One of the most revered artists in recent Buffalo memory, Ani DiFranco has done a lot for the city. One of the most remarkable feats she’s performed was saving the former Asbury Delaware Church from likely becoming empty plot of land and transforming it into Babeville – a live music venue and the home of Difranco’s label Righteous Babe Records. It took almost 10 years of work to complete the project, so the grand opening was marked with a pair of filmed performances by DiFranco and her touring band on September 11 and 12, 2007. “Live at Babeville” isn’t just a love letter to Ani’s fans, it’s a celebration of her efforts for both the city and her music career.
The disc starts with a short montage mixing pre-show backstage footage and shots of people waiting to get into the show. There’s no questioning the excitement level on the fans side, especially when the cameras eventually follow DiFranco onto the stage and into a church filled with screaming fans. She exuberantly jumps around on stage and briefly enjoys the ovation from the crowd before breaking into “Napoleon.” Difranco starts out the song by herself but the band members join her one by one – first xylophone, then upright bass, then drums when the song explodes after the chorus.
After introducing the band and chatting with the crowd, DiFranco played a new song called “Present/Infant.” The song’s alt-country underpinnings meshed well with Ani’s usual upbeat and persistent strumming. She followed up with “Swim,” a track found on her 2004 release “Educated Guess.” The crowd did their part in the song’s many silent and quiet parts by making themselves known with screams and cheers.
It could be a testament to a modern technology, the care put into mixing the sound of this disc, or perhaps a combination of both, but the audio is crisp and clear even when the crowd is going wild – somewhat of a surprise given the poor quality usually found with live performances. There’s no struggle to hear the music over the fans because they both occupy an equal space. It also helps that the crowd silently enjoyed some of the more delicate parts of songs, like the introduction to “Marrow,” where Difranco displays a keen ear for unique chord progression.
A lot of effort went into the other areas of presentation as well. The image quality is spectacular and the camera transitions are smoothly performed. As DiFranco begins performing “Independence Day” the view is set on a side view of the stage, but as she starts to sing it transitions into a quick close-up of her face before changing to a centered view on the star of the show. Professional editing like this is present through every performance and the disc is all the more enjoyable for it.
Midway through the disc Ani performs “Unrequited” and “Shy” acoustically, and her solo performances are as engaging as those played with the band. She does a good job getting the crowd involved by encouraging their hand claps and flails around the stage without missing a note. When the band comes back onto the stage to perform “You Had Time” it’s evident that the set list was carefully planned. The song is low-key and calm, providing a smooth transition between the solo-acoustic playing and the reintroduction of a full-band sound.
The disc contains several bonus features. One is an interview with Ani herself, where she talks about the building, the project to renovate it, and the difficulties associated with such an undertaking. The interview is laced with portions of the sound-check in the background, lending a unique perspective to the discussion. The other three selections are sound-check performances of “78% H2O,” “Shy” and “32 Flavors.” These performances weren’t necessary for the disc, but provide a nice extra for fans.
“Live at Babeville” shows why Ani DiFranco has risen toward legendary status in terms of Buffalo music. Her entertaining performances prove her worth time and time again, but saving an architectural masterpiece through the advent of Babeville is equally admirable. The DVD is $18 for the month of April and can be purchased at http://www.righteousbabe.com/store/index.asp
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