So I Saw Tori Performing Down The Street Today...

Literally less than a mile away from where I live, Tori Amos performed live today for a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that will air on May 17th. Thanks to my friend Brian and his fabulous connections, I was able to get onto the Audience VIP Guest List. This story, by the way, is super detailed for the Tori fans of my blog because I know it's gonna be linked to on a lot of different forums, so if you're not a TA fan, check back tomorrow.

I have little to no local friends who actually like Tori Amos (and for someone who has over 3,000 friends on MySpace, I think that's just a little sad, don't you?) so I was disappointed to go alone, but excited about what I thought would be an opportunity to meet a bunch of local Tori fans. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case. I fear most of the people in the audience didn't even know who the host was, much less T. They were mostly tourists who were just looking to see a show at CBS Studios.

So I felt like I bit of a geek because I decided to bring flowers for Alisa, the girl who put me on the list (who I never saw, unfortunately) and I figured if I was bringing Alisa a gift, I might as well conjure up one for Tori too. So I gave her this kick ass Goddess Tarot Card set that I had. It's heavy on Greek mythology and she has used those goddesses as the five archetypes behind her new album, American Doll Posse. I attached a short note thanking her for the music and suggesting that she enjoy the cards on the road or even incorporate them into how she already determines her nightly set list (news/location of the day) since the "goddesses" will be taking to the stage each night.

I literally gasped when I walked into the studio because the first thing I saw there on stage was her piano, The Bose. It's just so famous now, it is kind of a staple. It's like seeing Tori's best friend standing there on stage getting ready for the show!

The studio was so incredibly small I think the living/dining area of my apartment is actually bigger, so the good news about this is, being in the front row, I was closer to Tori than anyone could be even at a concert. Within minutes, Matt and John (Tori's band members) took to the stage which meant, YAY! I was actually going to be there for the first ever live band performance in -- what has it been? Four years or something? Everything she's performed live in the past few years has been just her and a piano.

The comedian who hypes up the audience announced that Tori's song would be shot before the show itself. Since the guy I had asked to give the flowers to Alisa and the cards to Tori had bailed on me, I seized the moment and asked the comedian to get the tarot deck to her. He did, kindly. And proceeded to joke, "You're not some crazy whack job, are you?" for the rest of the show, which was, of course, totally fine to an attention whore like myself. ;-)

Tori took to the stage in a maroon colored sequins dress (akin to the promo photo where she's standing outside the suburban home with blood running down her leg -- if not the same one), black hosiery that was kind of patterned Halloween-ish and awesome black slick stilettos with the new red "doll" wig. Her makeup was flawless -- they did something to her eyes that made her look more like a doll than usual. Or it may have been that she so rarely blinked. I'm not sure.

She sang "Big Wheel" and changed the "M-I-L-F" to what sounded like "M-I-L-X" probably for television. (She's been getting hell from radio stations for that I heard.) She got a little smile on her face looking at me mouthing the words towards the end of the song. I think she was just glad there was someone in the audience who was actually there specifically to see her. And she ended the song lifting the microphone to her lips with her middle finger facing the camera.

She retreated backstage and then much to my delight came out again to perform "Bouncing Off Clouds" also with the band. She couldn't hear herself in her earpiece and they had to start over again after the first few notes. I am so used to hearing thunderous applause when something goes wrong like at her concerts, I started clapping and soon found I was the only one. Lovely. Crazy fan. Party of one. That would be me. Anyway, I hope this is the song they choose to play on the show because it was incredible. You know that part in the song where it goes quiet and gets really beautiful? ("Make it easy, easy, easy...") Even more beautiful live and she was straddling the bench playing both the keyboard and the Bose at the same time, looking at neither of them of course, eyes to the skies. So talented. She also did some scary Tim Curry scary-clown like thing with her mouth, baring her "wild" teeth for the last note of the song, which was put on major echo. Hard to describe so I hope they show it.

Then they shot everything else and ended it with Tori's interview segment. They talked about the characters on the album and Ferguson said he thought Pip was hot. She gave her standard, "She likes rubber." They talked about the difference between the Cornish and the English and how she feels she is an honorary Cornish girl, not really British. I think Ferguson surprised her with some talk about how he believes inspired music comes from Jung archetypes and she explained how she writes music every day of her life but "most of it is crap." She says it's the music that come from something outside of her that usually makes it to the album. But in general, she said she's always making up songs whether she is "in the shower or getting a sausage."

On the way out, one of the coordinators of the show approached me and asked the crazy whack job fan if I enjoyed her performance. He said to me, "You know, we have a lot of musical guests on this show, bands every day. And this might sound weird, but you know how some artists just have this powerful aura around them? She's one of those few and it's something that you know you're not supposed to disturb."

I know what he means. I have to say, seeing her so close live today, Tori does not have a "larger than life presence" like, say, Madonna or Liza Minnelli. Instead, she holds this quietness that is just insanely powerful.