Ani Di Franco:Trust

Rating:
Summary: Encapsulates Her Artistic Assets To a T
Review: "Trust," singer/songwriter Ani Difranco's first concert DVD release, is overstuffed with exceptional performances, up front political awareness and behind-the-scenes footage that compromises one high-quality package.

Difranco enjoys a reputation as a fine live act, and "Trust" all the more cements her status. Whether you already appreciate Difranco's music or have never heard it before, you will most certainly agree with the fervent applause of her massive crowd, filling up every nook and cranny of Washington, DC's 9:30 Club.

Shot over the course of two nights of shows, the lengthy selection of songs runs the gamut between the bare bones era of her 1991 sophomore album "Not So Soft" all the way through to present-day material, particularly focusing on 2004's "Educated Guess," arguably her most impressive record.

Accompanied by upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, her stalwart touring companion, Difranco never loses any stride in her step, strumming her acoustic guitar like it's no one else's business. With all eyes on her and the glaring spotlight making her sweat beads glisten, she applies as much fervor to performances of more bubbly material such as the bouncy "Gravel" from her critically-acclaimed 1998 album "Little Plastic Castle" to more weighty material like the liberal anthems "God's Country" and the title track to 2003's "Evolve."

A handful of the performances were filmed during backstage rehearsal. Although many music DVDs contain footage of practice sessions that are absolutely boring, Difranco and Sickafoose filmed a pre-show workout just as on target as the performances they gave before their raving crowd. The intermittence of the footage is therefore a surprisingly welcome addition to the program that spices things up.

If you are someone who appreciates honest, forthrightly political yet personal lyrics and top of the line guitar-playing, Difranco is the ideal artist for you to become acquainted with, and "Trust" encapsulates as many of her artistic assets and facets of her identity into one release as has previously been done.

Whether you are simply into live music, have always been an admirer of Difranco or are looking for a new artist to soak up, "Trust" fits your bill.

Her 15th studio album, "Knuckledown," hits shelves January 25.


Rating:
Summary: Strangely distant
Review: At last, all us rabid fans, have our Ani DiFranco concert dvd. I was extremely excited about this release, as I'd seen clips from the RBR website, and delighted to find it as a Christmas concert. However, I popped it in my laptop and was inexplicably let-down. The dynamic camerawork from Render's song selections has been replaced with an odd "documentary" style film-making which gravitates between grainy images and stark clear images, often in the same song. The camera also veers wildly away from Ani, choosing instead to focus on details of the stage: her urn, her cellolist's big toe, a random person in the crowd ... you get the idea. Ani alone is compelling to me, and I want to be right up with her, so I can truly recreate my concert experience. However, this dvd does not do that, not for me. I felt strangely detached from the songs as I watched, because Ani is filmed from a side angle, an angle no audience member would ever actually see from. To try to understand my disappointment, I popped in Melissa Etheridge's Live and Alone dvd, and immediately spied the difference. Trust holds me back from the action, away from Ani, as though I were a voyeur, not a devoted fan. Live and Alone puts the audience member immediately in Melissa's passionate playing; you feel as though you're there.

From a performance standpoint, the concert couldn't be better. Precise, passionate, clear singing - but to quote Ani herself, an "almost too perfect" performance. She seems to be going through the motions here - she's singing her heart out, but not with the wonderful energy I'm accustomed to in a live performance.

I even miss the Ani chatter, a staple of any real DiFranco show. Personally, I would have preferred if she'd picked one single performance, not culled it from two nights. Some of the song changes are abrupt and off-putting.

In brief, it's lovely to have genunine Ani concert dvd and I enjoy the song selection, but this feels like a trial exercise, a warm-up to actually capturing the true Ani live experience on film.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Nutritious and Delicious
Review: I am writing a review without even seeing the video but I was at the actual concert and let me tell you you are in for a treat. Ani Difranco is such a wonderful artist/poet/musician that you can't go wrong with this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: A Chance To See Ani Live (when you live in the boonies)
Review: I live in a remote area and have wanted to go to an Ani DiFranco concert for awhile. This DVD has 20 performances, so it will do for now. The concert is well filmed and didn't let me down. Most of the songs are new to the crowd, so they play close attention, and on the songs that are already popular (Gravel, Little Plastic Castle, Shameless) the crowd sings along.

There's a little of this stuff, too, besides Ani on stage: some shots of Ani and Todd rehearsing the songs, the people waiting outside before the show, dramatic interpretations of the songs in sign-language, some talk of politics, brief shots of her guitars back stage, the soundman, etc. None of it distracts you from the actual concert, though.

Minor detail important for those outside the North America: DVD IS ALL REGIONS, NOT REGION 1 AS AMAZON INDICATES.

Rating:
Summary: Uninteresting portrait of a goddess
Review: I love Ani. She is my favorite recording artist of all time, putting the Beatles back to second place. Her between-song interaction with the audience is fun too.

I liked that she has Dennis Kucinich on this dvd. I am a big Kucinich supporter and have his bumper sticker on my car. I am one of the few people on earth to own a Kucinich baseball cap.

Now that you know that I'm on my knees worshipping Ani DiFranco, I have to say that I wasn't thrilled with this dvd. It wasn't all that interesting. By the end of it I was doing something else, not watching it, just listening to the songs.

There was almost no interaction with the audience. I came away from it with the feeling that my connection to Ani is purely intellectual and musical, and that if I met her in person there would be no connection at all. Still, I had to marvel at how she plays the guitar so well while singing so well, and is so damn brilliant.

I think the part I liked best was when she was dancing with her friend.

Rating:
Summary: Trust
Review: I pre-ordered the DVD and it arrived today. I watched it completely through the first time and now I am watching each song individually. The cinematography is awesome and if you've ever wanted to see Ani live but could not make it to the show, this is about as good as it gets.

Rating:
Summary: The most amazing show I've ever seen!
Review: I'm with the last reviewer - I've never seen the DVD, but I went to one of the shows and it was the greatest show ever! She is so amazingly talented and delivered a particularly energetic performance that night. I'm so psyched that's it's now on DVD!!!

Rating:
Summary: About time!!!!
Review: My friend offered to buy for me that other DVD of Ani and I declined the gift for the simple reason that I cannot seem to appreciate when songs are cut roughly by commentaries and such a la alanis morissette style.
So when I found out this yr that she released a full blown concert I was definitely excited! Some songs are still cut up BUT it's bearable!

This is a great DVD and it's about time she releases something like this!
Never thought I'd appreciate the spoken word poem she performed but I gotta say it's quite insightful.
Also her performing little plastic castle only on her acoustic guitar after hearing the full band version numerous times was quite delightful.
this is good people!