Through The Flint Glass: The Apollon Musagete Quartett, post-tour

Tori Amos surprised everyone by announced that she would record and tour Night of Hunters with the Apollon Musagète Quartett, a foursome of young Polish musicians who have iconoclastic reputations within the classical-music scene. But hearing Tori perform live with the quartet, whom she came to call the “Fab Four,” it suddenly made complete sense, from the more obvious string-backed pieces from Tori’s ouvre, such as “Girl Disappearing” or “Cloud on My Tongue” to the thrilling re-framing of songs such as “Suede” and “Precious Things.”

We know many of you are going through severe Night of Hunters tour withdrawals (and may be thumbing through the yellow pages for treatment as we speak!). Apollon Musagète Quartett’s first violinist, Pawel Zalejski, generously agreed to talk with us again at the end of the tour to share his thoughts on traveling the world with everyone’s favorite red-haired pianist — and meeting her notorious fans. (For our pre-tour interview, go here.) Here’s what he had to say.

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Tori Wraps Up Night of Hunters

While we were off gallivanting about this past Christmas weekend, Tori posted a short note on the official Facebook to thank everyone for coming out on the Night of Hunters tour and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season:

Hi Guys

We just wrapped up the last show of the tour in Dallas

I am really going to miss everyone of you that came out since started back in September

Me and The Fab Four had a blast…

Can’t wait till the next one, I miss you already

Wishing you all the best time for the Holidays this season

I better go Tash just found one of her gifts ;)

Hugs

t

We’re still wrapping up the tour coverage ourselves — very inconvenient of Christmas to come along just as the tour ended, wouldn’t you say? But we’re getting there as well…

Here I Will Carry, Carry, Carry You

Last night, the Night of Hunters tour drew to a close, ending the trail that began in Helsinki at the end of September, wound through Europe, darted to South Africa and crossed over to North America on the stage of the Verizon Theatre, neatly tucked between Dallas and Forth Worth in Grand Prairie.

For the last show, Tori and the Apollon Musagète Quartett mixed things up a little, adding a few extra slots to the usual structure of the shows on the tour: an extra song with strings in the main set and a longer encore. Songs performed with the quartet featured “Father Lucifer,” “Edge of the Moon,” “Precious Things,” and, nodding to the holiday season, “Holly, Ivy & Rose.” While no new songs with the quartet appeared, the sols sections were brimming with the unexpected: “Daisy Dead Petals,” “Parasol,” “Garlands,” “Curtain Call,” and a cover of The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” all came out to say hello.

The full setlist is up in the Tour section. Many thanks to @RebekahScott, @marmylayde, @alfredarossy, @treethirteen, and @mayes48 for the updates from the show!

If you were at the show and care to share your thoughts on the culmination of the tour, please do so using the form at the bottom of the setlist page — we’d love to hear from you!

A heartfelt thanks to Tori, the Quartett and and the road crew for making these shows happen every night! It’s hard work and we appreciate it! We only caught a few of the shows of the tour but they were quite magical.

And finally, just as importantly, a heartfelt thanks to all of you for the e-mail, tweets, concert reports, videos, photos, and community. Without you, Undented wouldn’t be what it is and we truly appreciate all that you bring to it!

Every Desperado and Sharp Shooter In The West

The penultimate show of the Night of Hunters tour, at Austin’s Bass Concert Hall, is in the books! The setlist featured a couple tour debuts — “Sweet Sangria,” “Black Dove (January),” and, performed with Apollon Musagète Quartett, “Smokey Joe” — as well “Butterfly,” “Carbon,” “Our New Year” (with the quartet), and “Little Earthquakes.”

Thanks to live updates on Twitter from @treethirteen, @meghanlcoulter and @alfredarossy, the complete setlist is already posted in the Tour section. Check it out and, if you were at the show and care to share your thoughts about it, please post a review to share with the site and the world.

The final show of the tour is Wednesday night in Dallas — see you then!

