Tori, Tori, Tori!
Tori Amos - Manchester Apollo, 6th June 2007
Settle back with a brew for this immense piece of obsessive fan-boy geekery, it's a bit of a ramble!
So, where's the best place to take your wife on the very rainy evening of your fifth wedding anniversary? That's correct, you take her to see the other woman in your life. In our case, that's Tori Amos and let's say that the better half likes Ms Amos, but only in nibble-sized chunks and not in extensive two-hour-odd banquets, which is what the rabid Manchester audience were treated to last night.
We got to the theatre in good time and avoided the rain. We got in and bought some sweeties (rock and roll!), then started the first job for the evening, which was sitting down in our seats. I'd gone for the usual Tori seats of front of balcony, stage left (seats AA1 and AA2) for good view and comfort, we'd be seated all night and my long legs can be a pain in the arse in pokey concert venue seats. The only minor problem was that the drums were a little too far back and I had to crane a bit to see the action from behind the kit, which, as we know kids, is where the real magic happens!
Then it was time to throw more money at Tori's tour profits. I got into the scrum and bought the blue "ADP" T-shirt (£20), the programme (£10!) and some badges (£4) (See here for images) and wandered back to the seat to let Kez check out the programme and give her another excuse to dismiss Tori as a complete fruit cake. I tell you, long gone are the days of a book for £4 and a T-shirt for a tenner!
Josh Radin did an admiral job in warming-up the audience with his acoustic stylings, accompanied by a cellist and the later on, a female singer. His music was pleasant enough, but it was a shame that he ended on the best number, an up-tempo country tune. He came on stage at the unusually late 7.55pm and played for 30 minutes. This is unusual as Apollo supports are usually chucked on-stage at 7.30pm. Anyway, the advertised show-time of 8.55pm came and went and the natives started getting restless and threatened to revolt with hand-claps, as 9pm passed. Personally, I found that the background music was starting to drive me insane with it's dance-beat-backed jazzy noise rattling endlessly on. But then the lights dimmed at 9.15pm and it was on with the main event.
Jon Evans (bass-man with his new hair-do that makes him look like Don Airey's younger brother) and Matt Chamberlain (fucking drum monster hero, green kit - slightly scaled back this year) along with new guitarist Dan Phelps (or Mac Alladin as he's known in the tour book) came on and started the groove to a very warm welcome. It seemed that the usual opening number of "Yo George" had been dropped for the night as we were driven straight into an extended intro for "Bouncing on Clouds", which could only mean that Tori would take the stage as Clyde (long story, read about it on the net somewhere :D ), which is exactly what happened. I had a feeling that Manchester would see Clyde, dunno why, but I was happy to see that come true. I like that character, she sings all the good songs and seems fun. Needless to say, the crowd went berserk as Tori/Clyde made her entrance and took to her piano and the song kicked in proper.
The mood from the stage was great and it was a very "up" concert. The band were sharing smiles and seemed to be really getting off from playing. The performances were tight-but-loose and really rattled the set along at a great pace. The opener carried straight to a stellar run-through of "Little Earthquakes", which was very welcome. The Clyde set was packed with good tunes and went very quickly, with Tori packing in lots of performance quirks into her character.
The general sound of the gig from where we were started very bass heavy (as usual) with the piano getting very muddled with the guitars. This was sorted out pretty quick and settled into a good balanced sound. The guitars did disappear a bit later on, especially during "Code Red", but this was remedied by the time the next song started. It'll be interesting to hear the bootlegs if they emerge, and hear how it sounded elsewhere in the theatre.
At the end of "Roosterspur Bridge", she dashed off and left the band to give it plenty to a jam that segued from a tape of the remixed version of "Professional Widow". That was played very hard as the techs switched half of the keyboard set-up for the "Tori Set".
Tori, as herself this time, ran on in a long, straight red wig, backless cat-suit and huge smile, looking like a weird cross between Justin Hawkins and Kate Bush, as the band started the intro to "Big Wheel". The crowd joined in with the hand-claps and "MILF" bits of the song, setting the set up to be another barn-storming and joyous performance.
The song choice for this section was excellent. Lots of "hits" and a lovely rendition of "Bells for Her". "Cornflake Girl" saw the band trading excellent licks and really pumping it along. There was some great interplay between the band members and lots of smiling, especially from Mr Chamberlain, who as far as I'm concerned earned his beer money that night for that song alone. "Siren" was a nice addition to the set too and "Crucify" (one of the songs the Better Half likes) was in there, but changed again slightly from the last band-tour in 2003.
