Date: Thu, 1 Sep 1994 00:59:22 -0700
From: bobmacd@netcom.com (Bob MacDowell)
Subject: My first concert

About a month ago I popped the $26.50 for tickets to see Tori.
September 1, in San Francisco.  

So why are you getting this review already? 

I spent most of August 31 in the East Bay seeing my girlfriend.  She put me
on the BART back to San Francisco, and I got off at Civic Center as usual.
As I rose the stairs, I noticed the mob of people standing around the Orpheum..
No surprise, really... this was the venue where Tori was playing, and there
was a show tonight. Sold out long ago, no surprise.  Here I was, at 8:20 pm,
just heading home, and I walk right by the scalpers.  Still selling tickets,
surprise.  And for $10.  SURPRISE! 

My course of action was obvious.  :-)

I was in the theater in literally ten seconds.  The first thing that
surprised me was the price of T-shirts.  (OK, I haven't been to a concert
in awhile... :-) $23.00  *pout* 

Bill Miller was fun.  He gabs and gabs in between ... well, I shan't repeat
the 100 or so reviews you've read already. 

Tori was... well, mystical.  Mind you, this is the first full-blown theater,
light-show concert I've seen since the Bangles last toured.  (well, Debbie
Gibson, Sarah McLachlan and Susanna Hoffs don't count... they were little
folksy cozy micro-venues.)  Anyway, her show seemed like if Peter Gabriel 
were to just sit down and play piano. :-)

Tori... *attacks* the piano.  Makes love to it, Klingon-style.  Uses the 
really high keys and really low keys.  Makes the instrument speak. little
soft notesBIG LOUD NOTES.  English doesn't describe it. Go see her. 

About the light show... it didn't *annoy* me, just seemed out of place. 
As if they asked the manufacturer of the gyra-light things what would be 
good sequences for a Tori Amos show, and the rep gave one of those "Duh!"
faces like the bartender in the Zima commercial who doesn't know what beer is.

Speaking of beer, I discovered about two songs in that I kinda had drank
too much water earlier in the day.  I would never move mid-song, so I had
figured I'd miss one at some point.  Song after song I stayed put, and 
this was especially wise when she played...

Me and a Gun.   I *hate* that song.  As in "I hate my sister, she's such a 
bitch" hate.  She played it.  All the way through, strongly, powerfully,
not what I expected. I'm empathic, I normally react (emotionally and badly) 
from hearing that song.  This time was different. 

I got this incredible emotional *connection* that sorta transcended the hurt,
and let me see very clearly some things about what she is saying that I just 
hadn't heard before.  I can't describe it but by the term 'magic'. 

About her pacing and rhythms.  It didn't really bother me on the songs I
didn't know, but then I've never heard UTP.  (yes, I'm a Tori fan. Just a
poor one.)  Except on "These Precious Things" where the song
just sorta 
broke 
in ways I wasn't used to...  I can't say that's a 
Defect since 
well, I *liked* it with all the
holes in it.  It was just different, is
all. 

She didn't talk a whole bunch with the audience, except to describe the 
Led Zep vs Church choir sexuality thing for Icicle, Icicle, and she paused
and explained how unreleased songs can be little bitches "How come SHE got
on the album and I didn't? I'm better!" "But you wouldn't fit!" as the
intro to a song that contained the word "Honey". She said to look for it
on something in *pause* January.   It seemed Bill Miller had the corner on
audience interaction (Shut up Bill! Or talk real high like Tori!) 

"Angie" was a magical cover.  Does she do any non-magical ones?  :-)
After Angie I made my bathroom run, turned out this was the "end" and I
got back before the first encore.  Thanks for posting those set lists, 
folks, they surely influenced my decision, if unconsciously. 

The combination of "American Pie" (first 45 I ever bought) and a ghostly
"Smells like Teen Spirit" was breathtaking.  You know, I'm a Debbie Gibson
fan too, and it's kinda spooky, listening to the loss of self that seems to
be happening to my generation, the contrast between her and Nirvana, or
more to the point "Electric Youth" and "Teen Spirit".  There's almost a
medley somewhere in there.  Sorry for the sidetrack. 

She played 3 encores, including a song that a bunch of girls yelled in 
perfect unison just as she began "Me and a Gun" (great timing folks). 
The last encore began and ended with a standing ovation. 

After the show, I bided my time.  Went up to the stage, tried to see what
they'd done to the other piano (she played one song <?> on it) to make it
sound the way it did.  I wandered out, bought a $10 program, drank more 
water.  

By the stage door were about 50 fans waiting for Tori.  It was amusing to
watch the eternal struggle between the road manager (who wants to get her
OUTTA there) and the Artist (who wants to sign, pose, hug.)  He told the 
croud "no autographs", she did what she wanted. I loved it. 

Of course while we were waiting, we missed the buses back to Haight Ashbury.
I walked home. 

It was worth it.

--Bob