News: Palm Beach Post Concert Review (November 23, 2007)

Leslie Gray Streeter’s review of the West Palm Beach show was posted on her blog early on Thanksgiving morning and published in the November 23rd edition of the Palm Beach Post. Though you might expect the blog version to be less edited, the review is identical in both places. Go figure! Thanks to Christoff, Kimberly and Jena for the link(s)!

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Amos proves, again, she doesn’t sing inside the box

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 23, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — When one describes a Tori Amos concert as “straightforward,” it must be considered that Tori Amos thinks of her songs as living, breathing beings and calls them “the girls.”

Her albums are grand, elaborate events that weave stories of ancient mythology and drama, including this year’s American Doll Posse, in which the flame-haired icon sings as five female characters who represent different aspects of being a woman.

And on the American Doll Posse tour, which came to the Kravis Center Wednesday evening, Amos appears as both herself and as one of the Posse, including makeup, wardrobe and a character-specific strut. So there is very little straightforward, in the traditional sense, about the theatrical and crafty artist who is Tori Amos.

Still, the show was, in comparison with Tori tours past, more focused, less cluttered and more about the music, even with the dual personality, costume changes and a lighting scheme so elaborate it transformed the Kravis stage into a giant Lite-Brite.

In a clear, strong voice, Amos dispensed with some of the past preciousness as a performer and simply played her heart out, twirling between her baby grand piano and either an organ or keyboard setup right behind her head.

Simple, again, is relative at a Tori Amos show, and one wonders whether her remarkably loyal fans miss some of the showiness. By the passionate clapping and spontaneous shouts of “Yeah, Tori!” they didn’t seem to.

That eclectic fan base was part of the fun, as they’re a far cry from the usual Kravis Center regulars. “This is certainly a different crowd” remarked an usher watching the twenty- and thirtysomething fans of varying sexual orientation and wardrobe ranging from T-shirts and jeans to the flowy, strappy and costumey. I imagine that the majority of them, many of whom ran to the front of the theater and crowded around the stage during the encore, have seen Tori multiple times.

Fortunately, Amos switches it up every night, playing a different one of the Posse every night. On Wednesday, she came as Santa, a blond, sexually assured vamp who, at times, recalled Renee Zellwegger’s tart Roxie Hart from Chicago, but without the cutesiness, and at other times Michelle Pfeiffer’s brazen lounge singer in The Fabulous Baker Boys, but more confident and less floozy. Santa didn’t speak to the audience much, at least not with words, but she communicated in rat-a-tat poses and sharp, punctuated movements between songs as if to say: “Pay attention!”

Santa, whose name comes from the word “SanaTORIum” and not a reference to any North Pole-dwelling gift givers, delivered some of the more sensual numbers like the claws-out She’s Your Cocaine and Raspberry Swirl. Santa genuflected, strutted and commanded, clearly someone you don’t want to mess with, unless, of course, she wants to mess with you. (Ahem.)

The show’s second half was all Tori, and therefore more relaxed and talky, yet never lazy.

“Tomorrow you’ll be having an amazing yummy time,” she said, leaning over her piano, “and I’ll be on a bus.”

The Tori part was, arguably, the most satisfying because the fans got to luxuriate in her chatter and attention. She was, simply, Tori, whether chatting with her minister father in the audience before both a gorgeous Amazing Grace and the viciously pointed Precious Things, evoking historic France with the wistful Josephine or singing a cleverly rambling Over The River and Through The Woods that turned into an ode to fried chicken and cobbler.

Random? Maybe. But for an artist who has proved that nothing is not normal for her, the evening was just par for the eclectic course.