Ani DiFranco loves New Mexico and in a surprisingly intimate concert performed songs that are 10 years old in addition to her current repertoire with the same intensity at age 30 as she did at 18.
On Saturday evening, "Miz DiFranco" played the Paolo Soleri in Santa Fe under a clear and starry spring sky. Fans of all ages and colors gathered excitedly around the stage at the amphitheater.
DiFranco has made her living as a musician with little compromise, starting her own record company, Righteous Babe Records in the early '90s. Since then, her label has continued to house other non-mainstream artists. Like their previous visit, the eccentric, punky, gender-bending, pro-woman duet Bitch and Animal heated the crowd to a bubbling mass of laughter. With greenish aqua-colored dreadlocks, Bitch rocked out on bass guitar as the bright-red mohawked Animal accompanied her on djembe.
After coming on stage and doing a satirical version of "This land is your land, this land is my land" by replacing certain lines with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Animal yelled out, "This is Operation Free My Rack" - a perfect opening act for Durance.
"All hail sparkly queen areola," they sang. "May your life ravel out/like a novel and a good one/may your crotch never itch/may you always be a bitch."
After the highly energetic opening act and a 30-minute intermission, the house lights dimmed to darkness. It was time.
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DiFranco and her guitar took the stage alone and bathed in the soft, warm, amber light, she glowed.
"Give more," she said as the crowed cheered and bounced around in excitement.
"They were digging a new foundation in Manhattan/and they discovered a slave cemetery there," she began. "May their souls rest easy now that lynching is frowned upon/and we've moved on to the electric chair."
This spoken word track "Fuel" from Little Plastic Castles got the crowd moving. The high energy of the crowd impressed her.
"Y'all are like a sleeper second date," she said, referring to her first concert at the Paolo Soleri two years ago.
The date metaphor is appropriate. DiFranco includes the whole audience in her experience by talking, joking and making the audience laugh as we make her laugh. She doesn't treat the audience like an audience and she doesn't remain the entertainer.
Between songs she kept guzzling down water.
"I have to get myself one of those hats with straws for this particular region," she said. "I picture you all as little raisins in the morning and by the end of the day you get all plumped up like prunes."
After showering the audience with praise she continued to play songs like "Anticipate" in which she viciously plucked at her guitar and sang every word with strength and purpose.
She dedicated "Swan Dive" to "all you people in love." As the crowd swayed and sang along, DiFranco stopped playing mid-song and put down her guitar. She reapproached the mic.
She didn't launch into a speech about how distracting it gets for her when people sing along as she has done at past concerts. Instead, she recited "The Slant" and when she finished, she finished "Swan Dive."
"This is poetry night," she said. "I didn't even see it coming."
DiFranco did not disappoint.
