Howie + Tori = Out of Control

Tonight (or last night, depending on how you want to look at it) was the Tori Amos concert in Fairfax. Howie Day opened. First, Howie.

Sorry, So Sorry
Morning After
Ghost (Beams of Light)
Brace Yourself
She Says (One)
Madrigal

Howie's set was an excellent distillation of himself. It hit all the popular 'highlights' of a typical Howie set, and elicited some seriously enthusiastic responses from the crowd. I'm sure he gained a few fans tonight.

Tori's set:

Wampum Prayer
A Sorta Fairytale
Take to the Sky
Pancake
Cornflake Girl
Concertina
Sweet Sangria
Crucify
Wednesday
Black Dove (January)
Cloud on My Tongue
Gold Dust
Icicle
Where Were You Last Tuesday?
Northern Lad
Sugar
Amber Waves
Vegas
Hotel
I Can't See New York
Spring Haze
===
Tear in Your Hand
Virginia
hey jupiter

I've never seen Tori live. I've never listened extensively to her music (beyond a few tracks I ripped from Amanda and what she threw on her Girls! Girls! Girls! mix). Tonight's concert, though, was completely off the hook.

I was lucky to know A Sorta Fairytale, which got me into the mood for the evening. The sequence from Pancake through Wednesday had me completely enraptured, and made me realize that, "Hey, this really is a Rock and Roll concert!" Amanda had made it sound like the crowd would be sedated, but there was some hardcore rocking going on tonight.

Watching Tori play/dance is really quite awesome. Her interactions with the crowd, while sparse (what do you expect in an arena?), were real. The Where Were You Last Tuesday? was an improvised (I think) tune talking about how much Election Day sucked ass for America and the rest of the world (Tori is apparently an expatriate herself). The second half of the concert felt like it lost some steam, but that may have been a function of my being tired from the first half. I came to really like Amber Waves (way more than I expected I would), and I believe Hotel was a pleasant surprise as well.

After the Howie Day concert last week, Amanda told me she was converted. Can I say that I am now a hardcore Tori Amos fan on her level? Not likely. Am I converted?

Yup.

Watching Tori play live was a revelation. Oddly, I would compare the feelings I had tonight with the ones I had watching Howie Day play for the first time two and a half years ago. The sole difference is that, in this case, I'm a little late to the party.

Just the same, it feels good to be here.

Later: Amanda has a song-by-song review of her own. She knows a hell of a lot more than I do about Tori, so she's probably the better source.

November 13, 2002 - 02:25 AM

| Music