Tori Amos, solo in concert

[Albert Philipsen <awphili@cs.vu.nl>]

Last Sunday afternoon, I attended a solo concert by Tori Amos.
The performance took place in a theatre called RoXY, in the center
of Amsterdam.  It's a small place with approximately 200 seats and
it was sold out.  I had a perfect seat on the fourth row, right in
front of Tori.  She played an electric piano, and her voice was
amplified.  The stage was beautifully lit, with lights slowly
changing with the flow of the music.  The program consisted of
everything from her album Little Earthquakes except Girl and Mother,
Upside Down ("a song which didn't make it to the album, but I made
a deal with it to sing it all the time" :-), Angie (the Rolling
Stones song), and two more non-album songs, of which she didn't say
the title.  She didn't talk much between the songs, just three or
four short remarks (like "this song is for my dad", before she
played Winter).  After the last song, she left the stage with a
quick "goodbye!".  The performance took 67 minutes.

I must say that I intensely enjoyed the show.  Her voice was in
great condition, and her piano playing and occasional stamping on
the floor with her red high-heeled shoes made up for the lack of
a band.  Songs such as Little Earthquakes and Precious Things, which
feature a lot of instruments and backing vocals on the album, really
worked in concert.  I was close enough to see every expression on
her face, which was very nice.  It wasn't all perfect, though.
She should have played a grand piano, her voice probably would have
sounded better without amplification, and she didn't play Mother :-(.
But that doesn't change the fact that she's a great performer!
Go see her if she's in your neighborhood.

Albert Philipsen
-----------------------
we danced in graveyards
with vampires till dawn (Tori Amos)