Tori Amos has been a big part of my musical fanaticism for a long time.  I first heard of her my freshman year of college, got Little Earthquakes & Under the Pink from BMG, got Boys for Pele right when it came out, and I’ve been a fan ever since.  There was a period of time where, if I could, I’d drive all over the Midwest to go see her.  This show was going on the 6 year mark since I’d seen her, and let’s just say that I was itching for some classic Tori live… but first up, the opener:

One Eskimo hit the stage right about 8pm, and played 4-5 songs (about a half hour’s worth of material).  I liked their sound… sort of a singer-songwriter blown up into a pop group (sort of if Maroon 5 had more interesting musicians).  Their drummer had a nice style, sitting on a box-type drum and using that as the kick drum.  Their guitarist and bassist/trumpet player were also fun to watch.  They played “Kandi,” “UFO,” and “Astronauts” for sure, as those songs are on the EP that I picked up for only $5.  They’re working on wrapping up their full-length debut now…

I was too far away to take any good concert photos;
so the marquee is all you get this time.

Tori hit the stage with her band (Matt Chamberlain on drums & John Evans on bass) at around 8:50pm and played for a solid two hours without much stopping. I forget how much I love her live shows.  Great lights, great mix of tunes from her whole career, fun stage presence, pretty energetic crowd… she played a lot more older songs than I would have thought, and only four songs from her latest record.

Setlist:

• Give (a fave of the night)
  
• Caught a Lite Sneeze (a fave of the night)
  
• Welcome to England – John’s bass intro was very Tool-y… as if Justin Chancellor was in a pop band
  
• Graveyard
• Cornflake Girl (a fave of the night)
  
• Icicle (a fave of the night)
  
• Little Amsterdam
• Siren
• Starling
• Black Dove (January)
• 1,000 Oceans
• Joni Mitchell’s River (solo – Lizard Lounge)
• Winter (solo – Lizard Lounge)
• Playboy Mommy
• Little Earthquakes (a fave of the night)
  
• Fast Horse (a fave of the night)
  
• Take to the Sky (a mega fave of the night)
  
• Carbon
• Honey
• Precious Things (a fave of the night)
  
• Strong Black Vine – crowd floods front part of theatre, much to the “oh crap, what do I do?” of the security guys
  
• Encore: Big Wheel (a fave of the night)
  
• Tombigbee

Fantastic show… prior to this show, I was kind of in a “cooling” phase with Tori.  I hadn’t seen her since the Scarlet’s Walk tour (2003), and I’d only been slightly fond of The Beekeeper and American Doll Posse albums.  Forcing myself recently to dig into her newest one, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and then seeing it live was great.  It was a much warranted end to the break from being a big time Tori fan.  Sure, Abnormally isn’t going back to the Little Earthquake through Boys of Pele days, but it’s still good music and she still puts on a great show, full of songs from her vast catalogue.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Official Tori Amos Webpage
• Tori Amos on MySpace
• Undented – a Tori fansite
• Official One Eskimo Webpage
  
• One Eskimo on MySpace
• Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland, OR
  

~Dan – np: Riceboys Sleeps – All Animals -EP-
no torrent or free download available

The rest of the Abnormally Attracted to Sin tour dates (as of now)

• Mon 07/13/09 Oakland, CA – Paramount Theatre
• Tue 07/14/09 Oakland, CA – Paramount Theatre
• Thu 07/16/09 San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay
• Fri 07/17/09 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
• Sat 07/18/09 Phoenix, AZ – Dodge Theatre
• Mon 07/20/09 Salt Lake City, UT – Abravanel Hall
• Tue 07/21/09 Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
• Thu 07/23/09 Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
• Fri 07/24/09 Grand Prairie, TX – Nokia Theatre At Grand Prairie
• Sat 07/25/09 Austin, TX – The Long Center For The Performing Arts
• Mon 07/27/09 Atlanta, GA – Chastain Park Amphitheatre
• Tue 07/28/09 Orlando, FL – Bob Carr Perf. Arts Centre
• Wed 07/29/09 Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater
• Fri 07/31/09 Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
• Sat 08/01/09 Washington, DC DAR – Constitution Hall
• Mon 08/03/09 Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
• Tue 08/04/09 Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre
• Wed 08/05/09 Minneapolis, MN – The State Theatre
• Fri 08/07/09 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
• Sat 08/08/09 Detroit, MI – Detroit Opera House
• Mon 08/10/09 Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
• Tue 08/11/09 Montreal, QC – St. Denis Theatre
• Thu 08/13/09 New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
• Fri 08/14/09 Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
• Sat 08/15/09 Upper Darby, PA – Tower Theatre
• Mon 08/17/09 Boston, MA – Bank Of America Pavilion
• Sun 09/06/09 Manchester, United Kingdom – Apollo Manchester
• Mon 09/07/09 Birmingham, United Kingdom – Symphony Hall
• Tue 09/08/09 Glasgow, United Kingdom – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
• Thu 09/10/09 London, United Kingdom – Apollo Hammersmith
• Fri 09/11/09 London, United Kingdom – Apollo Hammersmith
• Sun 09/13/09 Basel, Switzerland – Festsaal Messe Basel
• Mon 09/14/09 Munich, Germany – Circus Krone Bau
• Tue 09/15/09 Zurich, Switzerland – Kongresshaus Zurich
• Thu 09/17/09 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall
• Sun 09/20/09 Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Theatre
• Mon 09/21/09 Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene
• Thu 09/24/09 Prague, Czech Republic – Prague Congress Centre
• Fri 09/25/09 Vienna, Austria – Wiener Stadthalle
• Sun 09/27/09 Hamburg, Germany – Laeiszhalle