clapping during the song and it was so funny b/c it did NOT fit with the song and she said in her cute little way that it wasnt really that kinda tune and she didnt wanna be a fuck about it..hehe.......then one more person clapped afterwards and she stopped and gave this cute little look out into the audience)
Cradle and All (pretty standard performance)
Loom (by this point the whole crowd was dancing)
Shameless (funky upbeat version she always does)
Encore 1--Gravel (the awesome version)
Encore 2--WHEN DOVES CRY!!! with SARA LEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaahhh...it was so incredible...it was really bizarre too b/c the first time i saw ani she played "when doves cry" w/ the indigo girls for an encore....and this was the 2nd time i saw her with that girl that i went to the 1st show with and it happened again!! bizarre

after being so weirded out after that i was walking out of the venue and this guy taps me on the shoulder and it turns out he was standing on line behind me waiting for tori tickets a week before in nyc!! it was so bizarre (btw, if youre on this list email me...i didnt have much time to chat last night b/c i had such a long drive home)

Lisa

Ani Tours