Last Updated: January 12, 1999
Below, you see stuff that fans have written about the concerts they have seen during June 1996, from most recent to oldest. Thank you again for supporting my web site :)
Putting The Tori On
On Sunday, June 30, at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, Tori Amos
took her fans to the sky. Literally, at one point she pointed out the
night's full moon and burst into an impromptu rendition of the classic song,
"Blue Moon". As I sit in my high balcony seat, I felt as if I, myself, was
being transported to another planet. Yes, Tori did all this and more.
As she strut out to the sounds of Son of a Preacher man, she was
welcomed to the loud cheers of the numerous fans waiting for her. Tori
quickly sat down and rushed into the ever impressive opening of Beauty Queen
and Horses. Tori seemed to breeze through the distractions of the young
girls calling out their love to her and brought the song off with a quiet
elegance. This was my first time seeing Tori and I had no idea of the
intensity in which she would play. In the next hour, she flew through such
awesome renditions of songs like, Take to the Sky(my favorite, which she cut
short), Caught a Lite Sneeze, which was too good for words, and Icicle, which
had a bit of "Onward Christian Soldier" in it. Only Tori.
The thing that amazed me most was how rapid Tori was able to play.
She would pound out a heart wrenching performance of Little Earthquakes,
which to me, is an entire concert in itself, and then in a matter of seconds,
rush into a ravishing Butterfly, with remarkable ease. It is so incredible
how we, as an audience, never know where she is going. The audience was
surprised by a quick "This Old Man", which literally melted into Putting The
Damage On. There was no heart left cold after that moment.
For some reason, Tori left the harpsicord untouched most of the
night. It was used to its full potential in a phenomenol performance of Talul
a, which took full advantage of every instrument on stage. It was definitely
a highlight of the show due to its nonstop energy. Another highlight was of
a song I am not too fond of, which is Bells For Her, but on the harpsicord,
it had a whimsical charm to it.
After the awesome Talula performance, Tori sat still in the center
of the stage and belted out Me and a Gun. No doubt, every person was
mesmerized by her during those few minutes. Sitting up top, I realized the
power of this song. I looked around and saw the intensity hiding behind
people's faces. The beautiful thing about Tori is that she is something
different and special to everyone. The tears that were heard silently during
that song seemed to unite the entire theater in a way I had never seen at a
concert. Afetr the song, Tori walked off in the dark and left us to catch
our breath. She obviously needed a moment too, but soon re-entered to wow
the audience with Twinkle and probably the best moment of the night, the
gorgeous China, which to me, is one of those songs you don't think you need
to hear until you do. So beautiful.
Tori's final encores were of the funky In the Springtime of His
Voodoo, which is always a fun song, Song For Eric, which brought chills to
me, and a final organ played performance of the Prince classic, Purple Rain,
in which the stage was drenched in purple light.
Tori Amos' closing show at the Greek was hauntingly beautiful, as
every Tori Amos album comes to be. Sadly, we missed out on such songs as Sile
nt All These Years and Pretty Good Year. I personally was dying to hear Baker
Baker, but you can't have it all. However, through the excellent and
dramatic lighting and slight images projected behind her, the music was never
lost. Tori allowed her voice to fly high above into the open air and give
Los Angeles a little beauty. At one point of the night, Tori sang, "Can't
stop what is coming, can't stop what is on its way.." I hope for all her
fan's sake, the beauty that is Tori never stops
Set List
(not too sure on the order, but positive on the songs)
Beauty Queen/Horses
Yes, Anastasia
Take to the Sky
Blue Moon
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Cornflake Girl
Little Earthquakes
Butterfly
Icicle
This Old Man/Putting The Damage On
Bells For Her
Precious Things
Not The Red Baron
Talula
Me and a Gun
Twinkle
China
In the Springtime of His Voodoo
Song For Eric
Purple Rain
Note: This story actually describes a little about all 3 nights at the Greek, but most of it is about the final night, June 30th.
Hello Mike. I went to all three show at the Greek this weekend, starting in the B section on Friday, A on Saturday, and in the Orchestra Pit on Sunday night. The Friday crowd was more sedate overall, except for the jerks who yelled out during MAAG. I had a 1986 Sebastiani bottle of chardonnay with a very special custom label that I designed on the computer (I'm an art director) with a message from my heart for Tori and luckily smuggled it into the Greek. When it was time for people to give her their gifts before the first encore, I didn't know it was happening until it was too late...it was okay, as I had alternate plans. I waited after the show and a mob of people were there. I caught a glimpse a few times of her and tried to give her my bottle to no avail...that's okay, I had alternate plans. So needless to say, the concert was FABULOUS!
So, Saturday, I just went to relax and have a good time. And I did. I was so pleased that I didn't need to use my binoculars much. She was very cute. The music was even better that nite. Sunday was my big night to try and make a connection with Tori. With Pit tickets in hand, I was determined to give her my bottle of wine! The show was absolutely wonderful and I felt many times that she was singing right to me as my seats were perfectly situated for her to stare right at me while she sang. I could see her every expression. Unbelievable pianist and provacative performer! Okay...it was time...I ran up to the stage along with about 30 other fans bearing gifts and unfortunately trampled feet and belongings of the first row people..."Sorry"...I just screamed that I was coming thru with a gift for Tori, and MOVE IT! She came back out and started to fill up her arms with gifts. I shamelessly screamed Tori (like everyone else) I became alarmed that she would start back to her piano and yelled "Chardonnay"...but to no avail. I continued to show her the bottle with the label side to her and she came over and studied it for a few seconds (I think the picture of her on on the label grabbed her first), and I said "Just for you Tori" and then she looked up from it and then at me and with total eye contact mouthed the words "Thank You", with the warmest smile and the kindest most present eyes.She took the wine from me and gave it to the blond stage guy in the wings, I hope for safe keeping to drink later. She made her way back to the piano and I was on cloud 10. My boyfriend saw it all 15 feet away and wished he had a camera, as the moment was perfect with the lights and everything.
I waited after the show and when she came out my boyfriend fork lifted me up over the crowd and she looked at me and I said "Enjoy the wine" and she blew me a kiss. Okay I was deep on Cloud 11 about then. Wow. What a huge Tori weekend. I had a blast. Oh, I put my e-mail address on the label, in case she wants to reach me. I'll let you know if it actually happens. Crazier things have happened.
I would like to begin by saying that I loved the show except for the fact that once again I was in back of two girls that would not shut up or stop laughing. I finally asked them nicely to be quiet, which in turn almost led to a confrontation. I had no problem with that except for the fact I di not want to get thrown out of the show. I was hear to hear Tori not listen to juveniles blab. I know these people would never read this, but why copme to a show if you are going to talk. You want to talk? GO TO A PRESS CONFERENCE!!!!!!! Anyway, enough of that. Here is the set list for the most part I missed a song or two while telling these girls to hush up.
Beauty QueenThis was my first Tori concert, so I have very little to compare it to. Without a doubt, this was the best concert I have ever been to. My seats were decent, but not great. There was a jerk sitting beside of me that I had to get thrown out. Considering all this, it was still the best.
I was hoping she would play "Silent All These Years", 'cause that's my favorite, but she didn't. I'm sorry I don't have a set list. When she played "Take To The Sky," I wanted to fly. When she played "Me And A Gun", the audience was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I cried. Then I cried again when she did "Purple Rain." Tori had very little to say. She said "hi" to all of us when she came out. She made the joke about the Mormons (from the SLC show), and at one moment someone said "Tori We Love You." She responded with a "I love you, too."
I forget which song--it was toward the end, but she messed up and said something like "I fucked up," then she continued with the song.
I just saw Tori on MTV Unplugged, and I thought her performance there was amazing. I had no idea how erotic it would be to see her live. She took my breath away time and time again. I laughed, I cried, and when I left, I was exhausted from the host of emotions I felt.
She seemed to go from song to song, only to stop long enough to take a drink of water. I was a little let down that she didn't have much to say. It was her third night in L.A., so maybe she was tired of us. Or just tired in general. Despite all of this, it was a most outstanding show. Oh yes, and I think even the chicks got wood when she performed "Icicle."
You guys have to understand..what i am about to say is not because this was a show that *I* was at. I know enough to know that this is the BEST SHOW that tori has EVER DONE!!!!!!!!!!!! It was her goodbye to LA (with my 4th row seast..and my BOOTLEG!)
You guys will die
BQOmigod..we all agree..it was the BEST!!!!!! After words...we were ALL breaathless..and screaming and crying..omigod...
Okay..we get there early and i met tori, again. But this time was better. She signed my UTP..and she remembered me today!!!!!! (i recorded yes) i gave her my little thing tht played yesterday...and a letter which she said thank you too! and i thanked her for playing Cloud and she said "absolutley" and we hugged..and it was great. But there was something more speial. When i was telling a girl about it, i started crying ..i dont know why.
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I am here to give a review of the Saturday show in Los Angeles. No one has yet to give a review so I thought I would do it. Here is the set list first:
Beauty QueenThe show itself was excellent my friend Patrick and I arrived early but there were so many people by the buses, we knew it would be almost impossible to get material signed. The Greek is an outdoor venue for those who do not know the area. The highlight of the show was a man playing a trumpet in the mountain behind the theatre whom Tori was trying to talk to. She said, "oh, okay I have a guest tonight, You play a note then I will play a note". It was sooooo cute. Other highlights were "Lovesong" which was so intense. I was pleased to see that the some odd six thousand capacity audience was very polite during MAAG. It was silent. Also Tori started the show off by speaking on those who have the internet know my friend up here got fleas in Austin. In addition she looked around the stage and said, "I know you guys can't see but there are lots of little critters up here whom I'm trying not to squish". The only downside for me was the fact that I was hoping she would perform the b-side, none other than honey. I knew I would cry if she did. I am attending the show tonight as well, so hopefully I may get lucky. For those who have yet to see the show, you are all in for a magical evening.
My fiance and I were going to be seeing Tori at the Greek in L.A. on June 29th. He had purchased the tickets months ago and the date was finally near. I think it was the Wednesday night before that Tori was on MTV Unplugged... I'm not sure. But it really got us excited about seeing her in concert again. It just so happens that June 30th is my fiance's birthday (we're married now by the way). I had been a bit strapped for money and did not know what to do for his birthday... he already had the Tori tickets. We always try to surprise each other with something special each year. Anyway, after watching Tori interact with the audience on MTV Unplugged, a thought suddenly popped into my head... wouldn't it be great if Tori would play a song for him for his birthday. Well, I pushed the thought out of my head ( are you crazy ). The next day I was talking to a girl I work with that knows about our birthday surprises and our love of Tori, so I told her about my "thought". She turned around and said "Go For It, if anyone can pull it off you can". That motivated me enough to start planning how I was going to pull this off. I wrote Tori a letter explaining how my fiance was the one that introduced me to her music with "Little Earthquakes", he surprised me with tickets to see her at UCLA for our anniverary and we buy anything on CD we can get our hands on. I told her how special he is to me and abouth our birthday surprises and how this would be the best possible gift I could ever give him if she would play "Hey Jupiter" for him. I then faxed the letter to a girl I talked to at the Greek Theater (she said she would try to give Tori the fax) and I faxed one to Atlantic Records (I can't remember anymore who they told me to fax it to). I asked a bunch of people if they knew anyone that could help, but I think that everyone thought I was a little out of my mind and a little to old to be doing the obsesive fan thing.
Now all I had to do was wait until the day of the concert. I battled with myself over if I should tell my fiance or not, after all it was supposed to be a surprise. My insides were churning with the possiblity of it all. I put copies of the letter and faxes in my bag so I could show him, regardless of what happened. We got to the Greek and found our seats, pretty good. The concert was great, as Tori always is. Then she begins her encores... disappointment begins to set in. "What was I thinking anyway... she's got so many fans that must request things all the time." I remember asking my fiance how many encores does she usually do, but he was too engrossed in the music to answer. She started doing "Father Lucifer" and as she was playing some of her crew came on stage, moved the harpsicord of stage and brought out the pump organ. She finished "Father Lucifer", turned to the pump organ (as the crowd is cheering) and starts to say " I got a letter from a girl who asked me to play this for someone special. You know who you are." and begins to play "Hey Jupiter" To this day I can not explain what I was feeling at that moment. My heart felt like it would burst through my chest. Someone in the crowd shouted "Thank You" and Tori said "Your welcome Val (my fiance's name)" I squeezed his hand and said "Did you hear that - she's playing this for you." Well he just looked at me like I was crazy and told me to shush. Oh no, since I didn't say anything to him, he didn't understand what was happening. Well she ended the concert on that song. We get up to leave and I say to him (I'm shaking all over from being so overwelmed with emotion) " Do you realize what just happened in there." and he says " What are you talking about?" I dig in my bag and pull out all my letters and say " She played "Hey Jupiter" for you for your birthday - here's a copy of my letter I sent her. He couldn't believe his eyes or his ears for that matter. He was so overwelmed that he had to sit down - by now we were outside and found our way to a bench. I don't think I have ever seen him so speechless. He decides he wants to say thank you to Tori so we try to go back inside to see her but she's too busy with the press people etc. So we go around to the bus departure area, along with a good number of fans that have already been waiting about 30 minutes. Finally she comes out and starts talking to the people at the front of the barricades. It was impossible to get through, so I told him shout " Thank you Tori for playing "Hey Jupiter" for me" when it gets quite for a moment. Which he did, to which Tori responded " Is that you Val" and my fiance say " Yes, it is". She waves her hands for everyone to move from infront of her so she can see him. She then wishes him a happy birthday, to which he says thank you. Everyone began to crowd in again and as we turn to walk away Tori calls out " Val, you have a very special lady" to which he answers "Thank you - I know". What a night, we never slept a wink.
Hey guys..just got home. Today wasnt as fun, but it was still great. A
whole bunch of us (most from the House of blues..) and had a circle till
she came...and then we lined up..more people today so we could have a pix
OR an autograph..i got a pix...im listening to it! I booted the show but i
dont think i came up. Anyways i met tori and hugged her and gave her my
letter..and i asked her to play cloud on my tongue..she looks up
surprised? Tonight? Im like yep..
yada yada yada..it was me nick (who hit someone!) and Dor.
anyways..we traded up our seats 9 rows..so we wre a little better..i didnt
write down the set list..so ill try and recall...(she didnt talk as much)
BQ
Horses
Leather
Little Amsterdam]
BLood Roses
umm...little earthquakes
sneeze
im not remembering
Precious Things.. (i sobbed, again..big time)
Baron
Amazing Grace
Love song (she sai...i used to listen to this down highway 101 and we
screamed! she started we were yelling..no one else..about 2 min later
everyone else figured out what it was...)
MAAG
I DONT REMEMBER!!!!
Encore 1:
Famous Blue Raincoat
.....CLOUD ON MY TOUNGE!!!!!!!!! I was (as nick says) in
hysteria..omigod..i was happy and sad and sobbing and crying and
screaming..she played a song for me
Encore 2:
Father Lucifer
Jupiter
very lovely..but i was a crying nite.
Blood and tears are streaming off the stage. Tori laying herself bare: emotions and sentiments poignant and powerful as if a trail of blood and tears ran down off the stage, split into a thousand rivulets and touched each enraptured member of the audience. An audience thoroughly in the grip of this songstress, this goddess of lyric and ivory keys.
"You can tell me it's overIt's Saturday night, the second evening of a two-night Tori weekend (for me, that is, unable as I am to catch her third performance on Sunday). Greek Theatre, Los Angeles. Captivated, captured, swept up in a torrent of raw emotion. During "Horses," her eyes seem to glisten, and I wonder if she really is crying, feeling the song as if for the first time. No matter, the effect is the same. Feelings that whomp me in the chest like a sheet of steel...
...Before Saturday night's show, Lisa mentioned that Friday night people at the KROQ van were giving away seats to the sold-out performance. And, that they were letting some with tickets trade up for better seats. So we had our hopes up just a little, but no KROQ tickets. So, again, we had a picnic in the hills. Lots of leftover picnic goodies, and Pete's Wicked Summer Brew. I met a photographer and we agreed to later arrange a trade of boots for pics. Then, on the way into the venue, a man asked us if we needed tickets. "How are the seats," Lisa asked, and he said they were pretty good: seventh row above the pit. Lisa wanted to trade up our tickets: he asked for twenty each, Lisa countered with fifteen. I told him, "Look, I'd like to, but I can't afford more than ten each. That's it." Our seats weren't great, not bad, so it would be nice to trade, but... He agreed: ten each. Coolness.
So the seats were great. Close enough, that when she knocked on the piano during "Little Earthquakes" and again during "Caught a Lite Sneeze" I could hear it direct, unmiked. Close enough that at times she appeared to look directly at me. Close enough to lose myself completely into her music, drift off under the spell of the wiccan. Fitting that we got those seats: I've been friends with Lisa for over sixteen years, we're both major Tori-fans (TM), and it was our third time to see her together. Tonight I'm mainly hoping to see some different material, sure she won't play all the same songs. The only question: how many will differ? Up close is an added bonus.
She's playful, spunk, irreverent during "Leather," teasing, daring, playing one-finger rolls on the Bosendorfer. Again, "Doughnut Song" hits me in the gut. During a brief pause, introducing the next song- "... I used to listen to this song speeding down the 101, and I never got caught"- suddenly, the sound of a solitary trumpet drifts over the summer breeze. She stops, looks up: "who is that, playing that little trumpet... what key are you in, Mr. Trumpet Man?" She wants to play along. "I'm not too smart, but any ding-a-ling can tell you that I've got a little more horsepower than you. You play, I'll answer..." No answer, so she softly starts a verse of "Amazing Grace." The trumpet is heard here and there, and toward the end a soprano stands in the audience, and joins as well in the magical moment.
I wonder if she'll play the mysterious song, and probably will still be wondering what it was, except she plays it now, the Cure's "Love Song." I perform this song at times myself, but needless to say I can't, nor can the Cure, match her tremulous, poignant rendition. Within the song, ears prick up, what?!!, she plays a few tantalizing bars and lyrics of "Running Up That Hill." Arriving on the music scene, Tori was first, perhaps naturally, compared to Kate Bush. Many fans, self included, are major listeners and/or collectors of both. 'Course, we'll never get to see her Kate-ness live. I wonder, has Tori ever performed the entire song? But it's gone as fast as offered, a nugget for the followers, for the muse, for the nearly full moon overhead, guardian of the night.
Another chestnut, the rarely-performed "Tear in Your Hand," one of my favorites. Caton picks along with a melodious acoustic guitar. After "Caught a Lite Sneeze," tonight's "Me & A Gun" is uninterrupted by clueless morons (this time they're quiet) but still it doesn't quite capture the pain and power of last night's rendition. She encores first with Leonard Cohen's moving "Famous Blue Raincoat," her own "Cloud on My Tongue" (one of my favorites from _Under the Pink_) and returns with a second encore of "Father Lucifer" and, after the stage hands wheel out the unusual (and unintroduced) harmonium, "Hey Jupiter." Another evening of masterpieces. Musical VanGogh, though she has yet to cut off an ear. The moon knows, overhead.
This ain't no sippin' review...
I drove to the Greek Theatre here in LA early Saturday in the hopes of meeting Tori when she arrived for her soundcheck. I spent two hours sitting in the grass, making the acquaintance of two darling young women named Joanna and Miriam and their friend Kevin. Steve Caton came by, and I got his autograph to give to our very own Abby the PeleGrrl, who seems to have developed a crush on him.
By the time Tori showed up there were 30 of us ("We got a great big convoy..."), and she was also running late, so initially we were told by security that she wouldn't be able to sign anything. Then out she popped from the limo accompanied by Agent Orange (the stories are true, he really IS orange!), and he announced she would sign ONE thing for each person, OR pose for a photograph. Take your choice.
Cast your minds back to Friday, when Debbie from Florida (you know her as Myra Ellen here on RDT) called me at nine in the morning (which is the middle of the night for me) to ask me to shout out Dear Prudence during the concert so Tori would play it. I told her I wasn't the shouting type, so she asked me to at least concentrate on the title so Tori would get the vibes.
So I got up to Tori and, after hugging her (!), told her that my friend would like her to play Dear Prudence, but I knew it was a long shot, so could she at least sign an autograph to "Debbie" and write "Dear Prudence" on it? She obliged, and I hope dear Debbie's eyes pop out of her head when she gets it in the mail. (Which is why, incidentally, I'm delaying sending this to RDT, so as not to ruin the surprise for Debbie and Abby.)
So I didn't get an autograph for myself, nor a picture. But I had met her once before and got both that time, so that was OK. And I did get the bona fide, patented Tori hug... : )
Anyway, moving on...
For me, half the fun of a concert, nay, two-thirds, is the people and atmosphere surrounding the event. (Also important is the music played before the headliner; Tori played a mix of older Zeppelin, including the tasty Tangerine.) I like milling around and seeing all the different kinds of people, I try to take in the attitudes and emotions of the people around me, to absorb the whole experience. And unlike certain heavy metal concerts where I have genuinely feared for my safety (I'll skip rap entirely, thank you), the people at Tori's concert Saturday provided me with an endless source of quiet contemplation.
There was a Bjork look-alike, a Joan Osborne, a Sinead O'Connor, even a Clare Danes, lots of dyed hair and sparkle makeup, streams upon streams of adorable high school sophomorettes with their bare bellies and tiny backpacks, and let's not forget the boyfriends being dragged along. There was a woman covered in shiny black vinyl, another wearing an "I (heart) Box" T-shirt who was cute enough that I briefly wished I had one to offer her, a third and fourth wearing 19th-century-style ruffled dresses. (The latter being the couple seated next to me.) Oh, and that guy who caused a stir at the House of Blues earlier this year when he showed Tori his tattoos of HER face. He was walking around the concert with faery wings on his back. Yes indeed, a crowd to remember.
The concert itself, alas, sucked. Tori played so poorly ... I'm kidding! C'mon, you believed me? She was amazing as always (and it was kind of cool knowing I'd talked to her just a few hours earlier). She didn't play SATY, alas, or Frog on My Toe, but that was OK because she did play Tear In Your Hand -- which I missed part of because half of the Victorian couple to my left was in constant tears, so I dashed downstairs to requisition some napkins for her from the back entrance to the by-then-closed snack bar. I'm such a softie for women in tears...
There was a really cute moment when someone in the distance (the Greek Theatre is outdoors and surrounded by a park and rich folks' homes) began playing trumpet. Tori could hear the trumpet on stage, so she started trying to play along with the tune, asking everyone to be quiet so she could listen and be in the right key. But the trumpet stopped after about a minute, its owner probably completely unaware that he/she had been accompaying a pianist being listened to by the entire audience of the Greek Theatre.
Then she sang Amazing Grace, and asked everyone to join in so maybe the trumpet player wouldn't feel so shy. No one took her up on the offer, but then after a few minutes of the song there WAS a voice, a woman in the audience was harmonizing with Tori, and it was stunning and beautiful. But I don't think Tori even heard her.
Now I don't know what concerts you guys have been going to, but there wasn't a single "rude concertgoer" moment in the whole show. Wait, I take that back: Some guy shouted "Do me" during the Beauty Queen/Horses opener, but that was it. 10,000 people (or is it more at the Greek?) were surprisingly quiet during every song. Me and a Gun went flawlessly.
And about that song: I am a diehard Little Earthquakes fan, I call it her "initial supernova" as an artist, and nothing else could ever match that intensity. (Similarly, listen to John Lennon's first solo album.) SATY, Winter, China, Tear In Your Hand -- those aren't songs, they're gifts from the gods. However, I have never much cared for Me and a Gun -- it simply bored me. Call me callous, but I just couldn't get into it like I could the rest of the album -- it was long, repetitive, and about an experience I'd never had. I've never been raped, molested, attacked or sexually abused. There's a big difference between sympathy and empathy, and like a lot of men, I "just didn't get it."
Now we get to the "About that song." When she sang it Saturday, when 10,000 people fell dead silent and 6,000-7,000 women's hearts zeroed in on that one woman up there telling their story, most of them undoubtedly in tears, I felt something happen inside me, and *I* began crying. And I kept crying, during the entire song. It was like, even though I couldn't empathize with the song, I could empathize with the crowd, I was surrounded by people who were empathizing with Tori at that moment, and somehow all that emotion found its way inside me. I finally felt the weight of the words, I understood the magnitude of what it means, its incredible reservoir of healing power. And like 10,000 other people, I was speechless in its presence.
Maybe I'll go back Sunday and try to meet her again...
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EXCUSE ME WHILE I GUSH!! Okay, I've been waiting forever to see Tori live.
Tonight was the night! I got there early with the other groupies and got
to meet her! She signed my limited "Pretty Good Year" and took a picture
with me. Needless to say she is awesome. Since the Greek is an outdoor
venue, we could hear soundcheck. She did a long kind of impromptu thing
with some cool wailing. She then did parts of Yes, Anastasia, Little
Earthquakes, Talula, and Cornflake Girl. The press went in and she did
Marianne. My hopes were pretty high for the show, and Tori was 200%
better than I expected. She topped Unplugged, she topped any of my
bootlegs, she topped my video bootleg of the Orlando '96 show...I was in
awe. Here's what she did, sort of in order.
Beauty Queen/Horses(I wasn't expecting the Leslie to be on the stage,
cool!)\
Silent All These Years
Blood Roses(introduced harpsichord)
Little Amsterdam
Cornflake Girl(Introduced Caton, told about YKTR and writing LE over the
hill in LA)
Muhummad My Friend(told the usual story)
Doughnut Song
Winter(wow!)
Precious Things(awesomeGRRRL, went off on the "wash me clean" stuff)
Not the Red Baron
Space Dog(the guitar adds a lot to it)
Caught A Lite Sneeze
-Had a bug on the keys and didn't want to smush it, talked for
awhile(early on in show)
Talula(awesome)
Me and A Gun(Moron in the back making screeching sounds)
1st encore
Let it Be(!!!)
Marianne
2nd encore
Pretty Good Year(I love it!)
Black Swan(Steve was all set to do Hey Jupiter, but she said this one was
coming)
I thought the lights and everything were amazing. Everything complemented
the songs without taking away from Tori. I probably forgot something...so
somebody correct me. Unfortunately, I had a freakish 40 year Old groupie
sitting next to me who insisted on singing most of the songs in a high
pitched nasaly way off-key voice. Needless to say he was drunk and didn't
pay attention to my suggestions that he SHUT UP! But Tori was just so
amazing that nothing could really spoil it. I'm going on Saturday and
Sunday too! If it's even possible, tonight Tori made me even more of a
fan.
I have to make a comment, that no one seemed to pick up on..during toris sound check on the 28th, she sang bjork's hyperballad..i have it taped from the outside..so you can HARDLy hear it..but we freaked when we realized what she was playing :)
Amos' Ferocious Intensity Rises Above Convention
By SARA SCRIBNER, Special to The Times
Tori Amos believes in faeries, sings about sacrificing boys to the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele and plays a 200-year-old harpsichord. Given all that, you might expect her to sashay onto a stage like an out-of-time wood nymph. But opening a three-night run at the Greek Theatre on Friday, the singer wore casual jeans and T-shirt and greeted the crowd as if she were playing a recital in a friend's living room. And she is much more than a unicorn-embracing anachronism. Her songs carried the urgency of the most timely post-punk. The Methodist minister's daughter from Maryland was embraced by a cult-like following when she released the intensely personal album "Little Earthquakes" in 1992. In concert, she gained notice for her highly sensual, bench-straddling approach to the piano. With 1994's "Under the Pink," she gained the respect of the Alternative Nation, even though she brought classical know-how to Beatles-esque pop. On Friday, it was her unresolved childhood, and not her unusual hybrid of Bach and rock, that generated the raw brutality and transcendental quality of her work. Lyrically, Amos focused on a strange feminism centered on a perpetual struggle to be free from a stringent family. She walked onto the stage to a recording of Aretha Franklin's "Son of a Preacher Man" and told a story about going to church with her family and, disturbed by the "nasally Methodist singing," refused to sing to those "snotty angels." To battle her demons, Amos called on a slew of ferocious, womanly muses for vocal inspiration, from Billie Holiday's sensual clutch to Sinead O'Connor's banshee yowl, from PJ Harvey's bluesy cry to the supernatural drama of Kate Bush. The muses were in effect for "Cornflake Girl"--inspired by a Toni Morrison book on female genital mutilation, though you'd never know it from its veiled lyrics--and "God," both from 1993's "Under the Pink."
In contrast, the music on the current "Boys for Pele" is much denser and more interesting. Amos (playing virtually solo, with occasional support from a guitarist) delivered it with so much strange passion that she crumbled into dissonance, lingered a little too long on pauses and turned her coo into a "grrrr." The discomfort was all part of the act. "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and the slow, bluesy "Little Amsterdam" more closely resembled disturbing operettas than easily digestible pop songs. "Pele" material aside, the highlight of the evening was a gut-wrenching, a cappella version of "Me and a Gun," a chronicle of her real-life rape, re-imagined with Amos in charge. This unconventional artist refused to fit into any of her quick media portrayals. The goofy Wiccan was a centered performer, the writhing vixen didn't offer a single gratuitous gesture. When she is at her best, as she was during this economical show, Amos brings the ferocity of the best blues and rock to her music. The transcendent thrall of Led Zeppelin and the fiery melodiousness of Kurt Cobain's guitar resonated from the keyboards of her Bosendorfer piano and her ancient harpsichord.
The Greek Theatre is tucked away in the hills of Hollywood, among the vast expanse of Griffith Park. Nestled in the trees, an open-air theatre where every seat has a certain intimacy, the Greek is one of LA's best venues. Traffic and parking are minor hassles, especially on Friday evening as we braved rush-hour LA traffic to arrive on time. My friend Kassie, my daughter Sandra, and myself; Kassie's friend David met us inside. Sandra, soon-to-be-six, had already seen Tori once, during the '94 tour. She loves Tori's music, proudly proclaims her favorites as Tori Amos and Peter Gabriel (used to be Tori Amos and Barney... she's moved up a notch), and was eagerly anticipating the show. Thursday, I'd reminded her that the show was the next day. "What?!!" she'd replied. OHMYGOSH. I thought it was going to be when I was BIG." What, like ten? (Some of you may remember: in '94, the day before Tori's birthday and a few days after Sandra's, we bought candles and cupcakes and Sandra ended up going on stage before the encore at San Diego Symphony Hall to hand Tori a cupcake and receive a kiss.) Tonight, Kassie was excited as well, she's a Tori-fan (TM) but this was her first chance for the live experience.
Earlier, I'd stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up some picnic goodies and some wine. Olive bread, dips, cheeses, olives (Kassie is Greek and has a penchant for olives), French merlot. At the check out I spied some picnic baskets behind the counter and asked how much they cost, though I figured they'd be beyond my meager concert budget. Surprise! Thirteen dollars for a fairly large, gingham-lined picnic basket with four plastic plates, cups and utensils. Perfect for our picnic outside the theatre.
Despite LA's mega-traffic we somehow arrived just before the sounds of opening act Willy Porter wafted through the oak trees. We parked and set up for a quick meal at a picnic table near my car but away from the dust of parking concert-goers. Tough to rush in such a setting, but it would be a major sin to arrive late for Tori. Bad enough to miss the opener. Nourished and vin-fortified, we packed our things back in the car and got to our seats with a few songs remaining in Porter's set. Frankly, what with anticipating Tori, getting Sandra settled, and meeting David, I hardly noticed. After a brief intermission, the goddess herself arrived on stage and settled behind her giant Bosendorfer piano.
Amid generous applause and many whoops and hollers (which continued throughout the night, often at inappropriate moments) she launched into a short piano preamble, followed by the repeating, single-note intro to the opening piece from _Boys for Pele_, "Beauty Queen" which in turn led directly into "Horses." Our seats were on the South Terrace, facing the side of the stage, elevated, and back somewhat (though I was fifth in line for the tickets at Tower Records-- ugh!-- but that's another story). I didn't mind so much, but it would've really been better for Sandra if we'd been closer. There's so much more immediacy in close. Anyway, Sandra watched most of the concert through my Nikon binoculars. One problem with being high and to the side, I realized, was how much the audience noise carried up from below; at times it was quite annoying.
She introduced a moving, crowd-pleasing "Silent All These Years," by mentioning that she wrote that and the material from _Little Earthquakes_ just over the hill from the theatre. Before the next song, "Blood Roses," she moved to her 200-year-old, dual-keyboard harpsichord and started talking about how her new little friend (the harpsichord) really likes margaritas. One of Tori's endearing qualities is the dualism inherent in the raw, palpable emotion of her songs, and her natural, irreverent, playfulness. Her frolicsome nature comes out often, as she "grabs" air, imaginary rope, audience attention, what?, during the intro to "Cornflake Girl," a gesture she repeated both nights as Steve Caton strummed his acoustic guitar. Again it appeared as she talked about her "critters," such as the "rather large critter" who was hanging out on her F# key. Of course, this is the side of her that often gets her pegged as a loony, "unicorn embracing anachronism" by the press. Her true fans could care less, it only adds to her mystique.
Guitarist Caton (once a member of Tori's glam-rock misfire _Y KANT TORI READ_) first appeared during a moving, bluesy "Little Amsterdam," adding subtle, dissonant flourishes on electric guitar that only added to the songs intensity. His guitar playing, sparingly utilized by Tori, nicely embellished her essentially solo act. The opening strains of "Cornflake Girl" received enthusiastic applause, no doubt by many of the casual fans in attendance glad to hear something familiar. This rousing rendition (sans the drum track used during '94s "Under the Pink" tour) was followed by a searingly beautiful "Doughnut Song." This track's power had largely escaped me through repeated listens to Boys for Pele, but as performed both nights (especially the second) it was one of the highlights. Alternately tender and wrenching, it was a microcosm of the emotions revealed.
"Winter," with it's beautiful refrain "... all the white horses..." is one of Sandra's-- and dad's-- favorites, so I was pleased she played it Friday. My attitude, in general, and especially with Tori, is to not have expectations or hopes for particular songs. Tori has such a wealth of material, after three albums and dozens of equally-powerful B-sides, that she could play a three or four night stand and not repeat a single song (a la Grateful Dead) should she please (and perhaps someday she will). I will confess, however, that I held a steadfast hope, not to be realized, that she would play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during one of the two nights' performances.
Another favorite is "Precious Things," and though I've heard her perform the song many times it never fails to amaze me. She drew out the song's trademark "grrrrrrrrrrrrlll" to frenzied applause. She attacked the piano. "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and "Talulah" (the latter with the only use of drum track backing the two nights) were both nicely performed, but these were followed by "Me & A Gun." Of course, nearly every time she plays this song (every concert?) she pours herself into it. If one song is performed with emotion, this a cappella masterpiece is. But Friday it seemed beyond, inside each and every one of us, inside our cells. Unfortunately, many clueless (mostly male) spectators fail to get it, I heard a few whoops from the crowd, even, horribly, a guy who yelled "baby" between "I wore a slinky red thing" and "does that mean I should spread." But it made me spellbound, nevertheless, and then she was gone.
Like a sprite she was back for the first encore: "Let it Be." She performed the Lennon/McCartney classic as her own, as she does all her covers, in all there variety. This was followed by "Marianne," one of my favorites from the new album. Sandrinha made her first, soft protestations of "let's go." It was a warm night, and she had a windbreaker; I assured her the concert would soon be over. By the time Tori finished her second encore, "Pretty Good Year" and the luscious rarity "Black Swan," Sandra had fallen asleep on my lap. Last Tori-nugget of the night: just before "Black Swan", and for the first time, people were yelling out favorites for Tori to play, and the red-haired enchantress answered, "oh, they're all out having margaritas. This one's having a margarita too." Southern California, margaritas on the brain.
With a bit of luck...
Willy Porter played until 8:35, amusing the not-too-sparse crowd with an improv song about a woman named laura who went to venus on a mule because she was leaving her boyfriend because he had a penis. it was quite funny. soon enough, the lights were dimmed, and Son of a Preacher Man was blasting. tori walked out, sat down, and did a little piano improv, before starting into this setlist:
Beauty Queen/ HorsesWhat an amazing concert this was! A pretty much respectful and non annoying audience, except for some idiot who screamed as she sang "yes i wore a slinky red thing" during MaaG. I was really happy that she played Winter, because i hadn't yet heard that live. She performed a particularly emotional version of Precious Things, in fact, she got more into it than i'd ever seen her, especially at the end. Let it Be was GREAT (did ANYONE tape this?????), and Black Swan was quite touching, because she appeared to be quite emotional, especially as she saing "did eric call by the way?" wow. amazing concert.
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I saw Tori last night here in San Diego and thought I would share some moments with you. Right before she sang "Frog on My Toe" she told the story of how she wrote the song after drinking Margaritas and finding a piano, then she played a few bars, laughed and said, "No, no, that's not how the song goes." Laughing even harder she said that the story about the margaritas was a lie. She said, "This whole tour I have been telling people this story, and its not true. I made it up. I just thought I would tell all of you the truth, I don't know why." Then she did an endearing little shoulder shrug, threw her hands up in the air, and continued playing.
Another endearing moment is when she "introduced" her harpsicord. An audiance member asked if she had a name and Tori said that she didn't, but that she had just gotten over having fleas, and that she had picked them up in Austin, TX. Tori caller her a "poor little thing" and then said that the instrument was feeling much better now because they had "given her some Margaitas" and that "she had 5 men to look after her". Tori then said that the Mormons had loved that line, 5 men to look after her! and then Tori said " I told them, that's right girls, that's what your future could be like. Think about it!"
I was too busy enjoying the concert to remember any sort of real order to the playlist (sorry!), but here are most of the songs she played:
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I just got back from LA. Saw her from row DD at the Greek, and from row V at the Aladdin. I can now see what happened -- the Vegas crowd was cold as ice, compared to what she was used to. I guess Wayne Newton must have been sold out, so a bunch of clueless people came to the Tori show at the Aladdin and diluted the effect of the _real_ fans. I talked to her tour manager about it -- he called it a "really tough room", and said that he felt bad for the real Tori fans, but "if nobody's cheering, you don't come out and do encores, now do you?"
I found the Vegas experience at the Aladdin show to be very disappointing -- Tori feeds off the energy of the the audience, but there was none to be had. Some worthless motherfuckers next to me kept talking through the show, so I gave them directions to the Liberace Museum and asked them to get lost, which they did, probably out of concern for their personal safety.
One unique thing about concerts in Las Vegas -- unlike a normal city, where the audience goes out of their way to go to Ticketbastard and buy a ticket, in Vegas lots of the tickets are given away to high rollers in the Casino (who might, for instance, be Japanese businessmen or Arabs or whatever), and many other people who are staying in the hotel simply buy a ticket for whatever happens to be playing at the hotel (can't wait to see if the Sex Pistols are going to play Circus Circus). Sometimes they are rather shocked at what the show is about.
In the highly unlikely event that Tori comes back to Las Vegas, I hope that they put her in one of the theatres at UNLV, so we can avoid the casino crowd.
Tori left because she was hurt and upset. It wasn't really the audience being rude, it was just a handful of people in the front row that won tickets in the metallica-beer-chugging-contest or some other ridiculous promotion... People that weren't there to enjoy such a talented musician, but to demonstrate their superior skill of obnoxiousness in public. Truthfully, the show was the best I have EVER seen her perform. Yes, I agree it is sad what Tori has to put up with!
Hi there! Me and my friend flew from Reno to see Tori's show. I was really excited because this was the first time I was able to make one of her concerts. I read what people had to say from the concert and I fully agree with what they said. When she walked off the stage I had a feeling she wouldn't be back but she had sung a lot of songs but it ticks me off to think that those drunken idiots screwed things up. There were people flowing up and down the aisles for beer, it was ridiculous! My boyfriend and I will be seeing her in San Jose and I'm hoping that crowd is more respectful and FANS!...
I have a few quotes from the Vegas show. She began by talking about all the letters she gets from boys and how they all talk about how badly the girls treat them to which she said,"fancy that" and laughed.(She said she wrote Pretty Good Year for all the nerds.)
Someone in the crowd yelled that she looked beautiful and she said thank you. I guess the person said nice pants and she replied,"they're not pants babe it's a jumpsuit!" It struck me pretty funny maybe it's just me!
This is the set list for the Aladdin Theater, Las Vegas, June 24, 1996:
SOUNDCHECK
Sister Janet
Pretty Good Year
FIRST SET
Beauty Queen/Horses
Angie
Blood Roses
Frog on My Toe
Cornflake Girl
Pretty Good Year
Precious Things
Not the Red Baron
Leather
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Me and a Gun
This is as much as I can remember...The order's probably screwed too.
Tori didn't come back out for any encores. If you ask me, it was because
of the dorks in the crowd that were actually screaming "Whoo-hoo!" as
Tori started singing Me and a Gun, and after she ended. Tori looked like
she was in tears. But other than that, it was very cool. At the
beginning, Tori was brushing something off of her harpsichord. Then she
joked that it probably looked really sexual, but sorry...It was just that
someone had spilled something on her earlier. Very cool concert,
although it did end a bit abruptly. Even the security guards were
baffled. They said they were expecting two encores as well...
...I don't think there is any way that it was supposed to end like that. I guess you too shared my embarrassment with those "dorks," ...I like Vegas for the most part but things like this really piss me off. Sometimes people are downright inappropriate, she was singing "Me and a Gun" and people were walking up and down the isles like it was a football game at halftime. And even though there are appropriate times to cheer at a Tori Amos concert, this was definitely not one of those times at least not the types of cheers I heard. I think few people in the crowd understood her music, ...or at least the ones that did were outnumbered.
Beauty Queen
Horses
Angie
Blood Roses
Amsterdam
Cornflake Girl
Doughnut Song
Pretty Good Year
Leather
Frog on my toe
Damage
Preciuos Things (she drooled lots)
not the red baron
CALS
Talula
me and a gun
She left abrubtly..so im told. My friend thinks she was upset with the
crowd..lots of people bought tickets at the door.
My friend also got the set list and tori was to play
Encore 1
Rainbow
China
Encore 2
Spacedog
tear in your hand
Jupiter
But she didnt play those..i wonder why?
