Tori Amos with special guest The Devlins

Tori, Sometimes You Just Do Come Through
by: kriste matrisch

I've been blessed in my life in many ways. One of those blessings that I'm most thankful for is being able to see one of my favorite artists perform live- not only once, but TWICE. Some people are not so "blessed" to see the Goddess perform at all, so my job for all those toriphiles is to make it feel like they were there.

The band (Matt Chamberlain on drums, Jon Evans on bass, and Steve Caton on electric guitar) welcomed a beautiful Tori to the stage. Tori wore jean-like pants, a black short-sleeved shirt with a gold vest over it, and her hair was worn down. She opened with the popular "Precious Things," immediately pleasing the audience.

From the best of my memory, these are all the songs that she sang after "Precious Things":

Doughnut Song
Cornflake Girl
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Spark
Cruel
Leather
Hey Jupiter
The Waitress
iieee
Siren
Jackie's Strength

Her first encore was "She's Your Cocaine" and "Raspberry Swirl." Her last encore was "Pandora's Aquarium" and "Horses."

With this being the first time Tori has toured with a band, she does her best to adapt. Sometimes the band hides her talented piano artistry and vocals, but overall, I was delighted with the performance. Her strong performances were "Cornflake Girl," "Leather," "Hey Jupiter," (both of those last two were just her and her Bosey) and then her encores.

What I found amazing is the fact that Tori can play her piano and the synthesizer at the same time. Of course, there weren't that many notes for each hand, but it was still impressive. Also, it was strange seeing what she did when she wasn't playing anything; she had her back faced towards the audience (at an angle) and her arms were behind her, as if she were handcuffed. Maybe it was a reference to the "Spark" video; I don't know.

Everyone also knows of Tori's beauty and how arousing she can be. If you've heard "Raspberry Swirl" on the album, then you would definitely be stimulated during the live performance. The way the lights swirled, the way Tori chanted and breathed each line, the wasy the audience danced or bobbed their legs to the rhythmic beats-- add all of that together, well, it was almost enough to push me over the edge with sexual excitement. (Thus making it the highlight of my week *giggle*)

After it was over, my friends asked me which performance I liked better. I told them that even though Tori Amos performed at both, each was a very different concert. I can't choose; both were breathtaking-- the one indication that you are witnessing Tori perform live.