She greeted the audience properly in this set and gave us a rap about how when she first played the Apollo, she sat on the stage during the day and experienced some dread at the thought of playing this biggest gig of her life so far. But now it was fine as the place felt like home. Cue massive Mancunian cheers and 2500-odd Tori fans going berserk. She looked as though she meant it, which was nice. Like I said, she was all smiles, all night.
The end of "Parasol" saw the band leave and the "T&Bo" sign projected above the piano, as Tori settled into the solo spot. She had a bit of talk or "now I get a chance for a little chat" as she put it. She took time to answer some of the obligatory shouts for songs or the time-homoured scream of "I LOVE YOU TORI!" from the seats in the gods... Not me this time, I hasten to add. She obviously couldn't hear any of the shouts from the stage but then singled-out some bloke "with a funny accent" and silenced his shouts for "Merman" by actually playing it. Great, it was too and a total surprise. "Silent All These Years" and "...Rainbow" followed and concluded a great solo spot.
The band returned for the last set and brought the show home in style. "Spark" was great tonight and gave me the usual "moment" as I'd had this song in mind over the last week due to the current stuff happening in the family. It was a great rendition and the band gave it large for it. "Code Red" saw the end of the set and Tori skipping off stage to stand around for a minute listening to the usual claps for more.
The encores were three classics and one new live favourite. The clamour down the front, as people seem to get up and dash for it, was the usual scrum but it's always better for this kind of show to keep it cool and have a good seat (old git... cough). I thought we'd only get three songs, but we got four including the epic "Hey Jupiter" to round the night off, which was great. "Precious Things" was a monster too.
...And then it was over. We made our way out at the unusually late Apollo time of 11.20pm into the rain. Kez had managed to stay awake for the whole thing this time, although she did say that the whole thing would have been better if were not such a long gig. Naturally, I could have passed another couple of hours in there, but that's me. The photos and video I took weren't the best tonight, but I was too wrapped up in the show and we were sat where the security were keeping an eye one things. They seemed very interested in something going on just below are seats, which was a bit distracting at times, but it's their job to be OTT and intrusive, I suppose. Thinking about it, the amount of flash photography going on really got on my tits last night, lord knows what it felt like on-stage. Why people don't realise that if you turn off the flash and hold the camera very still you potentially get a better photo of the stage action and not the back of the person infront's head, is beyond me.
I think that it was a better full-band show than the Manchester "Scarlet's Walk" tour. The band seemed to be playing better and in a much better mood. The set was also pretty varied tonight, giving them room to have fun and not be too focussed on one set of material. The fact that the show was sectioned-off like it was, also gave the show room to breathe, as it were. The stage set-up was nice with the curtains and the light-show was (as pointed-out by a reviewer of a London show the day before) nothing short of Muse-esque! It was pretty good though as the light could wither gave great mood to the show or turn into a mini Pink Floyd during the heavier numbers.
So now I can relax and listen to the bootlegs from this tour that I've collected already (about ten or eleven of the things so far) and hear what's been going on and just what was improvised last night, especially during "Cornflake Girl". Then there's the fact that this morning, I've got post-gig blues and will have to wait another two years for the next tour, if the past tour itineraries are anything to go by.
So, an excellent show, possibly my second favourite of the ones I've seen so far. Wish I could go again tonight, but I'm sure Kez is happy that I've not got more tickets for Ms Amos just yet. So, I think that's it... But I'll probably extend this ramble later when I remember more!
Set List
- Clyde
- Bouncing Off Clouds
- Little Earthquakes
- Juárez
- Rattlesnakes
- Beauty Of Speed
- Roosterspur Bridge
-
Professional Widow (Remix Version)
(Band only - Costume change and gear change-around)
- Tori
- Big Wheel
- Crucify
- Siren
- Cornflake Girl
- Bells For Her
- Parasol
- T&Bo Solo Set
- Merman
- Silent All These Years
- Somewhere Over The Rainbow
- Band Returns
- Amber Waves
- Spark
- Code Red
- Encore One
- Precious Things
- Secret Spell
- Encore Two
- God
- Hey Jupiter
Dodgy Tori Clip
The video is in FLV format and should stream quite quickly to your computer. Excuse the distorted sound, the microphone on the camera isn't the best when recording high-volume noise. Please be patient if the video doesn't load immediately.
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell