By Robert Folsom
Ani DiFranco brought more friendliness than fire to the Beaumont Club Friday night. That worked out; her audience brought the brio. DiFranco herself, short-haired and fresh-faced, played a career-spanning set that lacked the attitude her in-your-face lyrics suggest. She even seemed to play some songs begrudgingly.
Before playing "Dilate," she told the audience how the song was "from the bad old days," saying some people come up to her and tell her, "That's my favorite record," to which she replies, "I'm sorry." At least she said it with humor, and that's how it was received by the 900 or so fans who would occasionally pump their fists to a favorite lyric, such as, "Everyone is a fucking Napoleon," from -- well, "Napoleon."
From the start, her band's sound was a warm mix of folk and jazz, thanks in large part to the vibraphone played by percussionist Mike Dillon (who used to jazz things up around here with the Malachy Papers). The upbeat mood of "Splinter" called on the free-flowing jazz chops of Dillon, bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Andy Borger.
Never let it be said that DiFranco is a timid guitarist. She has a mean right hand that can play one hell of a full-sounding rhythm guitar.
Vocally, DiFranco still has the alto range she has always had: it isn't a wide range, but she can use it to best effect. It isn't as if she phoned in her 90-minute performance. It's just that the fire in the belly is gone. That made her performance a polite one, even when she pushed all the right buttons, such as dedicating "The Atom" by way of saying, "This goes out to all the activists."
Speaking of button-pushing, that's how slam poet Buddy Wakefield got the night started, beginning with a shtick more suited to warming up a studio audience for a television talk show than being an angry young man, which was the persona he eventually settled into. He did hit some authentic hard-poetry moments in the middle of his act, but he aimed for the obvious, such as a remark about "this one's for all the homophobes." Because homophobes are attracted to an Ani DiFranco concert, don't you see?
Well, no one said the show was going to be subtle. Too bad it never caught fire, though.
Setlist:
Done Wrong
78% H20
Manhole
Dilate
Promiscuity
Napoleon
Splinter
Alla This
Sunday Morning
The Atom
Present/Infant
Two Little Girls
Amendment
Swandive
Hearse
Gravel
Encore:
Both Hands
Which Side Are You On?
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