Well Ani played her first show tonight at the Mullins center in Amherst. She
was back from a mini vacation of sorts after a hectic Australian and
European tour, which brought her to almost 20 countries this winter. Of
course this is nothing new for her.
Mullins was the biggest place I had ever seen an Ani show. Though
the large floor area gave you a lot of room to move around, so it had it's
good and it's bad.
To thunderous cheers Ani opened up with "Virtue" the way it starts
slow and then KICKS in makes it a perfect opener. "Know now then" and
"Gravel" were standard yet well played versions. "Providence" was nice upon
my first listen and I am sure it will develop nicely as time goes on. "Shy"
and "Angel food" were a bit bothersome as the college girl kicked in with
the "We love you Ani" crap. So many people did it I thought Ani would give
them the whats for, but she held her tongue. I on the other hand moved to
stage right.
She did "Diner" and then told us about the Buffalo abortion killings
which inspired the new "Hello Birmingham" It was a quiet heartfelt song
that would work better in a smaller club setting, but it was ok. "Two little
girls" returned things to familiar ground, and "tis of thee" which I never
cared much for made me a believer this night. "Letter to a John" had the
crowd screaming, as Ani mentioned how she would focus on more new things. I
understand that Ani wants to mix it up but then why not mix up the oldies as
well, hearing "Napoleon", "Out of Range", and "Sorry I am" etc,,, would be
better then John every night, and would make things not so stagnant....well
that is my two cents, but anyway.....
Ani is seeming to have worked Julie into the line up quite well.
They have a great interplay and love clowning around together onstage. Julie
read a passage from "Suzanne Sommers" autobiography about the ridiculousness
of people who preach about organic foods. I guess it was mildly amusing in
retrospect. We were treated to stories of Europe including Schmaltz which
is chicken fat used as a kind of spread for crackers and bread. Gross!
After Ani and Julie stayed onstage for a singing/accordion version of "Angry
anymore" , her new Indigo girls song, which if you do not pay attention you
would swear was them. This was probably the highlight of the show as the
interplay between Ani and Julie was A+ Julie left Ani solo for "Shameless"
which again suffered from the large venue feel.
"Anticipate" rocked hands down, and old and new fans always seem to
agree on this one. Ani busted out the electric for "Not a pretty girl" it
was great. Have not had the opportunity to see this one electric style.it
gets a thumbs up. "Jukebox" closed the show, it is not one of my faves, so
lets end that right there. I was expecting a Joyful Girl encore, but was
pleasantly surprised to hear "Little plastic Castle" It is a fun song no
more no less and everybody danced and whooped it up, this is one I would
love to learn on guitar.
And that was it, under two hours yet jam packed. Not rusty at all
for first night of the tour, I would give it an A- and I can not wait for
Portland see you there
Matt