Ani DiFranco treated her hometown to a beautiful Labor Day show, celebrating her new album Unprecedented Sh*t at Terminal B on August 31.
Lifelong fans and all the movers and shakers of Buffalo were excited for her return to Buffalo to hear her advice on how to process and stay hopeful in dire times that she has sung about for decades. Ani DiFranco was joined by the folk band Hurray for the Riff Raff on this leg of her tour.
Hurray for the Riff Raff was a perfect opener as the sun went down over Lake Erie. Alynda Segarra (frontperson) is reminiscent of another era of Ani DiFranco’s history. She explores similar travels of train hopping and hitchhiking and documents her stories around the US and she brings her own unique oral history and folk sound to her experience growing up in the United States.
DiFranco joyously greeted Buffalo with a grin of glee to join generations of fans who eagerly have been waiting for her return. She expressed from the get go that she was feeling inappropriately hopeful and wanted to share that energy with her fans. Despite this being an Unprecedented Sh*t tour show, Ani played across her whole catalogue, knowing very well that she was dearly missed. She opened with newer tracks ‘Still my Heart’ and ‘Do or Die’ for all the voters but quickly went back in time to songs that made her explore her past with ‘Pixie’ which explores her experience moving from Buffalo to New York City. She exclaims how she wishes New Yorkers would ‘Be Nice’ which makes sense once you leave the city of good neighbors. She continued with familiar tracks, ‘Two Little Girls’ and ‘As Is’.
After a visit down nostalgia lane, Ani explored her latest album and took us through a history lesson about the baby born of the woman in the Roe V. Wade case despite her eventual wins to the right of abortion with the thought provoking, ‘Baby Roe’. Every Ani album and show allows you to walk away with new knowledge about yourself, your history or ways to think about the world.
She continued with a solo melodic rendition of ‘More or Less Free’ but brought us back again to her memorable album Little Plastic Castle for another singalong with the crowd. However, by the end of the song, the whole crowd learned that this song title is indeed singular not plural, a common mistake Buffalonians make with many names of places and things. Maybe this is only something you can catch when you move away from Buffalo.
Ani shared her most current “rant” track as folk legend Utah Phillips would coin it from her new album New Bible. Later Ani was joined by Alynda for her title track on her last album, Revolutionary Love which seemingly felt perfect as a duet.
Recently off Broadway with Hadestown, she admittedly shared that she had to relearn her song lyrics but it is much easier and more enjoyable with the help of a crowd of thousands that know all the words to her tracks like ‘Swan Dive’ and a seemingly matured version ‘Untouchable Face’ with the help of the slide guitar. She concluded the show with a loud and energetic ‘Shameless’. She quickly returned to give us crowd favorites ‘Both Hands’ and ‘32 Flavors’ allowing for the crowd to chant their way to the finish of the set with Ani and her incredible band.
Seeing Ani DiFranco is like a civic education exercise. It isn’t just a show but almost a practice in exploring our emotions, history, community and planning our way forward. And one of her new messages to us all is rest can be resistance and it is okay to be inappropriately optimistic as we scroll through the daily doom on our social media. Ani Difranco is continuing her Unprecedented Sh*t tour for another week with Hurray for the Riff Raff and Tuneyards. Then she will do what she has not normally done in the past, rest. She is practicing her new form of resistance. Buffalo can only hope she won’t take another five years to come back for a beloved hometown show.
Ani Difranco – Terminal B, Buffalo – August 31, 2025
Setlist: Still my heart, Do or die, Pixie, 2 Little Girls, As is, Baby Roe, The thing, Little Plastic Castles, Unprecedented Shit, More or Less Free (Solo), New bible, Simultaneously, Swan Dive, Revolutionary Love (with Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Alynda), Untouchable Face, Shameless
Encore: Both Hands, 32 Flavors
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