What I Hope For At Friday's Ani Difranco Show

I’ll be seeing Ani Difranco for the 11^th time on Friday. The last time I attended her show (as written about here), I swore it would be my last. Not because of her or her performance, but because of her fans. Her fans mostly suck. They are obnoxious, entitled, pushy, loud, screaming, rude people who all need to be as close as possible and will do whatever they have to to get there. Then they will proceed to scream every lyric in your ear in the most pitch deprived way, all the while exclaiming between songs how much they “love” her.

I don’t mean to be a concert prude. I love hooting and hollering and having a good time at shows. But I also understand that you are where you are and we can’t all be pressed right up against the stage. I also understand that when a song is being sung about the death of a loved one or war or racism or whathaveyou that it’s probably not the best time to scream “I LOVE YOU, ANI!!!” or “YOU’RE SO HOT!!!” and that when the person on stage is telling a story, that it’s also not a great time to scream “PLAY SHAMELESS!!!!” or to randomly scream out song titles like “GRAVEL!!!!” or “UNTOUCHABLE FACE!!!!”

I don’t know what it is about an Ani Difranco show that brings out the worst in people. Especially considering that all she does is preach about being kind to one another.

On the other hand, I also don’t know what it is about an Ani Difranco show that requires people, myself included, to treat it like watching golf or tennis. Eyes forward, silent until the action is complete, then erupting in cheer.

Is it the folk world from which she comes from? Is it the acoustic guitar? Is it because once upon a time she delivered lyrics that truly meant something and all you wanted to do was hear what she had to say next?

It’s funny, because when I’m playing, I totally don’t care if people in the audience are talking. Yes, it’s nice when people sit and listen, but in the end I just want everyone to have a good time. So it makes me wonder what she thinks when she’s telling a story on stage and people are having mini conversations throughout the theater.

The last time I saw her was at First Avenue, a club that allows for drunken rudeness and provides the opportunity for people to push and shove their way to the front of the stage. I knew it was going to be a difficult show. I had no idea it would be as bad as it turned out. Bad enough to make me leave before it was over.

This time she is playing at Pantages Theater, probably the best place in town I can think of for her to play, besides maybe the Women’s Club. You can’t let Ani Difranco fans participate in General Admission seating. They don’t respect it and they don’t know what to do with it. A nice, intimate, assigned seating theater is just a better experience for one of her shows.

Opening for her is Anais Mitchell, whom I adore. I am just as excited to see her as I am Ani, maybe even more so as I’ve never seen her before. Unfortunately, I know that being she’s the opening act, people will be talking over her and, most likely, drowning her out. Which is sad, because she’s awesome. Or maybe I’ll be surprised and she will have the Glen Hansard effect. One can hope.

I hope Ani pulls out at least one surprise number. She had started playing “She Says” last year and then it dropped away. I would love it if she brought it back again.

But I also love hearing the new unreleased stuff. There’s this thing about hearing an Ani song before anyone else. Her fans go crazy with curiosity. It’s so very strange. I wonder if it’s the same in other fan sectors of the world? I haven’t really seen it happen elsewhere. Maybe amongst Jenny Lewis fans. Maybe it’s just a girl thing.

And, really, even if she pulls out the standard 14 – 18 song set she’s been playing for the last 5-6 years, it will be good. Because she is good and she makes it fresh every time.

Now everybody sit down, shut up, and share the joy!

(totally joking….kind of)