Fiona Apple returned to Boston on Saturday, June 30, after playing here as part of her pre-album release mini-tour in March (which you can read about here: http://wp.me/p1vv5T-wj).  Apple’s show, 90 minutes of bipolar pain during which she swelled and danced and writhed on the floor and said little to the audience and didn’t bother leaving the stage prior to her one-song encore, was similar to that March show, though Apple’s confidence in her material at this recent show, compared to the March show, was noticeable, at least to me, since I was at both shows.

Her Tidal-heavy show wove in songs from her other albums, with this most recent album (The Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do) getting a bit more attention than the middle albums.

I have an appreciation for the songs from the album that she’s using during her set, more so than I did in March when hearing three of the songs for the first time. Then, I knew I liked them, but didn’t really know them. Now, not only do I know them, but I’d like to spend more time inside them, dissecting Apple’s wordplay and lyric gymnastics, at which she remains an expert.