Tori Amos, Orpheum Theatre, October 19, 2007
By MATT ASHARE | October 23, 2007
![Clyde[2]inside](http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/Music/Live_Review/Clyde[2]inside.jpg "Clyde[2]inside")
TORI AMOS: Getting into characters. |
On Friday, the second of a two-night stand at the Orpheum, Tori Amos showed up as “Clyde,” one of the four characters (five if you count Tori herself) she assumes in her most recent album, the sprawling, 23-track American Doll Posse (Epic). She may not have trotted out all of these alter egos: street-toughened dark-haired “Pip,” earthier hippie chick “Clyde,” glittery glamor queen “Isabel,” and blonde beauty “Santa,” who’s pictured demurely with a cigarette in the American Doll Posse CD booklet and with a cocktail on Amos’s Web site. But they were there in spirit, and so were any number of other alter egos she’s accumulated while playing dress-up over the better part of the past decade.In a brown wig and an elegant yet understated purple and black gown, she opened the “Clyde” portion of the set with the insistent piano arpeggios and dark guitar overtones of the American Doll Posse tune “Bouncing Off Clouds” before moving on to one of her better-known cult hits, the 1992 single “Little Earthquakes.” It’s clear there’s plenty of the old Tori in the new “Clyde,” who has just as much contempt for “elevator music” as Amos does. “Clyde” stuck around for the first six songs; these included an arresting “Girl Disappearing,” which deals in issues of, yes, identity crisis, and the soaring “Beauty of Speed,” with its allusions to inner transformations.
After a quick instrumental break that left guitarist Dan Phelps, bassist Jon Evans, and drummer Matt Chamberlain to their own devices, Tori returned as, well, Tori, her fire-red hair topping off a glittering silver gown and heels. Rather than stick to the American Doll Posse script, with its four parts for the four characters, she surveyed her catalogue, from Little Earthquake’s “Space Dog” to the popular “Cornflake Girl” from Under the Pink, and “Spring Haze” from To Venus and Back. She got a big reaction from the “MILF” chant that dominates the new “Big Wheel” and then loosened up enough to play a little country-tinged improv filled with positive messages for her fans. And, once you strip away the costumes, that’s the real point of a Tori Amos show.
Related:
The Big Hurt: Season's bleatings, Popular douches, hetero boyfriends, and softie gangstas, On the racks: September 26, 2006, More 
- The Big Hurt: Season's bleatings
One of the great things about being in the music industry is that you get to change your name. So why are we hearing records from a guy named Landon Pigg?
- Popular douches, hetero boyfriends, and softie gangstas
I invite those of you who hate me to take a moment to delight in my pain.
- On the racks: September 26, 2006
...plus Ludacris, Alan Jackson, and Scissor Sisters.
- Joyful pursuit of excellence
I was as captivated by James Parker’s article on Joy Division as I was disappointed by Peter Keough’s review of Anton Corbijn’s fantastic film Control .
- Stayin’ alive
Once in a while, usually during slow rock weeks, some strange little “quirky news” story will get stuck in the media craw and bounce around uselessly to pretty much every outlet.
- Gay bash
I had that same feeling I always get at the end of big gay happenings: how far we’ve come. How good that is. And how did I spend $90?
- Boston music news: July 20, 2007
“I am not a lame performer,” declares singer/songwriter/pianist Jennifer Greer.
- Just like a woman
The new, improved, clean, sober, and buff Trent Reznor is no longer wrestling with downward spirals.
- Subversive chanteuse
McKay is an odd duck — a true musical eccentric.
- Forward into the past!
Could it be just a coincidence that as I sit here writing this, a grizzled Bob Seger is gearing up for the release of Face the Promise , the Detroit rocker’s first proper studio album in, oh, forever and a day? The Lemonheads, "No Backbone" (mp3)
- Bat for Lashes | Two Suns
Natasha Khan became a sort of viral video sensation a couple of years ago with her inventive video for "What's a Girl To Do."
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Tori Amos, Tori Amos, Tori Amos, More
, Tori Amos, Tori Amos, Tori Amos, Matt Chamberlain, Less
