Oh Tori, You Came and you Found me a Black Swan

What can I say except wow. This was my second Tori show in 2 days and that's the most I've ever done in a row, usually I hit different areas on different legs of the tour, but this time the way things worked out, I got to see two shows in a row. With Tori doing the whole "dolls" thing this really helped to create two vastly different shows. The first in Salt Lake with Pip started off so intense and angry, and this show today in Boise, Clyde was intense but in a less threatening way. I want to go really in depth about both shows and what happened leading up to them.

Niki and I had a comedy of errors trying to get out the door. she forgot her pillow and the directions and I forgot the tickets! Luckily we had stopped for breakfast nearby when I remembered and we figured we could hit Niki's house on the way. It was a five hour drive where seeing the distant mountains that are just slightly dusted with snow was the most interesting part of our journey. Mostly the road between here and salt lake (blogging on the road! I love the digital age!) is flat, nothing wasteland not a lot out those are windows. It's a 5 hour drive, but Niki had brought Anasai Boys on audio CD for us to listen to and I think this really helped the time fly by. We headed straight to the venue to see if the meet 'n' greet was going to happen soon and when we got there there were maybe about 15 people standing behind the barriers. We figured since it was already after 3 we should stick it out even though it was bitter cold. We were not disappointed. Soon Smitty (tori's bodyguard) came out to tell us it would be just a few minutes. Niki and I decided since we met her yesterday, it would be nice to either observe (that's Niki) or chat with Ms Amos (that's me!) rather tahn get something signed. So since there were so few people there Tori was taking time with everyone and really having a bit of a chat with people. People were free to move to the side after talking with Tori and this was the first time I've seen Smitty so relaxed and looking like he was having a bit of fun too! almost. It came to my turn and I told Tori that since I had met her the night before that I didn't need anything signed but I did want to ask her a question. I told her that I was very intrigued with the concept of the different personas on this album but that as a new mother I was having a hard time being nurturing and being able to be the Aphrodite too. And since Tori had so many different hats to wear what was her secret. She told me that Santa (the Aphrodite Doll) has really helped her marriage. That being sensual doesn't have to be independent of being spiritual. The patrichary has shamed us into thinking we can't have both but as women deserve to have it all. She told me that Santa isn't just a sensual creature, but that she love fabric and texture and architecture and beauty and that we all deserve to feel beautiful. Santa isn't interested in talking about the war, she's more interested in having a moment (and here I totally thought that she was going to say makeover). She also said that Santa isn't the one who goes to playgroups and she's not the one who picks up Tash from school, because each doll and each aspect of ourselves has a time and a place. Santa likes to go out to dinner and be social, so she's out a lot with Husband, but not so much with Tash. She was so sweet and twee and so personal. Then Niki took our picture with her awesome new camera and I reminded Tori that I had requested Black Swan. She had that "oh yeah" look on her face and wrote it on her hand, she asked if this would be our last show and we said that it was, so she told us that she would see what she could do. I took a few more pictures of her with other people and then since we weren't all corralled like sheep, we decided we were done and we left to go hang out in our posh hotel room.

