Got An Angry Snatch... Still

Or so we were reminded Monday night by Tori Amos, as she brought her American Doll Posse Tour to the Andrew Jackson Hall at TPAC in Nashville. Just as her new album, American Doll Posse, is written from the perspectives of five different characters, she is performing as the different personalities from the album. Isabel, a photographer inspired by the Greek Goddess Artemis is the most overtly political of the five dolls. She opened her set with the apropos "Yo George" from the new album. She followed with "Sweet Dreams," a song first featured on the Winter single during which she ad-libbed a line about the election not coming soon enough. Isabel also "covered" "In the Springtime of His Voodoo," arranged differently from the album version. She closed her set with "Scarlet's Walk" to thunderous applause. A club-style remix of "Professional Widow" played as Isabel left the stage and continued until a star-studded Tori (literally) appeared and took her place.

Tori opened her set with the controversial first single of the new album, "Big Wheel." I honestly had not previously favored the song, but live is a completely different story. The rest of her set consisted mainly of older songs including "Cornflake Girl" and the always moving "Putting the Damage On."

The highlight of the night came during the T & Bö segment, which features Tori solo on her Bösendorfer, Tori's signature piano. She opened this portion of the show with a surprising, but beautiful, take on the traditional "Dixie" followed by the equally breathtaking "Cooling." She explained that Tennessee was special to her because her mother is from Chattanooga, and her ancestors hid in the Smokey mountains to avoid the horrors and sorrow of the Trail of Tears. Following such a moving moment, the rest of the night wasn't nearly as memorable, even with the always intense "Precious Things" and the soothing "A Sorta Fairytale" as the first encore. The night ended with her latest single, "Bouncing Off Cloud."

As with every Tori Amos show I have attended, this being the first in about 7 years, she absolutely never disappoints. The music is always spot on and she could never be accused of "going through the motions" on stage. Having seen her with and without a band, I would love to see another solo piano tour one day.

The full set is listed below, and as with every show on this tour since the middle of October, an official bootleg is available in both mp3 & flac (for you audiophiles out there). The Legs and Boots site is up and running quite smoothly. You can purchase any of the shows starting with the October 13th Syracuse show, and you can also pre-order any of the upcoming shows listed, as I did for the Nashville show. The recording quality is excellent and raw with no studio overdubs or tinkering. You get what you head. For the curious I am linking three songs from the Nashville show. If you like the songs, browse through the listings and purchase the show you attended or one that features your favorite set-list. The more successful ventures like these are, the better chance other bands will follow suit. As a youth, I always wanted a copy of ever show I attended, and gobbled up every bootleg regardless of quality. I never dreamed that one day I would be able to come home from a show and download a professional recording of the entire show within a few hours.

November 12, 2007
Nashville, TN
Andrew Jackson Hall TPAC

ACT I (Isabel)
YO GEORGE (mp3)
SWEET DREAMS
SWEET SANGRIA
IN THE SPRINGTIME OF HIS VOODOO (mp3)
ALMOST ROSEY
TOMBIGBEE
SCARLET’S WALK
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PROFESSIONAL WIDOW
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ACT II (Tori)
BIG WHEEL (mp3)
CONCERTINA
THE POWER OF ORANGE KNICKERS
CORNFLAKE GIRL
PUTTING THE DAMAGE ON
GLORY OF THE 80s

T & Bö
IMPROV CLASSIC/"DIXIELAND" (mp3)
COOLING
COOL ON YOUR ISLAND

1000 OCEANS
HOTEL
CODE RED

1st ENCORE
PRECIOUS THINGS
A SORTA FAIRYTALE

2nd ENCORE
BOUNCING OFF CLOUDS