Be The Music: How Tori Amos Does It

Richard Handal, a long-time Toriphile and participant in the online Toriverse stretching from its dawn back in the 1990s, through The Dent years, and onward to today, is writing a book about the intersection of art and music. Specifically using Tori Amos and her music as a model, Be The Music: How Tori Amos Does It aims to be a stepping stone to help everyone, from composers to performers to listeners, have a more fulfilling experience with musical art.

Richard is looking for help to allow him to finish the book and has listed it on the crowdfunding site Authr. Take a look at the project description, learn more about Richard in his bio on his blog, and help out if you can!

Weekend Wogan Today!

Just a quick reminder that Tori is on Weekend Wogan with Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2 this morning, Sunday, May 18th. The two hour program is about half-way through as this is written so Tori will be on during the second half of the show (the other guest, the cast of We Will Rock You, were on during the first half).

Catch it live if you can but don’t fret if you can’t! The whole show will be archived for the next week and available to listen to on BBC iPlayer.

Update: The appearance just ended. Between chatting with Terry Wogan about the new album and her time at The Peabody, she played “Trouble’s Lament” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” Not a bad way to spend a Sunday! The program should be on iPlayer later today is up on iPlayer and available to stream until next Sunday. The in-studio starts around the 1 hour 25 minute mark. We wouldn’t be surprised to see some portion appear in the Weekend Wogan podcast as well.

Update: The BBC has added this as a clip:

Bleu Nuit à Paris

What a lovely show in Paris! Debuts included “Apollo’s Frock,” “Weatherman,” “Virginia,” and “Lady In Blue.” Covers were Carly Simon’s “Boys In The Trees” and Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”

To see the complete setlist for this (or any other) show, and/or to submit a review if you were in the audience, visit the flashback page in the Tour section. If you have any photos or come across a video, let us know and we’ll add those as well.

Many thanks to @clemgiu and @ToriAmosFrance for sending the setlist in to us live via Twitter.

Pour Some Sugar On London

The London show is in the bag, and it sounded amazing. Tour debuts of “Sugar,” “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Hey Jupiter,” and “Rattlesnakes” thrilled longtime fans. Other highlights were “Invisible Boy,” “Little Earthquakes,” and “Mr. Zebra.”

Head over to the flashback page in the Tour section to see the full setlist for this (or any other) show and to submit a review if you were there. Videos and photos will be added to that page as they turn up.

Many thanks to @iammatthewwolf, @1Tipsy, and @Salgado_Andrew for sending the setlist in to us on Twitter.

Notting-Else Matters

It was bound to happen sooner or later — there was no cell service in Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall so no one was unable to send setlist updates as the show unfolded.

Of course, we know what that means: waiting until the next day for people to make their ways home, sleep, wake up and e-mail the songs played to the really-deep-thoughts mailing list so that Mikewhy could get things updated on The Dent…naaaah! Just kidding! We all just had to wait until after the show ended for folks to emerge and post pictures and updates to social media and for Tori’s team to post the setlist itself to Instagram. Just like olden days!

But seriously, the complete setlist has been posted in the Tour section. The show included several tour debuts: “Cooling”, “Little Earthquakes,” “Jamaica Inn,” “Scarlet’s Walk,” and “Black Dove (January Girl).” During the Lizard Lounge, Tori played two rather different covers: Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Cat Stevens’ “Moonshadow.” Finally, the only song from Unrepentant Geraldines that was performed was “Forest of Glass,” the bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album’s CD release! (“Trouble’s Lament” and “Selkie” were on the written setlist but dropped in favor of “Take To The Sky” and “Pretty Good Year.”)

There’s been some reaction on social media and the forums about this show but, if you were there, we’d love to hear what you thought of the evening as well. Drop a review on us using the form at the bottom of the show’s page. As always, media is always welcome too — we’ll add what we can find but if you have any to share, please get in touch.

Many thanks to @RockettNeil, @mrgjjackson, @J1990H, @ondayslikethese, and @amygroak for sending us post-show updates on Twitter!

Unrepent! For The Time Is Here!

It’s been a long time coming but with the release of Unrepentant Geraldines in the United States and Canada today, Tori’s 14th album is now out in most of the world! Whether you’ve opted for digital, CD, vinyl or streaming audio, now’s the time kick back, put on those headphones and delve into her new work. Hope everyone is enjoying it!

From Here To Birmingham

It’s practically sunrise in Birmingham as we write this so perhaps it’s a bit late for a concert recap but it would be remiss not to summarize the concert in Brum last night.

On the day Unrepentant Geraldines was released in the UK, Tori took the stage at the Symphony Hall and, following the pattern of the previous shows on the tour so far, played a set spanning width and breadth of her oeuvre. The show included the first performance of “Invisible Boy” as well as two other songs from the new record: “Trouble’s Lament” and “Wild Way.” She also dipped into the back catalog with old favorites like “Winter,” “Tear In Your Hand,” “Cornflake Girl,” “Playboy Mommy,” and “Pretty Good Year.” The covers played during the Lizard Lounge were Joni Mitchell’s “Circle Game” and U2’s “Running To Stand Still.”

Despite the lack of cellular service, @rougeforever valiantly updated us with the songs played in real-time and the complete setlist has been posted in the Tour section. Reviews are welcome! If you were there and would like to share your thoughts on the performance, please do so using the comment form there. Photos and video links are welcome too.

Popmatters Interview (May 12, 2014)

I found this record wanted to tell certain stories of men, where they’re quite romantic, these men. [The man in “Weatherman”] loves his bride so much, she’s dead, he can’t move on. And his love is so great that nature decides to help him and paint her back to life. Nature can only paint her back, though, to an extent. So between that and “Selkie”, these relationships, there’s that thread happening through the record.

As their Performer Spotlight last year demonstrated, many on the Popmatters staff would be qualified to interview Tori but it was long-time fan and student of Tori’s work, Matt Mazur, who pulled the short straw (so to speak) and his conversation with Tori was posted today. Unlike other reviewers, Matt brushes right by tired old question of the album’s title and spends the majority of the article delving into the songs that are on it so this is definitely an article worth spending some time with.

Check it out on their website!

The Noisey Interview (May 12, 2014)

I tour pretty much every other year and I’m telling you right now, it’s quite something to get prepared for a show, whether you do one or 80, you still have to prepare for that, so the fact that [Kate Bush] hasn’t done it for so long, and that she is going to do it is motivational for everyone and women of all ages.

In an interview for The Noisey, Vice’s music blog, Tori chatted with Leonie Cooper about Cornwall, Kate Bush, the music she listens to, and being on the other side of the fan relationship. Curiously, Unrepentant Geraldines is noticeably absent from the article but with every other interviewer gravitating to that topic, that’s not such a bad thing.

Thanks to Mac for the link!

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GRAMMY.com Inteview (May 12, 2014)

So when somebody says, “Why doesn’t someone get on a bus [and tour],” a bus is 80 grand a week, OK? You have to be aware of what it is now, put a smile on your face, roll up your sleeves, and say, “I don’t mind the challenge.” That’s OK. But for the new singer/songwriters who are coming up, it would be prudent if the record labels were able to develop some of them because not everybody is ready to just go from the living room to taking the stage at Radio City.

Bryan Reesman interviewed Tori for GRAMMY.com. After touching on the origins of Unrepentant Geraldines, the meat of their conversation centered on Tori’s relationsip with her daughter Tash but they also squeezed in some observations on how the music industry is treating Tori’s colleagues and some fashion tips for the stage.

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