Annie was magnificent over here in New York City. She played two shows at the Bottom Line and I saw the second one. Being a very new Annie fan, I didn't quite know what to expect. I thought she would be shy and introverted -- I guess because of the Steve Howe association -- but this was not the case at all. Annie is quite dynamic, charismatic and full of humor. Actually in some ways her presence reminded me of Kirsty MacColl, who I saw last year at the TLA in Philly, although they do very different music.

Annie walked on in a sort of anti-Jon ^Anderson] outfit; long and black, with a large gold band-belt around the waist. As I said before, very graceful and charming, doing all these neat hand movements and dances as she sung. Here is the setlist she played:

• "Moonlight Shadow" - The opener -- light, beautiful catchy melody -- one of my favorite pieces of the evening with Enya-like keyboard sound.
• "Seashell Eyes"
• "Summon the Angels" - Annie mentioned that Phoebe Snow was in the audience (I couldn't get a good look), and that Phoebe liked this one a lot.
• "Northern Lights"- I gather this is an old Renaissance song, from the amount of applause it garnered when she announced it ... great song!
• "The Children"- A sad song about the children of Medillin, Columbia.
• "Wake Up the Nation"
• "After the Ocean is Gone" - I liked this one a lot.
• "If I Loved You" - This is from Rogers & Hammerstein's Carousel. The audience really responded to this one. Annie said her father used to sing this to her a lot when she was little, and that this song was recorded on Annie's first solo album Annie In Wonderland.
• "Sometimes" - This is one of the songs off her collaboration with Steve Howe. I think she mentioned hat someone else wrote it; it is absolutely beautiful.
• "Turn of the Century" - The biggie! Actually, no one in the audience obstensibly knew this song except one of the guys next to me, who gave her a standing ovation after she performed it. The musicians did a pretty faithful interpretation, with one of the keyboardists covering Steve's guitar parts perfectly. Annie flubbed one section, but it was easily forgiveable due to her humor: "Roan ... (giggles) ... through his working hands, worked to mold his passion into clay (still singing) I did that the other night...like the sun!!" She also sang "Was the sign with a touch as I... ", ommiting the line "of the day". The climax was very powerful and well done.
• "Carpet of the Sun" - Another Renaissance tune. She mentioned it was going back to 1973, which puts it on Ashes are Burning. This was a phenomenal tune, vibrant, energetic and uplifting -- arguably the finest moments of the performance.
• "What He Seeks" - This one had a Middle Eastern flavor to it, with a neat Wakeman-like synthesizer patch by one of the keyboardists.

Encore:

• "Ocean Gypsy" - A nice, closer, very mysterious and beautiful sounding song. She got a standing ovation from most of the audience after this.

Now onto some of the funnier moments of the show. There were so many! Zappa would have been proud:

Annie related how at the first show she felt a thump and thought "Oh Shit! They're throwing tomatoes at me!" Actually, one of the piano strings had snapped.

When she introduced the band, she said "I'm going to introduce the band to you now, so if you are critical about anything that happens up here, you will know who exactly to blame!"

After the second song, she brought the drummer out from behind the shadows, where he preceeded to do an absolutely hilarious, dead-on immitation on vocals (with the aid of a keyboardist) of what a song sounds like played backwards!

She introduced one song by saying: "Now we're going to go back to the year 19mmm.mmmmm!" One of the musicians then muttered, "1900!", and she said, "1900? I know a song from somewhere back then!". She then did a verse and chorus from "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "Who Will Buy" (from the musical Oliver) and then started dancing around singing "I should be In Vegas! I should be in Vegas! Makin' lots of money ... like the Moody Blues!". Then the keyboardist played the orchestral opening to "Nights in White Satin"!! That had the audience rolling.

After one of the audience said he wanted a depressing song, one of the musicians said "I know a depressing song! It's called 'My Best Friend Ran Away with My Wife-And I Miss Him'!!".

Someone in the audience asked her something strange, like if she was a Presbyterian or not ... one of the keyboardists chimed in: "I remember my first beer!".

Annie also sang "I'm in the Mood for Love, simply because you're naked!" and a faux-Betty Boop version of "I Wanna Be Loved By You".

So, as you can see, I enjoyed this concert immensely! If Annie comes to your hometown, don't pass it up! You'll regret it!