Tori Amos in SF last night

[Ben Haller <mailrus!gatech!garnet.berkeley.EDU!deadman@uunet.UU.NET>]

  Well, maybe this should go in the Tori Amos list, but I'm not a
subscriber, and there still seems to be some interest here in her, so...
  I saw Tori at the Palace of Fine Arts last night.  It was overall a very
good show, but I would say not as good as the last time I saw here (at
Bimbo's in SF, a few months ago).
  A group called "A Man Called E" opened.  They were *very* good for an
opener, probably the best opening group I've ever seen - usually I hate
opening groups and consider them a waste of time, but these guys were quite
entertaining, actually had good stage presence, and had original &
interesting songs.  Guitarist, bass, and E, who did vocals, keyboard,
guitar & harmonica.  Good stuff.
  Tori came out dressed in a frilly red...leotard?  I'm not sure what to
call it.  And jeans.  She seemed very businesslike and kind of tired (the
show started at 10:00, and there had been an 8:00 show already) - she just
walked out, waved briefly to the audience, and then started right in with
no further comment.  The first piece she did was a capella, as were I think
two others, maybe three, including of course "Me And a Gun".  She launched
right into a song, and proceeded to go through her set with very little
talking or even time for the audience to applaud.  She did perhaps three
monologues, the same ones people have already described about her
grandmother and about hearing Led Zep when she was young, which were funny
and nice but...I don't know, I think it would be nice to have a little more
spontaneity.
  She did two encores (barely walked offstage for both) and then left.  It
was very quick, impersonal...I don't know, I guess it wasn't a short set,
but she just seemed to have an attitude like she was fulfilling a
contractual obligation and nothing more.
  Her performances were well-done, but they suffered from the same kind of
malaise.  At certain points she would seem to really get into the music and
put a lot of herself into it, but much of the time she just didn't
seem...interested.  She would pause at odd points in the songs sometimes,
almost as if she was trying to remember the words, or just didn't feel like
going on.  I distinctly saw her roll her eyes several times during
"Crucify" (the first song after the a capella one), as if to say "Why am I
playing this song *again*, for the thousandth time!".  Others may
certainly disagree, but it didn't seem nearly as intense as the last
performance I saw.  I think she's burning out a little bit, perhaps on
playing the same music over and over, perhaps on the whole touring
"scene"... I think she's getting tired.  Oh well, hopefully she'll be
able to take a little time making her next album and relax and get
interested again.
  I waited at the stage door for her (I've never done that for anyone
before, so despite my complaints you can tell I still really admire her),
and got her autograph.  I meant to tell her about LH and about how she's
got her own list now and everything, but a combination of shyness and
pressure from her manager (who, in my estimation, is a real dick - are all
managers like that?) prevented me.  However, she used my chest as a flat
surface on which to autograph my CD, so it wasn't an altogether
disappointing experience :->
  What did others think?  Are my complaints about the show off, or do other
people agree?
  BTW, the t-shirt they were selling was really cool, it has lyrics to all
the songs on Little Earthquakes printed on the front just like the CD
booklet (all the songs?  I didn't actually check.  Many of them.)
  What is the address for the Tori list?  I should probably subscribe and
post this review there, to reach more of the interested people...

-Ben Haller (deadman@garnet.berkeley.edu)