Yep, she's still a goddess

[mizarchivist]

Ani's show was quite good. We got to Worcester (ahf, caulay, quiet_elegance) by 8, caught some of the opening act, who was actually not too bad. Funky folkie rather than pretentious. Sort of in the vein of Bob Dylan but with a sense of humor. The Palladium - not uberarena as I originally assumed- is an old fashioned very beat up theater that has open standing area in the orchestra area, a row of semi-circular lounge couches, bar and vending, then up top is a rather good balcony from which you really could see everything pretty clearly even towards the nose bleeds.

So, Ani comes out, and yay!!! she's cut off the dreds! It's cute n' short n' curly as it used to be, oh 'bout 7 years ago. And hey, she has a guy with an upright base to keep her company this time. It seems like she's headed towards that phase when she used to have Andy and Sarah for backup. I miss those two so much. But still, mostly just a girl with a guitar. She does a pretty good mix of stuff from Educated Guess (the newest), some from Evolve (second newest) and a scattering as far back as I think Out of Range (!). I was very amused that she chose to do Napoleon off of Dialate. She did this cute little thing when her left hand was begging not to do the song, but Ani made it. I guess it's mostly the same chord set and it's tiring :) I thought at first she was talking to herself because of the irony- that she is a big star now. Ah well.
I was extra happy that she did at least 2 off Little Plastic Castles, and as a pre-encoure: Shameless. swoon! As always, there were several new songs, but with only one hearing, they didn't have a chance to sink in.

Ok, now time to bitch a little. We ended up steaking out a spot that was next to the tshirt vending, which was across the aisle from one of the bars, so some talking required. But, the amount of talking drove me batshit. I just never could escape it. If ever I have the opportunity to go to that again and it's open seating, go early steak out front rows of the balcony. That should do.