Ani DiFranco’s Unprecedented Sh!t Tour Takes Thalia Hall by Storm

^{Article by Dylann Gretz}

Iconic feminist folk singer Ani DiFranco made a stop in Chicago at Thalia Hall on April 10th and 11th for her Unprecedented Sh!t Tour. A tour for her 23rd studio album “Unprecedented Sh!t”. After 23 albums and more than 30 years of touring DiFranco still managed to blow her audience away as she stood in front of the microphone with a guitar strapped across her shoulder seamlessly performing her art. 

She came onto the stage with her drummer Jharis Yokely, bassist Todd Sickafoss, and pedal steel and guitarist Eric Heywood. With them, DiFranco played with passion and energy while the crowd danced and swayed and sang along throughout the whole set.

The first thing that DiFranco did when she stepped foot on the Thalia Hall stage was joke to the audience that maybe she should do what her fans have been saying she should do for years and run for president. Clearly critiquing the current presidential administration, she added that it is obvious you don’t need to know much to be president of the United States. In typical DiFranco fashion, she made sure to voice her opinion to her fans throughout the show.

The sixth song she played was a track from her latest album titled “Baby Roe”. Before she started to sing she took time to explain what the song was about. “Baby Roe” was inspired by a person DiFranco had read about in a book called The Family Roe. This person was the baby of the plaintiff in the Roe v. Wade case. The child of the woman who was fighting for the right not to have her. DiFranco wrote the song thinking of Baby Roe and how, knowing that her mother was fighting to get rid of her, Baby Roe still ended up pro-choice. DiFranco told the audience that she would be the same if she were put in Baby Roe’s shoes and then went on to perform her song beautifully.

Opening for DiFranco At Thalia Hall was solo artist Wryn who is signed to the record label, Righteous Babe Records, founded by DiFranco. Wryn performed songs from their 2025 Righteous Babe Records debut album "Shapes". “Shapes” is a deeply emotional album that touches on themes of self-transformation, queer identity, and even the polyamorous relationship experience. Wryn forgot the eighth song of their set mid-song but nevertheless, they were able to quickly recover, continuing with their final two songs. Ending the set they played a cover of the Chris Isaak song “Wicked Game” and then headed off stage while the crowd awaited DiFranco’s entrance. 

DiFranco went on to play 16 songs and after playing “Shameless”, the 16th song of the night, DiFranco and her band walked off stage, but naturally, those 16 songs weren’t all she had in store for the audience. As the crowd cheered and applauded, DiFranco and her band came back onto the stage for two final songs. She started the encore with the song “Fire Door” and then ended the show with the song “Overlap”.