When a wave like the current fashion for female singer/songwriters breaks into the big-time, a whole raft of flotsam is thrown to the surface. Some is flagrant band wagoning, some is despicably poor, and some, like Ani di Franco, is pure quality that makes it all worthwhile.
Her band has a beautifully old-fashioned sound - acoustic, drums, bass and a bank of tastefully-underused keyboards - but they very rarely call on any form of gimmickry to embellish the music. Instead, they rely on the rhythmic sound of the steel strings, a dramatic use of dynamics and wonderfully-precise offbeat drumming. And her lyrics work wonderfully well - breath-filled ululations adding to the rhythmic excitement.
Her subject matter varied from the usual boyfriend/ girl friend stuff to a Springsteenesque exploration of her hometown American "Rustbelt". And it was good to see flowers on the stage. Not enough bands do that these days.