"It?s not your run-of-the-mill, meet you at City Market crowd." Observed a Vail local at the Ani DiFranco show on Wednesday night.
For just one night, both the Vail elite and snowboard chic crowd had faded into the shadows, and another audience had emerged. In this new world, women greatly outnumber men, call themselves "righteous babes", and proclaim loud and clear "I am not a pretty girl: that is not what I ??do,?"
My group and I went to grab some pizza before the show. Even in the restaurant , it was obvious some alien life force had invaded Vail. They?re called women. Ask any local guy, there?s normally not too many of them around here. And these were exotic women by Vail standards - with dreads, beads, patchouli, combat boots - all glowing with the pre-Ani buzz of excitement. I was right there with them
At 8 o?clock, I began panicking that we would be late and made my friends slam their beer. After arriving and immediately being denied access backstage (being a superpower Vail Daily reporter, I at least had to try0, I sucked up my disappointment with some lukewarm Coors and explored the pre-Ani scene, as warm-up performer Jim White sang his heart out.
Dobson was transformed into an absolute woman -Mecca. By my guesstimate the crowd was about 80 percent female and, sorry guys, we ruled the place. I personally enjoyed the pleasant experience of using the men?s room. Whish the women immediately took over. After all, why wait? Most of the didn?t seem to mind; one even leaned against the sink and did a stand-up comedy routine to entertain the ladies while they waited in line.
Walking around the arena, I saw more than one baby, a few children with balloons and a pregnant woman who brought her own folding chair, (Mom?s can rock too.) I also noticed a higher-than average rate of public displays of affection, especially between women.
Anticipating Ani?s appearance, I wiggled my way up front - despite some unfriendly vibes coming from the girls next to me - and eagerly waited for the moment when the goddess would grace us with her presence. The stage lights finally dimmed, (gasp!) then she appeared.
She performed a funky spoken word version of "Freakshow" in the semi-dark, then paused, and with wild lights streaming everywhere and a full on rock star energy, the five members of her backup bank burst on stage ? and the show began.
My ecstasy had begun, and would last the entire duration of the show.
Ani is stunning in her simple gray tank top, discretely covering most of a tattoo. Her wild blonde-streaked dreads are pulled up into a ponytail. Although she is physically small in stature, she fills up the stage with her immense positive energy and boundless enthusiasm. She grasps onto her guitar, playing it like a powerful, possibly dangerous, tool with an intensity verging on sexual.
The Vail show surely must be one of the smallest on her tour, but she never made it seem like she was just going through the motions. She kept her energy and excitement high from beginning to end, even though she said the thin air was bothering her. "This altitude makes it very sporting to play folk music," she said between songs early on. Then later "Oxygen? That?s OK, I don?t need oxygen."
Although her play list favored her newer material, she didn?t let her old-school fans down. Along with traditional songs, she also performed a few of her signature spoken - word numbers and inspired the audience with a political rant or two (against white supremacists and the NRA, just to name a few.)
Her backup band has grown throughout the years, along with her fan base. There were generally dedicated players of the sax, trumpet, bass, drums and keyboards, although the musicians would grab other instruments at times.
Punk woman with shaved heads and piercing?s, together with 6 - foot -tall hippie guys, sang along with Ani as if the words she expressed were written for them alone. Despite the fact that the singing - along got mildly annoying, I found it sweet that such different people could be touched by her music.
Ani obviously appreciates this gushing love we all pour onto her. "You have to promise you?ll keep up that behavior when I?m old and crusty. You?ll be nice and supportive, right?" she said.
Finally, after thanking her band, she told the crowd, "I would be negligent if I also forgot to thank ? you!"
No Ani, Thank YOU.