Abnormally Additcted to Tori
Manchester Apollo - Sunday 6th September 2009
The first night of the UK leg of the Sinful Attraction tour saw me, the GPM and 2500-odd of Tori Amos' closest Mancunian friends having a right old knees up at the Apollo... And here's some MORE geekery about it from me.
It was a wierd day leading up to this one really. I'd got the tickets on the morning of them going on sale, as is usual and secured the usual position for a gig of this type, but as the day approached, I wasn't getting that excited about it, which was a worry. I think that maybe it could have been everything else that's going on here at the moment, or the fact that I thought that the Better Half wasn't that bothered about being dragged to another Amos show, but it took a while to get excited. In the end, we offered the ticket to GPM and he accepted, which removed a load of potential problems (babysitters etc.) and I finally got excited and spent the day spinning the Amos CDs to get me in da mood.
Time came to hit the road, so I jumped in the Sambulance and went off to pick up my "date". Driving into Ardwick was nice and easy since it ws a Sunday night and we paid the usual £4 ransom so that the car would be kept in one piece in the official car park. There was a nice buzz outside the venue as we walked in and I had a pre-purchase shufty at the merch stand to see how the Amos organisation could squeeze more money out of me!
We went upstairs to the usual balcony position (EE 3 & 4) and got settled and had a chat about music and stuff like that and waited for the support act to come on. One Eskimo took the stage for a half hour set at about 8.00pm. They were four blokes playing very laid back stuff with a folkie-dancie edge and it was OK. GPM and I agreed at the end of the set that they could have dropped the bassist/trumpeter (he was just showing off) and singer and stuck to the percussionist and guitarist (who seemed to be doing the donkey work with the triggered samples and all that) and it would still have been fine.
It was during the third number that I took a quick run to the gents and to the merch stand to throw money at Tori again. I was fleeced for a T-shirt (£25) and programme (£10). They are nice things for the Amos collection, but when will I learn, eh?! I went back to my seat and settled in for the wait for the main event and for the fun that would follow.
So, at about 9pm (ten minutes late again!), the lights went down and the Blondie CD was turned off (after a false start) and the gig started. Jon Evans wandered over to his bass station and Matt Chamberlain (I'm still not worthy) took his drum stool and they started on the groove to "Give", after a bit of atmosphere-building, Tori slinked on-stage wearing a long red fitted gown over black leg-ins and very high black heels. The hair was straightened, of course. She did the "thank you" thing and took to the piano and blasted through the song. Naturally, by this point, I'd forgotten that I was having a bit of a doubting-Thomas moment and I was into it as the song progressed. The set progressed quick as the band skipped through the crowd-pleasing double-whammy of "Caught a Lite Sneeze" and "Cornflake Girl". The band were sounding expectantly tight and groovy and there were plently of smiles between the players which really came across in the delivery to the crowd. Amos was all smiles too.
The sound was a bit muddy again with the drums coming over pretty loud. I don't know whether it was just where we were sat again, but sometimes, the vocals and piano got lost in the full-band attack. When Amos sung certain passages with her trademark vocal delivery, the lyrics did get lost at times too, which was a shame. Still, the sound did start to balance out as the show progressed, so by the time we got to the second full-band section, it was all OK.
Yet again, the drums were pushed pretty far back again, which was typical. You think I'd learn by now (again). There was no guitarist this time since Jon Evans seemed to be supplying the guitar parts on some songs, so there was more room on stage and it all seemed very tidy. There were no monitors around Tori's area, so I assume that the band were using in-ears to hear whatever they needed to hear during the gig.
The lights were simple but effective with long curtains at the back and the occasional use of a starry-night curtain behind it for some songs. There wasn't as much flashy light stuff this time, with more slow, but very bright beams used to give atmosphere.
Oddly enough tonight, the Apollo Camera Nazis didn't bother trying to stop the crowd taking photos. I don't know whether they just don't bother anymore since everyone has a camera on the phone now or the Amos band had just started to relax with it. So every other bugger had their iPhone out for the most part. I didn't bother this time, wanting to take in the show without worrying about my camera. It did start to get a bit waring after a while with flashes going off. If you're going to take pics, turn the f*cking flash off as all it lights is the smoke in front of you from the stage and not the action behind the piano! Still, I suppose it was amusing to see a sea of phone screens in the Stalls, then again, it wsa a bit stupid to see people playing with the internet on their phone during the gig. You can do that at home, not during a gig you paid nearly £40 to see!
