The Shepherd's Bush Empire was rammed full. The throng was composed largely of righteous babes, but was thankfully peppered with the odd emotional male. The star of the show could be in no doubt: as the assembled Difranco disciples sported copies of every haircut their guru has ever had. There was everything from the shaved head of her self-titled record; to the beadie dreadlocks of 'Dilate'; through to the multi-coloured mop top of 'Up Up Up Up Up Up.' All eyes were on the stage... it was clear to me early on that I wasn't going to pull.... again.

'Angst' is a word much used in the same breath as Ani Difranco, which is something that has always puzzled me, as there really is no more angst in her music than any other singer-songwriter of our time. The fact that Difranco has a lyrical explicitness (and I don't mean 'explicit' lyrics); and appears to be one of the few frontline females to have her own definite guitar style, simply means she sticks out from the crowd. This assertiveness somehow makes a lot of women think she is the new Messiah and makes a lot of men spit 'feminist' in disgust before running away, fingers in ears. I've encountered both of these preconceptions and I've tried to work through Ani's albums to make up my own mind. You really should too, and experiencing a live performance will certainly give you a greater appreciation of really what Ani herself is trying to achieve with her music.

It is undeniable though, that Ani Difranco's music is bursting with astute life observations, politics, poetic beauty and razor-sharp wit, some of which at least has to have been lost on the gathering at the Empire, which comprised mainly teenage girls. But then was it lost? Or am I suddenly insulting the majority fanbase, simply because I would never have 'got it' at their age? I think it was Keanu Reeves (as Ted Theodore Logan) that said 'Girls mature faster than boys'.... how wise our Keanu.

Ani was in fine voice and her set was full of favourites like 'Up Up Up Up Up Up' and 'Little Plastic Castle', held seamlessly together by her entourage of bass, keys, drums, trumpet, sax, and apparently Ani's own limitless energy. The set also included four new numbers from her forthcoming CD, and these went down famously with the crowd. In fact from the first second she hit the stage, Difranco simply could not put a foot wrong. Her stage presence is electrifying - star-jumping about the stage in stack boots; her performance is impeccable - a truly unique vocal style; and the songs that were well crafted in the first instance have now been thoroughly road-tested and race at you full throttle. There was not a hip unswayed, nor a foot untapped in the house.

What I liked especially though was the one encore (the crowd did incidentally beg desperately for more) which was just Ani Difranco and her guitar (just the way her career had started around eleven years ago). With that one song she proved that while all the brass and percussion in the world make for a fun night out, they are just icing on the exceedingly good cake that is Ani Difranco. Simply a prolific yet consistently good songwriter. You can take or leave any baggage you may associate with her, as it does not change this fact.

I overheard fans talking after the show, saying things like 'Oooh, she did all her best stuff...' or 'all my favourites'. And I must concede that it was a faultless, well-considered set, but at the same time it was full of obvious omissions - no 'Untouchable Face' no 'Both Hands' no 'Superhero', what was going on?? There I was, just having experienced a fabulous set by Ani Difranco without hearing what I thought would be staple parts of her live diet. This just served to strengthen the fact that Ani, while being prolific, is constantly focussed on quality control, leaving herself with a wealth of material which will never get dull for her to play and in turn never become boring for us to listen to.

So, yeah... I liked it.

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Ani Difranco - Shepherd's Bush Empire - 30/01/2001 ©2001 Rich Barnard & Virtually Acoustic
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