Tori vs. Kate - Live Impressions

[Craig Heath <craig%sware.com@mathcs.emory.edu>]

		"Kate Bush with an unhappy childhood?"

Well, the Tori Amos concert last night at the Variety Playhouse in
Atlanta was quite an experience.  It was very intense, and she certainly
has a great voice, and plays piano almost instinctually, but "enjoyment"
isn't the right term to use.  I was very moved, and in fact felt quite
uncomfortable at times.

Although her talent approaches Kate's, her attitude differs, for me,
significantly.  Although Kate obviously sings from the heart, her lyrics
are usually indirect - it is clear she is taking on the role of a character
in a story, and, on stage, she exposes her talent to public scrutiny, but
not, directly, her own feelings.  Tori, on the other hand, comes over in a
much more direct way, which feels somehow more aggressive and challenging.

To quote a for-instance, in one of her asides during the show, just after
tying up her hair she said "[so-and-so] says I look like Dumbo with my
hair in a ponytail.  Well, f*ck him."  Cheap laugh? I don't know, but it
struck me as rude and vulgar.  Anyway, she doesn't look half as much like
Dumbo in a ponytail as I do :-)

I can't think of more specifics, but I did develop a certain suspicion
that she doesn't like men very much (quite probably for good reason, that's
not supposed to be a criticism).  Someone (sorry, I've deleted the message)
commented on her singing of "Angie" before.  I got the feeling last night
that she was on the point of saying something revealing in her intro to
this song:

"Um ... <very long pause> ... I usually ... <long pause> ... no, I never
have the guts to tell who I'm singing this to.  This is [one of?] my
all-time favorite song[s] ..."

Well, enough opinions.  Some info - the Variety Playhouse is a medium
size theatre - seating capacity I'd say was 500-600, and it was, of course,
sold out.  There was a local support act, a gentleman with a guitar whose
name I've mercifully forgotten (whoops, there goes an opinion! well, I
thought his songs could benefit from some rewriting - I was thinking of
better rhymes and chords on the spot), the set was about 1 hour 20 minutes,
and didn't differ at all from previous descriptions that have been posted.

In closing, I'd like to say that I'm glad I went, I'll be buying the album,
I'll buy the single with "Angie" on it if I see it (it happens to be one
of my all-time favourite songs too), I'll see her again if I'm within 100
miles of a gig, I think she's going to be successful, but she's not God.
If being successful makes her and her songs happier, I might be happier too.
I don't want her to be Paula Abdul; just a little less bitter.

I'd love to see her perform a Kate song live - she has the voice and the
stage presence to do it.

	- Craig (usually @sco.com, temporarily @sware.com)