Monday, March 03, 2008

Tori Amos -- "American Doll Posse"

Tori and her band played Pittsburgh's Benedum Center October 30,2007, to a sold out crowd. I was a "Tori nut" when she first broke into alternative radio playlists with Cornflake Girl. I really liked her sound and was impressed with her lyrics. I purchased "Under the Pink" and "Little Earthquakes" and then nothing until "Boys for Pele." They were all good CD's. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to see her live show but my girlfriend REALLY wanted to see her and got some good tickets.

Her shows are attended by fanatical fans (was that redundant? LOL!) They know every lyric and nuance to her stage performances and, in the end, become part of the show. The woman next to me actually squeeled several times during the first few notes of a song. We ran into a few fans beforehand at a local watering hole. Evidently (we didn't see the message from the band) the show was a Halloween Show and everyone was supposed to dress up. The themes from her songs include a lot of references to organized religion and the fans we ran into were dressed up as Satan and three Altar Boys. They had met her earlier in the day and were very complimentary of Tori's personal attention to their doting. It's nice to hear about such a huge star actually spending time with fans before a big show.

The show itself was mesmerizing. I really didn't know about the concept for the CD or the fact that Tori often dresses up as various evil/good personas named Santa, Isabel, Pip, Clyde, and Tori. Over the years, Tori has suffered from numerous bouts of depression and a very public retelling of a rape. All of the personas represent different aspects of her being. It was a very entertaining part of the show as she totally "became" each persona on stage.

She played simultaneous organ and piano for several of the songs -- stretching her arms and turning around to play the organ at points. I was very impressed with her voice and her ability to really jam. And her costumes were fabulous! My favorite song of the evening was "Caught A Light Sneeze." What an amazing performance vocally.

I would really recommend seeing her live but make sure you dust off the old CD's and watch some of her videos (there are six of them) before going. Otherwise, you'll miss out on all of the audience participation. She has been nominated for a Grammy nine times since she began packaging CD's in 1990. She has sold more than 12 million CD's and is considered one of the most active touring artists in the world.

I'm sure there aren't many folks out there that haven't heard Tori's amazing voice but just in case you're one of them, you may want to check out these sites for more information: http://www.toriamos.com/ and http://thepiratebay.org/ for some great bootleg concerts. Of course you can always read all about Tori at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Amos
She is truly a gem.

Oh ... and Bruce? Thanks for the nudge. This post is LONGGGGGGGGGGG overdue.

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