The ironic thing about Ani DiFranco is there is no irony about her: on a purely performance level, what you see is what you get. That certainly was the case during her first venture to Vegas back in 1997, when DiFranco played to a barely crowded Joint; and that sentiment still held to a packed Joint Friday night, albeit with more people on stage: a 2-piece horn section and a keyboard/accordion player adding to the mix.
Touring in support of last year's double album Revelling/Reckoning, DiFranco had a wealth of material from it to perform-- but only one song, "Ain't That the Way," was played. "I don't know what happened to the setlist tonight," she said sheepishly after starting with a drum-and-voice arrangement of "Freakshow." "There's an album out and yet I've got six brand new songs."
Despite a constant touring schedule, DiFranco and company managed to exude a playful energy during a set that reached back from 1993's "Names and Dates and Times" to a combination of 1998's Little Plastic Castle tracks "Loom" and "Pulse." With the addition of the horns, keyboards, and occasional accordion, the sound of DiFranco's strength hasn't diminished in the din, as the band filled in the cracks with subtle arrangements that the drum and bass (and even DiFranco's staccato guitar playing) couldn't.
New songs like "Slide," "In the Way," and the encore "Play Along" were recieved with exhuberant appreciation by the crowd, especially when DiFranco put the guitar down to play the organ on "O My My," and recite a poem about the September 11 attacks, her movements telling the story of how America elected a "Blue blood royal son." DiFranco still shows that despite the growing crowds, she is who she is: a prolific singer/songwriter with something to say.