It was a magical night at the Uptown Theater in Napa, California yesterday. It was a night filled with love, hope, inspiration and sweet beautiful music. Ani DiFranco, the amazingly talented singer/songwriter/poet was in the house to perform her final show of her tour. First, I must share that the ambiance that the Uptown Theater creates was the perfect backdrop for this stellar performance.
The Uptown Theater has a very strict photo policy which you don’t really appreciate until you experience it firsthand. Going to about 15 concerts a month, I tend to spend so much time bobbing my head side to side in hopes of capturing the performer in my line of site, but instead I am greeted by cell phones and cameras in the air. Without the distractions of these, you can’t help but bathe in the beauty of the artist and become one with the moment. Last night was that perfect night.
Her impressive opener, Jenny Scheinman woed the crowd with her touching and sometimes jovial folk songs. The crowd was purely entertained as she switched from her violin to her mandolin for each song, amazing us with her talent. If you have not heard of her before, make sure to check her out. I know we look forward to hearing more from her.
When Ani entered the stage, the crowd gave a fittingly loud and well deserved welcome. Ani‘s charismatic personality shined through as she would talk to the crowd in between her songs and invite us into her world with her anecdotes and back stories on songs. Her magnetic energy shined through as she sang. I would think that Ani could sing a page out of the dictionary, and succeed in having it sound as sweet as honey on your lips. Her words are soul touching and thought provoking and all the while, 100% entertaining. Ani has triumphantly proven to take folk music to a much contemporary and rockin level as she is joined on stage with her longtime bassist Todd Sickafoose and New Orleans drummer Terence Higgins.
It was wonderful to see her delve into her old song catalogue and perform my personal as well as crowd favorite, “Not a Pretty Girl“. It was every bit as sensation as you can imagine, and had the crowd singing along and on their feet. She received a well deserved standing ovation after. Fellow concert-goer, Tess Harper shared her thoughts on the night, “Last night was my third time seeing Ani at the Uptown and the crowd was by far the most passionate that I’ve seen! It’s empowering to know that there are so many people in Napa that love her and what she stands for as much as I do. I loved when she mentioned relearning herold songs and played “Not A Pretty Girl”. That was the first Ani song that really spoke to me and it was amazing to see her play it again, with an audience full of women singing along. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate International Women’s Day!”
Ani‘s words and songs truly carry the passion and emotion as they embrace the listener and become their new best friend. Whatever mood you are in, you can always listen to Ani’s music as it inspires, comforts, exhilarates, invigorates and awakens all your senses and touches your soul. Truly magical on so many levels and even to depths that are undiscovered. The night was filled with these precious moments with songs like As Is, Untouchable Face, Swan Dive, Present/Infant, Overlap and so many more.
Another highlight for myself, was listening to several of her new songs. One in particular, I can’t get out of my head. That is “Rainy Parade“. You know when you have that moment when a song would come on the radio or play, and it turns out to be the perfect song for you to hear at that moment. That is exactly how her song, Rainy Parade was for me. The lyrics were the much needed words of encouragement I needed to hear and sung through Ani‘s heavenly delectable voice as she shines bright in Rainy Parade:
Take your lemons
and make your lemonade
and have your Rainy Parade
So, I hope you take the time out of your busy schedule and put on some Ani DiFranco, one thing is for sure, you will feel alive and vibrant as you soak in her energy and feel her music enter your soul. I would encourage you to head over to www.righteousbabe.com and pick up some music today. Also, Not A Pretty Girl is available as a newly re-mastered Vinyl and is a MUST HAVE or make sure you have her latest of her 20 albums, ¿Which Side are You On?,
~ Enjoy, Marisol
Information & Links:
- Website: www.righteousbabe.com/blogs/ani-difranco-news
- Ani DiFranco Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anidifranco
- Ani DiFranco Twitter: www.twitter.com/anidifranco
- Ani DiFranco Music: www.righteousbabe.com/collections/ani-difranco
- Jenny Scheinman Website: www.jennyscheinman.com/
- Jenny Scheinman Facebook: www.facebook.com/jennyscheinmanmusic
- Jenny Scheinman Twitter: www.twitter.com/JennyScheinman
Here are some photos from last night’s set by Rockin Ryan set to Fire Door:
I was at this show as well. It was as magical as the author says. I’ve seen Ani at the Uptown a couple times before and each time it is so very incredible. Thank you do very much got the beautifully written artical about my favorite person in the world:). I pinned it and will read it regularly.