I got to the venue at 5:30 for a concert that started at 8:00. I wanted
to be assured of a good seat at this, my third Ani concert. The Rave
staff had told me that the venue was general admission, so I thought
that I would be ahead of the game if I got there two-and-a-half hours
early. There were probably 100 fans there when I got there. Granted,
this show of love for Ani was the best part of the night, but I'll get
to that in a bit. I was at the show with my girlfriend, who had never
seen Ani before; I had pumped her with information about how amazing Ani
shows were, and I told her that this would be her best concert
experience ever...she and I were both disappointed.
Easily, this show was the worst one I'd been to. The other two were in
Minneapolis, Minnesota at an auditorium with seats and usually
respectful fans. The Rave ballroom, however, was set up for one of two
purposes: ballroom dancing or 3000 people standing shoulder to shoulder.
I pick the first. Needless to say, it was not the ideal venue, and I was
preoccupied the whole time by people pushing, shoving, yelling and
singing. I could not focus on Ani, and it was a bit distracting.
I do not want to comment on the opener, David Garza. He was horrible.
Ani began with a version of My IQ that started the concert out on the
right note. Even now, 10 days after the show, I still have a clear image
in my mind of her dancing and singing. The concert then moved from that
song, and Willing to Fight, to Little Plastic Castle and Fuel, two songs
in a concert that seemed to be centered around Ani's newer material.
From reading other setlists, it seems that the whole tour has really
gotten away from the older stuff, which I personally prefer. With the
crowd the way it was, I could barely hear Ani over screams of "I keep
hearing that same damn song everywhere I go." Certain members of the
crowd even felt the need to throw marshmallows on stage during that line
in Fuel. By this point, the usually talkative Ani had just begun to shut
up and play the music... a strike against the concert. After Fuel, I
got the chance to hear Jukebox, one of the new songs. My girlfriend and
I both really liked it and its sound... a little older Ani. From there,
she went to a version of Letter to a John, with a segue into Pulse. It
worked well, though the crowd really wanted to say the words to Pulse
along with Ani. It was a little annoying. The one time of the night
where I appreciated the crowd singing was during the next song, As Is.
It just seemed right. A new, rockier version of Every State Line was
next. It's kind of interesting to see the progression from the
Imperfectly version to the LIC version to this one. Then, Anticipate.
After that, she played the second (and only other) new song of the
night, Come Away From It. Before she began singing, she finally showed
her annoyance with the crowd. "Before I begin, to all you people at the
bar: you always have the option to shut the fuck up," she said, and the
whole crowd (ironically) roared. Now, Come Away was a beautiful song,
and I really loved it, but people in the audience again ruined it. They
talked through the whole thing. After that, the band left, and Ani tried
to begin Swan Dive. She started with the last verse, and then said, "I
wonder what it means, psychoanalytically, when you begin your song with
the last verse. I think, well, before I dig myself into a deep, deep
hole, I'll do a poem for you." From there, she did Coming Up, and then
did Swan Dive again. Loom, Shy, and a funky version of Shameless
finished out the set. She said something kind of funny before launching
into Shameless about the cute cultural thing that is the encore: she
would come out again even if no one said anything or clapped, but she
would. In or Out was the first encore, and it went off well. The second
of three encores was the piano version of Gravel, slowed down. Now, you
would think that after a while, people would realize that the version
was a bit different and would stop singing, but no one did, and tried to
sing along with Ani. It sounds much better on my tape than it did in
concert. There, it was just annoying. Finally, Ani came out with Andy
and did a drum duet on Not So Soft.
Overall, I was disappointed with the show, but it had nothing to do with
Ani. It just goes to show that the crowd really can affect the enjoyment
of the show...
Josh