Ani once again brings the crowd to its feet

It is Ani DiFranco's usual crowd Monday night at the Auditorium. When I say usual, I mean the beautifully eclectic, free-spirited, open-minded group of human beings that Ani usually attracts.\nAni's stop in Bloomington came as part of a solo acoustic tour for her latest release, Evolve. \nOpening for Ani was Righteous Babe regulars, Bitch & Animal. The duo dazzled, in a performance combining rap, poetry, interpretive dance, and brought it all together with smooth harmonies. Ranting about everything from the pettiness of labels to promotion of a new sort of sexual revolution, the girls really draw many parallels with Ani, including their staunch anti-war stance.\nDisappointing, was the fact that Evolve is Ani's last album with her touring band of the past six years. Even more disappointing was the band's absence from Monday's performance. The musical variety the group provides always complement Ani's throaty vibrato. Ani seems to be drifting back into an acoustic phase, which has surfaced and resurfaced throughout her career, now spanning a little over a decade.\nNeedless to say, all apprehension vanished soon after Ani came on stage in all her spunky glory. While the turn out wasn't exactly out of this world, empty seats were soon filled in with stray people from the back. \nThe last time I saw Ani perform, she made do with a broken foot, confined to a chair, and managed to create an atmosphere chock full of freedom, love and politics -- all delivered with soulful strength. This time, on her feet, Ani could be herself. \nOpening the set with the title track of Evolve, Ani got the audience standing, gyrating in place to the beats of her electric acoustic guitar and her powerhouse vocals. With spittoon at her side, Ani delivered tunes, both old and new, making them all sound new with ad-libs and riffs galore. \nOne of the many crowd pleasers was "Two Little Girls," from 1998's Little Plastic Castle, with Ani at first increasing the intensity of her vocal delivery, then shrinking it back to a subtle, soft buzz.\nAni didn't fail to experiment with new material. She seems to know her audience members can be equated with close friends, non-judgmental in their cheers. Singing a couple of brand new tracks, Ani unleashed a throaty belt as well as a variety of sensual squeals making her faithful audience quiver with anticipation of her next album. \nHer sense of humor radiated through the crowd as she admitted to the likelihood of a mistake or two popping up in performing her new repertoire. Ani shrugged off a mistake with a flawlessly incorporated new verse to the song, "Let's take it from the top," going on to prove herself deserving of a thousand second tries.\nSprinkled throughout, Ani included new renditions of classics like "Anticipate," "Everest," "Garden of Simple" and a crowd-pumping "Gravel." Hesitantly, Ani gave in to the fans' desperate pleas for a reading of her poetic tribute to Sept. 11, "Self-Evident," handing off her electric guitar to a stagehand. Just Ani and the mic, she told the story of that fateful day with her body language, strong diction and expressive alliterations. The whole time she dictated an extreme left-wing view of the war in Iraq, eliciting a content, albeit deafening, response.\nEnding the night with a patriotic new poem, Ani redefined patriotism with a strong liberal overtone. For those fans loyal since her beginning, a track off her 1990 self-titled debut, Out Of Habit.\nIn the end, Ani doesn't need a live band. All that this righteous babe needs is a few guitars and her ingenious knack for creating deep, lyrically-driven stories with every tune.