Review


Tori Amos - Dew Drop Inn Tour

San Jose State University Events Center 7/14/96.

My First Tori Amos concert.

The show was marked with excellent sound, brilliant delivery of great material and stunning lighting. Song after song, Tori would silence the audience with her sheer virtuosity and will power, only to make them erupt uncontrollably on command later. She did this mostly with her voice and Bosendorfer Imperial grand piano and with the well placed electric acoustic guitar styling of Steve Caton. Steve is truly an excellent guitarist in his own right, as well as being the perfect secret weapon for Tori’s music. He doesn’t play on every song, but every note he played added an extra dimension to the music. It was well worth driving to San Jose to see this show.

As luck would have it, my efforts to get tickets would yield 12th row seats for the following weekend show in Portland on 7/21/96. I got to see the 6:30 and 9:30 shows that evening. At this point, I was thrilled to be seeing this great artist three times in seven days. The Portland shows were held in the Arlene Shnitzer Memorial Theater, which again, had excellent acoustics. Seeing Tori from the 12th row was an experience I won’t soon forget. All three shows I saw were different. Songs in different orders were interpreted in new ways every time. Each song was performed with welding emotional intensity and the intuitive delivery that only an artist of her caliber can really lay claim to. The sound of a ten-foot grand piano and her voice, mic’ed perfectly through a killer sound system, was some of the finest sound I’ve ever heard. The Bosendorfer piano yielded both massive bottom end on the low notes and crystalline clarity on the highs.

For the second show, she came out very warmed up and proceeded to blaze for another two hours. It takes great inner reserve to give 100% for four hours, especially with so much style and originality. She excels greatly in several areas, namely writing , singing, playing, and performing. Her songs are filled with rare honesty and her ability to channel her music is second to none. I’d like to add that she was kind enough to visit with a bunch of us during the sound check portion of the day. I hung out with the hard-core Tori fans who became my clan for the day. Funny how twenty people from different states and cities can come together like that. I really had a great time. Tori is a stunning artist and she surrounds herself with a very fine team. My advice to you is to see her if you ever get the chance!
 

Marvin Allen

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