Tori Amos was on hand at The Savoy Theater in London, England last night to play a rescheduled concert called Acoustically Attracted to Sin in support of her new album Abnormally Attracted to Sin which is due out on May 19. Pink reader Kush was lucky enough to be in attendance at last night’s performance and graciously shares a very extensive review of the show. Here are a few photos from Tori’s acoustic concert (which essentially means she had no backing band) last night along with Kush’s very detailed review:
The first thing I have to say I have seen Tori many times but I have never heard her sing so perfectly – Her voice was incredibly powerful, she hit every note and had perfect diction – She seemed to really enjoy being back in front of an audience again accompanied with her Bosendorfer and a keyboard. She wore black leggings under a red dress embroidered with black stars.
The opening track was a total surprise – a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat. There must have been a reason for this as it was an extremely heartfelt and heartbreaking performance (it definitely wasn’t the London weather which was bright and breezy). Lady in Blue is certain to become a favourite of solo sections – I’ve only heard the i-tunes snippet of the album version and this sounded totally different – stripped down and harsh. This track twinned perfectly with another new song Curtain Call (appropriate for the theatre setting). Tori straddled her stool to play both keyboard and piano for Crucify which was welcomed with a huge round of applause from the audience.
The next moment was another terrific surprise. Its been a long time since we’ve heard Tori enjoyed chatting to the audience and it was a welcome return – She is just SO funny. Apologising for the ‘crap’ cancelling of the show two weeks ago, she also mentioned that she’d be seeing Matty and Jon in the next week and that they would definitely be touring with her later in the year. The rescheduling also brought a welcome surprise – Tori mentioned that she had a female security guard for the evening, called Sade after which she burst out a rendition of Sades Smooth Operator – This is going to be a must-hear!
After the mischief of Leather, the audience was plunged into a soul-drenching performance of Maybe California which caused more than a few tears in the audience. My highlight of the evening was definitely the all -piano rendition of Taxi Ride: It was like the girl was wearing a new dress and without the reverberations of the Wurli it was simply lovely to hear each crystal clear word. Tori got back to mischief (and more chat) with Mary Jane. There has been a lot of love-hate around this song but I promise that after you hear it live – you’ll love it. The song really suits a theatre setting with its Weimar-esque melody. This was fun Tori and the audience burst into laughter at the line ‘I believe your puberty was somewhat strange…’ Jackie’s Strength was a perfect little gem as always while Wednesday was playfulness personified – At the end of each verse Tori teased with audience with gestures before breaking into the chorus.
Keyboard and piano united for Welcome to England – Tori played a pounded a lot of lower notes during the chorus creating a dramatic tour de force – you could imagine Atlantic waves crashing against the Cornish coast providing a dramatic framing for the calmness of Cool on Your Island. As always Silent all these Years induced a huge round of applause, its mermaid theme exaggerated by blueish lighting including static streaks of blue. The main set closed with Barons of Suburbia reminding us that the much-maligned Beekeeper album has powerful and potent magic. Tori’s vocal excellence reached the levels of mesmerising majesty in the songs drawn out climax. The first and only encore included a beautiful rendition of Over the Rainbow followed by Putting the Damage On – The only damage tonight was magic was over far too soon. Sublime.
Wow. It sounds like a truly spectacular performance. Much love goes out to Kush for such an amazingly detailed review … it really makes the reader feel as if they were there at The Savoy last night. Hearing this review really makes me anxious to see Tori Amos live in concert again. Folks who have preordered her album on iTunes will be granted early access to presale tickets for her upcoming tour … we should be hearing about those onsale dates soon. WEEEE! After the jump, check out the full setlist from Tori Amos’s Acoustically Attracted to Sin performance last night …
READ THE REST OF THIS POST »
RSS
Feedburner
