Sweet Dreams Are Made of Glasgow

The UK portion of the tour kicked off tonight in Glasgow, Scotland at the O2 Academy. Given the nod to Ireland in the Irish shows, it comes as no surprise that Tori acknowledged where she was in her song selection which included, during the encore, the Y Kant Tori Read favorite “Etienne” and, from the other end of her career, “Selkie,” and, during The Lizard Lounge, The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” The rest of the Lizard Lounge was James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” while the rest of the set featured “Indian Summer,” “Doughnut Song,” “Your Cloud,” “Bouncing Off Clouds,” and “Twinkle.”

The full set list, with thanks to our beloved revolutionary tweetheart @purplesnap, has been posted in the Tour section. Video, photos, and, most importantly, your reviews will be added as they come in. We’d love to share what you thought of the performance on the site so if you are so inclined, please send in a review using the form at the bottom of that page.

Thanks again to @purplesnap for sending us the set list!

Dublin #2: It's A Landslide!

The second Dublin show was electric, with the first appearances of several songs this tour including “Sister Janet,” “Toast,” Tori’s always-amazing covers of “Landslide” and “River,” a snippet of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and the world premiere of “Wild Way” from Unrepentent Geraldines.

Head over to the Flashback page to check out the full setlist, or to submit a review if you were at this show. We’ll be adding videos and photos as they turn up (or as you tip us off about them, hint, hint!).

Many thanks to our setlist tweeters, @SchizoEclectic and @tangentfairy. We couldn’t have covered the show live on Twitter without them.

Listen to Unrepentant Geraldines on Amazon!

Amazon added the digital version of Unrepentant Geraldines to their catalog at the end of last week but as of today, you can listen to the whole record — including “Dixie,” a bonus track exclusive to Amazon’s MP3 Store — until May 12th, the day before the album is released in North America! There are no controls for the stream so it can only be listened to straight through can’t listen to single songs but if you want to get a taste of what the new record is like, this is a great way to do so — and make sure to catch “Dixie” at the end!

Independent Interview (May 7, 2014)

Whereas in music, it’s not as if they are signing [older women]. There are male contemporaries of mine who I adore … they are still getting frontline record contracts. It’s a different story for women. Am I fortunate to still have a record deal? Yes, there’s a little bit of luck. A lot of hard work but luck too.

The Irish Independent’s Ed Power interviewed Tori in advance of her two-night stand at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre and the article appeared in today’s edition of the newspaper. Tori ranges from the music industry’s relationship to female musicians both young and old to her personal relationship with Ireland in the interview but they still manage to squeeze in a bit about the inspiration of the new album.

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An Open Letter to Dublin

If the first two shows on the Unrepentant Geraldines tour are anything to go by, all the talk about mixing up the sets on this tour is not proving to be just talk as tonight’s show in Dublin, the first of two nights at The Olympia Theatre, shared only four songs with the tour’s opening night in Cork. But that wasn’t the only surprise…

Thanks again to @SchizoEclectic, we were able to update tonight’s setlist on Taitter in real-time and it has now been posted in the Tour section. After opening with “Parasol,” Tori wasted no time in changing things up by playing the ever-divisive “Ireland.” The first half of the show also included “Horses,” “Cool On Your Island,” and “Here. In My Head.” Things got even more unexpected during the Lizard Lounge segment which featured covers of Rickie Lee Jones’ “On Saturday Afternoons in 1963,” Miley Cyrus’ “Rooting For My Baby,” and, in a nod to pop culture, Sinéad O’Connor’s “Three Babies” (though, one wonders, shouldn’t she have followed that with an Amanda Palmer song?). The balance of the show included the b-sides “Purple People” and “Never Seen Blue” and, perhaps because of its premiere on NPR yesterday, “16 Shades of Blue.” “In The Springtime of His Voodoo” again closed out the main set — between it and “Parasol” as an opener, not a bad pair of bookends!

If you were there, we’d love to hear what you thought of the show! If you care to share, send in a review using the form at the bottom of Dublin’s show page! Keep an eye on that page for photos and video too as they surface or are shared.

Irish Times Interview (May 7, 2014)

Out on the road, the audiences bring so much energy to it, and then that energy gets put into other thoughts and ideas. So it’s a continuous thing, almost like how the solar system exists. It’s a rotational creative life, if that makes any sense; they all send off light and energy to each other.

In the run-up to Tori’s two nights at The Olympia in Dublin, the Irish Times’ Lauren Murphy chats with Tori about the crucible in which the songs on Unrepentant Geraldines were forged, Cezanne’s influence on her work, the impact of turning 50, and the reality of the music industry for people just starting out.

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All Songs Considered Premieres "16 Shades Of Blue"

This week’s episode of All Songs Considered includes the premiere of a third song from Unrepentant Geraldines: “16 Shades Of Blue!” During the show, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton listen to and then discuss what they think of it. Spoiler: they like it!

If you just want to hear the song, stream it with NPR’s media player from the playlist on the show’s page.

Alternatively, stream or download the whole program to hear Robin Hilton’s thoughts on the song after they play it. It’s the first song they review but the rest of the program is worth a spin too with songs by Zee Avi, Solvents, Fenster, Alice Boman, and Milezo.

Thanks to Fox Hunt for the link!

Huffington Post Interview (May 5, 2014)

We all have egos, there’s a place for that, but it’s understanding that it’s human but it can’t be driving the car. This takes conversations. It takes discipline. But if we talk about some of the master painters, they were devoted to their art. It doesn’t mean they weren’t competitive. Am I competitive? You bet your sweet ass I am! But competitive against what? Not necessarily against another female artist — not now. Not at my age. I want to be in a place of compassion. No one can take anything from anyone else. I’ll give it away!

The ever-insightful Noah Michelson interviewed Tori for The Huffington Post and, as is often the case when he talks with her, all sorts of unexpected and delightful conversation spills forth.

In this case, starting from a question about Taylor Swift with respect to Sady Doyle’s Buzzfeed piece about Tori’s place in musical history, the discussion moves on to intention in art, the responsibility of being an idol, egos and legacies, the seduction of fame, and…menopause. Not a bad trajectory at all! They also touch on some of the talking points from more conventional interviews, such as The Light Princess cast recording, but with a noticeably different and refreshing tone.

Definitely required reading! Thanks to Jennifer for the tip!

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Radio.com Interview (May 5, 2014)

While Tori spilled the beans about the production of the The Light Princess’ original cast recording on Fubar Radio back in April and added more details of its status and the hope for bringing it to the States sometimes in future on Soundcheck last week, she opened up more about on-going life of the project in an interview with Radio.com.

The interview addresses everything from the the production process — the album is being recorded and produced her her crew during the tour — to the dream of bringing the musical to Broadway to the hope of some fans to hear Tori’s take on the songs from the musical. She also ruminates on the freedom the National Theatre proffered and encouraged during the development of the production.

Definitely a good read — many thanks to Butch for bringing it to our attention!

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Listen: Phil Marriott Interview (May 4, 2014)

Phil Marriott’s conversation with Tori for Gaydio was broadcast this past weekend on his show on Sunday. Tori was the focus of the program with the interview and several of her songs taking up the middle hour and 15 minutes of the two hour program. Fortunately, for those who missed it, Phil has uploaded the entire interview to Mixcloud for on-demand listening. Enjoy!