Jim Meyer
Even rock goddess Tori Amos had to admit she was not the
biggest rock
show in town Friday night. But she delivered an interesting
departure
to a sold-out crowd at Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis.
The mostly college-age and younger fans again seemed to
be in their
own world of rapt attention for the inspirational and
mysterious
poetess of the piano. Most sat motionless in their seats
until the
encore, even though Amos was accompanied, for the first
time, by a
three-piece band.
Maybe the sedate reaction was just a natural result of
the leavening
effect this backing group seems to have on Amos' music.
For the first
portion, the trio seemed to dim her light, especially
in contrast to
Amos' sparkling solo show at Northrop in 1996, when there
was more
acoustic space for her prickly piano melodies and her
gentle yet
haunting voice to work its many wonders.
On Friday, she seemed a little lost in her own sound.
Amos doesn't
share the spotlight well, and her band hasn't quite been
given much
room to make much of new interest.
Of course, most fans have memorized her twisted lyrics
backward and
forward, but for objective listeners, her soaring but
thin soprano
seemed swept away by the constant bass tone and the crashing
of
cymbals on the opening "Precious Things," "Spark" and
"Cornflake
Girl," in which the smooth grooves seemed to just go on
longer than
their impact demanded. The rarity "Sugar" held up well,
but newer
songs such as "Iieee" and "Playboy Momma" have turned
from engagingly
mysterious to flatly vague.
Even on "Crucify," the vocal beauty was lost in the ho-hum
rumble,
and
Amos' passion seemed flat.
The power of her solo set was brought to mind during a
two-song piano
interlude of "Marianne" and "Upside Down." The latter
especially
proved that one cool piano chord and a strong lyric has
the power of
three men.
After a gentle ensemble version of "Doughnut Song," the
band redeemed
itself on "Cruel," which borrowed tone and intensity from
"Kashmir"
by
Led Zeppelin, one of Amos' favorites. The band created
cold chills on
the eerie self-examination, "The Waitress," to close the
main
portion.
The band encored with techno-rave renditions of "God"
and "Raspberry
Swirl," and Amos closed with a solo version of Fleetwood
Mac's
"Changes." Friday night, Amos' musical changes had their
moments.
-- Jim Meyer is senior editor for Request magazine.