Ani DiFranco Touches Down in Durham

Ani Difranco performed at
Carolina Theater in Durham, NC
on Sept. 27
Photo by Patti Perret

Ani DiFranco paid Durham, NC a visit this past Friday, and if the state could have collectively given her a high five- it would have. Pearl and the Beard opened, and in between their fresh, funky, and almost tribal songs, could not help but exclaim over “Ani DiFranco!” They were shocked they have been able to open for Ani DiFranco 14 times- but they were the only ones. Their intensely beautiful, borderline ethereal drum beats, and vocals were a spectacular pairing with the show to come. 

Carolina Theater’s Fletcher Hall, packed with enough girl power to ship us all off to the moon, hosted a high energy seated show. With more chewed nails, chair dances, and edge of seat spectators than a theater with blue velvet seats may be used to welcoming onto its stage. Fletcher Hall is full of golden scroll work, and deep red carpet, and Ani’s warm, subtle stage lights, and cozy carpets stage set-up practically glowed. As a disclaimer, this was “my show,” I have been listening to Ani, cranked up in my car, through headphones, and on CDs scratched to the point of skipping, since…forever. To call myself a “fan girl,” would imply that I was excited, and I was closer to short circuiting entirely than I would care to admit.  

That being said, I was a little anxious to see her live, I have been grooving to Ani through the years, and have followed her latest releases, but have relied on the high-angst classics. Or as Ani herself put it on Friday, the height of her “ugh” years, and for the “ugh” she threw her arm across her forehead. I was worried I wouldn’t get to jam to the songs I have spent years scream-singing in my car to, but  I was pleasantly surprised. I do not think it is easy to bridge such a dramatic shift in mood in lyrics and tone, and with such a diverse discography, it would be easy to rely heavily on the new. After all, Ani has been “suckling a five month old, for the past five months,” and as she also admitted “if there was any time to request one of her 486 songs- this was not the time.”