Best Concert Ever! Saturday night, John and I ventured up to the Greek Theater for the Ditty Bops/Tori Amos show. I was particularly excited, as I have been waiting for this moment since i first saw Tori perform on Saturday Night Live in January of 1996. It was that performance that got me into her music... From that day forward, I was a fan, and in recent history I have grown into a much bigger fan. (Not quite like the scary cultish people who follow her around the country on each tour she does, but still...)
When Scarlet's Walk came out in 2002, John bought it for me for Christmas, and despite earlier rumblings that he did not like her and that her music was too depressing and he would never be a fan, he too fell under the spell of Tori Amos.
So, when tickets became available for the show, I toyed with the idea of getting tickets. She was only performing one show in LA and I figured there would be no way to get tickets... And then, there they were, terrace seats only a few rows back for a reasonable price, and the Ditty Bops were opening!?!? I was sold, and impulsively bought tickets months in advance.
We arrived at the theater early (in regular Verive-style!) and found our seats, and the Ditty Bops went on around 7:45. We had seen them at Largo about a year ago, and were excited to see them again! They put on a great show, although they were obviously fatigued from so many weeks on the road... They played about ten songs, only ONE from their album, and we really enjoyed them! They were obviously stoked to be back in their hometown, and performed a few adorable songs about Los Angeles....
The set change began, and took what felt like a lifetime (really only about 45 minutes.) Then the lights went dark.....
Tori flitted out onto the stage in a flowy, white hippie dress and sat down at a beautiful grand piano. She began playing, and it was unreal. I could not believe I was sitting there seeing Tori Amos in real life. She had an organ behind her, and for a few songs even played across both the piano and the organ at the same time! The woman is obviously insane, but so incredibly talented. Her voice was enchanting, and the songs were amazing live. At one point, she started a song, and about a minute in, stopped singing and just said, "Oh my god." The rambunctious woman sitting next to me apparently knew that this meant she had forgotten the words, and started singing loudly, as if Tori would be able to hear her! Tori then sang a few bars about making mistakes, and how it happens when you are sleepy, and you just have to pick yourself up and start again. And she did!
She played a few covers (Pearl Jam's Black and Knights in White Satin) and most of the songs from the Beekeeper.... I was a little disappointed she didn't really play any of her older stuff, but the show was incredible, and definitely worth the almost ten year wait.
All in all, a fantastic show. She played a straight two hour set all by herself, with two encores.... And she did promise that she'll be back on the road in 2007.....
I can't wait!
