ANI DIFRANCO, Red Butte Garden, Thursday.
To prepare for an election-season tour of presidential swing states, Ani Difranco decided to avoid political rants and fiery rhetoric, opting instead for subdued music fit more for a coffee house than a campaign trail.
Nobody really expects a relaxing evening with Ani Difranco, who has set the gold standard for artistic activism, especially in a year when political passions are amped. Yet Thursday night, the crowd in and around the sold-out-plus Red Butte Garden ampitheater got exactly that: A performance that seemed intent on not being intense.
Most notably there was no "Grand Canyon," the riveting spoken word poem on her new album, "Educated Guess," that begins with the ear-pulling verse "I love my country / by which I mean / I am indebted joyfully / to all the people throughout its history / who have fought the government to make right." When delivered in Difranco's spit-and-fire sneer, there are very few oratories that can better lead a call to action.
Instead, there were other songs from her new album with not-so-challenging lyrics, such as "My heart is just a muscle / And simply put, it's sore," ("Rain Check") or "I am an all-powerful Amazon warrior / Not just some sniveling girl" ("Origami"). In many ways, the show reflected the failings of her most recent album, which despite some high points tends to stumble through uninspired songs.
What the show lacked in passion, however, it made up for in ironies, such as the girls wearing "Hooters" shirts, or the so-called fans inside the gates who talked over the music or slept through the performance, while the truly dedicated followers sitting outside the fences listened intently.
The saddest irony of all was that Difranco — an artist who has returned folk music to its revolutionary roots, proved independence profitable, made militant feminism artistic and music daring — played a boring and predictable show. Her fans deserved better, the country needs better and Difranco can do better.
Unless the Libertarians run a legitimate candidate for president, Utah will never be considered a swing state nationally, unlike the 18 states that Difranco is playing as part of her upcoming "Vote Damnit" tour. If she hopes to convince any of her fans to become politically active in those states, she will need a much stronger performance than she gave Thursday night.
She would also be wise to find an opening band that can properly warm up the crowd, a job which the initially entertaining, eventually monotonous Soullive failed to do. The New York City funk-jazz quintet would probably be a huge draw for fraternity parties or Bourbon Street bars, where their improvisational groove would fit perfectly with the laid-back, party atmosphere. But as openers for Difranco, they seemed ill-suited.
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com