Last week I got to see my muse in concert, Tori Amos. She played at the Jackie Gleason Fillmore Center in Miami Beach on Wednesday, July 29th and it was one of the best concerts I've seen to date.I've been a huge fan of Tori Amos ever since she released her first solo album, Little Earthquakes, in 1992. Something about her music has always spoken to me, even as a young girl teetering on the edge of adolescence. I don't think I would've managed to escape the hell of my high school years as unscathed had her music not been there to light my way.
So who is Tori Amos? She is the goddess of the piano, playing as many as three different types (standard, harpsichord, and keyboard) during her shows. She writes her own music, and while she's amazing when she's alone with her piano, in recent years she's added a band and this has given her music a richer, fuller sound.
It's hard to categorize Tori -- her music sounds a little bit like Kate Bush, but her lyrics are completely her own. She writes such enigmatic lines as: "Perhaps the answer to the question/Lies in the question" and my personal favorite: "My heart is like the ocean/It gets in the way." Some may find her seemingly nonsensical lyrics off-putting, but personally I find them inspiring. In case you didn't know, the name for my blog, ThreadsThatAreGolden.com, is named after a lyric in one of my favorite songs of Tori's, "Horses." So I was beyond thrilled when she played it in last week's show, and ecstatic when I saw that someone had video-taped her performance of the song and put it on YouTube. You can see that video below along with another favorite of mine, "Flavor." Thank the faeries for YouTube...
Overall, the show was great, one of her best I've seen. I try to see her every time she comes to South Florida, and this was the closest I've ever been from her, one row away from the pit. It still wasn't that close, but still... Next time I'll try to get front row or thereabouts. She's worth it! Her concerts are always awesome because she likes to reinvent her "girls," the name she gives her songs. This one was no exception -- she sang a lot of songs I wasn't expecting, too, like "Raspberry Swirl," "Carbon," and "Winter." She had seemingly endless energy throughout the show, smiling and interacting a lot with the audience, even getting up to dance (and smack her butt!) to "Big Wheel" near the end of the show. Yep, she's definitely still an "M-I-L-F/Don't you forget," as her line goes.
The only blah moment in an otherwise awesome experience was when I went to buy some goodies after the concert. I wanted to purchase one shirt in particular -- it was a white T-shirt with Tori's face on the front and on the back the following line: "Perhaps the answer to the question/Lies in the question." I really wanted it!! But the one guy manning the stand kept ignoring me because I didn't have cash, only credit. And by the time he finally attended me, it had already sold out... :-( I made do with a program, a cute bag, and my second favorite shirt:
Below are two videos from this performance. After the videos I've included some of the pictures I took. Enjoy!
"Horses"
"Flavor"
To learn more about this show and see the set-list, go here.
So who's your muse? Let me know in the comments!
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