Tori Amos @ Perth ConventionCentre (21/11/09)

Mon 23rd Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Check out the pics here

Touring for the release of Midwinter Graces -as close to a Christmas album as the ever eccentric flame haired artist can get, Tori Amos graced Perth on her Australian tour at the Perth Convention Centre. A very intimate theatre indeed, which brought a slight sense of vulnerability to her usual idiosyncratic demeanour.

A lone figure dressed in white, with striking auburn hair approached the front of the stage and bowed gracefully. The crowd clapped and cheered furiously as she acknowledged the ample reception. She then took her position on a stool set between a grand piano and a keyboard and commenced what can only be described as a breathtaking performance.

Different lighting colour schemes enhanced each song greatly. Light beams shot out over the crowd during climaxes and gently pulsated amidst the tender moments. Tori’s vocal control was astonishing, removing her hands from the piano, running them down the small of her arched back and holding notes that reverberated throughout.

Having no backing band to keep her robotically in time meant her performance had a funky looseness to it. It was a remarkable display of how little one needs to put on a dynamic show, just one woman and a few pianos. The instruments serving as mere extensions of
her body, as she straddled the stool on the odd occasion and played both instruments simultaneously with great precision.

She only stopped after two songs to verbally connect to the crowd, mention how wonderful Australia is and how delighted she was to return to that special place over the other side of the world. Any more and it would’ve possibly spoiled the aural, surreal trip that it was.
One thing that potentially did break the mass from their dream like state tho, was the changeover of instruments. It was a pretty smooth changeover, and a no doubt a necessity, but perhaps could have been executed with a little more subtlety.

Tori continued to dazzle the crowd, finishing her set with a mere hand gesture, a bow and was whisked off stage. Judging from the frenzied standing ovation, an impressive contrast from the stunned mullet-like state of the punters mere seconds before, the two-song encore was warranted.

Those two songs lavishly applied the icing to the incredibly sweet cake that the initial set list was, leaving punters hungry for a second helping that can’t come soon enough.

Check out the pics here