Tori at the Hammersmith Apollo
Ok, before I start, I need to blog about something really freaky. So I'm in London again, and on top of there being a bomb scare within an hour of my landing at Heathrow, HAIL fell from the sky today. At the very height of summer no less. I'm so freaked out I've resolved to help save the planet by raising my aircon temperature by 1 degree Celsius.
Now back to the topic of my post. Which is another music-related one. (Why nearly every single post on this blog is now music-related is the subject of another blog entry another day. It has to do with the fact that too many people have the address. Which when you think about it, IS one of the defining characteristics of success of a blog. Which of course means that my blog isn't being used by me for the right purpose.
Anyway. Back to the subject of this posting - the divine, incomparable Tori Amos.
I just returned from watching her at the Hammersmith Apollo, and she is now only the second artist I have watched live three times (the other is Everything But The Girl). I wasn't expecting much really, since her music has taken a turn in the past few years in a direction I cannot identify with anymore. Maybe she grew up, or I grew up. All I know was that after days of watching resale ticket prices on eBay, I decided to just go with standing tickets right at the back of the auditorium. If I get bored, it would be easier to get a drink from the bar, I thought.
Boy was I wrong. I last watched Tori in 1994, and before that in 1992. Nothing quite prepares you for the beauty of her voice when you hear it live. Even with her irritating tendency to mispronounce words ("because I'm emoting so much I can't even say the words right"), her voice rings out so clear and (yes!) emotes so much you only need to hear the words you know so well in your heart, not clear out loud. And she was clearly in the mood to entertain tonight - pulling out old favourites from her 2nd and 3rd albums mostly, adding clever and cunning variations to the arrangements. Plus she lost weight and she looks absolutely fabulous and insane in her different American Doll Posse outfits ("look I'm Tori, no I'm Isabel! No I'm Clyde!"). How to dislike her when halfway through "Black Dove", she stops singing and declares "I am totally fucking up this band" after forgetting the chords, and then launches into an impromptu made up children's song called "I think I've had a brain fart"?
The thing is, Tori's been one of those artists that has constantly been part of my life. I discovered her when I bought her first single "Me And A Gun" from Steve's Sounds in Leicester Square (it's still there!) and since then, so many of her songs have been the soundtrack to my life. She, of course, has like 500 songs and as she traversed her catalogue to pick out gems, there is that feeling of being transported back and forth through time. As she played her two saddest break-up songs tonight ("Putting The Damage On" and "Hey Jupiter"), I remembered how sorry I felt for her when the album they were on was released, and how sorry I felt for myself when my own break-up happened almost 7 years later.
But you know, things have a way of coming around in waves. And with her new album and tonight's performance, Tori Amos is becoming relevant to me all over again. Her finale for tonight was "Tear In Your Hand", one of her oldest and most familiar songs, which also happens to be E.'s favourite Tori song. E. is the only person I know that really shares my love for Tori and when she played that song, I just wanted so much for him to be there to hear it. Uselessly, I tried to record a snippet on my mobile phone, but I was too far away from the stage, and Tori at the piano was reduced to just a blur of pixelated bright light. I found myself praying that in this world where things can really change very quickly, that I would be able to see her a fourth time, and that E. and I would be there to see her together. For the world these days isn't so much about hearing Tori play the old songs, but having them cast in a different light.
Now back to the topic of my post. Which is another music-related one. (Why nearly every single post on this blog is now music-related is the subject of another blog entry another day. It has to do with the fact that too many people have the address. Which when you think about it, IS one of the defining characteristics of success of a blog. Which of course means that my blog isn't being used by me for the right purpose.
Anyway. Back to the subject of this posting - the divine, incomparable Tori Amos.
I just returned from watching her at the Hammersmith Apollo, and she is now only the second artist I have watched live three times (the other is Everything But The Girl). I wasn't expecting much really, since her music has taken a turn in the past few years in a direction I cannot identify with anymore. Maybe she grew up, or I grew up. All I know was that after days of watching resale ticket prices on eBay, I decided to just go with standing tickets right at the back of the auditorium. If I get bored, it would be easier to get a drink from the bar, I thought.
Boy was I wrong. I last watched Tori in 1994, and before that in 1992. Nothing quite prepares you for the beauty of her voice when you hear it live. Even with her irritating tendency to mispronounce words ("because I'm emoting so much I can't even say the words right"), her voice rings out so clear and (yes!) emotes so much you only need to hear the words you know so well in your heart, not clear out loud. And she was clearly in the mood to entertain tonight - pulling out old favourites from her 2nd and 3rd albums mostly, adding clever and cunning variations to the arrangements. Plus she lost weight and she looks absolutely fabulous and insane in her different American Doll Posse outfits ("look I'm Tori, no I'm Isabel! No I'm Clyde!"). How to dislike her when halfway through "Black Dove", she stops singing and declares "I am totally fucking up this band" after forgetting the chords, and then launches into an impromptu made up children's song called "I think I've had a brain fart"?
The thing is, Tori's been one of those artists that has constantly been part of my life. I discovered her when I bought her first single "Me And A Gun" from Steve's Sounds in Leicester Square (it's still there!) and since then, so many of her songs have been the soundtrack to my life. She, of course, has like 500 songs and as she traversed her catalogue to pick out gems, there is that feeling of being transported back and forth through time. As she played her two saddest break-up songs tonight ("Putting The Damage On" and "Hey Jupiter"), I remembered how sorry I felt for her when the album they were on was released, and how sorry I felt for myself when my own break-up happened almost 7 years later.
But you know, things have a way of coming around in waves. And with her new album and tonight's performance, Tori Amos is becoming relevant to me all over again. Her finale for tonight was "Tear In Your Hand", one of her oldest and most familiar songs, which also happens to be E.'s favourite Tori song. E. is the only person I know that really shares my love for Tori and when she played that song, I just wanted so much for him to be there to hear it. Uselessly, I tried to record a snippet on my mobile phone, but I was too far away from the stage, and Tori at the piano was reduced to just a blur of pixelated bright light. I found myself praying that in this world where things can really change very quickly, that I would be able to see her a fourth time, and that E. and I would be there to see her together. For the world these days isn't so much about hearing Tori play the old songs, but having them cast in a different light.
posted by rookcub at
6:48 AM
1 Comments:
ah it was a brilliant gig, Tori was sexual,sensual, alluring, enigmatic on stage!
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