News: LiveDaily SXSW Showcase Review (March 20, 2009)

LiveDaily reviewed Tori’s showcase at SXSW in most favorable terms. Make sure to swing by their website for a slideshow of rather nice close-up photos taken at the show too. Thanks to orfeo for the link!

SXSW Review: Tori Amos at La Zona Rosa

Published March 20, 2009 03:03 PM
By Jon Zahlaway / LiveDaily Senior Writer

Tori Amos would have had the crowd at La Zona Rosa eating out of the palm of her hand Thursday night (3/19)—if not for the fact that both of her hands were far too busy doing other things during her stellar performance.

Amos spent most of her time facing—and playing the hell out of—a glossy-black grand piano whose lid was propped open. Behind her was an electric keyboard, and she occasionally spun 180 degrees to work its keys, as well. And if you think walking and chewing gum is a challenge, just imagine playing the keyboard in front of you with your right hand while stretching your left arm back to simultaneously play the piano behind you.

That in and of itself would have been impressive enough, but her work on the ivories wasn’t even the main attraction; that honor went to her ethereal vocals, which she delivered flawlessly while accompanying herself on the two instruments.

Clad in a modest beige dress with her flowing red hair down, Amos kept the packed house rapt and mostly hushed as she worked her way through a 45-minute set that contained several tracks from her forthcoming album, “Abnormally Attracted to Sin,” which arrives in stores May 19. Her charmingly quirky enunciation and heavenly voice (spiced up by an ample-yet-perfect amount of reverb that enhanced the otherwordly feel of her vocals) soared on new material including “Lady in Blue” and “Curtain Call,” as well as a rousing rendition of her breakthrough hit, “Silent All These Years.”

Her one-woman performance was a more-than-convincing argument for the school of thought that says “less is more” … but it takes a gifted musician to pull it off. She did.