I felt that Clyde would come out tonight. The venue is beautiful, a concert hall used to classical music, I figured that Clyde would feel comfortable in that setting. I was right. Seeing shows opened by Pip and Clyde are two different experiences. Pip was all infectious anger but Clyde, is stoic, silently intense, preferring to let the songs speak for themselves. She came out with a black cloth over her eyes which she dropped in front of the piano. Our seats were just stage left off center and 3rd row. They could hardly have been better. Bouncing off Clouds was fun and Little Earthquakes was great to hear. Juarez which I don’t think is anyone’s favorite song, but it is very powerful. Upside Down was a great surprise for me, since I adore that song. Mary followed it and while this isn’t one of my favorites, I can appreciate getting 2 b-sides in a row. Beauty of Speed is a gorgeous song and the “colors changing” was nice with the different colored lights but not the “amazing lights” I had thought they would be. I guess they were so built up in my mind that they couldn’t live up. Clyde left and picked up her scarf as she went. I had heard that Clyde didn’t look much at the audience, but she didn’t seem shy last night, she looked at the audience as much as Tori normally does and while she didn’t seem cheerful at any point she didn’t look uncomfortable on the stage either. Costume change and then Big Wheel, which I must say, is really growing on me, since I didn’t care for it at first, but it could become as popular as one of her other singles. Fairytale was lovely, as Scarlet’s Walk is a the definitive road trip album and after being on the road for 5 hours that day it was very lovely to hear. And the boy whose picture Niki took for him had requested it, so I was excited to see what would happen for me. Tear in Your Hand was sort of weird in the middle since I'm so used to it being an encore, but anything from Earthquakes is good to hear.
When she started Northern Lad I was excited, but the improv about messing up and her boys helping her out and it being a Spud day was so cool. I was even happier to hear Putting the Damage On as any Pele is good Pele. I love this song more then Northern Lad, so it was a positive trade in my eyes. The improv was gorgeous and apparently similar to what she had performed in Houston. I’ll need to listen to it more in the bootleg. It said Coraline or maybe “call Rolene” a lot and something about Navajo, it reminded me of the last show she played in this theatre on the Scarlet’s Walk tour in 2003 and it was the day that we learned of the first women to die in the Iraq war, who also happened to be a Hopi Indian, perhaps Tori was reminded of this or maybe else brought it out, but that’s what I thought of. I now felt spoiled getting 2 improvs and this made up for the lack of improvs in the Salt lake show. What came next was also a repeat from the 2003 Boise show and that was Not the Red Baron which was heartbreakingly beautiful and poignant. But what happened next I was not prepared for. Seeing Tori in salt lake at the sound check I had asked if in Idaho, Black Swan could come and Tori’s expressions told me that she thought it was a plausible idea. At the meet’n’greet before the show I reminder about my request and she once again wrote it on her hand and asked if we’d be at any other show and I told her this was my last. So seeing as how this was the 2nd song of the 2 song solo time when she started the piano intro it sure sounded like Black Swan to me, but I didn’t want to get too excited just in case I was wrong, as piano intros can turn into something else quickly. I was not disappointed when those first notes rang out for Black Swan I started to tear up. This song reminds me of when my husband was in Iraq. I would wait for him to call me everyday, so whenever I hear “did Eric call, by the way” it brings it all back. I’ve been to Tori shows on many tours and while there have been touching moments where I’ve teared up, I’ve never really cried, maybe shed a tear, but I full on cried for a minute. It really meant something to me those Tori was willing to play a song, just because I wanted to hear it and just because it would mean something to me. Thinking about it now makes the tears come to my eyes. This is why I’m still a fan almost a decade and half later, because even though she’s a superstar now and has people fawning all over her and her every whim, she hasn’t forgotten the people that buy her records and she still gives the fans, the “little people” the respect that we deserve. This is moment I will treasure even when I’m old and gray. Coming off that high was Black Dove which does always seem to go with Black Swan. Birds of a feather I suppose. Bliss was rocking and of course Code Red, which while growing more on me, isn’t really hitting home for me. Maybe first base. Maybe. Rushed the stage and our amazing 3rd row seats turned into being almost right against the stage. No one was pushy or rude, at least near me, so that was great that we could all be polite to each other. Some people are saying that Cornflake Girl and Precious Things are getting old. I can see that if you’re going to every show. You hear it so many times, but most people only see one, maybe two shows. Those people want to hear the hits. I’m really struck by how much fun Tori still has with them every night. She wasn’t phoning in these standards, she was having a good old time, and I think it has to do with the skill that these songs take. She’s rocking that piano for Precious and Cornflake and while these songs are probably what make the shows seem more like an actual job than just awesome fun, she still finds a way to enjoy them and I think she feeds off how the people respond to it.
I was thrilled to hear Concertina as this is my favorite off of Venus and was impressed to see how much Venus made it into tonight’s show, it’s an album I tend to forget but I think I’ll be pulling out again and giving it a whirl. Finished off with Hey Jupiter of course. During this song and through out the whole set I noticed that Tori skipped whatever high parts she could get away with. Maybe it’s because this was her 3rd night in row performing and she was tired or maybe she was holding back for some reason and while I missed those high parts I don’t think it took too much away from the evening. I have to put this as my all-time favorite show because of the T & Bo section solely. Niki and I left on a high and though we were really tired we couldn’t get to sleep for a while. Driving home we listened to a lot of Tori and I think we are both really grateful that we choose to go to Boise and see this amazing show.