Ani Comes to Lowell!!
There’s something thrilling about a favorite artist going on tour. The excitement of ordering tickets, waiting-waiting-waiting for the day, even filing into the venue and listening for the stray notes of a soundcheck.
THEN there’s one of your all-time favorite artists coming to do a show two streets over from where you live. Ed and I got treated to a very rare event tonight. Ani DiFranco came to town to play the Lowell Summer Music Festival at Boardinghouse Park in Lowell, Ma. Boardinghouse is a little gem in the middle of our city, a gorgeous grassy place not much bigger than a high school cafeteria, with a large, leafy arbor and a killer lighting and sound system. Every show is packed to the gills with lawn chairs and blankets, strollers and little ones dancing around their parents, and the feeling is always breezy and intimate. The rain that’s been hanging around all summer took pity on us, and held of *just* long enough to let us all enjoy the show, and even get back to our cars. A few stray flashes of lightning were more exciting than ominous.
Ani took the stage in her usual style, diminutive size and understated fashion belying a BIG voice and strong guitar and vocals. She’s known for strong opinions and confessional songwriting as well, a real “people’s rockstar.” She opened with a familiar favorite, “Anticipate,” and got the crowd geared up for a powerful show, and moved on “Fuel” where she playfully got back in stride after skipping a verse. Interspersed in between new songs and old, she threw in some stories about her recent domestic bliss: a new husband this past winter, the joys of raising a baby in her terrible twos, her enthusiasm for the election and tears of happiness at the election of President Obama. Of our new President, she said “I don’t know how you grow up to be Barack Obama, but I’m grateful someone did.”
Her recent music, collected in the album “Red Letter Year,” reflects this change from punk alternative folk-rocker and roaming musician and lover, to the more grounded feelings of domesticity and motherhood (not, of course, abandoning the off-beat view of the world and our place in it.) She dedicated songs to her husband (”The Wedding Song”) and baby (”Present/Infant”), each of which reflecting how their influence in her life has changed her for the better. Ani DiFranco teaches with her music as much as she entertains, and her new focus on the happiness found in simplicity and home is no exception. “If you’re not getting happier as you get older, you’re fucking up.” she says in one song so new it doesn’t even have a name… and you know what? She’s positively right. The interesting thing about confessional songwriting, is seeing the journey the artist is on through their art. From “Red Letter Year”, it seems DiFranco is going somewhere good.
The best part of the night for us was being treated to not one but TWO of our absolutely favorite songs as encores. After getting the crowd to its feet with “Fire Door”, Ani returned to the stage to cheers and whistles to leave Lowell with “Both Hands” and “32 Flavors”. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect set if you mailed in a request form yourself. All in all, a very special treat from an artist that has been a staple in our house and our cars since all those years ago in high school.
5 Responses to “Ani Comes to Lowell!!”
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Such a big sound coming out of such a small woman!
I googled to find out the name of the new “happier” song (I loved it!) and found your blog posting about tonight’s concert. It was grand! Thanks for the recap!
What a great find! I stumbled upon your site from a Google alert for “songwriting” of all things and it’s perfect timing. I live in Salem and hope to attend UMASS Lowell in the spring and this is the PERFECT excuse to come check out the area. Thanks a lot!
She actually got us up on our feet with shameless. I wish she played firedoor!
[...] long, Belynda had to run off to go see Ani DiFranco with Ed, and we continued on to see more of the ships, being joined first by Tom’s lovely [...]