The Reno show I thought was a little better but both were quite impressive.
The keyboard player (Julie Wolff?) is awesome, the songs that Julie and Ani
played together blew me away. Before the Reno show I had never seen Ani,
nor did I own any of her records, but I went anyway because I had heard of
her and thought I needed see what the hype was all about. Rarely does
someone live up to my expectations but Ani surpassed them. She made her
first appearance during Maceo Parker's set and I was mesmerized. Her set
was strong, I was particularly impressed by the musical talent in the band,
especially when Maceo and members of his band joined the set. The entire
set was very accessable to someone like myself that had never heard it
before, in fact 'To The Teeth' was quite moving and until I figured out
today that it was called 'To The Teeth' and it was on the new record I had
been asking anyone I know if they knew where I could find that song. I was
particularly impressed with Ani's showmanship; I've seen a million shows
and quickly tire from these bands who can barely say thank you at the end of
set; to hear someone like Ani who can improvise and ad lib and explain in
an interesting way what the song is about or what is on her mind, well, that
is a real joy. All in all, the Reno show was excellent, add one more person
to Ani's legion of fans.
Paul