A review of Tori's September 3, 2003 concert in Orlando, FL appeared in the September 5, 2003 edition of the Orlando Sentinel.

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Thanks to Nathan Herzog and Tania for telling me about this article. You can read it online at orlandosentinel.com or below:


Blazing pianos: Amos, Folds' flailing fingers fire up UCF crowd

By Aline Mendelsohn
Sentinel Staff Writer

They called it, quite aptly, the Lottapianos tour.

For more than three hours at the UCF Arena Wednesday night, Tori Amos and Ben Folds gave their pianos a good workout -- and gave the packed audience good value for their $45 tickets.

The charismatic Ben Folds opened the show, bantering with the fans and coaching them to sing along.

Noticeably absent from his set was "Brick," the radio song he is best known for, but he pleased the crowd with "Song for the Dumped" and the moving ballad "The Luckiest."

The ginger-haired headliner Amos barely interacted with the audience. But her powerful music spoke for itself.

Amos alternated between an upright piano and a keyboard, often straddling the bench and playing one hand on each instrument.

Moody and reflective, Amos opened the set with "a sorta fairy tale" from her 2002 album Scarlet's Walk.

Although she sang liberally from that record, she energetically pounded out hits from the album that made her a superstar, Under the Pink. She pepped up the audience early in the show with "Cornflake Girl" and "God."

But she was at her best without her band, alone at the piano.

She shifted from a low register to the upper reaches of her range in a haunting "Black-Dove (January)" of From the Choirgirl Hotel.

In an eerie cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Amos growled the "Hello" chorus and lilted effortlessly into the "Entertain us" lyric.

The next song, a halting, spare "Silent All These Years" offered the evening's highlight. Amos' voice and gentle piano accompaniment filled the arena and brought many to tears.

An angry rendition of "Precious Things" from "Little Earthquakes" ended her set. And then she returned for a generous two encores: "Space Dog," "Pretty Good Year" "Pandora's Aquarium" and finally, the closer "Putting the Damage On."

Aline Mendelsohn can be reached at amendelsohn@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5352.