Concert: Tori Amos

A long time Tori Amos fan, since her debut single on cassette "Silent All These Years", we have seen her so many times live I cannot even count. That said, there is something to be said to Ms. Amos and her catalog of work now at fifty.

On the Unrepentant Geraldines Tour, she was once again alone - just her and her Bosendorfer. With a great focus on water songs - perhaps in the transient nature of our time and age, the acceptance and growth for which every one experiences - her set list could not have been better. Opening with "Parasol" to ending with the classic "Hey Jupiter", with highlights "Snow Cherries From France", "Tear In Your Hand" and "Take to the Sky" - a wonderful, thumping rendition which left the audience begging for more.

I will say a note about the venue The Winspear Opera House. I had never been there. Wow! Its gorgeous with incredible acoustics! And I really cannot recommend it enough if you have an opportunity to attend a concert there, you should.

That said, the crowd was for the most part quite passive even for a Tori show. A lot of the younger crowd didn't even seem to know some of her older work which with Tori especially is really a staple in her being. You had to know her anger in the 90's, her heartache through Choirgirl Hotel, her journey with Scarlet's Walk to truly appreciate the serene siren (and much at peace) she is today.

I remember (I am old) the days of the piano banging, gyrating, screaming "These Precious things let them bleed...." and watching her morph into the graceful butterfly she has become is rather reassuring. But in saying that I must say, the first half of the concert was a rather tame, subdued, older Tori and that is completely to be expected. What I found problematic with it though was the rudeness which ran rampant through the crowd. When you go to a Tori show, if you aren't up dancing and screaming, you are sitting there quietly, hands in your lap, reflecting. Not shouting to your best friend about some bullshit. Not letting your children run around. Not getting up to start a fight causing even more disruption. But showing some respect, some measure of appropriate behavior for which this woman has fought and more than earned your respect. Otherwise, why bother going?

And that was the question which still today lingers on. Why were all of those people there? Because a good handful around us were not there to take in the drug for which Tori feeds us. This leads me to wanting to scream, "People just fucking behave! Get out! Or behave!" One or the other, but do not make me - a longtime member of this church of Tori sit through your bullshit - it was sacrilege.

Tori was beautiful. Her daughter is as well.
The show was splendor, pure bliss.
Again, these people. These crowds. Just as bad as Pink. Different though, far more disruptive.
Probably needed the "hands-in-the-lap" crowd from Pink at Tori and vice versa.

Peace.
k <3