You Won't Even Let Me Keep From Fallin'

Tonight’s show at the Orpheum in Los Angeles (the second of two shows this weekend) was a real doozy. It’s not like Tori didn’t warn everyone: she said, “Brace yourself,” and then launched into the first-ever performance of the Y Kant Tori Read song “On The Boundary.” (In fact, some of the folks following our twitter stream tonight thought it might be a hoax!) Hopefully, video will surface to prove it happened. In addition, Tori played rarities such as “Ode to the Banana King,” “Take to the Sky” (with “Datura” in the bridge), “Apollo’s Frock,” “Dragon,” and “Sister Janet.”

There was also a M&G this afternoon, though we didn’t find out about it until afterward. I don’t know at this point whether to expect them in Austin or Dallas.

Kudos to to @Whirljackman, @PopBytes, and @llmaglione for battling some mighty reception hiccups to tweet the show. The full setlist is over in the tour section (along with setlists for last night’s LA show and Friday’s show in Oakland).

You can chime in on any of the shows on their individual pages. We’ll add video as we can.

KFOG Private Concert

Bay Area Toriphiles can enter to win a chance to see Tori at a private KFOG concert in San Francisco on Friday, December 16th at 1pm. You must be a registered Foghead and logged in to enter, and entries must be in by 9am on Thursday, December 15th. Winners will be selected at random and contacted via email.

No Further Meet & Greets On Night Of Hunters Tour

Sadly there will be no more M&Gs for the remainder of the Night Of Hunters tour. Tori’s schedule is extremely tight in this final stretch and she won’t have any time. Our apologies for not being able to get word out in time for hopeful folks who waited in Vancouver.

Time For The Geese To Head South

The only Midwestern stop on the Night of Hunters tour took place on a frosty evening at the Chicago Theatre in (wait for it) Chicago last night. The set included one extra song — an instrumental piece by the Apollon Musagète Quartett that was listed on the printed setlist as “Chicago Christmas Treat ‘Tango’” — in between second quartet and solo sections of the performance. The Quartett were also featured on “Snow Cherries From France,” “Cloud On My Tongue,” and for the second time on tour, “Father Lucifer.” Solo selections included “Bachelorette,” “Here. In My Head,” “The Beekeeper,” and a cover of The Cure’s “Love Song.”

The full setlist is up in the Tour section, with many thanks to @theburlapfairie, @ToriFan247 and the gods of cell phone reception for live updates from the show on Twitter.

If you were at the concert, we’d love to hear what you thought of it! If you’d like to share, please use the comment form on the concert page.

Next stop: Vancouver! See you Tuesday!

Nothing's Gonna Stop Toronto From Floating

The first of two Canadian stops on the Night of Hunters tour was on December 8th at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall. The set featured “Father Lucifer,” “Edge of the Moon,” and “Spring Haze” with the Quartett and “Star of Wonder,” “Take To The Sky” (with the “room in my heart” bridge from “Datura”), “Taxi Ride,” and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Songbird.”

The full setlist has been posted in the Tour section — many thanks to @mrzebraIW, @movemeantTO, @willowtree658 and @emptysthemepark for the tweeting from the show. Several folks have already sent in reviews of the show; if you’d like to add yours, just use the comment form at the bottom of the page.

The concert also garnered some media attention: The Metro Weekly featured a glowing review of the show, Lithium magazine weighed in, and there’s a lovely slideshow of photgraphs taken at the show at The Examiner.

The next stop on the tour is tonight in Chicago! Hopefully we’ll get its recap posted on time! ;-)

The Prettiest Red Ribbons...

Tonight saw the Night of Hunters tour stroll down Hamilton Place to Boston’s well-worn and venerable Orpheum Theatre. The performance featured “Snow Cherries From France,” “Edge of the Moon,” and “Leather” performed with the Apollon Musagète Quartett while solo selections included “Ruby Through The Looking Glass,” “Not The Red Baron,” and a cover of Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” Thanks to @JustKele who live-tweeted the show, the complete setlist has been posted in the Tour section.

If you were in attendance at the concert and are inclined to post a review, please do so using the comment form. Photos and videos are welcome too — we’ll try take the opportunity of a off-night on Wednesday to get caught up in the tour media department.