March

Up, up up

Audience is pleased by Indigo Girls classics while Ani DiFranco rouses a disparate crowd

EVE MUZIC (2)

Julie Wolf and Ani Difranco

by Heather Gmucs

Two great concerts in Ohio highlighted the state of women's music, with the Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco both putting on incredible shows.

In support of their new release Become You, the Indigo Girls have hit the road again. Powers Auditorium in Youngstown on March 18 wasn't sold out, but the house was full on the ground floor. Mostly women and a handful of men came to see the acoustic duo cook up some southern fried folk.

There was a little talk about their new album not being as satisfying as the eleven that came before it, with the live show proving that there was more enthusiasm for the older songs than for the new release.

In typical Indigo Girls fashion the duo had the audience on their feet. With the first note of "Least Complicated," the crowd was singing along.

While the Indigo Girls are icons for breaking through with their mainstream folk, it seems as though Become You has lost a few teeth and the bark doesn't do much without the bite. There didn't seem to be the same togetherness as there used to be, like two old friends who had lost touch but have reconnected.

Michelle Malone opened the show, and was welcomed back to the stage with the Girls for songs like "Shame On You" and "Chickenman."

The classics were the favorites, since not many people had their copy of the new release yet and were buying it before the show. The fans' excitement for the duo is still alive and well as most of. the crowd was pushed against the stage. The Indigo Girls have three more shows left on their tour of the States, then they're off to Europe.

Up up up up up up out of range more joy less shame living in clip. Puddle dive to the teeth like I said not so soft. Little plastic castle swing set fellow workers the past didn't go anywhere. Not a pretty girl imperfectly dilate revelling/reckoning.

Any hard-core Ani DeFranco fan knows the deal here, and probably has every one of these albums in their collection. Any hardcore fan can sing almost all of the lyrics the

prolific DiFranco has written.

Almost all of DiFranco's shows are sold out on her Winter 2002 tour, including the one held at Promowest Pavilion in Columbus on March 15. The two-floor complex was completely packed with the most disparate crowd it has probably ever seen. Middleaged yuppies, dreadlocked hippies and postmodern punks all rubbed elbows.

The petite and seemingly demure folk singer took over the stage with the power and command of a new world leader. Blazing through her first song with intensity, this little powerhouse roused even the barkeeps and bouncers to bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. Without a break, DiFranco lit the place up with "Fire Door," singing, “I make such a good statistic/Someone should study me now/Somebody's gotta be interested in how I feel/Just 'cause I'm here and I'm real."

O

DiFranco should be studied; DiFranco should be an 'ism' sandwiched between philosophy and political science. DiFranco's intensity bespeaks the beginning of a revolution, a new institution, an opening of a third eye seeing beyond the depths of love and lust, sex and politics.

Whether DiFranco is lamenting about being stood up at a coffee shop or ranting about the political machine, she always manages to carry the listener right back to themselves. DiFranco's message is acutely personal and universal all at the same time.

DiFranco is in perpetual motion and constant evolution. Her latest tour with Noe Venable has taken her from Santa Barbara, California to Columbus, with teams of new fans always in her wake.

DiFranco's next tour, sans band, is on the east coast with Dan Bern, then back to Cincinnati at the Taft Theater on May 3. the tickets for that show are on sale now.

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Indigo Girls