it's not that i don't remember, it's only been a week and a half. i can still tell in great detail what i did from that i woke up till me and gene was in the car driving home. i don't think i have it in me right now.

i do want to tell some things, though. i'll be brief.

1. me and gene got to the concert venue around 11.30 a.m. and found ourselves 4th and 5th in line. unfortunately the guy in front let 10 of his friends skip up to his spot when they showed up a few hours later so we ended up something like 15th and 16th in line, but it was still close enough to the door for me not to grow too bitter.

2. waiting in line for 8+ hours is boring! i finished my book in less than two hours and nearly died from lack of stimulation after that. luckily the girls that showed up and nabbed the spot behind us had brought tons of fun stuff, like modelling clay, and coloured chalks, and were friendly. yey. before our wait was over they even had me come be in a group photo with them, yet i don't have a clue what their names were.

3. we heard ani's soundcheck. she played shameless and joyful girl, among other things. it was weird as of course we couldn't see her. it was as if somebody had placed a radio behind our backs and played ani cd's. it was a lot of fun trying not to giggle to death everytime she started a new song and we recognised her. "we're singing with ani!...."

4. sometime around 5 p.m. i desperately needed to go to the bathroom. i mean, really really needed to. gene tried to resist having to get up and drive me to a bathroom, but after i was all "whatever. i'm walking, i don't care how many miles it is." he gave in and we left our stuff and went to the car.

as he started the car, welcome to the jungle with guns'n'roses came on the radio. needless to say, volume went up, car windows down and two froppies driving to a bathroom were screeching along. as we got to the parking lot exit, two men throwing a frisbee back and forth had to get out of the way. here's the pathetic part:

as we slowly drove up, by, and past the two men i went a little nuts and airdrummed to the song like crazy. the man closest to my side looked in and saw me, and had this incredibly stunned expression on his face, and i assumed it was because i looked like an idiot.

we reach the road and i'm laughing wildly when gene goes: "oh ghod do you know who they were??? that was the two guys from ani's band!" it later turned out the man who gave me the confuzzled stare as i air drummed was.. ani difranco's drummer. i can't help but hope he didn't think i was drumming at him, heh. yes yes, i'm an ass.

5. doors open around 7.20 p.m. we walk in. fast. hehe. don't want to piss of raoul, the security in command. secure a front row spot leaning over the security barrier. bliss. so basically, we ended up about 7-8 feet from ani. i don't think having her perform in my livingroom could have put us much closer.

we weren't center, but rather off to the right, but we were center enough, if that makes sense. woo? :)

6. opening act: Bitch and Animal! do click on the link and check them out! they were hands down the funniest band i have ever seen, including they might be giants. then again, if they might be giants had a pussy manifesto, i might put them back as number one again.

bitch and animal consist of two women and i've never seen anything like them. and they are funny. so, so funny. and very talented. the first thing to win our heart was definately the pussy manifesto, which apparently was being played for the 2nd time ever live for us.

i can't describe to you how utterly hilarious it is to have two women frantically chant "pussy manifesto pussy manifesto pussy manifesto!!!" while one bangs the congo's fast fast fast.

considering the audience that was there for ani, let's just say the song was an incredible hit with us. it was amusing to see the beefy security guys in the aisle in front of us roll their eyes as bitch on the scene yells out "EMPLOY THE PUSSY!!!!" - priceless.

i must say, their cocksong, and their ho-down about a drag king bar was quite fabulous too. they had some EGGS! if you ever have the chance to see them, do.

7. ani difranco enters. i don't have much to say at all. it blew me away. it was amazing. she was very very energized despise seeming to have a headache or something. the audience was pumped but respectful - much better than when i saw her in charlotte. in fact, she repeatedly thanked us for showing her and her songs such respect.

her keyboardist and other instrument player julie gets more and more gorgeous. the rest of the band were great. the concert was amazing. and that was that.

the funniest moment for me was when i.. er.. accidently headbanged a bit to the fierceness of anticipate and i saw the bass player nod and grin towards me. i figured it was just my usual imagination, but the day after when i talked it over with gene and said "i think the bass player saw me" he said "oh yeah, when he nodded at you when you headbanged?" so i guess it wasn't just me.

i know, i know, i haven't told you what she playyyyed. i know. well. i can tell you -exactly- what she played because..

8. i lingered by the stage once it all was over, and squeaked and squeaked for the stage ppl to hand me a setlist. i caught the attention of one of the guys, but his hands were full and he kind of shrugged and showed me all he was carrying him preventing him from picking anything else up.

i thought all was lost and was just about to leave when he reappeared and walked over to the drumset. i called for his attention again just when i saw him pick up the setlist, and after squeaking i got him to come over and he handed me the setlist. yey!

it wasn't ani's, of course, but considering my air drumming incident earlier on, i think it was only fair that i ended up with the drummer's setlist. and this was what it said:

FREAKSHOW ( -awesome- new song. great opener)
BUILDINGS AND BRIDGES
VIRTUE
FUEL - in the middle of it she stopped and talked for a long while about how fucked up it is that everybody nowadays has to be sponsored to do a tour, and how it seems some artists can't be bothered to wear clothes unless it's handed to them by some label. she then fell back into the song perfectly.

SWING
PROVIDENCE
BACK BACK (very neat vocal job of her repeating words: back back, boy boy etc)
LETTER TO A JOHN/PULSE (pulse was so, so intense, and sweaty!)
SO WHAT
ANGRY ANYMORE (cutest duet with julie and ani - towards the end julie was chasing ani around the stage with her according. cuuuuuuute!)
NOT SO SOFT
ANTICIPATE (some HARD guitar, i'm telling ya!)
DINER
SHY (even harder guitar - very intense performance, lots of energy.)

Encore 1:
GRAVEL (turned into a singalong, of course. hearing hundreds of people sing FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! in unison was so, so cool. ani encouraged the audience to sing the last chorus on its own. fabulous.)
CARRY YOU

Encore 2:
TO THE TEETH - i featured the lyrics last week, but i can't tell you how much they grabbed all of us. it made me so sad to think about how society seems to work now. i'm definitely looking forward to hear this on the new album.