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so. i waited for her before the show, around 3:30, hoping to catch her
before the sound check. I didn't have to wait long. A man came and said
not to be disappointed if she didn't come. Then a few minutes later he
talked into his walkie talkie saying there were 3 people (me and two others)
waiting to see her. He told us she would come and sign something, only one
thing, on the way up, but not to detain her because she's on a tight
schedule. When the bus came up, Joel was at the front looking out at us.
He had white lipgloss on and orangey skin. Then I saw Tori walk out of the
bus. She must have said hi or something. I can't remember. I was looking
at her shoes. She had cute light brown clogs on. She was also wearing a
faded black dress and a light blue pinstriped t-shirt tied around at the
front. She had her hair tied back, but she also had a red and green plaid
scrunchie around her wrist that didn't match.
The girl on my left got to talk to her first. Then it was my turn. I
really didn't know what to do. That's when I realized I was nervous. I
just gave her my cornflake girl single and my pen and she asked my name. I
told her and then said I was a little nervous. She said, "a little
nervous?" and giggled a little because it was apparent that i was more than
a little nervous. I told her how to spell my name. And then I said that I
would really really appreciate it if she could play Honey and she looked me
right in the eye, smiled, and said sure. She wrote it down on her hand.
Then I gave her the poem I wrote about what I would do if I could spend a
day with her, maybe if she were 80 (she smiled at that), and she said,
"that's really sweet of you Ursula." Then I asked if we could take a
picture, and we got a picture together. I hope it turns out. i was so
nervous I didn't think about which way to face for the best lighting. Ok.
onto the concert:
Tori had her hair back and was wearing a light, bright purple unitard that
was kind of shiny and a little tight around her stomach. Over that, she had
a dark purple ribbed short sleeve shirt that also reflected light a little
bit. I couldn't see her shoes.
The setlist:
Beauty Queen/Horses
Crucify
Blood Roses
Little Amsterdam
Cornflake Girl
Doughnut Song
Little Earthquakes
Frog on My Toe
Silent All These Years
Precious Things
Not the Red Baron
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Talula
Me and A Gun
Marianne
A Case of You
Pretty Good Year
Honey (!!!)
Purple Rain
As she sat down to the harpsichord to start Blood Roses, she said that she
had a really good day today and that she loved this town. Someone from the
audience shouted, "move here" and she said she was thinking about it but she
wasn't sure. Then she said, "my nose is red. everything is red but my ass
and I love it" and began to play.
She told the margarita story before Frog On My Toe. She played a neat
little thing before Doughnut Song when she was telling how the song came in
Ireland that went, "She's a torturer" because she was saying how she worked
her crew and then woke them up in the middle of the night because she wasn't
done yet.
Before Silent All These Years, she said something like (sorry, i can't
remember word for word), "i hope the girl out there gets this, wherever she
is", as if she felt a girl in the audience who really needed the song.
When she introduced Caton before Cornflake Girl, she said they were in YKTR
together and someone shouted out, "I have the CD" and she said, "yeah?
where were you in 1988?" and then said, "Caton's gonna play now" and he
played while she did her little dance to begin Cornflake Girl. She started
to sing the "she's gone to the other side with my encyclopedia" verse twice
and then sang another little verse that said she didn't know what she was
doing because she already sang this verse and right after that the "this is
not really happening. you bet your life it is" part came in and it was very
funny.
Precious Things was awesome, not just because of the Grrrrll (which i am not
even trying to type out with accuracy, btw), but because at the end, she
went off. She was just screaming out "wash me clean" for a really long
time. That's when I cried. It really surprised me, because i had expected
to cry for something else, like MaaG or Doughnut Song. But it was then. It
was like she was begging to herself to be washed clean and the precious
things were really doing it. I could feel all the energy there in the
purple lights just raining down on her as she was washing herself and I so
much wanted to be washed too. It became my own plead. My heart was
screaming as loud as her voice was to be washed clean. I wanted her to stop
because I was crying and I really didn't want to be. But she went on and I
decided I would just accept it and experience it and It was so magical and
wonderful that all she would have to play would be that song and nothing
else and I would be ok.
So, the Grrrllll was much longer than I expected. I mean, everyone has been
saying that it's long, but I thought they were exaggerating. She started
doing it and it lasted for a long time even before she reached for her legs.
So now I do believe you all who say the Grrrlll is amazing.
In the middle of Frog on My Toe, she sang "yes i'm sure" over and over
really loud and sat there on one note forever. Whenever she did something
that I knew was going to last a long time, it would last longer than I expected.
When she was doing the percussion in CALS on her piano, it was like she was
affectionately patting her piano, like they were dancing together.
Before Honey, she said, "this is my favorite song on Under the Pink, only
she didn't make it on Under the Pink because... I'm an idiot"
Everyone was quiet during Me and A Gun, but a few people were walking around
at the beginning. In the middle, someone was talking loudly for a brief
moment. For the first time, i could picture the experience because of the
way she sang it. Toward the middle, where her voice started fading and it
looked like she was just trying to get through it, I started feeling pissed
off. Tori looked helpless, as if it was happening to her right then. And
the only thing she could do to stay sane was sing the song.
Before Marianne she said how her mom came in and told her Marianne killed
herself and she said, "fuck you mom" and she also said Marianne was like an
angel and "Angels don't kill themselves", then began to play.
Some thoughts on last night's show in Santa Barbara. I'm afraid I didn't make a set list but I'll try to mention as many songs as I can remember. I'm actually not a regular reader of this group but I rely on other people to do this sort of thing for r.m.dylan so I thought I'd do my bit.
I haven't seen Tori since her 1992 (?) show in Santa Barbara (at a club called the Anaconda, although it has now changed names). Last night's show was in the ~4000 seat county bowl, which wasn't sold out (as of Sunday afternoon) but by showtime it looked pretty full.
If you are going to a show, I'd reccomend getting there in time to catch the current opening act - Willie Porter. Went down very well in SB, especially his Jackson five cover.
OK, on to Tori. In my opinion the standout songs were:
Other songs included:
Comparison with 1992 ? Well, then there were maybe 400 in the audience, a small club, very intense vocals. She played virtually the entire Little Earthquakes album plus a few covers. None of the versions differed much from the album except in certain vocal stresses
1996 ? A pretty good translation to a larger setting if you ask me. A good light/ visual show that contributed well to the songs. Arrangements much more complex and she still managed to achieve an impressive degree of intimacy for the size of the venue. (I didn't know I could make it until many weeks after the tickets were on sale so our seats were about 3/4 of the way back. This is not a set of comments by someone sat in the front row!).
Most of the comments Tori made to the audience sounded like standard introductions (eg. the Teqiula comments before Frog on my toe) but she did say she had spent the day in Santa Barbara and had had a great time. She didn't specify what she had been doing but said she was red all over except for her ass. (It was a pretty warm day - sample local radio weather report ' It's warm and sunny downtown, hey it's Southern California, what did you expect?').
Although I'm a huge Dylan fan for some time Tori's 1992 show was my favourite concert of all time, I guess due to the small club atmosphere and incredible songs and vocals. Somewhat surprisingly this award changed hands in the following year due to an amazing performance by Leonard Cohen at London's Albert Hall. Tori didn't win back the accolade last night but it was still a good show.
Just got back from the Santa Barbara show (June 23). I GOT THE
SETLIST! AND I GOT TO TALK TO TORI!! YAAAY! This is a cool story, so
read it!
Okay, I was gonna try to write down the songs she played...I
thought they'd be close to what the setlist has, but it's nowhere near
close. There were others who went to the show who'll tell you what she
played. Anyway, the setlist was supposed to be:
(* was not played)
Beauty Queen/Horses
Icicle*
Blood Roses
Amsterdam
Cornflake Girl
Doughnut Song
Little Earthquakes
Upside Down*
Silent All These Years
Precious Things
Not the Red Baron
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Talula
Me and a Gun
*encore 1*
Black Swan*
Putting the Damage On*
*encore 2*
Pretty Good Year
Honey
Hey Jupiter*
She DID, however play:
Marianne
A Case of You
Purple Rain
Frog On My Toe
And I think that's it.
The concert was FANTASTIC! Tori's voice just keeps getting
better and better!! She WENT OFF on several songs (including Frog On My
Toe), and other than the annoying girls in front of me talking, and the
annoying girl behind me who kept kicking my chair (i told her to fucking
knock it off...) I was utterly enthralled. I cried...a lot. Silent All
These Years got me started, and I went downhill from there.
We were close to the soundboard, so afterwards I asked the
soundguy for the list and he gave it to me!
And then we waited in front of this barricade for tori for like
an hour. There must have been about 100 people there, and they weren't
sure if she should come out and talk. She talked to all of us, but
talked to me the longest.
I asked her to do a cover of Here Comes The Rain Again, and told
her that her music has really helped me through a lot of the things I was
dealing with throughout the years. Each album holds memories of emotions
I went through in the time period, and boy was it amazing how those songs
can still affect me. I told her that her music aided me in 'coming out,'
to deal with the self-loathing and disgust I felt for myself for the
thoughts that I'd been feeling. It's very difficult for a gay man to
find oneself when everyone seems to be telling you that it's just wrong
to feel that way.
Anyway, I told her that. She gave me the biggest grin and she
said, 'Good for you.' She then gave me a hug, and held my arm. I
couldn't stop smiling. She wanted me to meet with her again, and I told
her I'd be at the concert on Friday in LA.
It was incredible. I don't even remember everything tori and I
talked about. But I'm sure Janell (who was with us and we both cried
together and enjoyed the evening....with her friend Remy, who I'm not
sure if she's on this list or not...)
This is a review that a guy on AOL sent me. i happen to think that it's very good but Dan, that's his name, wants to know what others think. so, send your objective "reviews" of dan's review to (sncreducr@aol.com)
By DANIEL M. JIMENEZ
NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
"Originally printed in the Santa Barbara News-Press. Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED."
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I figure it is about time to record the review for Salt Lake City on the Dew Drop Inn. It was over two years ago but I remember what she said and that sort of thing.
It started months earlier as my friend and I waited for ten hours in the snow for the ticket booth to open. It was the first time I had met other people who really like Tori. Most of them were nice, but there were also a few that were like "How long have you like Tori?" "You're not a real fan unless you know her real name?" "How many CD's do you have?" They were very demanding and rude, but again some were very nice and shared blankets and coats and that sort of thing. Some people made a video of our night, which they were going to give to Tori, but I later heard that they didn't.
Anyway, at the concert I sat by this girl who would get really confused when Tori didn't play something off of BFP. She would make comments to the affect of Tori doesn't have more than one album, where are these songs coming from? They must be new?
But the concert of course was amazing. It was the first time I saw Tori live, although I she had been my favorite for years, so it was quite moving.
You have the set list, so here are some things she said. These are not exact quotes, but she said something to the affect of her Piano being a real women, because she needed five men to carry her, and she also explained Marianne. I think I also vaguely remember her making a comment about mormons, but it is vague. I do know that after that concert, one girl promised never to listen to Tori again because of her Christian views.
Towards the end she motioned a girl up to the stage and as she came on it security ran up to her to pull her off. (Joel and Steve?) But Tori explained she wanted her and the girl came up and sat with Tori and held her music that she was using. What a very lucky girl.
I regretfully wasn't at the second show, but I know that when people were asking for her to sing Happy Birthday, it was really Honey they were asking for. Tori just heard wrong.
At the end of the show some kid came up to me and said if I waited outside I would get to meet Tori, I didn't really believe him, but wanted to stay. My dad (I was a month away from being sixteen.) wouldn't stay, but I didn't really care, because no matter how wonderful I thought Tori was no one would meet their fans....stupid stupid stupid. I kick myself to this day...
Ummm.. Where should I start? Ok. so last night, at the Salt Lake show, we left home and hit the freeway at about 12:30 and played around in the city... but that's no important and I'm losing track. A couple of friends and I went searching around Abravenel Hall around 3:30 for the back door and a shiny black limo pulled up. "OHMAGOD it's Tori!" and the driver played around with us for a while, telling us that it wasn't her and not to get our hopes up, but the "Old rich persons" convention had just ended at the Salt Palace convention Center next door and guess what? An old rich guy stepped into the limo. So it started raining these HUGE raindrops, like the huge elephant in heaven was REALLY crying this time, but it was sunny outside, and you just felt like they were cleaning the earth before Tori showed up.
Not 15 minutes later, a big huge tan guy told us that if we wanted to meet Tori, we had to stand against the wall. "She;ll only sign one thing, but she'll meet you all so stand against the wall and don't crowd." Ummm. Okay. Fair trade. So then this limo pulls up, and there's about 15 people in this little alley, and the world has justbeen cleaned and the door on the other side of us opens up and I could recognize everyone that stepped out. It was weird. "Wow, that's John Witherspoon, and there's Agent Orange." (who is VERY orange by the way) And then the door in front of us opened and it was like the limo shots you see in the movies. you know... Where you see the shot of the elegant leg putting it's foot on the ground and then the person steps out and the shot moves up to their face? Well, you could see Tori's little foot in Berkenstock clogs, and then her teeny white legs step out of the limo and then her face. Her little elfin face! She was wearing this cute little grey shirt with a grey angora sweater and she just has this bright smile on her face. Well, none of us had brought a camera becuase we thought they wouldn't let us take pictures, and wedidn't bring anything to sign because we didn't want to be like, "Oh can I have your autograph? Can I have your autograph?!!!"....So the moral of this story is: kids, bring a camera.
Anyway, she came up and greeted us all, commented on our necklaces and my friend's shirt. "what does it say?" "Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of all reason. Legalize it." "Oh, you should be on our margarita bus.", asked for all our names and signed our 2nd row center ticket stubs. We gave her some wildflowers but unfortunately she has alergies, and a tape that we had made just to give a little something back to her for all that she's given to us. I don't remember what was on there:s some Murmurs, some Beatles, Both Sides Now by Jone, and Something I Can Never Have. Anyway, she thanked us and hugged us all, and my arms started to tingle as we hugged and I wanted to latch on forever becuase she's just so gorgeous and cute and you want to put her in a box, but then Orange asked us to leave.
I was floating. still am. Here's my little review of both concerts:
7:00
I was expecting Willy Porter to open up, but I heard Son of a Preacher Man and went insane. Time to hit record. :) The curtain was pulled, Tori came out and there was a web of lights behind her and the harpsicord. whe was only 20 feet away, but now that she was up on stage she looked older, and darker, but still Tori.
Encore 1
Encore 2
What a great show. I was definately in overload. All I could do was just sit there with my mouth open and watch the spit fly out of both of our mouths. I know I'm running EXTREMELY long on this, but let me hurry and give you brief setlist of the 2nd show.
10:00
"Spit on me Tori!" as she took a sip of water. "I'm not going to spit on you, Honey." But then she walked over to the guy that yelled it, poured water in her hands and rubbed it all over his face. "Wow. these Utah boys get pretty hot." after this she turned to the harpsicord and the person next to me shouted, "Give me a Love Song, Tori" and she said, "I feel it coming." Then another person shouted for Happy Birthday, so she went into a deep and dark place where you wouldn't expect to find Happy Birthday, but she found it playing there, and I hope this made the person who shouted it out cringe because it made me almost shit. "Happy birthday to.... YOUUUUUUU, YYYOOUUUUU, YOOOOUUUUU" and you could see the drool coming out of her mouth and you could hear the sadness and anger in her voice. Then she tied it into Love Song and it was absolutely beautiful.
Encore 1
Encore 2
Well, here is the setlist for the late 6/21/96 show in Salt Lake City. I am sure I will not have the order totally correct, and may even miss a song or something. Ooops... Well, anyway, enough of my jibberish. Here it is:
Encore One:
Encore Two:
I am doing this off the top of my head, a few hours after the show, so please correct me in any areas where I'm wrong. Thanks...
I think that the highlights of the show for me would have to be: Cornflake Girl, Talula, and especially Winter! Another great moment was in the middle of "Hey Jupiter" when Tori forgot the words to the song! It was really funny because she just kinda said she forgot the lyrics to the crowd. It was quite amusing. Also, it was nice when she dumped water on some guys up front.
I was very surprised that she did not play "Caught A Lite Sneeze". That kinda seemed weird, especially since she has played that at like every other show she's done on this tour.
Overall, I was very impressed with the show. It was great to see Tori again after a few years. The person I took to the show was not a big Tori fan before, but was converted over the two hours that we were there.
Oh, one more comment, we did not have an opening act... Tori just popped out on stage to "Son of a Preacher Man". I found it quite interesting. I wonder if there was an opening act at the earlier show.
I thought I would send in some information on the June 21st Tori show at
Salt Lake. She did two shows and I only went to the first one (I know, I
slapped myself later) Anyway here is what she played for the first show
(After this I'm not sure the exact order of the songs, but this is my best guess)
(the encores I'm positive on the order)
Encore 1
Encore 2
Here are some of the things she said at the show
(speaking of her harpsichord)
"It takes five men to take care of her"
"This is my new friend"
(speaking before Marianne)
"You know and sometimes I think this fork would look good in her neck"
"...But Marrianne was a Catholic (crowd goes 'oooooo booooo') and I think
they drove her out of her fucking mind"
(and now the big story about Purple Rain)
half way though the song she stops and sings on a single note, "You. You
right there and only you. Just you come up here." And slowly a girl in
the front row begins to rise and gets up on the stage and security runs
out and grabs her and Tori yells "NO! NO! JOe!!! I told her to." and Joe,
the security guy lets her go, then Tori explains that her mike stand is
falling and that the girl is going to hold her mike. Crowd goes wild for
this.
I hope this isn't really disorganized. Sorry, that's just the way my mind works. Anyway, I guess I should say that this was myh first Tori concert. And she is just so fabulous live. She started with Beauty Queen/Horses. A really slow brooding version of it. Another thing I liked about Tori live is the added lyrics in a lot of her songs. She did a really great extended version of Precious Things as well as others and the dark, live version of Caught a Lite Sneeze was just incredible. And Tori conversed a lot with the crowd, One person next to me yelled out for her to do something from Y Kant Tori Read, specifically The Big Picture. She said we'd see how the night went. We were also treated to a rare (this tour) performance of Cornflake Girl, the crowd was crazy for it. During the intro to that song she did some bizarre dance, hard to explain, but the crowd ate it up. And During Me and a Gun it was so silent you could here a pin drop. Purple Rain left me with a joyful sadness, it's hard to explain.
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so we left town at about 6:45 or so, and listened to prince (elusis finally heard pussy control, and i think she liked it) and yktr (ohmygod it was so... oh my goodness. it was hilarious. i couldn't stop laughing. cool on y0our island was actually okay, but heart attack at 23... oh dear. oh dearie me.) on the way down.
willy porter was wearing a recovering christian shirt, which rocked, and was in fine form tonight. he asked the audience if they wanted to compose a song with him, and someone in the front row said they wanted to sing about boats. he said "okay, how about boats, and courtney love." and just started playing, making it up as he went along. sample lyrics: (at this point, theyre on a boat in the ocean)
we were accosted by oceanographersit ended with the line "courtney, you're boring." it was quite funny, and very well done for making it up on the spot. then he tuned the guitar for a bit, and couldn't quite get it right, and said "oh well, it's good enough for self-righteous folk music." ;) and then tori...
i got chills through the entire song, it was utterly gorgeous. almost as much fun was watching the couple next to me (who were seriously trying to win "most obnoxious couple of the year", or something) react as they figured out what she was talking about. the "getting off, getting off" line really kind of shocked them. i loved it.
sitting right up front (thanks, elusis!), i could totally see her face, and it was fascinating how Angry she looked. i got chills again. the "sometimes, you're nothing but meat, girl" line was done with such.. venom that it was almost scary
hurrah! it was great, and i almost figured out some of the words to the middle section (although elusis claims they're the lyrics that are printed). she did a long bit of "go away world, you're only glass" in the mid section, and then a long run of "run away, run away.." it was marvelous.
i cried. ow. this song... yeah.
she was really into this one with caton, they kept looking at each other and going off a bit, and he was doing the Coolest guitar noises. it annoyed me when people cheered after the "pissing in the river" line... ooh, she said Piss. let's cheer.
oh yeah. it was gorgeous.
after the last verse was over, she got kind of jazzy-ish, and started singing about "it's almost time to se bobby mcgee and marianne." very well done.
during the grrrrl, she kind of clawed up her thighs, hung out around her crotch for a bit, and ended up with her hands around her shoulders. also, when she finished, i saw the most Massive string of drool Ever. it was amazing.
crycrycrycry
seeing it from that close was even more heartbreaking than usual.
--------
the line about "did eric call, by the way" in that plaintif little voice she used, both made me angry and sad. i cried, elusis cried, we all cried a little bit.
sniffle sniffle
-------
this Rocked. Rocked, i tell you. caton got a solo in the middle, she was almost dancing off the bench the whole time, she was having So Much Fun, you could tell. almost marred by the lame-asses who thought they should clap along (and couldn't really find the tempo), but seeing her and caton jam for a long mid-section was so amazing. it Rocked.
wow. yeah. ouch. cried.
on the harmonium. amazing. i cried a Ton. it was gorgeous, and she did the vocals like prince, and it looked like she almost started crying near the end when the shrieky bit comes. it sounded amazingly like hey jupiter. it was truly amazing.
all in all, definitely the best of the three shows i went to.
