The performance by Tori Amos at St Kilda’s grand old Palais Theatre was transcendental. An adept performer – a modern maestro if you will – Amos, via ability, subtly, humility, and a catalogue of music that spans 25 years as well as material from her new album Unrepentant Geraldines, provided two hours of high quality entertainment.
Prior to Amos’ two hour set, Led Zeppelin’s boomed out of the house audio, then the lights dimmed and the North Carolina-born musician, dressed in split psychedelic dress patterned dress, leather pants and red high heels, shuffled on to stage to uproarious applause. She then proceeded to politely address the crowd before bursting into her first song.
Although considered by many as a heritage act, Amos defies this definition by the fact that since releasing her first debut album in 1992 she’s put out a new LP every two years since and continued to tour each album as well. This continuous stream of creativity and output manifested in a live setting is Amos tweaking her old songs to fit her new and likewise not feeling pressure to re-interpret her old material completely, just enough to everything on an even flow.
When she performed Winter from her debut album Little Earthquakes there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Despite the omission of the strings that accompany the recorded version there was very little splitting this rendition from the album version, a reminder of the incredible tour de force, Amos is to capture so many hearts and minds via her incredible vocal range, some ivory keys and that striking red hair. Another highlight from her ‘90s albums was Caught A Light Sneeze from 1996’s Boys For Pele.
Both a highlight and a lowlight of Amos’ set was the legendary ode to the outsider Cornflake Girl from 1994’s Under The Pink Sky. A highlight because the resonance of the 1994 hit with Palais’ previously seated crowd was comparatively riot-some as 2,896 people rose to their feet. Lowlight because up until this point the set had been one woman, one grand piano and one keyboard but now it was Amos keeping up with a thundering back track of the song that gave her mainstream success.
The night ended with two-song encore, a standing ovation and then a humbled Amos bid her fair well and then she shuffled off stage with the same lack of assumption she had arrived with.
BY DAN WATT
Loved: One woman, one voice and two instruments.
Hated: People not waiting until the end of a song to go or return from the toilet.
Drank: Nothing actually, because I didn’t want to be a rude cunt and incessantly disrupt the ‘seated’ aisle I was ‘sitting’ in.