Anyhow... the set progressed nicely with some songs I've not hear done before, as I recall. "Pancake" and "Icicle" sounded great, but it was the inculsion of the lovely "Northern Lad" which did the trick for me. It sounded great and I love that song, especially with the band behind it.
There wasn't much in the way of banter tonight. We got a "hello" and a bit of chat about being "at home in the North" and Mr Amos being a "Northern Lad, but an Arsenal supporter" (I don't know either :) ). I think that she probably was just in the song-zone and kept the chat down. Even when she took the show into the solo section (complete with "Lizard Lounge" lighted graphic on the back curtain), she just sung the songs and didn't really talk a great deal. We only got two songs during the solo section too, which seemed a little short. Still, "Take Me With You" and "Mother" sounded good and were played with passion.
Then the band came back on and blew my f*cking mind with a great run-through of "Putting the Damage On". It was great and brought two favourites to the set for me. This was followed by a very groovy "Power of Orange Knickers", which it's always been iffy on, but the performance of it last night really was great with a good powerful stomp to it. "Fast Horse" came and went and laid the way for "Precious Things", which was newly spruced up for this tour. (I always think of this like a think of Leps' "Pour Some Sugar On Me" for some reason since it always gets played and is a live favourite.) My god, just when you think that the song couldn't sound any more threatening or angry, Amos goes away, rethinks the song and makes it harder than ever before. The middle to ending section seemed to have been altered and it was great and along with the stark and harsh lighting effects, it was a bit of a mind-blower and really did lift the place for the last song of the main set. "Strong Black Vine" really brought it home with a bang, complete with "I'm your motherf*cker" refrain towards the end of the song and great thumping accompaniment from the band. great stuff. With the end of that, the crowd downstairs rushed the front as the last bars came on to be in place for the encores, bless 'em! Again, I was hanging back and enjoying it too much from where I was to worry about that.
There were plenty of nutters there for the gig. They were all present and correct at the front. The Better half says I'm bad when it comes to devotion to Her Highness, but these people make me look like a person with a passing interest. One dude was even headbanging in his seat, such was his need to be seen to be enjoying himself by those on stage. It was that kind of gig though, as you probably gather.
We didn't have to wait too long for the encores to happen thankfully and Amos skipped back onstage to the stomp-a-long intro to "Big Wheel" which sounded immense as the band blasted through it. We had the 8,7,6... countdown clap-a-long as well as the crowd participation "M.I.L.F." section and it sounded grand. The second and final encore (only two!) was the lovely "Tear in Your Hand" which is a loooong-time favourite of mine and always leaves me feeling good. It was here that Amos imporvised, changed the "time to wave goodbye" bit to "time to say hello" and then scored a home-goal by forgetting the rest of the lyrics and then having to sing words along the lines of "i need words words words". It was taken in stride and with laughs and the song still got me going inside, as it does.
Then it was over... The band ran off stage to escape the nutter-onslaught at the stage door and the house lights came up. It felt like the show had only run for ninety minutes, but since the lights came up at about 10.50pm, we'd had a good hour-fifty. The setlist seems to run longer than usual in the first section, which probably made the second full-band section seem a lot shorter and the show quicker. The set was good and I've got no complaints there, apart from the fact that she never seems to play "1000 Oceans" in Manchester, well not since 2001 anyway!
We filed out into the night and we managed to escape the car park queues and get on our way back to drop GPM home. He said he'd enjoyed it, but would have to listen to a bit more of the albums to familiarise himself with the newer material if he were to go to another gig, which is fair enough. I can imagine going to a show without knowing a bit more than "Little Earthquakes" and "Under the Pink" could be a bit of a patience tester. So, it was all good and I got myself back home at about 11.30pm and settled down to watch the end of "Oceans 11" on the telly with the missus.
So, I think that the gig was great and (as I said) the set was great. I think that the gig did suffer a little from being on a Sunday night as sometimes, the crowd seemed a bit tired, not that it seemed to affect the band thankfully, but you could feel that the crowd energy was not as high at it had been on the ADP tour last time round. So, it was good, but not as good as last time. I think that I'd like to see Tori do the solo show next time for a change.
Set List
- Full Band
- Give
- Caught a Lite Sneeze
- Cornflake Girl
- Icicle
- Pancake
- Space Dog
- Lust
- Jamaica Inn
- Welcome to England
- Northern Lad
- Lizard Lounge (Solo)
- Take Me With You
- Mother
- Band Returned
- Putting the Damage On
- The Power of Orange Knickers
- Fast Horse
- Precious Things
- Strong Black Vine
- Encore
- Big Wheel
- Tear in Your Hand
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell