Last night Amy and I went to see Tori Amos play at the Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut. I had a good time, but personally, I just think I’m not the target audience for a Tori Amos concert anymore. I’d seen her once before–in 1995, I believe, after her third album, Boys for Pele, came out. At the time, she’d recorded three albums (Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink, Boys for Pele), all of which I loved. In the intervening decade, however, she’s made two records I didn’t like (From the Choirgirl Hotel, To Venus and Back), two records I like but have not listened to that much, particularly compared to the first three albums (Strange Little Girls, Scarlet’s Walk), and one record that just came out and I hadn’t heard anything from prior to the concert (The Beekeeper). So I was basically attending a concert at which I had no real connection to more than half of the material the artist would be drawing from; a first for me. Also, we went with a posse of people who follow Tori around on tour, some of whom have seen something like 60-80 shows of hers; this also puts a different spin on things versus just picking up a couple of tickets and going to the concert. So I’m afraid I felt at a bit of a loss to evaluate most of the show. Any time she played anything from the first three records, I loved it; four of my favorites from those albums were accounted for (“Beauty Queen/Horses,” “Silent All These Years” (remember, if you’ve only seen two Tori concerts in your entire life and the last one was a decade ago, that song is not overplayed), “Cloud on My Tongue,” and “Twinkle”–which, as a matter of fact, was actually played for Amy, who requested it in person before the show in honor of our friend Bobo.). As for the rest of the songs…well, you can certainly appreciate the musicianship and the showmanship–it’s pretty impressive to see her play a technically perfect rendition of a song while straddling her piano bench, one hand on the big Bosendorfer on her left, the other on an organ on the opposite side. And I thought her voice was just phenomenal, particularly on lower notes, which seemed to flow right out of her and coat the audience. But I have a very particular set of Tori Amos-based expectations and emotions, and she’s different, and her audience is different. I can sit around and say “What about ‘Bells for Her’ and ‘Yes, Anastasia’ and ‘Doughnut Song’ and ‘Little Earthquakes’?” all that I want, but would that really be a better show? I want an experience that she’s just not going to be able to give me at this point. Which is fine.
