You can read a press review of Tori's April 17, 2005 concert in Grand Prairie/Dallas, TX in the April 18, 2005 edition of the Dallas Morning News.
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Thanks to Maria Chomiak and Brad Ehney for telling me about this concert review. You can read it online at dallasnews.com or below. You can read all the Dallas reviews here.
Review: All by herself
Amos' solo tour sparks spontaneity at Nokia
By CRAYTON HARRISON / The Dallas Morning News
GRAND PRAIRIE - Tori Amos normally tours with a backing band, but every once in a while the singer-pianist will go out on the road by herself. These are the special tours.
By herself, the auburn-haired Ms. Amos can meander where she pleases. If she feels like slowing a song down and lingering on a lyric, she doesn't have to coordinate with anyone else.
That's important. Ms. Amos' shows work best when there's a little spontaneity and playfulness.
As Ms. Amos, 41, has matured, her songs have become more even-tempered and reflective, not always for the better. They miss some of the old fire - not just anger, but humor - that made her older material so compelling.
She managed to flesh some life into them Sunday at Nokia Theatre. "The Power of Orange Knickers," from her new album The Beekeeper, was upbeat and peppy. And her voice soared as high and long as it would all night during "Original Sinsuality."
Ms. Amos' virtuosic, over-the-top piano style hasn't changed much. She leaned over her instrument like a brooding rocker, pounding at the keys or banging her piano's side, then arched her back ecstatically as the music reached a crescendo.
Sunday's crowd appeared to consist mostly of people in their late 20s and early 30s, the demographic that would have been in high school and college when Ms. Amos' first album, Little Earthquakes, debuted in 1992.
They screamed loudest for the old songs, such as "Icicle," perhaps the most emotionally resonant song ever devoted to masturbation.
Ms. Amos took her time with the older songs, letting fans wait a bit to hear words they knew by heart. "Crazy," from 2002's Scarlet's Walk, was slowed to an almost unrecognizable crawl.
Ms. Amos' fans crave intimacy with their idol, and many could be heard shouting "Thank you!" when she sang their favorite tune. Her cover of Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" was greeted with a roar.
Ms. Amos' voice is rougher and throatier than it once was, and she doesn't aim for the high notes as often now.
During one song, after her voice creaked noticeably, she stopped and exclaimed, "Whoa!" The audience laughed. "I feel like we should be on Saturday Night Live, and the tape should kick in now," she added, probably unaware that SNL lip-syncer Ashlee Simpson will play Wednesday at Nokia.
Opening act Matt Nathanson, a San Francisco singer and guitarist, had his own knack for stage banter. His earnest, boyish energy kept the crowd laughing and engaged.
E-mail charrison@dallasnews.com
