Knoxville, Tennessee, I will always remember with the fondest
memories. My friends and I pulled into town from Asheville, NC a
little later than we had hoped. We had stopped in Asheville on the
way from the Wednesday night show in Charlotte.
After settling into our motel and chasing some bad directions, we
parked behind the Tennessee Theatre and made our way to the box office
to try and find the rest of our party. Sure enough, they were there
along with all the other Righteous Babes and Boys. Smiling faces,
excitement in the air, we could tell from the start that this show
would blow Charlotte away.
The old-fashioned theatre marquee read "Ani DiFranco, April 22, 1999"
with little round white bulbs outlining a square around her name.
Inside we are greeted with a warm cherry walls around a bustling
lobby, a full bar and a pleasant staff welcoming the mixed crowd of
mostly college aged guests.
Inside the open doors leading to the actual theatre there were rows of
seats and a balcony all situated so that even those of us standing
tall at 5'3'' could see the stage. We missed the opening band, but
thankfully had pretty good reserved seats. The lights went down and
suddenly I could hear the beginning of "Virtue" overpowering the
screams from the audience.
Standing up by this time, I could not stop moving. From "Virtue" to
"Know Now Then" to "Jukebox", this show started out with some intense
energy. Transitions smoother than ever, the whole band was rocking.
Finally I noticed that they didn't look quite right. About that time
Ani explained that they had gotten into the electrical tape and
decided to tape fake side burns and beards on themselves just to see
the looks on our faces. (They Kept it up all night save a few pieces
that didn't stay on).
Ani introduced "Providence" as a new song, and went into it with all
her energy in the right place. About that time I looked around behind
me to see what Ani was seeing. A beautiful venue with old-fashioned,
ornate walls and a slightly eastern European feel. It was a bit
psychedelic to say the least. Her light show added to the feel. It
was nice seeing Ani so into the show after a not-so-polite crowd in
Charlotte.
The rest of the show went on with an amazing new song that had a bit
of a reggae feel to it. The next new song was a gut wrenching ballad
that left my heart on the floor. The band intro was quite a jam and
the new drummer really adds a lot to the line up. He would add a
little hip hop scratch at just the right time while Julie was over
there tearing up the keys. Jason was the usual smiling steady chap he
always is, but I must say I wish he would bring out the banjo on this
tour.
They closed with In or Out and encored with Everest. To everyone
there, thanks for the wonderful time. The love vibe was definitely in
the air!
ASH