11.19.2002 Tori Amos Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
Opener: Howie Day
The trip to this show was a last minute arrangement to a strange and wonderous town of Lowell. I had only lived on the east coast for a grand total of one month and four days. I didn’t really know my way around, but I gamely braved the confusion that is Massachusetts navigation (mostly a series of rotaries and one way streets – street signs are scarce.) Lowell is a traffic snarl once you get off the highway so we walked in as Howie Day was just beginning his set. Our seats were high into the arena but it was a tiny place, meant for minor league hockey and we settled in for a rollicking show. Somewhere in her metamorphosis, Tori doesn’t really do rollicking shows anymore. Not that this show was bad, on the contrary, she also doesn’t do “bad.” But she nixed her lead guitarist in favor of the piano (she previously toured with both) and that left her with base and drums accompaniment. The affect on her sound was instantly noticeable. It makes her melodically more ballad and less rock n’ roll. I have no doubt this was a conscious choice. What happened in her live act is that the introductions to her songs began to blend together and until the piano part kicked in, you often couldn’t tell what song she was about to sing.
Still. She opened her set with a quick five of my favorite songs (forget “Wampum Prayer” – as far I am concerned, it doesn’t even qualify as a song) and the power behind her music has always been her voice in tandem with the rest. She brought everything tonight, complete with the ebb and flow of the lights and pictures on the screen behind her with images from her latest studio album, Scarlet’s Walk. She was dressed in this effervescent blouse and passed back and forth between her piano and her keyboard, sometimes within the space of the same song.
For a lot of fans, Tori is a religious experience. She is a highly entertaining performer because she puts an emphasis on every note. Her usual banter was absent tonight and her ad lib tunes were kept to a minimum. This extended version of “Take to the Sky” includes her pounding on the side of her piano to the beat and had almost a remix feel to it. The rest of her set slowed the pace of her show down, but then you can set back in your chair and just let the music wash over you.
Setlist
Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Sugar
Crucify
Bliss
Crazy
Take To The Sky
Black-Dove (January)
Wednesday
Band leaves
Silent All These Years
Cloud on my Tongue
Famous Blue Raincoat
Band returns
Strange
Taxi Ride
Little Earthquakes
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Pancake
I Can’t See New York
Spring Haze
1st Encore
Cornflake Girl
Your Cloud
Tear In Your Hand
2nd Encore
Sweet Sangria
Hey Jupiter