Tori Concert in Sydney

[Dombkins Graham GR <"dombkins graham gr"@ITMEL.BHP.bhpmel02.telememo.au>]

    Ok, I have to calm down and try and get this out in some reasonable fashion. 
As you all are no-dought aware the Tori Amos concert was on last night in 
Sydney. I grabbed all my TA CD's picked up my sister and her flatmate and headed 
for Sydney (about 100km away) at about 3:30pm. I wanted to get there early.

    After a bit of panic being lost we found the pub by 5:30pm. I found were the 
doors would open at 6:30 bought a drink and sat on the steps out front to wait 
and be first in line. 5:40pm rolls around and a van pulls up out front. OUT HOPS 
TORI! and two other folks who wander off, trying to find out where things are 
happening. Never one to let a chance go by I walk up and introduce myself. So we 
sat out the front and talked for about 10mins. My hearts beating 15 to the dozen 
and I'm trying to remain calm all the time.... WWWOOOOWWW!!!.....

    Any way one of the guys came back (a manager of some kind?) and said she had 
to go. I think she was upset at him being rude, so she said she see me after the 
show  8-).

    So there I am waiting at the front of the line which sprang up from nowhere 
and started to grow at about 6:00pm. We could hear her trying to tune up inside 
which went a long way to keying us all up. There were other Love-Hounds in the 
crowd outside. Garry  from Adelaide (he hasn't been on the net for two months 
and is trying to get net access now) and John from Wollongong (If you want a 
copy of that video just give me a call John - 266985).

    Sooo, when they finally open the doors and let us in I get myself setup 
front and centre, this was going to be a great concert for me. I had been a bit 
worried when I learnt that she would be playing in a pub, but they had done up 
the stage with a nice whit backdrop and flowers. Centre stage was a half-size 
white grand piano.

    Before things got started I had a talk to the two photographers there and I 
now have there numbers and soon some GREAT pictures. Oh, BTW Ron one of those 
photographers was from 'West Australian Magazine' that's the magazine that has 
one of the missing KT interviews!! I now have a number for them and I think we 
might finally get that interview!

    What can I say about the concert.... TOTALLY AWESOME!! She doesn't just sing 
it's a complete perfomance. We had probably 1000 people packed into the pub and 
they were ALL absolutely captivated. As others have noted she dressed very 
simply and had a bottle of water.

    She started with Little Earthquakes, ended with Leather and played Crucify, 
Silent All These Years, Precious Things, Winter, Me And A Gun (sigh...), Smells 
Like Teen Spirit, and one other I hope somebody can tell me what it was because 
I'd never heard it before.

    Anyway, now comes the most incredible part. Just as she finishes her final 
piece she stands up takes a bow, walks over the stage to ME points at me and 
waves me to follow her backstage!!!! OH MY GOD!! I scramble backstage and leave 
my sister to field a heap of questions that all the others who had been standing 
around me were throwing at her, like "who is he?", "how does he know her??" 
etc... and all she could say "him?? oh he's just my brother...".

    So, cut to me backstage... Here I am trying not to hyperventelate. We talked 
for another 10mins or so before other people started to wander backstage (John 
Quintal among them) I got her to sign all my CD's. We talked about how bad the 
sound quality was (I reckon it would have sounded great even in a bucket) but 
you know how bad pub sound systems can get. I told her all about Gaffa and RDT 
and she was fascinated, she says Hi to everybody here. In fact here is a bit of 
interest for you, she may even get to read gaffa and possible RDT soon. She 
knows Neil Giaman (of Bad Omens and Sandman fame). He has taken out to dinner a 
few times and incase you don't know has access to the net. She said she'd look 
him up and get him to show her where we are to be found! BTW if any of you read 
Sandman then check out Delirium, Neil based the image on Tori. She said that 
she'd be in Germany next week and from there Korea and Iceland. I asked her 
about her Desert Islands Disk selection and she said that she'd be happy on an 
island as long as she had lipstick and a man under 70 :-) (Oh, to those of you 
who think she's a man hater,... blow it out your're ear).

    There is just too much more for me to tell you all. I'm still floating 
around the room now. WOW.... I think I hugged her over 10 times, boy did I go 
overboard... Oh, I even got the concert taped, (quality 2 on a 1 - 10  scale). 
Oh, well I'd better leave it there or I'll be typing for ever.

- Graham