Saturday, April 24, 1999
Classic Center Theatre
Athens, GeorgiaAs is the case with most AniManiacs, I’ve seen the great one many times before and in several different venues. However, her show at the Civic Center Theatre was a special treat as it was my first pilgrimage to Athens, GA, the hometown of R.E.M. Additionally, the venue itself was acoustically awesome and pleasantly intimate. Even the crowd seemed ideal, lots of cute little dykettes and sensitive boys. There was an alarming number of piercings and tattoos for a classical music venue. I felt right at home. But, the main attraction here was the Righteous Babe, herself. The thing that keeps us all coming back show after show, is her amazing stage presence and her refusal to rest on her laurels. I have never seen the same Ani show twice. Heck, I’ve never heard her do a song the same way twice. It seems like every time she does a tune, she completely reinvents it: the phrasing is different, her emotions seem to come from new directions, or she uses a totally unexpected arrangement.
I do have to mention that when she opened with Out Of Range and it wasn’t Andy playing the bongos, I was really disappointed. I was unaware that he wouldn’t be performing with her. It was kinda like expecting to see an old friend at a party and having them not show up.
I quickly got over this, though, as she tore into flawless renditions of Virtue and the already classic As Is. Ani seemed to take special care in delivering the verse about being like a cat in the former. The message song, ’Tis Of Thee turned out to be surprisingly effective live. Ani explained that it was about her disgust over the Drug Wars.
A perfect case in point for her wealth of inventiveness was Two Little Girls. Her melancholy jam session leading into it had everyone guessing what she was about to sing. However, when she started tearing into the unmistakable lyrics, the entire crowd was ecstatic. I’ve heard her do this song many times. However, this was probably the most impassioned. Interestingly enough, while Two Little Girls seemed faster, Shameless seemed slower and more melodic. I love the way she gives us new ways to look at familiar songs.
Ani was very talkative and playful, as is usually the case. She kept going on about whatever popped into her head and referred to the evening as "stream of consciousness night." At one point, some guy screamed, "I love you, Annie!" She replied, "Ummm, thanks…but my name is Ani," to which everyone howled in laughter.
Ani accused herself of being a "set list fetishist" as she did series of theme medleys. The fire medley consisted of a ferocious rendition of Fuel and the early gem Fire Door. The up medley started with the spoken word Coming Up and continued with the title song from her latest album Up Up Up Up Up Up.
My favorite performance from the new album, though, had to be Angry Anymore. For this number, her only accompaniment was her keyboardist, Julie, on the accordion. Julie was wearing an electric blue wig that she bought at the wig shop in town. For once, Ani had the more normal hair, which looked quite gorgeous: brown with blonde highlights. Anyway, their harmonizing on this quiet number was simply beautiful.
Surprisingly, Ani only did one truly new song. Meanwhile, the rest of the set was sprinkled with crowd-pleasing favorites like Worthy, Little Plastic Castle and the always raucous The Diner.
The final song of the set, Jukebox was an absolute revelation. This rocker from the new album is sure to become a mainstay of her live show. Ani had the crowd eating out of her hands as she chanted, "This dance is mine." It makes me wish that she had done a couple of more numbers from the new release so that we could have heard them in all their live glory.
Naturally, Ani came back for the requisite encore and proceeded to make my night by playing the delicate Overlap. Towards the end, she began to step away from the microphone, making it sound as if she were becoming more and more distant. It was a truly profound effect, that apparently was lost on several of the concertgoers who started screaming declarations of their love to the lady of the night. Ani was visibly irritated as she attempted to salvage the rest of the song. And, for the first time in all the years I’ve been seeing her perform, Ani walked off the stage after only doing a one-song encore.
I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I’ve seen the audiences at Jewel and Tori shows devolve into mindless hero worshipping morons…and now Ani has her fair share. I just wish those immature fools would learn that there is a time for screaming and showing your appreciation: between the songs. When an artist of Ani’s caliber pauses, or has a quiet moment in one of her pieces, there is meaning in it; and that meaning is not that she wants her fans to yell and make asses of themselves. So, please remember that some of us are actually there to appreciate the music. And get a clue, if you forked over $25 to see her perform, Ani already knows that you love her. Sit back, shut up, and let the rest of us enjoy the show.
