Another incredible Tori Amos show
Last night was one of the best concerts I've ever seen, ranking up there with any U2 show. I've seen Tori many times, but last night was one of those "God walked through the room" nights. First of all, the venue in Albuquerque was pretty intimate and the acoustics were fantastic. She was gorgeous, and radiant, and sweet. She's evolved from the raw and kind of moody girl with her piano into this really elegant, classy but still edgy performer. Her voice at times was so ethereal, just soaring all over the place, and even the songs I didn't think I liked turned out to be exquisite. All the old songs sound so much better live today than they do on the original recordings.
The highlight...she did the cover I've been longing to hear for years, A Case of You--one of those songs you always hear about her doing, you hope your show will be the one where it appears, and it never does. Only it did this time. Absolutely breathtaking.
The show could've ended right there as far as I was concerned...but then it just kept getting better. During Pretty Good Year some guy in the front row starting balling his eyes out which made Tori start crying, too. Afterwards she got up and went over to him and gave him a big hug and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It's funny, I always hear about people crying at her shows, and I've seen people crying before, but I had never been that moved before, until last night, and it happened a number of times.
And still it got better. I'd also hoped for Putting the Damage On at every Tori show and never got it until last night. Incredible. Then when she returned for a surprise 3rd time during the encore--when people were already starting to leave!--she did Fleetwood Mac's Songbird and I swear half the audience had to be mopped up off the floor when the lights came up. Absolutely stunning. She used to live in New Mexico and hadn't been here since '99, so I think she gave us a little bit something extra. She played for almost 2 1/2 hours!
Set List:
Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Little Earthquakes
Juarez
Cornflake Girl
Liquid Diamonds
Siren
Black-Dove (January)
Wednesday
Band Leaves
long hilarious improv
Cloud On My Tongue
Sister Janet
A Case Of You
Band returns
Honey
Sweet Sangria
Father Lucifer
Don't Make Me Go To Vegas
Hotel
I Can't See New York
Iieee
1st Encore
Taxi Ride
Pretty Good Year
2nd Encore
Tear In Your Hand
Putting The Damage On
3rd Encore
Songbird (solo)