There’s nothing quite like an Ani DiFranco show. Let’s face it, folks — the woman puts on a fabulous concert. She’s got all the qualities of an excellent performer: an incredible amount of energy, an amazing voice, and talent that just never stops. Seeing her live is an experience like no other.
Sunday night’s show at the Orpheum Theatre was certainly no exception. Last time Ani played in Madison, she was suffering from a broken foot, which required her to sit in a chair for the whole show. Anyone who’s seen her in concert can attest to the fact that it’s just not the same when she can’t dance around the stage. This time, however, Ani was back in tip-top shape and managed, once again, to completely captivate the audience with a combination of old and new material.
Ani’s current tour shares a name with her latest album, Educated Guess, released Jan. 20.
Some may find it hard to believe that DiFranco has already released another album — after all, Evolve came out just about a year ago, and the two-disc set Reveling and Reckoning was released just a year before that. But for longtime Ani fans, the frequency of her material is nothing new.
DiFranco has released literally dozens of records since the early ’90s, most of them filled with original material (with a few live recordings thrown in for good measure). She has run the gamut from solo, acoustic-driven, angry feminist rock to jazzy, instrument-based jam music. With Educated Guess, she returns to solo-acoustic format and keeps right on truckin’.
While Evolve was a jazzy, swingin’ album, Educated Guess marks DiFranco’s return to slower guitar rock. Many say she is at her finest when performing solo; her voice and guitar skills (which, by the way, would astound even the biggest music snob) are truly remarkable, as her solo performance Sunday night proved yet again.
Truthfully, DiFranco is at her finest when doing virtually anything. She seems to be one of the few artists who can perform a variety of styles, release an album a year and still manage to stay fresh.
The title track on Educated Guess is the album’s earliest Ani-sounding number. Featuring a low, booming acoustic guitar and her voice in a middle register, it’s easy to see the mid-’90s Ani shining through.
The next track, “Origami,” is perhaps the best on the album. Here DiFranco’s feminist sensibility is brought forth in full force with the lyrics, “I am an all-powerful Amazon warrior / not just some sniveling girl / so no matter what I think I need / you know I can’t possibly / have a need in the world.” It is exactly this independence that makes women love DiFranco.
The song continues in a feminist vein as she sings, “I know men are delicate / origami creatures / who need women to unfold them / hold them when they cry / but I am tired of being your savior / and I am tired of telling you why.” Though one of the shortest songs on the album, “Origami” gets straight to the point of Ani’s music — she’s an independent-minded woman who can take care of herself.
Educated Guess isn’t without its political undertones, of course. The song “Grand Canyon” reflects Ani’s political sensibility with the lyrics, “I love my country / by which I mean / I am indebted joyfully / to all the people throughout its history / who have fought the government to make right.”
So, what can the world learn from Ani DiFranco? Any number of things. First, that a woman can hold strong political convictions, put those convictions into music and become a raging success. Second, that a live show is nothing to scoff at — although terrific, none of her live albums come even close to providing listeners with an impression of the greatness of DiFranco’s stage presence.
Finally, the world can learn that artists can, and should, continue to evolve at their own pace, creating albums with any sound and theme they wish. Educated Guess is another tremendous effort from rock’s most charismatic feminist, and shows the world yet again that a big corporation, a passé political viewpoint and a barely there outfit aren’t requirements for success as a female artist.
Grade: A
