Review: Tori Amos at the Count Basie Theatre

(Credit: Doug Hood)

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"There are some, some who give blood; I give love." So go the lyrics to "Give," the first number performed by fiery-haired songstress Tori Amos during her Friday night show (Aug. 14) at Red Bank's historic Count Basie Theatre. ("Give" is also the lead-off track on her latest album, this year's "Abnormally Attracted to Sin.")

And, true to her word, Amos provided the adoring crowd with plenty of love, which they in turn reciprocated, over the course of her bewitching two-hour set.

It's been 17 years since Amos released her solo debut, 1992's "Little Earthquakes," and in that time countless piano-pop songstresses have cropped up in her wake (for examples see the Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer, Fiona Apple, Vienna Teng and many, many more). And while each of the post-Amos artists surely has their merits, Friday night's show proved once again that there is, after all, only one Tori.

Taking the stage to an eruption of adulation in epic high heels and a black and yellow dress that looked like something Uma Thurman's "Kill Bill" character the Bride would wear if she decided to go to a ball, Amos had full command of the jam-packed crowd at the Basie before she even played or sang a single note.

With an elaborate and mood-setting lighting scheme that most likely worked just as well the night before when the tour stopped at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, Amos' show looked just about as good as it sounded. This attention to visual detail also carried over to Amos' playing: for the evening, she was flanked by the ivories with a grand piano on one side of her and a keyboard rig on the other, meaning that as she switched from one to the other, or played both simultaneously, everyone in the grand theater was treated to a fine view of the artist at work.

While her current trek is dubbed the Sinful Attraction Tour, and Amos certainly performed a number of tracks off of her latest strong LP, over the course of the evening she touched on practically every corner of nearly 20-year solo career, leading to highlights such as a haunting delivery of "Pandora's Aquarium" off of "From the Choirgirl Hotel" (1998), a crowd-pleasing run through "Cornflake Girl" from 1994's "Under the Pink" and the positively jubilant live debut of "Not Dying Today" off of "Abnormally Attracted to Sin."

Those in attendance on Friday night included younger couples, baby boomers, hipsters, tattooed young ladies and more than a few folks wearing "Sandman" t-shirts -- for those who are not in the know, "Sandman" author Neil Gaiman is a long-time friend of Amos who often finds himself name-checked in her work. Such is the standard of devotion adhered to by Amos fans that even when Amos decides to tip her hat to the past -- such as by closing the evening with "Take to the Sky," a song released as a B-side to the 1992 hit single "Winter" -- the crowd was more than willing to go along for the ride.

(While we're on the subject of fans, I have a quick word of advice for any guys thinking about singing along at an Amos show: don't. Few things kill a vibe faster than someone who tries to prove he knows the words to every song by singing along at a louder volume than the act on stage.)

This February, piano pop balladeer Rufus Wainwright delivered a powerful and stripped-down solo performance at the Baise, and about midway through Friday night's performance I began wishing for a similar tour from Amos in the future.

Sure, her two-piece backing band added great backbone to her work and never over-played. But, when they left the stage for Amos to deliver tender performances of "Taxi Ride" from 2002's "Scarlet's Walk" and the Carly Simon cover "Boys in the Trees," the show was transformed into something much more intimate and revealing.

For my money, the high-water mark of the show came early on, when Amos followed a hushed take on "Horses" from "Boys for Pele" (1996) with a thoroughly blissed-out performance of "Glory of the ‘80s" off of "To Venus and Back" (1999). While the two numbers seem to come from very different places and a lesser performer wouldn't have been able to deliver them back-to-back, Amos knocked both numbers out of the theater, and the songs were two great moments in an evening full of them.

Kicking off the proceedings on Friday night was UK-based alt-art rock combo One eskimO. The band's atmospheric sounds worked very well in a theater setting, and the crowd responded warmly to their half hour-long set of alternative, high-minded pop. All in all, their work exhibited the type of atmospheric but accessible sound that could earn them plenty of fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Here's Tori Amos' set list from Friday night:

1. "Give"
2. "Beauty of Speed"
3. "Cornflake Girl"
4. "Horses"
5. "Glory of the ‘80s"
6. "Pandora's Aquarium"
7. "Siren"          
8. "Tear in Your Hand"
9. "Hotel"
10. "Doughnut Song"
11. "Taxi Ride"
12. "Boys in the Trees"
13. "Josephine"
14. "Not Dying Today"
15. "Bliss"
16. "Fast Horses"
17. "Precious Things"
18. "Strong Black Vine"

Encore:
19. "Big Wheel"
20. "Take to the Sky"