Tori Amos @ Perth ConcertHall, 15/05/2005

Fri 20th May, 2005 in Gig Reviews

It has been ten years since Tori Amos performed in Australia, let alone Perth, and it was well worth the wait when she performed at the Perth Concert Hall on Sunday night. She was greeted with thunderous applause when she took to the stage, and incredibly enough, the audience turned quiet the moment she started pounding on the piano to kick off the set with Original Sinsuality. It was almost as if everyone was hanging on to the edge of their seat, savouring each and every moment of the experience.

Given that she has been travelling with her band on past tours, it was a rare opportunity to see her perform solo on her Australian tour. As someone once wrote, “who needs a rhythm section when you have a left hand like hers?” Indeed. It also enabled her a flexibility to perform different songs each night. With the grand piano, an organ, and a third keyboard on stage, she brought the concert hall to life with just her voice and the sort of fingerwork that evokes a wide spectrum of emotions. From the playfulness of Take To The Sky to the sombre tones of the organ on Bells For Her, she also transformed songs of
past to stripped down versions, giving it the mellow ironic twist for Cool On Your Island, a song from her Y Kant Tori Read days. Kudos to her sound engineer husband Mark Hawley for expertly accentuating Tori’s performance. It certainly brought the music to another level, which is what makes Tori’s performances an experience to savour.

The Perth set list saw her performing songs from her new album The Beekeeper. However, she performed less of her better known singles, opting to play songs which aptly fit the solo setup. The organ brought about a resonance when she played to accompany the piano on Mother Revolution, Jamaica Inn and Spring Haze. To watch her playing the piano and organ on either hand simultaneously was one to be experienced. At times she looked like she was in a trance, standing between both instruments, the music moving through her with such ease. She also played solely on the organ for Hey Jupiter, which evoked
the longing of a love lost, effectively creating an aura which enveloped one’s being.

Tori’s Piano Bar was a part of the concert where she played requests which fans submitted online. As she said, she only plays the ‘clever’ requests, and Perth was treated to a cover of Madonna’s Live To Tell and Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire. The songs more than made up for the lack of the “Tori’s Piano Bar” sign, which had to be shipped from Sydney to Adelaide for the concert the next night.

Hanging on to every nuance of the experience with Tori, the 90 minute set felt like it had flown past too quickly, and there was a crave for more songs despite two encores. It has been a literal whirlwind tour in Australia for Tori, performing in a different capital city each consecutive night. Given the success of this sold out tour, one can only hope that her management will consider planning the Australian
tour such that Tori will be able to make time for more interaction with her fans. However, for now, it was an experience which each and every fan will remember for a very long time to come.