Enigmatic Apple still resonates

Fiona Apple wasn't made for the concert stage, or the world, and that's why we love her. She sings songs like other people hitch up their sleeve to show you their new bruise. Both are worn like badges of honor, and while it's not always pretty to watch, it's never unremarkable.

Apple has been off the commercial radar for several years, and her return was greeted last night by a near-full house of wronged, empowered women who haven't forgotten a single venomous barb. Between frantic shouts of ''I'll never cheat on you!" and ''I want to have your baby" they changed maudlin confessionals -- ''Sleep to Dream," ''Criminal," ''Paper Bag" -- into the oddest anthems and brought shy smiles to Apple's face, although she waited until the lights dimmed between songs to show them.

It's hard to grin when you're pouncing on your piano and spitting the phlegm-clogged verse to ''Shadowboxer," or clutching the folds of your black gown, leg shaking madly, scowling through the gorgeous changes of ''I Know," or stretching, perversely, in the middle of a tune. When Apple left the stage briefly following a particularly troubled bout of pacing, it seemed entirely possible that the famously volatile artist would just opt out of the rest of the set.

She was that mad. Backed by a band that included bassist Mike Elizondo, producer of her new album ''Extraordinary Machine," Apple made art-pop mincemeat of men, beginning with ''Get Him Back" and closing alone at the piano (how fitting) with ''Parting Gift." ''Oh you silly stupid pastime of mine/you were always good for a rhyme," she blurted, summing up her life in a nutshell.

If Apple weren't such a gifted songwriter, the unmanageable expanse between the artist and what many call a winning performance style would be rocky terrain. Instead, her unhinged presence offers the most primal sort of permission -- to feel, and act, in kind.