Tori Amos
Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Wa
07.17.14
The bar inside is familiar and comfortable, if you’re able to get a seat. We sit by the window, and as the sun goes down I catch my reflection in the glass. I’m older now, and my wife is by my side, never minding the years gone by. She laughs like a school girl, as beautiful as ever, and her excitement makes me smile.
It will be difficult to break down an evening that has taken so many years to collect, architect, build, polish, and perfect. And, lest I leave any uncertainty here, this evening was, indeed, perfect.
Sweet, haunting echoes fill the foyer of the Paramount, and our teenage years beckon us to our seats. Like driving down lonely roads at midnight, I close my eyes and imagine all those times I looked for myself and found nothing.
We’re here, Tori.
The darkness is broken by two pianos, their keys facing each other and lovingly decorated with one-word notes. Between the rows of keys sits a delicate, tiny lady with fiery hair and a beautiful smile. She seems vulnerable and fragile. Nothing, really, has changed.
The audience is excited, yet patient and polite. One person is yelling ‘I love you, Tori!’ Everyone sits captivated. Tori begins a set that will burn the next two hours, seamlessly rolling through one gem after another. There is a woman three aisles up from me, twiddling her hands in the air along to the lyrics, and it reminds me of a church service.
There is a quality here that brings us back to a clean slate; stripped down, basic and natural. A woman, a piano, and a powerful voice. And an intangible that we can all believe in. We are all, perhaps, submissive to something.
She occasionally hits her piano for a time signature, jarring me back to the moment. She ended her set on her bench, back arched and arms outstretched. Graceful, like a bird that navigates the wind and the sun. She played beautifully, effortlessly switching pianos and piloting through the night.
Drive down that midnight road, Tori.
Set list:
(Part One):
Parasol
Pancake
Crucify
Ophelia
Winter
Frog On My Toe
Oysters
Ribbons Undone
Secret Spell
(Lizard Lounge):
Ain’t No Sunshine/Same Love
She’s Leaving Home
(Part Two):
Bliss
Leather
Another Girls Paradise
In The Springtime Of His Voodoo
Cornflake Girl
(Encore):
Precious Things
Sixteen Shades Of Blue
Hey Jupiter
Review by T. Monte
Photos by Sunny Martini
Tori Amos