I went to the second and I thought that it was GRRRRRRREAT!! It was the first time that I saw Tori live and I really don't think that I blinked the entire time! She did a lot of stuff of of "Little Earthquakes," with the exceptions of Crucify and Silent All These Years... the latter which was sorely missed by me because I had never seen her perform it live. The percussion work with the Bosendorfer during "CALS" was really interesting.
I also thought that the lighting was pretty amazing. One question... are there stops or something on her piano? I'm not very familiar with Bosendorfers and I wasn't at an angle where I could really see it. All I could tell was that she kept hitting her piano. Now to get really anal. I have seen that several people on the newsgroup complaining about the crowds. I thought the crowd was great, but there was this couple in front of me and I think that all of the passion that Mighty Tori was giving off was really affecting them too much. These people were like actually trying to have sex throughout the whole concert.
They actually made out during "Me and A Gun" very distasteful. So if you were sitting in row N seats 7 and 6 during the second Tori concert GROW UP!!!!!!!
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Well, like all the other's who have just been to their first Tori Amos concert, I am simply flabergasted. Although I had to get the tix from a scalper, and drive 9 hours to get there (Albuquerque, NM to Denver, CO), I consider the entire experience well, well, well, worth it.
The Paramount Theatre in downtown Denver is apparently very-old, but redone for acustics, so the sound quality was fault-less. There are only about 2,000 seats there so basically everyone was a good one. I sat in the front of the lodge level, and still had a great view of Tori.
Willy Porter came out, and played about 5 songs. He really is as funny as everyone says (Jesus on the Grill, Michael Jackson impersonation), and I really enjoyed his guitar playing. He has real talent.)
After Willy was done we sat for about 45 minutes watching stage-crew scurry around the pianos, and to our amusement one man was polishing every key on both the Bosey, the pump-organ (covered and too the side) and the Harparscord. Then the lights flicked off, there was a collective intake of breath, and Son of a Preacher Man started. Then you could see a shadow, and then there she was! Doing her little two-handed wave all the way, she made her way to the piano and started Beauty Queen/Horses. (See my setlist at the end).
Anyways, watching that girl perform really takes a lot out of you. Her entire show is so filled with emotion, you can't just "watch" her. It's like driving on a racetrack with Tori at the wheel, and she's going really fast.
The lighting and projection was so complementary to her songs, it made the entire thing so much more intense. When the green lights were slowly sweeping the crowd during "Somewhere over the Rainbow," it made you feel like you were actually flying into a rainbow and drifting along with her. During "Hey Jupiter," an intense orange light directly behind Tori slowly became almost blinding. It seemed to suck you right into her head, as she looked to be floating in this intense orange "plane".
Okay, the set-list and some Tori quotes. This was all done from memory the next day, and I know I don't have the order right, and I believe I forgot at least one song, but I know someone will make available a corrected version:
- Tori Enters (two-handed wave. It was like a dream "I can't believe I'm really here!)
- Beauty Queen/Horses (Lots of emotion, even though she is just warming up. After this song she made a quick request of the sound guys "Could you open up the upper? Yeah!" She waved to us and smiled and everyone giggled. She's so damn cute! Then Tori said hello, and talked about how she was glad to be in Denver and such.)
- Yes, Anastasia (She just launched into this one it was amazing to hear this live. She adds so much more personality to the songs, holding out certain words, changing key and such. She got up from her stool and started thrusting her hips into the air and really belting parts of this song out.)
- Little Earthquakes?? (Can't remember which song, but before Tori talked about how in the audience tonight there was a woman, who 10 years ago Tori had sat through an Earthquake with, but then they lost touch. She said she was really happy tonight because this woman was here. 'I didn't have to find her, because she found me!!'
- I Will Always Love You (This was a cover of a song, and I can't even remember who orginally did it. Tori talked about how much she likes to drive fast, but she never got a speeding ticket. She said that whenever she got through a speed-trap and didn't get caught she would play this song really loud on the radio.)
- Little Amsterdam (Caton comes out. This song is also extreamly intense live. With the red lights, and the flames on the triangle-screen you are just sucked in to the song and story of the south. After this she introduced Caton 'He worked on all my records with me, and was in my band Y Kant Tori Read [screams in audience]. She told a story of how back during Y Kant Tori Read when she was in her "Retail Slut Gear" outfit she met this woman (I don't know if it was the same woman she refered to regarding the Earthquake), who was a really good dancer, "she could work that bad boy all the way down the stage." She and this woman had an deal where Tori would teach her to sing, while the girl taught Tori to really dance. Caton launched into some Cornflake Girl chords, and Tori then did her "gather energy dance" which was really fun to watch, you could tell she was enjoying it. )
- Cornflake Girl (Right after the first melody, Tori apparently lost her breath. While holding the beat with her foot, and on the piano, she chanted "Hold on Caton, I need to catch my breath. I'm not used to this altitute...[my note: Denver as the Mile High City]...I should have worn hiking boots...okay I almost got it." and then she continued. The entire thing was so 'real', it really brought a lot of life to the show. I think this was when I actually woke up to the fact that I was _really_ seeing Tori _LIVE!_ )
- Blood Roses (On the Harpsacord. Wonderfull and with Tori's voice very loud and powerful against the Harpsacord. Great.)
- Caught a Lite Sneeze (I watched Tori through my binoculars through all of this song. The range of emotion on her face is so dynamic. It makes you smile when you can tell how much fun she's having, and makes you feel "down" when she's "down." She did the percussion on the piano, and although it wasn't very loud, it added a lot. She also "held the note" between microphones when switching back to the Harpsacord, which was very cool. It was almost a growl."
- Precious Things (All through this song you could tell everyone was waiting for the GIRRRRRRRLLLL. And we got it. She sang real slow and chanty "With. their. nine. inch. nails. and. facist. panties. stuck. inside. the. heart. of. every. nice. GIRRRRRRRRRLLL. I would say the GIRRRRRLLL was about 10 seconds long, with Tori starting at her calves and "scratching" up to her inner thighs, then up to her chest during the whole thing.
- Frog on my Toe (She told a story about how she likes a Margarita every-once-and-awhile "1800, single shot" I think she said. And talked about how one night, she found a piano right after drinking one, and wrote this song, so "don't blame me if it doesn't make any sense." Very good live. Good audience response.)
- Not the Red Barron (Very emotional. As the other reviews have said, this is wonderful live [arn't they all?])
- Me and a Gun (The crowd was TOTALLY SILENT during this. Except for a wistle in the beginning and a wistle from some asshole during "does that mean I should spread.")
- Leather??? (Before this song Tori Told a Story about how while she was in Ireland she had a bunch of guys who were in charge of moving the piano's around. She said they were all bored and always drinking Guiness(sp?) Beer. Apparently the on-stange sound guy (the monitor?) reacted to this, and she had a short conservation with him, where they talked about the "White Lady" (a bar?) apparently all the piano guys were at this bar and she called them back and made them come to the studio because "somtimes girls. your. just. not. finished." She then jumped into this song)
--- Encores ---
- Pretty Good Year (The only request that was shouted out during the main set was Pretty Good Year, and she played it now. Wonderful.)
- China (This song made me really sad when I heard it live...)
- Somewhere Over The Rainbow (I didn't even know what this was untill she got to the chorus, the way Tori sings this song is so /different/ it becomes something like a love song, or a song about a dead loved one, very, very beautiful, one of my favorites.)
- Cool on Your Island (YESSS!!!! I love this song, and with the "90's Tori" singing it, it becomes so much more powerful and real. Caton just sat there during this song, I guess he wasn't expecting it. Tori swilved over to the pump-organ, and started playing something, and I guess we all expected Hey, Jupiter, when this came out. I was thrilled!)
- Hey Jupiter (I like this song more, after hearing it live.)
Like I said, they arn't in order, and but most of the concert is there. The audience was pretty well behaved, lots of screams at the start of songs, and screams when Tori did something "REALLY COOL." Of course there were the jerks behind me. Listen people, just because you've seen this tour 95 times already doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the "virgins" like me by comparing everything during the show.
I loved it. Tori is wonderful. The concert was wonderful. I wish I had been able to see the second night. :-)
...last night was one of the Denver shows and I was there!! It was absolutely beautiful and intense! I thought watching her perform live on tv was wonderful but live in person is...well, really breath-taking.
She was talkative and seemed very lively and energetic. She had said that an old friend of hers was there who she hadn't seen in years and they were in an earthquake together. She said a lot of real cute little comments that made me laugh and smile. She seemed very sweet and personable, even onstage, which seems like it might be hard to do. Paramount Theatre is a very suitable environment and set a neat mood for the show. Very artistic and had mystique.
The lights were amazing. They were very complimentary to the songs and the theatre. It was fantastic! :)
btw, willy porter was very good, to say the least! He was superb and very entertaining and talented!
Here is the setlist:
*Encore 1*
*Encore 2*
I enjoyed the improvisations that she did during Doughnut Hole and Red Baron. Cool on Your Island was great!! Somewhere Over the Rainbow was very touching and heartfelt.
During Cornflake Girl, she ran out of breath but continued after gasping, "Boy, it is high altitude up here!" It was so cute! I could say much more, but I'm kind of tired from swimming and diving off cliffs. Anyway, this concert was excellent!!
willy porter was pretty good, he was all enthusiastic and apologized a couple of times for doing silly things, and he played this Awesome instrumental that was just amazing. wow. and then tori came on and everything got hazy. ;)
i love beauty queen live. the way she kind of flops over with each single note she plays before she starts singing. i also like the improv she plays right before, where she really bangs on the low end of the piano and thrashes around and throws her head back-you really know what you're going to be in for. during horses, the bit about "always superfly, sniffing a sharpie pen..", she kind of stood up off the piano bench and was dancing around a little bit.
i've never really listened to this song very much on the album, but it's now one of my favorites. it was gorgeous. i loved it. wow.
on the harpsicord, of course. gorgeous. she puts on headphones when she goes over to the harpsicord, why?
with caton. in the mid-section "father only you can save my soul, but playing that organ must count for something," she did an improv kind of thing that was similar to what she did with the song when she was in chicago. she stops playing the piano for "father only...soul", which she just Sings, mama, and then goes back to the piano and does a series of "yes, said, yes, said" which get progressively more pointed and sharp, before she says "playing that...something." i like both versions.
she told a little story first about how she had this friend, an old friend, that was in the audience tonight, and how she and this friend had hung out in hollywood in a shack and she's given the friend singing lessons, and the friend, who was a dancer, had given tori dancing lessons. saying "i know there's something under that voice, girl, Wake it Up!" and then she did the dance before cornflake girl (pulling things? i dunno, but it was fun to watch).
then, about w\halfway through the song, before the verse about "encyclopedia, putting on her string bean.." (sorry, don't have lyrics here and it's hard to remember while listening to other music), she slowed down on the piano, turned to the audience and said "wow, we're at high altitude, aren't we? hold on a second caton, i'll get this one.. i forgot i needed my hiking boots on up here" and then launched back in. it was cool.
she told the story about how all her crew were down at the pub the white lady with "h\guiness' in their hands" and then she played a "i'm a happy person with a guiness in my hand" song for about 30 seconds, then said how she called them all back and made them record this last song for the album. it was, of course, heartbreakingly beautiful.
wow. wow. wow. the "give me..." section was overwhelming, and the vocal section where she goes "eeeeeeeeee-yeah" and the eeee's go up and down, this is hard to explain, well anyway, that part was great too. that woman has a voice.
it was a sad song, though, and i cried again.
she told a story about how one night she had too many margaritas and stumbled to a piano and this came out. why can't i do things like that when i'm drunk? all i do is fall over and laugh too much and do silly dances. argh.
she told a story about how her driving skills weren't that popular, but she liked to drive fast. she said she's never gotten a ticket, and whenever she saw a speed trap, she'd just pop this tape in and she'd never get caught.
she played this on the harpiscord, and it was wonderful. indescribable. elusis said she played a little of kate bush's "running up that hill" during the middle, but i was too awed to notice.
a really long grrrl where she turned to the audience and did this claw-like things with her hands and it just went on forEver. afterwards, she said "i'm sorry" and smiled, like she'd gotten to into it or something. ;)
i still don't like this song.
whee! it was great. i love the piano sections in this, and she played them marvelously.
i love this song live. in the "the fire was hot and my cells can't feed" line, she drew out "feeeeeed" for about three bars, and it was gorgeous. i love the part where she percusses on the piano, as it just looks like she's having so much fun. and X can say what he will, i'm still impressed at her switch from piano to harpsicord while singing "zoooone"
um.. it was wonderful and i cried and the line "it's your choice babe, just remember i don't think you'll be back in three days time so you choose well" always makes me think about how close i came to falling over that edge and how glad i am i made it through and all that stuff. emotional song, to say the least.
1st encore:
i Love this song when she does it- id' never really realized before how sad of a song it was, and now it just seems so haunting... wow.
um.. i cried a lot during this one. distance between us and all that. ouch.
2nd encore:
this is also becoming one of my favorite songs, but one of the most moving as well. and the "hey, what's it going to take, till my baby's alright what's it going to take" is just so powerful and Wow.
i'd never heard it before (she played it on the harmonium), but i really liked it.
i cried a lot during this one too.
and then it was over and we all stumbled back to our cars and went home to sleep.
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The Houston concert was really good. Tori started with beauty queen and horses then played losing my religion. when that song was over she said "I would like to introduce you to my new freind, She (the harpsichord) has fleas. No, really. I think she got them when we were in Austin." and then something about not wanting them to be from houston. she played bells for her on the harpsichord, and then went back to the piano for landslide by smashing pumpkins. i can't remember the order but she also played prescous things, talula, and everybody elses girl.(Note from Mikewhy: Girl from Little Earthquakes was NOT played at this show.) When she introduced Caton she said how he was in Y Kant Tori Read and then said how everyone on the internet already knew him. she then proceeded to say "The people on the Internet know more about what I am doing than I do, Like they will say that I am going to be in this mall on this day, and sure enough I am there."
She and Caton then played cornflake girl, not the red baron, and caught a lite sneeze. I cant remember all the other songs in order but she did talk to us again. she said (I can't remember the exact words on this one) "I get a lot of letters from boys who have trouble's with girls, and alot of them draw pictures of themselves. There not proud they're usually standing there (stands with her hands crossed and looks innocent) looking well like nerds" and then played pretty good year. she ended the show with a very powerful me and a gun. she came back out for the encore and played two songs which I can't remember right now. and for the second encore she played Happy Phantom. near the end of this song when it goes "and if I die today" over and over she sang "and I say it again" three times then played the ending. She finished by bringing out the harmonium and playing Hey Jupiter. I don't think she was planning to bring out the harmonium cause she stood there and walked between the piano and the harpsicord for a little while before telling the stagehands to get the harmonium.
5:59 PM 6/18/1996
Amos achieves a spiritual edge
By HEATHER McCABE
Copyright 1996 Houston Chronicle
Standing in silver strapped heels dressed down with jeans, a white T-shirt and halter-top vest, Tori Amos introduced a new friend and announced her predicament.
"Here's my new little friend. She has fleas. I can't believe it, but she truly has fleas," Amos said during the first of two sold-out shows Monday night at Cullen Auditorium at the University of Houston.
It probably wasn't exactly what the carrot-topped Amos had in mind when she brought her harpsichord on her Boys for Pele tour. But it's a fitting introduction to summer in Texas.
Amos wove the new instrument into her latest album, a meditation on the power men hold over her life. Before she recorded Boys for Pele, Amos' six-year relationship with former producer Eric Rosse dissolved. Many of these songs are about throwing off the shackles of men, metaphorically offering them to the volcano goddess, Pele.
The 32-year-old singer previously relied solely on her B–sendorfer piano to transmit her quirky and sometimes menacing emotions to adoring fans. Amos was raised on a piano bench, composing music by age 3. She left her North Carolina home for the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore at 5 but was expelled six years later after writing a pop medley for a graduation exam instead of the required composition.
She returned to the piano after a brief stint with Y Kant Tori Read?, her failed effort to create a hard-rock sensation in Los Angeles. After recording Little Earthquakes in 1992, Amos was cast as a new player in the world of young female artists but stood out with her breathy voice, musicianship and stark individualism. Under the Pink bolstered her career in 1994 with such well-known tracks as Cornflake Girl and God.
Aside from annoying pests, Amos' harpsichord has brought a new feeling to her music and her tour. The short, melodic tones of the stringed instrument blend with her high-pitched utterings to produce an almost spiritual sound.
This was most obvious Monday night when Amos performed Caught a Lite Sneeze, the first single off her new album. Amos, who sat between the two instruments for the length of the show, began the song on the harpsichord, then deftly switched to the piano. A few verses later she switched again, this time carrying the note from the microphone mounted on the piano to the one on the harpsichord. The sound of her voice resonating from one instrument to the other had a churchlike effect.
Amos shined on Talula, another harpsichord piece from her new album with an industrial beat. She also sang Me and a Gun a cappella. The intimate lyrics recounting her rape by an acquaintance left a chilling hush over the crowd.
Though her songs can be personal, most of Amos' lyrics seem incomprehensible. That hasn't stopped droves of mostly young women from memorizing her words and flocking to her concerts.
One downside of the performance came when Amos appeared to rely on pre-recorded backup vocals to accompany her and Steve Caton on guitar. Competent live artists shouldn't have to fall back on recordings to reproduce a studio sound.
Although this performance wasn't as dramatic as ones of the past, it elicited screams and shouts of "I love you Tori" from the audience. When Amos last came to town, she did a mock striptease on top of her piano. This show lacked such theatrics, but the singer retained her unique playing stance, straddling her piano bench and writhing with the rhythm.
Amos' success will likely continue if she goes on to produce solid albums and matures with her young fans. The addition of the harpsichord may be a clue to what this cryptic singer has up her sleeve for audiences to come.
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So, there I was...waiting for this moment which seemed like an eternity away and now it was finally here; my first time to see the goddess perform. It was more than I ever imagined it could be. (*smiles* from ear to ear) It was a spine-chilling performance and it encapsulated my heart and soul, touching it in ways in which I have never felt before. Tori was in a happy, playful mood kind of bouncing around with bright eyes and a big smile. The crowd roared with excitement as she skipped onto the stage, finishing up the song Son of a Preacher Man. A few individuals got carried away yelling "I love you Tori!" etc. but that didn't last too long as she smiled and waved and said "Glad we got that over with." Then she talked about Austin; expressing how much she liked it here and enjoyed this venue. She said it was very special and that of course we all knew that. Then she introduced Caton reminding everyone that he was with her first band YKTR and what a close and wonderful friend he was.
She walked over to her Bosey, sat down and began to play a loud and chilling improvised beginning of something which I did not immediately recognize. Then silence filled the air as she stopped playing and stood up facing the audience. She started moving her body slightly forward; raising her arms up to the sky, circling them around as she nodded her head in sinc. The movements were at first slow and fluent increasing with intesity with each passing moment. It was like you could see and feel a girl that she was calling and waiting to hear from before she could play her song. There was a tremendous building up to this moment. Wish I could be more descriptive but I can't find the words to describe the feelings and emotions that were so overflowing. Tori twisted back and reached over to her Bosey. She began to tap out Beauty Queen with her left hand.
From this moment on, I was in awe and nothing else around me seemed to exist. Something magical happened filling my stomach with butterflies and my eyes with tears.
She sang *so* many b-sides. I couldn't believe it. I told myself I would remember the order of the songs but I abandoned that thought very shortly after hearing just a few songs. So, following is a setlist of somewhat random order. I lost track after about the fifth song. Anybody else who went that wants to help me recall the correct order? It would be greatly appreciated. = ) Anyway, so here goes...
(there was a brief interlude before she sang Crucify. The audience was full of praises, clapping, screaming and whistling, etc. Just as the loudest part of the cheering died down I yelled "Honey." It wasn't an obnoxiously loud request, however, I thought she might have heard me as she sort of glanced in my direction. She began this next one by saying, "This is for all you christians.")
she exited the stage
1st encore:
2nd encore
Oh! Something else that I forgot to mention...in between songs during the first part of the performance she sort of giggled and glanced into her Bosey and said she heard a cricket in her piano. She seemed tickled and amazed as did the audience. She said she liked crickets. = ) Well that's my review. Hope I haven't bored anyone to tears. Just couldn't keep this special performance bottled up. = )
My mom and I left for Austin around 2, and got to
the Backyard around 5:30-5:45. When we got there, it was pretty empty, so we
ended up parking RIGHT by where she came out after the show. The Backyard is
an outdoor place, which was really neat -- lots of trees and stuff. And
since it was outdoor...you could hear EVERYTHING from outside. Including
soundcheck
Anyway, we finally went in around 7:30, sat down in TENTH ROW CENTER. I could see EVERYTHING, it was AMAZING! Willy Porter was great AGAIN, we made up a song about a woman named Erica who's a goddess, and Jello, and Radio Flyer wagons, and rhombus's, and....Cleveland! I was pushing for eggplant to be the food, but the Jello guy was louder than me. Oh well.
And then...at 9:05...Son Of A Preacher Man came on again. It was amazing.
I'm SO ticked that I didn't tape this show. Anyway, she was wearing jeans
and a long sleeved tight purple shirt that looked like it was made out of
that slinky material that bounces -- anyone know what I mean?? -- so she
must've been really hot. It was miserable out there. Anyway, this is what
she played (written down on my trusty 107.1 FM fan
(talked about how much she likes TX, and that she'd like Greyhound to bus all the people from, like, Pittsburgh, down here, and she'd be here and "Nine Inch would be there [points off to the right I think!] and Polly Harvey would be here [points left I think]" and it was groovy)
(introduced Caton, said the she's allergic to bugs, so if she turns into a pile of goo, just wipe her away after the show)
("there's been a cricket in my B–sendorfer! he's on the bass strings!" then she pounded away on them...heehee)
(puts a Gumby doll on her head, then throws it aside and kind of smirks, puts on the harpsi's headphones)
(in the middle, she stopped, yelled "FUCK THIS" and threw off the headphones. the sound had been doing that feedback stuff, and after BR was over, she said that she'd been blasted, and "boys, you've got your work cut out for you in Houston....drink LOTS of Guiness tonight." She was PISSED)
- ----Encore 1
- ----Encore 2
I cried so much during the show... after it was over, we met up with friends Elizabeth and Kyle and ran out to where Tori was leaving. My mom got RIGHT in front, so when they put us in the barricades, Elizabeth and I took her place in the front and Kyle was right behind us. She came out wearing a jacket (I think it was a jacket) that was sort of creamy colored and I think I remember seeing stripes on it, but itty bitty ones, and she had a beautiful scarf around her neck. Anyway, she got closer and closer to us, and the guy standing next to me has been following her around the country, but told her that this was his last show, and they talked about getting Metallica to cover Silent All These Years (btw, he had the set list :). Then... she was right in front of me. I said, "Tori" but I was too quiet, and she was waving to all the people behind me, and then I said it again, and she looked right at me, and I said (I think! It's all a daze!) "I'm really nervous....I was there last night, but I was too afraid to say anything." And she asked my name and I told her, and then she said "Well, I'm glad you're talking now" and gave me this smile, and Eliza said "She found her voice" or something like that, and I was really shaky, and I could see she was leaving, and so I said "Is it okay if I hug you?" or something to that effect, and she leaned over and gave me the greatest hug, and I just held onto her so tight, and that was the most wonderful moment of my (short!) life. She smelled really good...and then she talked to Elizabeth and hugged her and when she left I just started crying, and all I remember is Elizabeth hugging me and Kyle reaching through the crowd and...saying something, but I just remember him reaching through and his hands were warm and I turned around. And then it was over.
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[notice: as best as i recall, here is my account of the event. some
songs might be out of order]
5.15.96 Dallas @ the Bronco Bowl
I attended my first Tori concert this summer. Tori played in Dallas at the newly renovated Bronco Bowl. I live in a suburb right outside of the city, and I was beside myself with joy in April when my friends Elizabeth and Matt took the money I gave them for my ticket and got us 6th row!!! I could practically breathe down Tori's neck. It was glorious! Her opening act was wonderful...he was funny, genuinely good, and had great songs. His acoustic guitar was his only accompaniments as he sailed through funny songs about roadkill, seeing Jesus on the grill of a Mack truck, and his own version of two longstanding guitar favorites, "Stairway to Freebird". He quieted the Toriphiles' clamor for the queen somewhat, which I consider a major accomplishment. When Tori took the stage with Beauty Queen/Horses, I was glued to the stage. I was so completely blown away by even being in the same room with my idol, I hardly remember the set order. She did quite a few old favorites from Little Earthquakes, launching into Leather right out of Horses. (As I am typing this, I am listening to Baltimore) She did Blood Roses, Winter, and so many others I was completely overwhelmed with admiration for this woman that always seems to know exactly what I'm thinking. Her set was really awesome, with a triangle shaped screen thing behind her that different images were projected upon throughout the concert. When she sang Not the Red Baron, images of pilots were projected upon it and it was quite moving. She also sang Famous Blue Raincoat, during which I almost cried. During the concert she began to make up a song about margaritas that had everyone in the house in hysterics. She also had me near tears during Me and A Gun, after which she left the stage for a few minutes. But I think my favorite part of the whole concert was Talulah, which she performed complete with the re-written "chasing tornadoes" beginning and ending. The whole concert was something I will never forget. I really envy you having met her!! Well, I just wanted to share that with you, and keep up the nifty-spiffy web page!!!
Dallas Morning News, 6/16/96
By Tom Maurstad
Staff Critic
Picture of Tori in a black tank top and jeans at souncheck
Caption: "Tori Amos does a soundcheck at Bronco Bowl, where she performed her songs of angst and discovery on Saturday night before about 2,500 fans."
"Rough Writer"
Stage is a diary where singer Tori Amos records her life
The Bronco Bowl may be hanging under a question mark these days, given that it was recently sold (again)- its new life is quickly looking like its old one, and we all know how that ended. On the bright side, parking was free on Saturday night for the Tori Amos concert.
There are any number of reasons you must grant Ms. Amos' courage- she is so revealing in performance, she may as well perform in the nude, except that really, that would be gratuitous. But her courage was on display even before she was in her choice of her opening act. Forget the low-ball strategy that is the industry standard. Ms. Amos had Willy Porter, a singer accompained by his acoustic guitar.
Ms. Amos' audience proved quickly receptive as he mixed catchy originals with cool covers. Midway through, when someone yelled out the inevitable call for "Free Bird", Mr. Porter quipped, "And let's not forget the other one," as he began the familiar plink of "Stairway to Heaven". "All right, here it is," he announced, "Stairway to Free Bird". He then played "Stairway to Heaven" as he sang the lyrics to "Free Bird". It was a brillant moment guaranteeing that local record stores can expect some queries.
Ms. Amos has good reason to be unafraid of a brillant opener; unless you have attended one of her concerts, it is difficult to appreciate the adoration emanating from the audience and directed at at the woman alone at the center of the stage. Ms. Amos is one of those figures who didn't exist a generation ago- the underground star. If you're not into her, you may well have never heard of her.
Touring in support of her new album, Boys for Pele, Ms. Amos sat between a shiny black grand piano and a harpsicord (which is featured on many of her new songs). Ms. Amos straddles her piano bench as if it were a bucking bronco. The position is telling: In performance she is ever riding some cataclysm of emotion, doing all she can just to hang on.
In an age of more and more dazzling technological spectacles, Ms. Amos is a reminder of the power of the human spectacle. To the uninitiated, as Ms. Amos contorted her way through a new song such as "Blood Roses" or a favorite such as "Cornflake Girl", she could seem to be playing a new kind of music (not pop, not classical, not jazz, but strains of all) while singing in her own language. But to the faithful 2,500, she may as well have been singing diary entries or hymns. People sang along, reverently, even loudly. She rode that wild horse you couldn't see for more than two hours, the audience yelling, "We love you," whenever she gave it the chance, and sometimes even when she didn't.
Saturday, the 15th, I saw Tori play in Dallas at the Bronco Bowl. I went with my wondermous mom...she's the greatest. We got there around...ohhhh...ummm.... 6:45, I think. .... Willy Porter was really great, his set lasted about 30 minutes(?) I can't really remember. Anyway, waited some more, then...TORI!!! She came on to "Son Of A Preacher Man," as usual. ummm, and she was wearing black pants with a red shirt and a purple vest that looked like it was crocheted (sp??) or something. The concert was incredible, she played......
(someone yells "the faeries are here," but she thinks they say "my parents are here." when she figures it out, she says that when she thought they brought their parents, she was saying "why'd you do that?" hey, my mom's cool :)
(talks about lady who watered her plants in ft. worth and it leaked in and
messed up the electrics... "wish her well
("so i was done with the album...but sometimes us girls aren't done yet")
(talks about how when she has margarita times, the pianos never there, but it was this time, so that's why it doesn't make sense; someone says they make the best and she asks "do you use 1800?" she says, "this isn't the song, we'll compose a new one")
----Encore 1
----Encore 2
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The Kansas Concert was very strange.... the concert hall was more like a high school gymnasium than an arena. Wooden basketball courtish floor, smoking okay, no lobby, plastic chairs set up and taped together... very odd forum. Anyway, the concert was cool. Some interuptions brought Tori's little animal side out a few times as you'll see. So let's get to it.
Passages from Tori:
* "I always promise her (Harpsichord) margaritas, well this time my boys tell me she really will get some on the way to Dallas.... (throws her hands up in the Mexican Hat Dance) La coocha ra cha... La coocha ra cha..."
(Blood Roses)
* "Girls, I have to tell you, I said something terrible about this girl the other day. (Whispers) That bitch probably has a voodoo doll. But I felt bad, it was like some fucking stupid shampoo commercial... where you wonder if he, or a man, a thing with three legs wasn't involved, could she and I have margaritas without killing each other."
(Take to the Sky)
Brought out her Twinkle Star again, whoever gave her this, she loves it!
* I usually don't do this, but somebody is going through something terrible. It seems someone very close to them died today... So Tara, this is for you.
(China)
Someone yelled out, "How's Neil." *Oh he's fine. Actually, he's got this new thing, Neverware, coming out, it's very cool.
While a man in the balcony yells continuously through MAAG, the crowd yells at him to shut up, Tori whispers between lines, "No it's perfect, actually." (No idea what she meant?) and continued on.
After coming back on stage for her first encore she says, "What would we do without our asshole?" And then begins Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
In the middle of H,iMH someone sneezed loudly, Tori added a cute little "Bless You" to the song.
For the second encore, people are yelling out requests, Tori responds, "Some of you are going to lose. I've heard 20 songs and I can't play them all -- so don't take it personal, I still love your hairdo."
(PGY)
For all Tori fans out there, I have to correct an error I found in Lori Keaye's account of the Kansas City concert. Some ignoramus interrupted Me and a Gun, and a girl yelled at him, quite appropriately, to shut the fuck up. In response, Tori said, "That was perfect diction." I was sitting pretty close, and my friend and I both agree that is what she said. I thought it was great and I just wanted to clear up any discrepancies.
A Very Devoted Tori Fan
Diana Doty
Note from Mikewhy: A better review than most, but ignore the 'various pretenses' statement!
Tori Amos Reaches Concert Fans With Honest Emotions -- by Timothy Finn
Memorial hall gig features soul-felt songs from her three albums.
In the gothic and gauzy world of Tori Amos, self-indulgence is the catalyst to music that is cathartic and personal yet vague and ambiguous. The fuzzy, animated truth thrown from a runaway train of thought.
Thursday night, to an enraptured crowd that filled every seat and cranny of Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., Amos delivered more than two hours of rhapsodic song and amorphous reverie about some pretty hard, heavyweight issues: love, sex, violence, guilt, Christianity, racism, betrayal, seperation, loss.
A classically trained musician with an alternative/punk mentality, Amos spins short but sprawling arias that are, at times, lush and operatic and, at others, atonal and seemingly improvised. Hers aren't the sorts of melodies that stick and linger like an annoying jingle.
But it's hardly the music that draws so many -- particularly women and girls -- to her music and her shows. It is, instead, Amos' percieved deliverance from those things that bind, impair and supress her gender; mostly dominating or cloddish men and bad relationships. The sharp squeals and emphatic shouts that preceded and followed each song were the sounds of confession and liberation -- amens to her cryptic but florid testimonies.
Most of the songs Amos performed were from her new compact disc, "Boys For Pele," including "Blood Roses," "Hey, Jupiter," "Doughnut Song," "Professional Widow" and "Little Amsterdam." (MY NOTE: NO, SHE DID NOT PERFORM PW.) Others that drew a hearty response, like "Cornflake Girl" and "Me and a Gun," are from her two earlier discs.
Her baroque cover of the Cure's "Love Song" was one of the night's weaker moments, but her sparse, lethargic rendition of "Over the Rainbow" bled sadness and irony, like a bleak eulogy to hope and optimism.
The most memorable moment of the night, however, was the pretty but harrowing "Me and a Gun," her a cappella, first-person recollection of a rape and assault many years ago. Amid the oblique, abstract lyrics that fill her compositions, "Gun" crackles with torment and honesty and bares the power of an artist who, despite her various pretenses, manages to deliver shards of her very honest self.
Just got back from a terrific show in Kansas City. We were at roughly the 15th row, and had a good view of the stage. The audience here was terrific - so silent during the quiet parts that you could hear a pin drop. Someone sneezed in the middle of a song, and Tori actually worked in a brief "god bless you!" to that person in the middle of the lyric! I've never been at a show that big (it was sold out at about 3000 seats) with a mood that intimate.
She did "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in one of the encores. I think that's a unique one for you all. I'm sure it was in homage to Kansas. She remarked that her old harpsichord would be happy to get some Margarita's on the trip south to Texas.
Maybe it's sort of an affectation, or maybe it's a mike problem, but one
annoying thing about the show was Tori's breathing. It wasn't like, a
dramatic effect where it was employed here and there at appropriate
moments in certain songs. It was there all the time, like we were living
in her lungs
Not to be too critical though. Singing and piano technique were sooo good, just top notch. I wish I could sit behind her and watch her play.
My personal favorite was "Not the Red Baron", even though some of you don't seem to like that one as much. I love that one. It reminds me a little of Chopin, that cool progression that is the core of the tune. The slow-mo, fuzzy World War One air war imagery on the triangular screen behind her enhanced the power of the song. That one's off of "Boys for Pele". She just keeps getting better with each CD.
I hope she someday tours with a proper band, and does some stuff like "God", "Past the Mission" and a more CD-like "Caught a Light Sneeze". On most of the songs, though, her playing is so rich you don't miss the band or extended arrangements. Her only accompanyment at this show was a guitarist. The guitarist mostly did stunt work - swells and short fills - except for "Cornflake Girl", where he did the driving acoustic part. So Tori handled pretty much all the rhythm, bass, and counterpoint of the songs, as she sang. Jeez, she must be tired after 2 solid hours!
In sum, great show!
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A brief review of the june 11th Tori concert in St. Louis at the beautiful Fox Theatre
I will have a hard time putting into words how moving this concert was...but I will give it a try. She took the stage dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail(looking beautiful as always), the audience erupted as she strolled across the stage waving at us in the cutest little way :) She went right into Beauty Queen and while all was relatively silent...a female somewhere in the audience butsed out with " I LOVE YOU TORI!!". To this , Tori kind of stopped raised her right hand and again waved adorably! She didn't talk too much..mentioned that she liked butter.." I like butter and I like people who like butter" The sound was incredible and the audience was spellbound...I don't think I breathed during the entire set.
This was only the second time I had seen her in concert. The first being last year in St.Louis at the American Theatre, where I was also lucky enough to win tickets to a private show and meet her and chat for a bit. Although nothing will ever quite top that, the show this year was better as far as sound quality and just general atmosphere. The only let down of the night for me was the absence of SATY from her set. She did do a wonderful rendition of Tiny Dancer by Elton John, which she mentioned she hadn't done yet on this tour..." I haven't done this one on this tour yet..but tonight she just wants to come out"
Ok thats about it...I can't describe the feelings or emotions...thats something you just have to feel for yourself I guess...But I will say that I have this urge to grab a backpack and just follow her to the ends of the earth. Weird?? I think not, I just love her :)
I didn't think the music was lagging along that badly. She always does these quirky tempo changes during her live performances, so I guess I may be used to them.
The show was excellient. She played 2 full hours. Her voice was the strongest I've ever heard it, and this time I got to see her hands at the keyboard. Aimee, Jason and I were up in the Mezzanine, and I had binoculars, so I had an excellient view of the whole show.
Hilights for me:
She didn't tell too many stories last night. She just talked about seeing a picture of Tony Orlando in the Fox bathroom and that she likes butter and that she likes people who like butter. I guess she just felt like singing last night, cause she did over 20 songs!
Oh, and I got to meet Tori twice yesterday. I left early to meet Aimee, and on the way 105.7 The Point announced that Tori was stopping by the station to chat, so of course I went straight to the station. She arrived, and her bodyguard waved the group of us over to meet and get autographs. She posed with me for a picture (my arm around her - it's still tingling!) , but unfortunately the camera I borrowed didn't work, but someone else got one of us, so hopefully I'll get this in the mail soon. She gave me an autograph and I gave her a tape of some of my songs I wrote and recorded, including my own version of Crucify. A small gift for all she's given to me thru her music.
So afterwards, she goes in to do the interview, and I'm in my car listening and getting lost on the way to the Fox to meet Aimee and Jason. Finally got there, and we were waiting at the back of the theater, and shor nuff, here comes the limo. Tori still had the tape I gave her in her hand. Aimee got a hug. I made a request for "Alimo" and Tori goes "well I don't think I can fit it in cause I have to relearn it." She asked if I was going to any other shows where she could play it then, and I told her I was going to try to make it to Springfield in July.
It was a day I will never forget.
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I just discovered your site tonight and was interested in the info on Tori's 6/11/96 Ames appearance. I too was at that show and thought I'd throw my comments out. I won't even try to detail the entire show (it's been over a year, for cying out loud) but add some comments that you may or may not feel add to or round out the existing summaries for this show. This was my second Tori concert (the first was also at C.Y. Stephens, during the second album tour. When I bought the tickets, the seller apologized for the seats, saying they were likely "obscured view" because they looked GREAT on the map, and the building was otherwise sold out. In fact, they ended up being seats in what usually was the orchestra pit, which was elevated to regular floor level. So we (my wife and I) ended up in the third row, parallel to the old YKTR guitarist. (Fun fact...I used to own TWO copies of the Y Kant Tori Read" LP, both cut-outs. I listened to it maybe twice, liked the record, and can't believe I never made the connection until I read it somewhere after "Pink" came out! Both copies are long since gone, and I couldn't sing you a note to it today.) The three front rows were of some disdain to a man and his child, who complained to a security guy that "when (he) buys a ticket in row A, (he) expects to be in front." What was THIS guy planning...To jump on stage with the kid and yell "I had Tori's love child!"? That's what this guy looked and acted like. The security guy caught my eye afterward and we gave each other a "who was THAT nut" glance. Tori didn't have to say she wasn't feeling well (although she did, as noted in another review.) She was obviously tired and probably would rather have been in bed. The crowd wasn't exactly wonderful either. A year earlier, Tori walked on stages to a huge roar that turned into dead silence with the first keystroke. The crowd remained silent until the first song ended. Although the scene gradually became more relaxed, the audience showed sincere appreciation and respect throughout. Not true for this show. At points, we may as well have been in a club full of people who didn't know or care who was on stage. Nonetheless, Tori gave us her all, and we basked in her. But this was not a show where many left mesmorized (in fact, the newspaper reviews were actually negative on the show). Happy, perhaps. But on this occasion, the atmosphere as a whole, not just Tori, weren't quite aligned.
As you know, I went to see TORI last night. Nothing I have ever read about her concerts could have prepared me for it. It was the most amazing show I have ever been to.
She came on stage in a red sweater and jeans. She looked angelic! I see that you already have the song list posted on your page, so I won't bother you with that. One of the most memorable parts of the concert for me is when someone yelled that they liked her sweater and she proceeded to tell us that she wasn't feeling well:( and that her sweater was snuggley. Then she kinda hugged her self and said 'this is snuggley, and this next song just pisses me off... and started to play the doughnut song. She also dedicated the song Pretty Good Year to all the nerds. She said the song Frog on My Toe was written when she had a couple too many Margarita's, and that it didn't make much sence. Her voice was wonderful! It sounded as if it was a cd playing. I could not believe how perfect everything was!
At the end of the show there was a crowd of around 200 people waiting by the bus. When Tori came out she took time to talk to everyone there, it was amazing! I just expected to see her walk by and maybe say a few things and be done, but it took her about half an hour just to get to the bus! I was even fortunate enough to shake her hand. I can understand why people have said that after seeing Tori in concert that they're life felt complete, because I feel the same way now....except I have to wait untill July 26 when she returns to Iowa!!
Just got back from seeing Tori play in Ames. First off, I prefered seeing her on her last tour, but that was a nicer environment, and she acknowledged she was fighting a cold in her set.
"losing my religion" had to be one of the covers that I least suspected of Tori wanting to cover, even tho she's a big Michael Stipe fan. I thought she put on a great show, as usual. A lot of the material from "Boys For Pele" seemed to gail (gain, I mean) a lot of weight when seen live.
Its cool that she is giving the guitarist from her former band some recognition, allowing him to play guitar on some of her tunes. Purple Rain was the final song on her set, which she again, did an incrediable job with.
Only real problem-the fans were too damn rude! I heard some hoots during 'Me and a Gun"...a lot of silences and pauses she puts in some of her songs were ruined by the shouts of admirers. On a cover of a Smashing Pumpkins song, during the first encore, 3 total high schoolers were talking, not even laying an eye on Tori, problem was they were talking loudly. What could have been a great, mesmerizing performance by Tori was somewhat soured by the immature actions of a few. To the bellowers and the whistelers who ruined the quiet pauses in the song 'Horses' I'll be glad to pay for your Alanis Morrisette tickets when she comes into Ames, there you're allowed to make an ass out of yourself, but not at a Tori concert, in the words of one Tori fan who scared the hell out of the 3 talkers..."LEARN SOME F&$%&ing RESPECT!!"
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A couple of people have told me that Neil Gaiman was in the audience that night with his daughter, who Tori calls a "little Peanut".
The following is a review from the Star Tribune, (our cities newspaper),
about her June 10th concert in Minneapolis at Northrup Auditorium.
Pianist and pop artist Tori Amos is often difficult to appreciate and
understand. But Monday night, when her dramatic urges meshed with truly
meaningful material, Amos was spellbinding at Northrup Auditorium in
Minneapolis.
Although she still has a strange way with ever-changing inflections
and an oblique poetic style, nothing could blunt the power of the better
material from her album "Boys For Pele," which constituded the majority
of the main set.
The show was special for Amos because a friend of hers, comic book
writer Neil Gaimen, and family were in attendance, includin Amos'
godchild. (Gaimen's charcter Delirium is partly based on Amos.) After
acknowledging them, seh dedicated a traditional tune to the child,
followed by the suicidal tale "Marianne," and the bitter recollections of
"Precious Things," which ended in a long pronunciation of the word
'girl," a strong accent to the peak of the performance.
The single "Caught A Lite Sneeze," withered, more impressive fro
Amos' midsong switches between piano and harpsichord, which she played
occasionally throughout the night. "Talula" wsa submerged by heavy
prerecorded rhythm tracks, but an a cappella version of "Me and a Gun"
brought the house to a hush, and a captivating set to a stunning close.
Milwaukee's Willy Porter was impressive and entertaining in a half
hour opening set.-Jim Meyer
WHAT I HAVE TO SAY.....
to me this concert, it being my first ever tori concert, was the most
amazing thing i've ever seen. her music moves you SO much when you see
her in concert. her voice has such an incredible range, and she sings
with such emotion and force, her piano playing is just as impressive. i
think tori's music means so much to people because she sings it like she
means it and with such emotion. i know this concert ment alot to me and
the other fellow tori followers out there- eric
oh and to that girl who wrote the review and mentioned BLUE hair, that
was my friend that i went along with. (See next review below)
The lights dim and a familiar tune filters through the auditorium. It's "Son of a Preacher Man" from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, very fitting for the red- haired beauty herself. She walks confidently onto the stage and pauses to wave with both hands, flashing her angelic smile. The crowd is anxious to hear her, so as the music dies, so does the applause. Taking a seat at the piano, she turns, smiles once again, and responds with a warm "Hi Guys!"
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OK guys, this is what you were asking for, a complete review of Tori Amos and her Dew Drop Inn Tour in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I aim to please and I hope that you enjoy what I have to say.
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Walking in the Northrop Auditorium with my man by my side, I quickly realized
that I was in for the night of my life. We arrived at 7pm, and the place was
swarming with life. Refreshments, merchandise, teenagers with blue hair; it
all seemed too unreal. Besides, I was paying more attention to the
butterfly's in my stomach, now that I had realized that I was about to see
Tori. After sipping on a raspberry iced tea, we were escorted to our seats
(by a fellow in a tuxedo), 2nd row, lower balcony. With a Tori shirt and a
program in my lap, I searched the seats behind me for my friends. Then the
lights flickered and the opening act came out: a guy and his guitar. He was
pretty funny, and put the audience in a good mood for the evening, joking
about the wonders of Prozac and the strange farm animal fetishes of the
midwest. By the time he finished, I was squirming in my seat. I wanted to
see Tori, and it was getting late. After anxiously waiting a half an hour,
the chanting started Here's what she played! Not all of the songs are in order :-( , but her
quotes include what I remember to the absolute best of my knowledge. She then stopped and turned to the harpsichord and told us that this was her
new friend. She said that "she" (the harpsichord) may be old but she's had
plenty of men in her life. She then let us know that her God-niece was in the audience and she said
"She's my peanut.
Turning to us, Tori told us that Neil was here, and that he was probably
expecting her to be naughty.
Tori began to explain how being in seclusion in Ireland was tough. To make it exciting, she said, they had different themes for food, and there was this one particular night that they had a Mexican fiesta. "Well, girls, you know what it's like when you've had a few margaritas." Not just one or two, she said but a few too many. She said that was then when she stumbled to the ground and this song came into her head.
she told us about the time her mother told her that Marianne had killed herself. < Tori> "And I said fuck you mom" (because she didn't believe that Marianne would do that). She said that Marianne was the kind of person that could bring out the good in people. When she was gone, Tori said, it took everyone a long time to find the good again.
First Encore
Second Encore
~~The techs wheeled out her Harmonium, the turn of the century instrument that looks like an organ, and has to be pumped by the feet (she played it on Regis and Kathy Lee).~
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Tori has this way of making each and every song of hers special when she plays
them live, and it's this reason that seeing her on stage is a totally
different experience than just listening to her albums. It easy to see that
devoted Tori fans, like ourselves, agree that she is the goddess of music, and
that there is no one else like her in this world. It pains me to hear that
people think she will become mainstream and disappear before our very eyes.
It won't happen. I remember last night, how I watched her move her body like
she was making love to her songs. That is what makes her Tori. She just
doesn't sit down and play a set of tunes. She lets them come to her, and when
they do, she gives them each special attention, like they are her children.
After experiencing the concert last night, I have even more respect for her
and her music, and her talent as a musician. You know, it's funny how I
thought of last night too. It was like the climax of an incredible orgasm.
Waiting for last night to arrive, listening to her albums, watching her on TV,
all of that was building up to last night's performance. As I watched her on
that stage I felt exhilarated, as if all of my senses were stimulated. With
each and every breath she took, every time she hesitated, moaned, and wailed,
I was there with her, feeling the emotions she was expressing. There were
quite a few times I felt as if I were about to cry it was so beautiful. And
when it was over, I left with an incredible sense of fulfillment, and it was
all worth the wait. Tori did something for me too last night. She must have
touched my boyfriend too, cause he told me is was an incredible concert (and
he used to think I was obsessed with Tori
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Tori was beaming throughout both shows. Back to her talkative self. Highlights: Someone yelled "You're nifty, Tori." And she says, "You're nifty, too." And she looks like she's going to begin playing, when suddenly she remembers her stuffed elephant Dumbo sitting on the speaker. "You know who's really nifty," she says running over and grabbing Dumbo and bringing him back to the stage, "Dumbo's nifty." And she alters her voice to that of Dumbo, "I'm Dumbo, and I'm weally nifty. 'Cuz I can hear, my ears are nifty and this (Grabs his trunk and waves it around) is real nifty, and very useful" (the crowd roars) "And I don't get to make appearances cuz Towi is a wittle too pwotective of me." And she yells back at Dumbo, "Shut up!"
And then she goes straight into this story, "So I was talking to my girlfriend the other day, and she says, 'You'll never guess who called me,' And I said who, and she said, 'mmmmm' and I said 'Really! What did he have to say?' (She whispers) "He's from England. I just looove these overseas relationships. They're soooo convenient!" "Anyway, so he's drunk and... drunk is good, I mean (mumbles something about place and time) And so you know what he said, I swear to you, (Acts like a slurring drunk) "I loove you, I looove you like I love my left testicle!"
And Tori just cracks up right there!
"I swear, that's what he said! And it's like, 'Come on brothers a little up on the poetry, huh?!?"
And then she goes into Blood Roses. I wasn't sure if she was going to be able to sing it with how hard she was laughing.
Second Milwaukee Show Review
WOW! I can not tell you how happy I was to have gone to both shows. She sang a completly different set. It was GREAT! Anyways, she started with the usual two, Beauty Queen and Horse...believe me I ddin't mind hearing them again. Leather was great...it really stirred up the audience. But again..the crowd was very respectful. I was so happy! She then did a great Blood Roses..almost not even touching the bench...so much passion in her voice. With Little Amsterdam it was so cool because she only used her left hand and her right leg was swinging and her right arm was just dragged downward. I love how she swings her leg..its like shes a little kid. Anyways, it was so fun to see her and Caton go on this one. Then Cornflake Girl..she danced and got very into it. I always find it so amazing to watch her fingers...they move so quickly but the sound they produce is just beyond words. She then introduced Caton "We have known each other for a fucking long time.." and then said that this was her favorite off of Under the Pink but never put on the record because some people are just dumb. Honey....wow, can i just say. To hear this with Caton was soooo wonderful. Then Space Dog was soooo cool....I love this song..and hearing it live was wonderful.
Sister Janet was next....this is one of my favorite b-sides. It was neat because they only had one light on her and the rest of the stage was dark and when she sang it, it haunted me...her vocals are just so amazing! She then asked the girls if we were mean..and then she told the story about how Marianne was a girl that had meanness and that when her mom told her that she had killed herself, Tori knew that it wasn't the truth. This song is so beautiful...it really made me feel like i knew her. Then Precious Things.....this time..the white lights shone into the audience and when she got to the GRRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLL it was so great because she did the same movement..felt her legs and got to her breasts but instead of flapping her hands like they were wings..she did one flap and ended the long note with just a "IRL" and a cute chuckle and then right back into the song. I also noticed this time that when she sang that part..this red light gradually got brighter right into the audience as well..very effective. She didn't end the song the way she used to...you know how she would belt out the last "THESE PRECIOUS THINGS..." she sang it the same way as before..but the melody changed...its very hard to describe. You just gotta hear it. Then into Not the Red Baron...beautiful. Then she told us a story abuot how she would love to go speeding and that she had got caught plenty of times but never while listening to this song. And she played the LOVE SONG..by the CURE...it was amazing..because there was a roller coaster on the screen....WOW! Then "Springtime" which was so neat because Caton and Tori totally JAMMED....very cool.
So then she grabs the mike and again there were requests but she started MAAG..I almost think that hearing this song twice in one nite, the way that she sings it live, is too much for my emotionally to handle in one night. I mean when i hear it on the CD it hurts me... it was beautiful. She then left Came back and with only blue lights on her sang Famous Blue Raincoat....such a pretty song. I love it....she sang it with such emotion. A must-hear-live-cover-song! And then Winter. one of my favoirte songs. She then left and came back. And while her crew was bringing in the pump organ she sang Mr. Zebra...it was funny because there were people cleariing the stage and she was playing. She then did Pretty Good Year...god...when the "HEYYYYY, WHATS IT GONNA TAKE" part started the lights blinded me and the sound deafened me....but I loved IT!!! WOW!!! She then moved to the pump organ where she played Cool On Your Island! it was beautiful..I never thought I would hear her play that live. and then right into Hey Jupiter..and I knew that it was almost over. Just some random stuff that I cant really remember when they happened were that at one point during the first show this group of like three people screamed out in between songs "WE LOVE YOUR SHOES TORI!" and she loved that because she did a little shoe dance!
And then during the second show someone yelled "Hey its DUMBO" because she had a stuffed Dumbo on stage. And I can't exactly remember what she said..but she picked it up and brought it over to the mike and pretended to be Dumbo and did this cute little voice and said something about how " i never get the spotlight because Tori is so over portective of me.." and then Tori threw it to the ground forcefully....almost started to play..but then felt guilty and had to pick Dumbo up and put him back to his spot..it was sooooo CUTE!!!
And also...someone before her sound check had given her this wand with a star on it...and you push a button and it speaks. So she brought that on stage and played the wand. It said something about the Wizard of Oz i think...but Tori Loved it because she made it speak once and then goes" lets hear it agian" and it played agian. VERY CUTE!
She is phenomenal folks. If you have yet to see her in concert...I am so jealous. Because at this point, if I had the choice I would road trip over the entire country to see her. The Goddess is magnificient.
The show was amazing. There is no other way to describe it. I had very good seats...8th row and right in the center. I could see her every movement. The one thing that i was very worried about was the audience. Since I had read all these reviews of the past concerts, everyone had complained about stupid fans screaming out during her songs..and I was so worried that this would ruin her performance if it were to happen in Milwaukee..BUT the crowd was WONDERFUL! There was silence the entire time....I was so very happy.
Anyways, to take you guys through the show, Beauty Queen/Horses was amazing. To see her on the piano again, after about a year was just incredible. I noticed that she uses her right hand freely a lot. Like little geastures into the Bossy or just thumping on the piano to keep rhythm. Horses was so beautiful...almost too strong to be a opening song. She then launched straight into Losing my Religion...incredible. The ending was so powerful...her voice echoed off the entire theatre...her mouth wide open...and her wonderful voice pouring out....I just watched in amazement. She then told us about her last time in Milwaukee. Last time the day before she had done her show in Milwaukee she had a show in Madison and had become very sick....she remincied a little about that and then talked about how Milwaukee had a special meaning to her becauese that was where her and Michael Stipe had written a song that no one had seemed to like very much. She then started a story about how when she was in between boyfriends and at was home visiting her parents during Christmas,and had to go to chruch. And everyone was singing hymns and things and she said something to her father about how this isn't how it really is... and her father said "Tori Ellen, whatever do you mean?" and Tori remarked "We both knew it was a girl back in Bethlahem" It was PERFECT...then right into Mohammed.
From there she switched over to the Harpischord...and started CALS...with the waves on the back screen and all. It was beautiful...the whole change over from the piano back to the harpsichord was soooooooo amazing...I had heard people talk about it..but you can't believe it until you see it!!! The line "I need a big loan from the Girl Zone" is streched out..and she holds the "ZONE" from the mike on the piano all the way to the mike on the harpsy...amazing...She then went right into Cornflake Girl...Caton strumming the guitar and Tori doing her little dance. This song was so COOL because I could see her fingers fly on the piano...and her and Caton were really getting into it. It was so much better then the way it was done on the last tour. I loved this! Then she introduced Caton as her friend for many years and that they were in Y Kant Tori Read together. She then sang the Dougnut Song. This song means so much to me I think I cried through the whole thing. The way she sang the background vocals was so beautful...I also remember hearing a few extra lyrics..I can't remember them right now...but she sang them with the background vocals the second time. If anyone can catch these lines I would greatly appreciate knowing them! After she sang Dougnut she started Little Earrthquakes which was the song that I most wanted to hear from her. Caton was playing along and it added alot to the song. It was beautiful..I can not even start to tell you how long I have waited to hear Tori sing "give me life, give me pain, give me myself again" It was just beyond words. She then started Take to the Sky...with thumping on the piano as her drum. Putting the Damage On was so great....I couldn't believe how wonderful her voice sounded...she never missed a note. Precious Things was next..and all I can say is "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" god was it amazing! She took both hand off the piano and started to touch her legs and moved upwards and once she got to her breasts she waved her hands like they were flippers.....it was hilarious! I noted an extra line at the end of this song, where I also noticed that she changed the melody....the extra line that i heard was "I need to be clean"
She then did Not the Red Baron with the planes and the pilots speaking in the background...beautiful..thats all I can say. She then did Icicile..which was a treat...and of course when she sang the line "I think the good book is missing some pages" someone screamed out "YEAH!" Now Talula was so AMAZING. I couldn't believe it. The part where the bass comes in was just incredible because it was soo loud and you had Tori going crazy on the harpsy and Caton going crazy on the guitar, plus the lights circulating. It was definatly one of the best songs of the nite. I almost wanted to get up and dance...and I did see almost every head bopping up and down to the beat. The echo effect was also really great. She then tried to grab the mike to start MAAG...but it BROKE! It was soo funny because she took the top off and put it on her head, she looked so DAMN CUTE! anyways, one of the sound guys came out...and tried to fix it..and in the meantime people in the crowd were screaming requests and one was "PLAY LONDON GIRLS!" and Tori just replied in a simple "no" it was very cute and very powerful..I applauded. She then asked the girl that had said that "Are you hear for the second show too?" and she said "no" and Tori asks "Are you just saying that?' and the girl said "No, I swear, I"m only here for this one." so Tori goes "Well, maybe she'll show up a little later..she's having a margerita right now" and then people started yelling other stuff and she said "You all know this isn't any of those .....5 a.m friday morning..." It was sooo silent.....but beautiful..so beautiful. She then had someone escort her off stage. She came back to play LANDSLIDE!!!! Just gorgeous. She then did China..which was also so wonderful. She left, came back to do LONDON GIRLS. This is such a fun song and Tori totally played it out, pointing to different body parts and all..it was very cute. She then did This Old Man...and without even a pause..right into Past The Mission...which I love! and then she was gone! But not for me because I bought my shirt and tour book and took my seats for the next show, but breathless.
The following are Tori's comments at the First Milwaukee show, June 8th!
* TORI: Hi everybody. The last time I was in Milwaukee it was... Well, I'd been to the hospital -- some of you know that -- and this great dyke doctor gave me this fantastic shot in my ass. Anyway, if you run into her tell her I said, 'Hi.' Let's see, what else was happening... I was here with my buddy Michael Stipe. We'd written this song in Milwaukee that everybody hated but, um, I quite like it. And I think they were wrong, so I just wanted to tell you I have fond little memories of this wonderful little place.
* TORI: Um, this next song is a bit strange because my father and I had a bit of an argument over it. Maybe because he dragged me to Christmas eve services -- not last Christmas, but a year ago. I was kind of in between boyfriends -- you know that one girls, you gotta go home to mom and dad. So I was with my parents and they took me to the nice Christmas eve services -- and you heard all the little tykes singing -- I like the little tykes -- when they have their crusty noses... but they were up there and the congregation's supposed to join in -- as one does in the Methodist Church -- and -- off key normally. But anyway, it was our turn to come in and I was contemplating and my father looked at me and said, "Tori Ellen... It's time to SING."
And I said, "Dad, something's very wrong with this thing."(Breaks into "We Both know it was a girl.")
* TORI: We were in Ireland and the record was supposedly finished. And the guys were getting ready to go down to a place called The White Lady. And these cute little Irish girls show up, and my crew... drools. And so they were off to find a shag and a Guinness -- and they actually deserved it because I had had them up, sometimes at seven in the morning, sometimes a little too much, (whines) "Will you tune my piano, pleeaassee?" It's like nag, nag, nag and I'm sorry. But I kind of ruined their evening -- 'cause you know girls -- when you're not quite finished, you're just not quite finished...
(Goes into 'Doughnut Song')
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Well, I stand even more in awe of Tori's skills than before after seeing her live June 7. Definitely the best concert I've ever seen. If only it wasn't for that darn obnoxious guy a few rows away....but oh well.
We got to the Rosemont Theatre about 30 minutes for the show was to begin, and were amazed by the place. Very classy, and very secured as you entered the actual theatre/non-lobby part. Willy Porter started at exactly 7:30 (a music first I think, a concert starting on time!), and gave a very good set. He showed a lot of stage confidence, a quick sense of humor, and decent enough musical skills. He also knew that the crowd wasn't there for him, which gave him a proper amount of humility.
Finally after a decent intermission proceeding Willy's act, the lights went down and Tori appeared to a standing ovation. She proceeded to launch right into the usual opener Horses/Beauty Queen. Immediately after that she went into Yes Anastasia, a song I never really appreciated until I heard it live.
She then proceeded to banter a little with the crowd. The details of what she said escape me (Pardon me, the whole evening is a blur, I only remember the songs because I jotted them down!). She then brought out Blood Roses and Father Lucifer, which I believe was the first appearance of Caton for the evening, although I may have just missed him earlier. She seemed to really rework Lucifer, turning it into a totally different piece, which I liked more than the album version. After this the crowd went crazy at the opening strains of Cornflake Girl, which was accentuated by the infamous dance Tori does before the song. I personally found it one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Not only do I not feel so bad about my own dancing inability, but I thought it showed her really having a good time. Then in one of my personal highpoints of the show she did Little Earthquakes which was somehow even more powerful live. In a sort of surprising choice, she then came up with Sweet Dreams. I personally was happy because that's one of my favorite B-sides (though I would have preferred Upside Down, I'm not complaining.)
At this point she again talked a little. She was talking about being 13 years old, and at one point made comments about her lack of breast size which drew tons of laughter when she began pushing them up to try to make them bigger. During this time someone yelled for China to which she responded "I'm not doing China, I'm trying to tell a story!" The story was the one which she uses as the springboard into Marianne. After this she went back to one of her classics in Precious Things. I admit I spent most of the song waiting for the "Girrrrrrrrrl" line, and was not disappointed as she cranked out a 28 second (yes I was counting!) "Girrrrrrrrrrrl." Then came Not The Red Baron, which again is so much better live I thought. After that she came up with Tear In Your Hand, which I was ecstatic to hear. The crowd again got crazy for the opening strains of Caught A Lite Sneeze, which seemed very different from the album version, not better or worse, but different. The place went dead silent as she did Me And A Gun. Now I love that song, but I actually felt uncomfortable as she sang that. In fact I found myself squirming in my seat. I guess that just goes to show how powerful she and that song can be. She left at this point and the crowd got up and applauded until she returned.
She returned and started with a song I honestly did not recognize. Perhaps a more dedicated Tori fan would know it, but I don't know if it's original or a cover. It had the line "can you watch the hours?" as a refrain. The next song was much more recognizable as it was Silent All These Years. She nailed that song completely, and had she not returned when she left after the song I would have felt fulfilled.
Thankfully she did return though. First she did Pretty Good Year, another true high point. Her and Caton work together better on that song than any other except maybe for Jupiter IMHO. Then she did Frog On My Toe, which began a little off, as she had to try to find the key a few times. It was quite amusing as she tried one key, then another, then returned to the first one, with chatter in between. Then she went to the harmonium and brought out a verse of Cool On Your Island for a fan who had yelled for it earlier, from which she launched into Hey Jupiter. Personally I think that's THE song in the Tori collection, and the live version left me completely blown away. I think this song may be the hit that finally breaks her really big time, but don't quote me on that! :) Finally she left leaving everyone both wanting more and completely satisfied. All in all the best show I've ever been to, and I left feeling I had seen a truly special, gifted person.
