Protest singer, lesbian icon, indie entrepreneur, the new Alanis, righteous babe; forget everything you ever heard about Ani DiFranco. For when she walks on to a stage, all you need to know is that she is the most brilliant musician and performer you are likely to see in many a year of gig-going.

On the first of two nights at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, she played a superb set of songs with a vivacious energy that was utterly captivating. Her characterful three-piece band of keyboard, bass and drums were involved with the performance on every level, and played a key part early on in bringing to life the punchy, folk-funk arrangements of Virtue and Jukebox from DiFranco's current album, Up Up Up Up Up Up.

Naturally, though, it was DiFranco who led the way, playing a variety of acoustic guitars with either sensuous delicacy or a ferocious attack, and delivering long stretches of poetic verse with any technique that came to hand, from the gorgeous folk melody of Adam and Eve to tongue-twisting stretches of scat and rap on Two Little Girls and Pulse.

Her bright, cheerful manner and a new, girl-next-door look - natural-coloured hair gathered into a simple ponytail - belied her outsider persona and the strength of her commitment to what she does. A natural communicator, she enjoyed an easy rapport with the adoring crowd, while conveying sweeping extremes of emotion in her songs.

The lightness of touch in Angry Anymore, in which she sympathetically addressed "the spectre of my parents", was immediately followed by a new song about terrorist attacks on abortion clinics in her home town of Buffalo and elsewhere that evoked a chilling sense of personal pain. "We're digging up all the graves/And we're spitting on the past," she sang on Fuel, another lyric with a savage bite.

As a personal statement, this show was as strong as it gets. As a musical performance it was truly exceptional.

DAVID SINCLAIR (from The Times 23rd February, 1999)

Later in the concert, she explained to us the story behind "Hello Birmingham" (a doctor killed in his kitchen by a group of anti-abortionist's) and why she had written "Angry Anymore" which is about her parents.

At the end of the concert, everbody thought she would come back for another song but she didn't. She played 1h35m, finishing with an amazing version of "In or Out" and "Shy". Anyway, the concert was really good.

Hugo Haas