News: Cleveland Free Times Concert Review (November 7, 2007)

The Cleveland Free Times has published their review of Tori’s November 1st perfomance at the State Theatre. You’ll need to scroll a bit, or you can jump the cut to read it here.

State Theatre
Thursday, Nov. 1

Tori Amos has gotten a reputation for being overly precious. But, accompanied by her three-piece band and her own formidable skills on numerous keyboards, she showed Cleveland just how ferocious she can be. Her latest album, American Doll Posse, features Amos as herself and four alter egos, one of which performs the first chunk of her set each night. Cleveland got to hear seven songs from her “Pip” persona, a seething, writhing vixen in a dark wig, clingy fuschia dress and black rubber leggings who performed such songs as the violently emotional and cathartic “Teenage Hustling,” the dark, epic “Blood Roses,” and “The Waitress,” a sullen song that built to a frantic climax, before Amos came out as her red-haired self, more relaxed and flirtatious.

Still, there was an intensity throughout the evening which featured a healthy helping of the new album, with the exuberant ’80s synth dance-style encore song “Bouncing Off Clouds” and the raging set-closer “Code Red” as the highlights. Longtime fans were treated to a sizable chunk of her early-career material, as she skipped over her last two studio albums in favor of numerous songs from 1992’s Little Earthquakes and 1994’s Under the Pink, including a couple of her most familiar tunes. “Cornflake Girl” was played with a slinky beat and a sassy flair, and “Crucify” was given a leisurely reading that milked the lyrics while Amos occasionally played two pianos at once. She gave the band a break for a two-song solo set during which the legend “T & Bš” was projected above her on the curtain, a reference to her Bšsendorfer grand piano. There too she reached way back and plucked out Little Earthquakes’ “Leather,” in which she pushed her typically dramatic vocals to the edge, and “Cool on your Island” from her obscure ’80s pop-metal band Y Kant Tori Read.

Although Amos didn’t waste much time on chit-chat, her theatrical, sensual poses, physical piano playing (during “Take to the Sky” she even beat a rhythm on its side) and mood-setting lighting (including an effect where beams situated behind her seemed to shoot out of her) added a visual element that intensified the musical moods. Barefoot singer-guitarist Yoav opened the show with a five-song set that showed off his ornate vocals that frequently swooped into a falsetto, and his forceful guitar playing, replete with percussive effects and tense drones that sounded influenced by U2’s the Edge.

— Anastasia Pantsios