I first saw Tori when she played with Alanis. The “girl at the piano” thing was still working at the time. However, I was blown away by her ADP concert in Philly this past year. It was so lively, there was a lot of energy, the set list had a great flow, and it ended with a strong close.

Tori’s best song writing comes from the introspective and personal experiences in her life. We needy fans have picked her clean these past 16 years. What else is left?? If Tori doesn’t continue to try new things and reinvent her self, she is not going to ‘last’ in today’s music industry which focus’s TOO HEAVILY on youth and promoting teeny-bopper “rock artists” and “rock bands.” Tori doesn’t want to fade out, but wants to continue to bring something new to the table. She doesn’t want to alienate her old fan base, she’s been performing since the 1980′s (about 30 years!). But after 30 years of being ‘anti christian’ wearing ‘overalls’ and doing the ‘girl and the piano’ bit, she now wants to interject her love of wine, food, shoes, and clothes! Yes, it comes on strong now, but she’s been fashion repressed for over 20 years–maybe stemming from her sexual assault? or the failure of Y Kant Tori Read?. It’s good to think, hey, she can look hot in her flaired red hair and overalls AND in silk with a “insert color” wig!

Tori’s unique music and style was a major ground breaking success, no doubt about that. She as well as others have brought to the attention of the public that a girl with her piano has just as much important things to say as a boy and his guitar. But that era has come and gone. There’s nothing ground breaking and new for her to do–every artist gets one shot to be ground breaking. I agree that she’s trying very hard to show a different side of her. Every one complains that they want their Little Earthquake’s tori back. B-Sides can help in this case: everybody tore apart Strange Little Girls but where are the good comments on the heavily Little Earthquake styled songs ‘Only Women Bleed,’ ‘Real Men,’ and ‘After All?’ There seems to be no credit when these type of songs do arrive.

Tori’s latest albums may not be made up of the good ole stories and piano riffs and do not have ‘staying power,’ but they do make humor and uplifting mood more evident. My favorite humor line is from Parasol, “…when I come to terms with this whiplash of silk on wool embroidery.” None of my friends are in to Tori (gasp), and it was tough to pull out a Tori cd when hanging out (as her music does not lend itself to group gatherings, i know) but I can say American Doll Posse and Bee Keeper are extraordinarily crafted that even dark/moody in the midst of up-beat songs sound a-okay when being played as background music.

Now, to complain about some previous posts: Tori “unhappy with her life”? You can’t judge someone’s happiness based on walking up to their car and startling them. Also WHO CARES THAT SHE SAID SHE DROVE IN A SAAB WITH HER FRIENDS TO IRELAND?! If you are so upset that she admits this horrendous, shameful deed, then replace the word SAAB with HORSE! I think this is Tori’s MOST SUCCESSFUL SONG in her present career. It has her anti-religious tone, GREAT melody and chorus, it’s a STORY and not insanely metaphoric, AND it has radio staying power– all without being flashy! In fact, I sent this song to a friend at At&t Wireless and they purchased the rights to turn it into a ring town. Now it’s on my phone! Oh, it’s nice to have connections…

And, all the songs in that album sound the same at the beginning! Like Bouncing Off Clouds and Posse Bonus. The SAME INTRO.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Tori. I just think she… lost her touch! I hope this awkward phase ends! I miss Tori! I saw her A.D.P concert, and I left early. Before the end! She seemed… sleepy. She did well on her old songs, but the new stuff was meh.

The fame, money, and fans have- after ALL these years- reached her head. We love you, Tori, the way you were.

Love,
~~~~Tori…Fan

I’ve seen Tori live 12 or 13 times now beginning with her first tour following the release of “Little Earthquakes”. I’ve never missed a chance to see her perform, whether here in Denver or in Seattle where I lived for the last 18 years. This was her worst performance I’ve ever seen.

She focused almost solely on her new material, pushing it hard I’m sure in hopes to revive the sales of ‘American Doll Posse’ for those in the auditorium who hadn’t purchased it yet. This had the opposite effect on me, and I’m sure I’m not alone: the performance made me want to sell my copy of her new CD on Ebay. I’ve only listened to it once anyway since I bought it blindly like I do all her music.

The Wells Fargo Theater has a capacity of 5,000, of which only half the seats were filled — a new low for a Denver Tori concert. Her addition of a drummer and 2 electric guitars for her ‘old school Tori’ fans accustomed to acoustic shows with just her, a piano, and a harpsichord, is just noise. It detracts from the music and doesn’t add anything but flash. Perhaps, lacking substance with her new material, flash is all she has left to offer.

I ended up walking out before the first encore. I paid a lot of money to sit in the 4th row on the floor. The drunk, loud, screaming tweenies sitting all around me yelling every five seconds, or whenever she grabbed her crotch onstage (again) was distracting and irritating to the point of becoming intolerable. One man across the aisle from me in the same row walked over and told the 2 young girls sitting next to me that he didn’t pay $165 for a ticket to sit and listen to them scream and not be able to hear the concert. They piped down for a little while, but were incensed at his nerve. I remember a show at the Seattle Opera House about 5 or 6 years ago where you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium whenever she touched her fingers to the keys of her piano until she lifted them again. Respect, admiration, and awareness of others around you. Her new fan base she is courting leaves me cold, and will leave me behind.

while i admit i liked a few tracks off of each of her albums, including TBK and ADP (code red was like getting a gift from choirgirl), honestly, i’m not a tori amos “fan” anymore. i discovered ani difranco when TBK came out, and i haven’t looked back since. so keep the “ears with feet” title. i always preffered the term “toriphile” anyways.