Both nights fans were screaming for the encore of "Pain In His Hole," (which has mysteriously become "Pain In MY Hole" by Tori). So she says, "You guys, I don't even remember how it went.." And with a few people trying to remind her of the lyrics she finally says, "Okay, I tell you what, I promise to learn it by the time I come back in the fall. Okay? Okay." (Could that be a hint that there may be a return visit Chicago? Has anyone heard this?)
(As Tori tried to play Frog On My Toe, she messed up several times and said the following) "Oooops, wrong key" starts over. "Ooops, I was right the first time," starts over, stops, "You know those of you who have to give speeches, fuck it... sometimes you just have to take a minute to get it right. (Third time she got it right :)
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the show was incredible. i still have doubts that i was actually there; that it was all a dream, but i have 2 t-shirts, a program, a list of songs, and a hole in my pocket to prove that it was real.
this was my second tori show, and i don't think i'll ever be as close to her as i was last night. i had third row and could literally touch the stage if i reached out my arm. also, while she was singing it seemed like at times she was looking directly at me (which made me freeze as though she has some kind of power over me, which she does) it was so chilling i could hardly look her in her eyes, which seemes like they were so powerful but so vulnerable and gentle. it was amazing. to all tori fans who are first time concert goers of hers, please take note; (don't mean to sound rude) but please PLEASE do not scream out when she is playing. she came out to the son of a preacher man and started playing beauty queen and it almost seemed life she was getting miffed cuz we wouldn't shut up. after happy phantom (which was a happy surprise) she introduced us to her harpsichord, saying that it was lucky cuz she had 5 men to dance around her and that she liked margaritas. she then jumped into blood roses, which was INCREDIBLE.
after little amsterdam (i think it was after this song) soemone yelled out "play pain in my hole." tori then said "where was that, cleveland?" and the guy yelled out yeah. tori: "let me tell you a story. we're in cleveland and this guy yelled something and i said what and he said it again and i thought he said play pain in my hole. well of course i have never heard of it before, well i have, but i haven't written a song, (we laugh HARD) so i start playing and making up the song as i go along and i probably couldn't for the life of me play it again. after the show the sound engineer came up to me and said "tori, you know what that guy said, right?" and i said "yeah, he said pain in my hole" and he goes "no, he said "caton is cool." after this amusing little story she jumped right into cornflake girl. every song she performed was unbelievably flawless and haunting, making you never want to take your eyes off of her (and this is a straight girl talking). someone yelled out play winter and she said "don't worry, don't worry, i will" which she did, happily. precious things was definitely one of the faves of the audience: it was great! and complete with a grrrrrllllllll that was incredibly long and almost growl-sounding. to my surprise, i actually found not the red baron good (no offense to anyone, but i never particularly liked that song). she sang it with a very melancholy voice, which probably added to the effect. caught a lite sneeze was VERY different, but still very good. i wanted to scream when she said "made my own pretty hate machine" (i'm quite a nin fan) but i held back.
she then jumped into talula and the crowd SCREAMED - this was by far one of the best performances i've ever seen her do - she looked like she was having so much fun! the song was just amazing. it made everyone want to get up and dance (well, at least the people surrounding me). oddly, she went right into MAAG right after this, which i thought strange since she looked happy during talula and then she sings this. when she was singing the first couple lines people were shouting at her so she she stopped and said "i know you're there, ok?" and continued on with the song without interruptions :)
i have to admit, when i heard that tori was covering somewhere over the rainbow i didn't think it would go over too well with me. but when she came out and sang it was sadly beautiful. dare i say, better than judy garland. putting the damage on was such a shock to me that i almost dropped my program when she started singing it. this is one of the songs that has the most effect on me in BFP and it didn't change here either. when she came out for the second encore and played space dog, it was so enchanting! she was wonderful. someone (i think) requested toodles mr. jim so she sang the first couple lines and said "no, i'm getting silly now." she then turned around to her harmonium(?) and said "i'm going to rock your ass" and started professional widow, but only until the refrain and then she was improvising something that sounded like it ended with (forgive me if i'm wrong) "what defines love? peace, undersanding, and a hard cock" and then she abruptly stopped and went into hey jupiter. unfortunately, the show was over. we waited a half hour after in the rain to meet her but since it was raining her people wouldn't let her stay long and i was SO close to touching her, but i couldn't reach far enough. :(
all in all, an incredible night. marina :)
I'm afraid I don't have time to do a proper review, but I did want to relay a story that she told last night at the 6/6 show (she's doing another here tonight). Someone called out for her to play "Pain In My Hole" and she laughed and said "Was that Cleveland?" to the fellow and he said it was. Then she proceeded to explain: It seems at that show someone requested what sounded to her like the aforementioned "Pain" song. So she said that she initially said she had never heard of "Pain in My Hole." The Chicago crowd started laughing at the somewhat offensive joke hanging in the air and she went ahead and acknowledged it, saying "Well...I guess maybe I have" or something similar. At the Cleveland show, Tori in Chicago continued to relate, she made up some silly song that she would be never be able to remember. Finally, after the show an engineer came up and explained what the fan had actually been saying: "Caton's cool."
*Breaking Shackles* Tori Amos redefines how a woman should act
By: Greg Kot Tribune Rock Critic
With her every gesture- riding the piano bench as if she were
astride a stallion, thrusting her hips, tilting back her head-and
with every vowel that rolled voluptuously off her tongue and
every consonant that she snapped like a rubber-band, Tori Amos
breaks shackles. The shackles that say how a pianist should play,
how a phrase should be sung, how a woman should act and what she
should express.
At the conclusion of "Precious Things", when she sings about
`little fascist panties tucked inside the heart of every nice
girl,' the last word came out as a sustained, teeth-grinding
growl. The crowd at the Rosemont Theatre, in the first of two
sold-out shows Thursday, shrieked in delight, sharing in the
release.
Exhorted by the kind of adulatory shouts, screams and unself-
concious pronouncements of affection associated with 16-year-old
heartthrobs like New Kids on the Block or Tiffany, the 32-year-
old Amos went about her business as an unlikely icon in an
atmosphere bordering on hysteria.
Not that she didn't encourage this sort os response with the
extravagance of her sexually suggestive gestures and ocasionally
over-ripe singing. Amos' songwriting is laced with lyrical
zingers, punctuated by groans and trills but dominated by dense,
oblique imagery and hot-on-breath-windowpane vocal mannerisms.
Lovely melodies insinuate themselves, but mostly her compositions
suggest a pianist chiseling her way into a block of ice in search
of a song.
Alternating between piano and harpsichord, and accompanied on
about half the tunes by a guitarist, Amos held the crowd rapt
because she immersed herself so deeply into that search. Her
voice becomes a multitude of voices, of personalities, as when
she performed a cappella her harrowing rape testimonial, "Me and
a Gun", then returned for a muted, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
that sounded like it could ahve been sung by a sympathetic
friend the morning after.
Such hushed moments were balanced by more bombastic ones. With
blood-red lights beaming from behind, and the music surging to
arena-rock crescendos in "Pretty Good Year" and "Talula", she
became the heavy-metal princess she once aspired to be in her
Los Angeles hard-rock band Y Kant Tori Read- a group as ill-
fated as its preposterous name.
Over the course of three solo albums in the 90's, Amos has
abandoned hard-rock for a more introspective course, centered
on her multi-octave voice and predigious piano playing technique.
Even as she explores the shadow regions of womanhood, she has
not forsaken the iconography, the excessive gestures and explicit
posturing of her hard-rock heroes, particularly Led Zeppelin.
It's a risky gambit, but one which Amos has mastered in a most
subversive manner.
Like Polly Jean Harvey, Amos has turned a predominately male
musical vocabulary into a potent mode of female expression, as
she sang on "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Boys on my right side/Boys
in their dresses/And you're not here/I need a big loan from the
girl zone."
...she talked about her Harpsicord and its dealings with margaritta's and men (just as she did in every other city). A girl rushed the stage toward the middle-end of the show. One guy yelled "I love you Tori" and with a smirk she replies - "Ditto Babe". When she started to sing "Me and a Gun" (her final song of the show, not counting encores) a few people kept shouting "Go Tori", "We love you Tori" right over Tori's singing and she inserts a warm whisper and tiny smile - "I know your all there" and blends right back into the song. During "Proffesinal Widow" on the organ she added several repeated whales of a few "new" lines ... "Selling ME, Selling ME!!" Followed by "What is love, what is love, what is love anyway....."..... then going back into her original lyrics. So just some choppy tidbits...
The following review of thie June 6 Chicago concert can be read online at the Entertainment Avenue web site
, which also includes some nice concert photos. However, I do find the reviewer to be extremely distasetful and somewhat misogynist.
Tori Amos with special guest The Willy Porter Band
June 6, 1996
A Concert Review by: Stu Gotz. Photos by: Stu Gotz.
[Editor's Note: Stu Gotz is Stu Gotz, and Stu Gotz likes to ramble sometimes, but hey, what would a concert experience be without rambling. If you want to know how Tori's show was, jump directly to "Seriously Folks," do not read about a Hog's Heaven or Piano Benches. But, if you want to know why I still can't figure out why I send Stu to these, for no better way of putting it, female-esque shows, read the entire thing. Just don't say I didn't warn you. - The Dude on the Right]
Before I begin I just want to say: Tori Amos is on weird fucked-up chick! But that's good! We'll come back to that thought later ...
First Impressions
I got turned on to Tori Amos several years ago when her song "Crucify" was getting a lot of play. I picked up a four song CD of hers with that song right away. Then, a little time down the road I picked up the CD "Y Kant Tori Read." It's then that I formed the opinion that Tori, although very talented, was a strange act and definitely an acquired taste. Awhile back my car got broken into and those CD's were stolen. Too bad, because I think I was just beginning to really like her style. So anyway, I have gone Tori-less for some time now, and it had really started to slip my mind how far out there she is.
Tori is an angry woman and it shows up in her music. She's not a "burnt by love psycho bitch" like Alanas, but she does have her problems with the male race. This being the case, I'm sot sure why The Dude on the Right (E-Ave's Editor) would send me, a "self proclaimed sexist pig, former beer guzzling frat guy" to cover a Feminist Nazi show. Maybe he thought something would happen. I'm not quite sure.
So Much For First Impressions
I showed up at the Rosemont Theater (which has the nicest and cleanest theater bathrooms I've ever pinched a loaf in) about 4:50 because the press was going to be allowed to shoot Tori's sound check. When I walk up, I saw Tori outside talking to fans. "What a cool thing to do" I thought to myself. I tried to get a picture of this thinking it would look cool in the review with pictures of Tori and her fans, but a little long hair Neo-Natzi got in my face and said "No press photos! Go inside. I'll deal with you later." "Up yours asshole!" I thought to myself and went inside. About 5:05pm I could hear a piano play. Then, after a few minutes of this I could hear Tori crackle out the song "Corn Flake Girl." It was now 5:20 and the other photog's and I were still waiting... and we waited... and waited. Finally, around 5:40pm, Uncle Adolf came around. (SIDE NOTE: All the photog's had to be cleared and one guy from a large local paper wasn't on the list. When asked his name he replied with a name shared by a famous actor. Everyone chuckled, and Adolf questioned the name jokingly, but Tom found no humor in his name. In fact Cruze got quite bent. Hey T.C.. You got it easy. Do you know what Stu Gotz means in Italian? Try growing up on the south-side of Chicago with my name). Anyway, "When I nod," Adolf said, "you may begin taking pictures... If you take a picture before this I will escort you out... Tori will perform one song for you... When I say 'thank you' you will stop taking pictures... Are we clear?" I'm thinking to myself this guy's an ass and who the hell does Tori think she is - Eva-fuckin'-Perone? Whatever...
So, I go in and get ready. Tori comes out and says "hi." Then she positions herself, begins to play, we get the nod, and the flashes fly for about two minutes. Then, just as I'm trying to get in a second roll, Adolf says "thank you" and Tori walked off stage. Quite honestly she seemed put off by the whole thing. Well forgive me if I'm interrupting you while you have better things to do Ms. Amos!
Needless to say the whole shoot left a bad taste in my mouth so I headed across the street and found a friendly bar tender named Linda to serve me up a couple of beers. I normally would never drink while working, but I was really ticked off. About 40 minutes and five beers later I headed back to catch the show.
I'm In Hog Heaven!
I still had a little time to kill so I mingled with the crowd awhile. I sparked up a conversation with this punky little chick named Stacey. She had come there with her "roommates," but didn't really care all that much for Tori. At that point neither did I. She said she did find Tori "extremely sexy." Whoa!!! Red Light and Bells!!! Call me lesbian fixated if you must, but when a girl calls another girl "extremely sexy" with a devilish grin on her face, the thought of saying "Great! Why don't the three of us get together and do the horizontal Lambada?" runs through my mind. Unfortunately, my beer balls had worn off at that point. I was, however, sober enough to truly appreciate all the tight and revealing fashions of the evening. Not since my last Aerosmith concert have I seen so much desirable snatch.
Willy Can Play Guitar (but kan he reed?)
Well enough with the flirting. It was time to catch the show. I hadn't expected Tori to have an opening act but she did. Some fairly entreating cheese heads (the guys were from Milwaukee) came on stage promptly at 7:30 pm. They called themselves the "Willy Porter Band" and the lead singers name was... That's right! You guessed it! Willy Porter. Willy is a pretty impressive acoustic guitarist and I was amazed to see that his drummer played a three piece set with only a hi-hat and splash for cymbals. These guys had a pretty cool middle of the road rock sound and played for exactly one-half hour. I thought the Willy Porter Band was pretty good and would have liked to have heard more, but her divaness was due out. So I'll just have to be content to catch them on WXRT and WLUP (two Chicago radio stations that play their stuff). I give the Willy Porter Band ONE BIG THUMB UP.
Hog Heaven Part II
After Willy I went outside to flirt some more, and that's when I saw her. A voluptuous babe in the latest tight fitting, retro-polyester fashion. I approached her and saw that she had a great smile and eyes too. I was in lust. I sparked up a conversation by asking her equally attractive friend "so did you like Willy?". Erin had a mixed response about Willy and compared him to an Irish singer named Martin Stevenson. Ok... For the sake of talkingto these two beauties I'll buy that. As I continued to talk to the lovelies I tried to keep eye contact with Kristin (yes two i's), but I don't think I was too successful. My testosterone levels were at a critical point, and I was about to bust a nut! Thank God I had to stop talking to the ladies because the show was about to continue.
I Want To Be A Piano Bench In My Next Life
I had never seen Tori in concert before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Ms. Amos made a graceful entrance and proceeded to play the shit out of her piano. When this girl plays, she has a hard time keeping her ass in place. For her entire one hour and forty minute set she straddled the piano bench facing the audience in such a way that if she was to wear a skirt without panties you'd be able to see the promised land. Add that to the fact that when she plays she gyrates her hips and grinds her holiest of holies into the bench. It's like she's having sex or something. Do you call me mentioning how high my testosterone levels were? Well, watching Tori masturbate on the bench made me want to pull a PeeWee Herman. God did I want a cigarette and I don't even smoke!
Seriously Folks
All joking aside, Tori Amos is a real talent. Not only can she play the hell out a piano, but she also has great vocal range - she can hit those squeaky highs and those husky lows. Watching and listening her perform made me think of the movie Amadaus. Why? She reminds me of the mad genius and tortured soul that Mozart was portrayed to be in that movie. By taking time out to talk to the audience and share a couple of stories, Tori demonstrated that she did have more of a personality than I had given her credit for. I didn't find her stories, or her, quite as charming as I found Jewel to be, but I think Ms. Amos is genuine in her sincerity.
A Tori Amos concert is not for everyone. If you're a fanatical Bible banging Baptist then definitely stay away, you're bound to faint in an aisle! So who is good for a Tori Amos show? I think she appeals to other tortured souls who are looking for an outlet for their aggression (how's that for dime store psychiatry). What that means is this: If you're looking for deep meaningful lyrics complimented by a piano ranging from classical to abstract in style then Tori Amos is for you.
I liked Tori's performance. I'm still not convinced that she's not a diva bitch, but regardless of my personal feelings, the audience truly loved her so I give Tori Amos TWO BIG THUMBS UP!
Tori Amos Concert Statistics
CONCERT SPECS
Where: The Rosemont Theatre
City: Rosemont, IL
Date: June 6, 1996
Opening Act:The Willy Porter Band
Concert Length (Headliner): 1 Hour and 40 Minutes
Concert Length (Total): 2 hours 45 minutes
SONG HIGHLIGHTS
Crucify
Me and a Gun
Corn Flake Girl
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
A lot more that I can't remember the titles to because my CD's got stolen before I could memorize them all. Sorry, Stu.
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As for the first show, to sum it up, after finally pissing security off enough (He'd pissed everyone else off about the second song) they hauled some guy off RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF ME AND A GUN!!! So here we are in the balcony trying to give our girl her moment and this ASSHOLE is screaming F--- YOU! all through the song. The whole concert he was yelling shit, and then people would yell "shut up!" and then people would laugh or clap. I felt so bad for Tori. And if I ever wished to God that I was on the floor, it was then. After a while I think she just wanted to finish the show, so that's what she did. Played a couple more songs, no cute little Tori-isms, just sang and left the stage.
One thing, in the first show, when she was introducing Caton she said, "A few of you may know that Caton and I were in Little Earthquakes together." I don't think she realized the goof, and noone corrected her they just screamed when she said it. Incidentally the next song was LE so I guess that's all that was on her mind, getting the show over.
Now, as for the second show... it was about three-fourths of Cincinnati and twice what is humanly possible. She came out in a black flower-print dress and black boots. "So good, it's the late show. I wore my party boots for you," she said, holding up one of them as she sat down.
This show was a usual for Tori, very energetic and powerful. Again I can't tell you the order of songs but I can tell you the highlights:
At the beginning a girl yelled, "Let's make it an all-nighter, Tori!" and Tori asked, "What?" And about fifty people all repeated her at once, to which she looked around confused and said, "I can't hear a fucking thing!" and then began to play.
About halfway through when she introduced Caton, this time from YKTR, a guy yelled, "Caton is Cool!" and Tori again asked "What?" And again everyone repeated. And she said, "Pain in his hole? I don't remember that one." Thinking he was requesting a YKTR song. And so she improvised right there about a three minute song, "Pain In His Hole!" It was so great. Another bootleg to watch for. I wish I could remember the words, a lot of "Poor Baby"'s.
As for covers, she sang "I'm On Fire" (second song) and something else I can't remember. In encores she did "Mr. Zebra" and "Cool on Your Island" which were both spectacular. And of course, ended with "Hey Jupiter" which she couldn't play the first show (needed the Harpsichord for second).
Either way, despite the shameless waste of Tori's time on the first show, she definitely gave a great second show.
Anyway, I attended both Tori shows here in Cleveland, on June 4th. The 1st was very good, but the 2nd was truly memorable. Tori really let loose for the late show. She wore a 'sassy' little red & black short dress that seemed to set the tone and express her mood. The first show she wore one of her standard tops and jeans.
I believe it was just before 'Talula' that someone yelled something sounding like 'Pain In My Hole'. Tori then improvised approx. 5 verses about what it might be like having 'a pain in my hole'.
These were my 4th and 5th Tori concerts (1- LE, 2&3- UTP), and I was thrilled to hear my favorite LE song, "Tear In Your Hand", for the first time live. Tori announced it as "one that doesn't show up too often". "Precious Things" was probably the highlight of the first show, with "Caught a Lite Sneeze" dragging a little too much on the harpsichord sections.
The 2nd show was more intense, and had many highlights. "Blood Roses", "Little Amsterdam", "Space Dog", and especially "Talula" were all incredible. "Cool On Your Island" was an interesting surprise, and "Hey Jupiter" closed the evening perfectly, although I think I prefer it when played on the standard piano.
Tori seemed in a very good mood for this show. Also, very playful as you'll be able to tell.
- Tori then said that her wearing her black boots was a privilege for the fans at the late show
- some girl mentioned something about pulling an allnighter and Tori couldn't understand what she was saying for the life of her. She said it was like Spock with the gooey, bubbly thing on his forehead trying to talk like he needed toilet paper...
Lyrics to "Pain in His Hole" (kind of)
Pain in his hole
I know I liked it with a kitchen toe
Pain in his hole
He goes ahh, oooohh, oooowwww, eeeeehhhhh
Poor baby
You never said
Pain in his hole
I think you gonna cry
- and some more lyrics about circumsicion
*Encore 1*
*Encore 2*
I'm not quite sure if I got the placement of the encores right for the later show. I tried my best to decipher all I had written in the dark throughout the concert. I also have an article from the Plain Dealer on June 4th (before the concert- not a review). If anyone would like it posted or sent to them please let me know. I'm a so so very happy girlie now that I met my Goddess. I love you (and especially you, Tori!)
Everyone, please smile for me as I finally got to meet Tori. I waited an hour before the soundcheck in a severe thunderstorm which set quite an interesting atmosphere. She was running late so basically only signed autographs. I tried my hardest not to cry, but when I saw her tiny, very beautiful, my emotions ran wild. I was really excited because she gave me a hug and a kiss and a few words, too. The tears lasted for two hours afterwards. Thank you to everyone who helped me fufill this dream for me.
The concerts were spectacular. Through some dealings, etc. I got my last row balcony seats for the 7 show switched to 10th row center! I felt so much a part of the concert up close. Here is the 7:00 setlist.
*Encore 1*
*Encore 2*
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Okay, I am gushing and really pouring it on in this review. But this show was WORTH IT!
Tori Amos: Her star shines brightly as Cincinnati witnesses her very best.
There is no way I can adequately describe the events of Monday night, June 3rd in Cincinnati Ohio. Words can only approximate. After checking with several other fans that were there I can safely say that Tori Amos gave what might be THE performance of her career at the Aranoff Center. I am not sure what inspired her, perhaps the stars were just aligned right and twinkling brightly for her. She was very energetic, happy, and intense on that stage. She thrashed about and sang so intensely that the drool watchers were having a field day. She did not hold back but let the demons out, and I just sat there with my mouth held open and the tears swelling in my eyes repeatedly. When Tori performs at 50%, she is great. Tori at 100% is almost overwhelming. This show was different from all the rest folks. There is no way I could see what I did and deny that she is the greatest musician of this century, The technical skill was of course top notch, and she gave everything to the audience.
I saw the show with another true Tori fan named Lori. I was honored to share my second row seat with someone who truly enjoyed the show and was as touched and amazed by this incredible performance as I was. Lori is even better than me when it comes to following Tori around the country, She is seeing her all over the Midwest. I drove here less than 2 hours from Louisville KY, but she drove all the way from St. Louis to see Ms. Amos! Cool Lori can confirm that I am not exaggerating in my description of this show.
She opened with Beauty Queen and Horses. Then it was time for Yes Anastasia, at which time it became very obvious that she was in rare form tonight. The red hair was flying, and she was SO INTO IT. The lighting here was dramatic. Her facial expressions were incredible here and throughout the show.
She then talked to us (the following is an approximation of what she said): "Hello space Martians, How do you like my little friend (Harpsichord). She doesn't have a name..it's just she." She then began to tinker with the harpsichord and SANG to it "You've got to go to work now" and launched into Blood Roses. It never sounded so intense.
Little Amsterdam came next. Chills kept rushing through my body. The intensity here was total, and tears appeared as she sang "Must count for something". She was truly killing me softly...
"This is Caton..we were in a band called Y Kant Tori Read together" She grimaced. The crowd shouted song titles from the album. She exclaimed "Jesus Christ Caton, where were they in 1988" Caton then began Cornflake Girl and she got up and did her little dance before starting her part. Great mime! For some reason I took special notice of the jelly beans that appeared on the screen behind her during parts of this song...and the guy a couple rows behind me that was standing in the center of the row and dancing!
Doughnut Song was next. After that, she began to sing a little ditty. To be honest I do not know of she made it up or if it is a snippet from a well-known song, but the lyrics went something like "How are things in Cincinnati..Things are better since I've been here." You knew that she really meant that and it warmed my heart. She immediately began Pretty Good Year after that. The intense part when she wails "What's It Going To Take?" was an explosion of lights and passion. I was almost literally blown out of my seat. She sang with so much force and conviction.
I was pleasantly surprised by Sweet Dreams, which really comes across great live. She was so into it, giving little shouts between the verses. Half way through she forgot the words. As always Tori is so damn cute when she makes a boo-boo, and the audience just loves her all the more. She actually asked US to help her find her place in the song! People would shout out words and she would say "that's not it..no no". Finally one person yells "Well Well". She blows that person a kiss, smiles hugely, and continues the song. The crowd loved it. Great fun!
Then came a little story before Marianne. It was the one she has said before, about Marianne who was a 14 years old girl she knew in school who was really "the most beautiful human being". She then laughed and said, "That's hard to believe isn't it? We women can have a real mean streak. Another pearl can enter the room and we are ready to go..and your boyfriend will say 'she's so nice', but that's okay guys, we women have been killing each other in the 'harem' for years. But Marianne was truly nice..." Then she says her mother told her one day that Marianne killed herself, and Tori said her first reaction was "Fuck you mom. That's your first reaction you know, Somebody so wonderful that gave everyone such a gift, NO" She shakes her head and begins Marianne. It broke my heart, and obviously broke Tori's as well.
Then Precious Things began. I have seen this song many times. There was the classic 26 second ggggiiiiirrrrrlllllll part, but there was much more. At times she just let it rip, singing with passion and fury and made me cry out. She got so carried away that drool was just pouring out of her mouth. She did not care, her entire soul was into the song. This was a transcendent moment that still gives me chills to think about it, She kept singing one part repeatedly, singing something like, "these precious things, let them bleed, let them, these precious things, let them bleed, let them wash me clean, these precious..." while letting the demons out of her. Her voice reached peaks and valleys of highs and lows.
The sad and wonderful Not The Red Baron followed. As she began the song after Baron, she let out a "wheeeee" and did a classic Little Earthquakes. How quickly we do fall to pieces..I now cried! Steve Caton's guitar really added depth to this song. This was another song that Tori abandoned herself to totally.
On to Caught A Lite Sneeze. Tori gave the biggest smiles here.
Me and a Gun was next. After an initial shout the crowd was respectful here. Seeing her do this from second row made the song more haunting than ever. I respect her so much for her courage and desire to avoid being a victim.
She returned for the first encore and did On Saturday Afternoons in 1963. Beautiful song, and the first time I got to hear it. Very poignant. Then I heard the familiar opening notes to Winter and the dam broke. I began to weep. That is the most beautiful opening of any song I have heard. I think at this point I was experiencing overload, in a good way of course. This will most likely be the best concert of my life.
The second encore began on a jamming note, with In the Springtime Of His Voodoo. She began the song by shouting "Come on momma, ride that bull". She also gave a little growl during the song that was really cool. She jammed longer than usual with Steve Caton, and their interplay was inspired. They were JAMMING.
She accepted compliments from people saying they loved her "Thank you mam" and in a silly oh-come-on-now voice "I love you too". She then said she was going to try a song that she still did not know very well, and did a rather error-free Frog On My Toe. Tori looked happy as she remember her grandfather, whom the song appears to be about. The "slap those boys when they're naughty" part made the audience cheer!
She finished the show with Hey Jupiter on the harmonium organ. Toward the end she messed up, and said "I made a mistake, I take the blame", then she altered the line "Guess it's clear, he's gone" to "Guess it's clear, I fucked up". The crowd roared. We did not mind. She did go back and finished the song beautifully.
I could go on but this review is long enough. It was truly one of her best performances ever, if not her best. I will never forget it. Cincinnati was a magical place last night. Thank you Tori. We love you.
Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! I have to tell you about my wonderful Tori experience yesterday in Cincinnati. My friend Melissa and I (we're from Indiana) just decided the other day that we need to see Tori so we drove to Cinci on a whim with no tickets or anything, just a burning desire to see Tori. The night before we were sitting around getting really excited and we thought, "you know, we should go grocery shopping for Tori. So we bought her strawberries and Nutella and chocolates and a mango. All our friends made fun of us, saying that we weren't even going to get into the concert let alone see Tori. But we were determined to see her. So we drive down and get to the Aranoff center three hours early. We saw about 10 people outside the stage door waiting for Tori, so we sat down with them and waited. Soon her bodyguards show up and one says, "Okay you Tori fans, Tori is going to come outside and meet with all of you. She'll take one picture and sign one thing and talk with you, okay?" I was so excited I was shaking so bad! Soon Tori pulls up in this white limo and she looked SO cute! Her hair was in this messy ponytail and her ears were so cute and she was so nice! So when it was our turn we gave her the food and she called us sweet and hugged us and took a picture with each of us. It was so incredible!
Well we ended up getting tickets and as you know the concert was too awesome for words. She was on fire, just going off on these wonderful tangents on almost every song. In the bag that Melissa and I gave her we left a note and at the end asked her to play Frog on My Toe. Well she played through the entire concert and no Frog. But the concert was so wonderful we didn't even care. Then in the second encore after "Voodoo" she says to the audience, "Okay guys I don't really know this song very well but we'll try our best to play it." AND SHE PLAYED IT!!! We cried so hard.
Then after the concert she came out in the back and we got to talk to her again. I asked her if they let her eat the food and she said "AAAH! Strawberries!" and I told her thank you for Frog on My Toe and she touched my hands and said "you're welcome." What an angel! I am still shaking just writing about it. I will never forget that day.
I am a huge Tori fan and was also at the Cincinnati show. It was only the second time I have seen Tori live (the other was her 1994 Under the Pink show).
The show was incredible, but, to truly understand what it did for me, u have understand something first. I just finished exam week at the U of Cincinnati, and on Monday, I was in the midst of cramming for the final exams in 2 very difficult classes. I was going to sell my tickets, cuz I didn't think I was going to be able to enjoy the show.
After she started the way she did so gracefully playing and singing Beauty Queen, I immediately perked up and was right with her. I had never before been so touched as I was when she told the story of Marianne. Tori seemed to be sooo into that song it made tears come to my eyes.
Then, there was Precious Things. Simply Amazing.....that's about all I need to say about that.
I have never before felt so much emotion (good emotion) at a concert. I haven't seen Tori that many times, but I have been to alot of other shows, and I have to agree with you in saying that Tori's 1996 Cincinnati show at the Aronoff Center was the BEST EVER!
I really enjoyed reading your review. When I read it I once again felt the emotions she made me feel on Monday June 3. Thanks so much.
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My wife and I attended the Grand Rapids show last night and I found Tori's performance to be quite magical. The sound and her stage presence were much better than when we saw her over a year ago in South Bend, IN (our home). The troubling thing about this concert though was the fact that a disruptive part of the audience had no clue how to listen to sensitive emotional music. The incessant " we love you Tori", screaming and general rowdiness of the crowd was very distracting. There is a place for yelling and such but not during "me and a gun" and other sensitive quiet passages of her music. I realize that we are older fans (about 47:) ) but I cannot believe that Tori was not put off by the noise.
I feel much like I did the last time I saw Bruce Springsteen. The wonder of an intimate concert without the mass hysteria is now gone for Tori. She's big time show business and has now attracted the "who's hot this month" crowd. I don't blame her, I just miss the respectful quiet of her earlier days.
I'm sure you'll get set lists, et al so I'll leave that to others. My only disappointment from Tori was that I was hoping that she would play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". She played "Famous Blue Raincoat" instead. The woman is special and a gift to us all.
Not only my first Tori concert, any concert at all is a rare event for me, especially given my relatively high levels of misanthropy. Consider it a sign of my admiration for what I know of her and her work that I was willing to subject myself to group experience on this level -- and if you think this reaction is perhaps a tad unwarranted, stop and ask yourself if just maybe you haven't been getting a little tired of all the recent converts to the faith, as it were. Oh sure, some of them may mean well, but they tend to shout inappropriately at concerts, or worse, scream incoherently; probably don't "get" even one-tenth of her lyrical meaning; &c. The phenomenon of a truly uncompromisingly creative individual carving out a niche in the mass marketplace that demands at least recognition by the mainstream is a long and bitter one, and probably dates back to a bunch of scholars sitting around griping about how their old buddy Aristophanes was a sell-out to the crowds or the Emperor or whoever. Imagine, sprinkling your play full of dildo jokes just for a cheap laugh.
As it turned out, Aristophanes made an extremely insightful stab at the power politics of his day, and also accomplished the not inconsiderable feat of acknowledging female sexuality as a powerful and positive force. Now, from on the other side of a few millenia we have a girl and her piano. Well, and her harpsichord. Well...and the pump organ. But the main attraction is the girl, who's been maneuvering through the thorny thicket of public performance and private passion since her early days in gay nightclubs. All the reviews I'd seen so far for the current tour had similar themes: Tori spoke less with the audience than in the past, even seemed close to exhausted most of the time; and there were lots of assholes hootin' and hollerin'. Given my attitudes as described above, you'd be right to assume I entered with a clear preparation for the worst (not helped by being physically rather beat up and having an out-of-date map of Grand Rapids, although we still arrived with plenty of time to spare).
Now a clearer explanation of myself is necessary here: I still mosh when the circumstances, music and venue are appropriate. Maybe even dance a little if the music is right (say, Buckwheat Zydeco) and I've imbibed a little alcohol. But for a show like Ms. A's, as with Kodo, the Japanese drummers who I was privileged enough to see when they came to Kalamazoo's Miller Auditorium, I sit back in my chair, uncomfortable or no, open my pores and let the music flow in like unadulterated heroin. Perhaps my legs tap, my head sways or my fingers move to whatever rhythms are present, but on the whole I just sits. I was at the end of row 14 and a bit left, and due in part to my height had a reasonably clear view if I so chose, but I'm sure that my eyes were closed at least half the time. But more importantly than even all this: I don't usually clap until the show's almost over, mostly because everyone around me is clapping more than enough for me and it just feels better when I wait longer before "giving it up", as it were.
I hope I don't offend Willie Porter fans by dispensing with a review of his show, other than to note that my favorite song was (rather unfortunately for him, and not faulting him in any way) his Michael Jackson cover, which he did without the benefit of his band. (It definitely got the most applause. "We fear change." :)
I don't know how many seats this place had, but I'd heard they had sold out earlier in the day. And every one of those fans had a bull moose in their lungs when Tori came on stage, and that set the tone for the first song. (I don't even remember most songs specifically, due to overly rattled brains.)
There's a fine line between well-intentioned audience participation and a gross intrusion upon the performance, especially for a show like Tori's, and complicated even further by the fact that pretty much everyone's opinion is divided on what exactly constitutes "intrusive" and even more so now, given the increasingly varied demographics at her concerts (I noticed at least three women and two men probably over the age of 40). I'm sure Tori knows this on more than one level, and I think the folks toward the end of her tour are going to be in for some real heart-stoppers by the time her blazing trail hits their town. The most recent reviews I read said she seemed to be getting more comfortable in her interactions with the audience, honing the edge of her musical partnership with guitarist Steve Caton, &c.; and what I saw (and heard) only clinched those observations.
As I said, the audience ERUPTED for her walk-on and continued to almost drown her out entirely during almost the first half of the first song. The chap who hollered, "I love you, Tori!" during her one brief monologue was rewarded with a dry, "Well, I love you too, but..." and a graceful segue. In between songs the noise level was almost painful, and I kept cringing at the awful shrieks (in assorted vocal registers) during the especially quiet moments. The essence of a Tori concert -- the contrast from one moment to the next, the sonic sculpture that even a tone-deaf, stick-figure-level art dropout like me can see -- lay in jeopardy.
But Tori pulled it off, and did it very deliberately and unstoppably. She set her course and sailed straight, and the audience responded like a whipped lion, slowly subduing itself almost of its own volition; giving her more "breathing room" during the quiet moments, and calming down more quickly after the occasional uncontrollable eruption of cheering. There was still the cringing moment, I'll admit: the infamous "Grrrrrrrrrrrl" which has been getting "longer and longer" was practically a competition, where it seemed the audience was trying to outvocalize her. But every time I thought they were getting out of control she'd introduce just a split second more pause, insert an unexpected breath -- and the savage beast would be tamed, almost instantly falling silent again. Very sobering songs such as "Not the Red Baron" got a very respectful treatment, as did "Me and a Gun" (although there were a few actual "yeehaw" type outbursts during this, they were mercifully brief). Tori's learning how to deal with the mass influx of new believers, feeding off the energy that a raucous, uninhibited crowd provides while maintaining that necessary power that keeps her developing that ever finer sense of control to keep them *just enough* in line. And of course, when the audience was tied up and couldn't move (even if those fetters were imposed only in their own minds), they went even more nuts, and had an even better time of it. "Cornflake Girl" started with Steve strumming the chords, which everybody immediately recognized and responded to, and Tori got up from her bench to face the audience and did that wonderful magical dance others have mentioned, her hands seemingly "scooping" energy from the audience and then "pushing" it back to them, and I was fortunate enough to have my eyes open at that particular time. Also as others have mentioned, at one point (I think during "Talulah") she stopped actually playing and was beating on the Bosie like a drum while she sang (prompting the comment from my wife, "Well, I guess *technically* a piano *is* a percussive instrument...").
Steve's guitar playing was unobtrusive, delicately nuanced and an excellent addition to Tori's keyboarding. A drum track was used only for "Talulah", and included some background vocals. B-sides that I remember: "Here in my head", "Butterfly", and Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat". High point for me: "Little Earthquakes", one of my personal faves and a great showcase for Steve. Closing song was "Hey Jupiter" on the pump organ, almost too soft to be heard if things got too loud and so the kids were a bit respectful of that; it didn't look old or rickety, but definitely sounded like something from the previous century, and conjured up images of Victorian households in the days when nearly every family had at least one person who could play the piano, and everybody got together to sing songs at least once a week.
I know I'd rather see Tori in a smaller venue, a more intimate setting, but that's the way I feel about every artist whose work I really admire and care about. And we all have that same complaint anyway, that our favorite artist isn't really cool anymore because folks we consider not-cool (according to our own varied and sundry interpretations of the term) are really into them now. And that's really such a minor quibble, because I find it gratifyingly amazing that even with a few thousand newbies along for the ride, Tori Amos is making it worth the trip.
I saw my first Tori concert ever, last night in Grand Rapids. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen and I'm sure that at least at this point, it was the greatest night of my life. The lights were amazing, but Tori herself was just phenominal. She's God. That's all there is to it! There was so much energy, and everyone in the audience was excited beyond description. I screamed so much, I can't believe I have a voice today! If anyone else reading went to this show, I hope you loved it as much as I. Anyway, here's the set list. {I'll hope no one else posts it}
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I didn't have a watch on, but a friend told me that she took the stage at about 8:50 and finished at about 11:00. Which sounds about right considering when I got home. I wish I could see her again, but that was memorable enough. I was so thrilled that she did Precious Things, Butterfly, Here In My Head, and Little Earthquakes (I don't think she had done that one much). Cornflake Girl was great too. It all was. Sorry to ramble, but I had to share my happiness! All of you who did see her more than once, I'm jealous, but I'm still overcome with happiness. All the way home my friends and I just kept repeating, "I'm so happy, that was so wonderful!" That's all I have to say.
willie porter started out the show at about seven-thirty, and he was just okay. i wouldn't rush out and buy his record (which i believe he said was called "Dog Eared-Dream") but this song about jesus on the cross and a Jackson 5 cover were quite entertaining.
in between willie and tori, a tape of led zeppelin songs played. the lights dimmed and tori came on to "son of a preacher man." she looked like a goddess. it was magical. from there she launched into two (maybe THE two) best performances of the night. "beauty queen/horses" was slowed down a little and was amazing. from there she went into "icicle" always a favorite of mine and when she sang that song, i wanted to cry.
"blood roses" was next and before that she told a really neat story. she played a great version of that song, got the crowd pretty riled up. the only thing that really sucked was this was the only time she talked all night! i couldn't believe it. i wanted to hear her beautiful voice (other than singing, of course)
"father lucifer" was simply okay. extended version or something, seemed to be a little too hard for the song. would have preferred "little amsterdam", but it was still neat. "cornflake girl" was a lot better than i expected it to be. don't get me wrong, i love CG, but i've just heard it so many times. seeing her perform it was great.
"doughnut song" "little earthquakes" and "happy phantom" were fantastic. loved the "it's over" intro to doughnut song and little earthquakes has always been one of my very favorite tori songs. pleasantly surprised. the "happy phantom" is a great song for a concert, also a favorite.
"here. in my head" YESSS! This is such a great song. i really hoped that she would play it, and then she did! this, "icicle" and "horses" were the three best, if you don't include the encores. amazing.
"precious things" is getting a little obnoxious with the "grrrrrllllll." don't get me wrong though, i loved it. "not the red baron" is probably my least favorite on BfP, but tonight the song seemed a lot better. i've listened to it more ever since and i really like it. it's neat.
"CALS" and "talula." slowed-down "caught a lite sneeze" was probably my least favorite thing she did. didn't seem real at all. i was bored through the whole thing. "talula" was great to get the audience on their feet. the tape-loop worked out well.
"me and a gun." this will get some people mad, but... "MAAG" is a wonderful song and tori needs to play it, but it is getting a little too long. it's not that i'm uncomfortable or anything like that, but it took her like nine minutes to do this. i think it was also the rudeness of the audience that got to me.
1: famous blue raincoat. china
GREAT!!!! loved them both. i cried and cried through the both of them. leonard cohen would be proud. love the "china" lyrics, always have.
2: mr. zebra. butterfly. hey jupiter
"mr. zebra" was wonderful. people were going crazy when she played that. "butterfly" was also beautiful, but i was kind of dissapointed she opted to play that. i would have preferred "Sister Janet" "honey" "daisy dead petals" as UtP bee-sides go, but oh well. "jupiter" was perfect. i loved it. closed the show with a tear.
all in all, a wonderful show. little dissapointed with the crowd behavior and her not including "winter" "Mother" tear in your hand, bells for her "Cloud on my tongue" "Putting the Damage On" etc. But you really can't please everybody and i was truly happy with what we got.
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