Tori Amos: “I am M.I.L.F don’t you forget!�

Tori Amos @ Hammersmith Apollo
10th September 2009

Eighteen years and ten albums on from moving to London to launch her solo career with Little Earthquakes, American singer-songwriter Tori Amos is still stereotyped by  certain sections of this country’s music press, whom it appears have barely or never listened to her. With every new release and tour, her many loyal fans have to endure the opinion of a smattering of – generally male – reviewers who sees her career in terms of a few early-90s tirades against bad men and God. The words “confessionalâ€�, “kooky,â€� and references to the fabled inner-sleeve photograph for her 1996 album Boys For Pele showing her breastfeeding a pig, are all guaranteed to appear. But while religious hypocrisy and gender roles are themes she returns to continually, any reductive notions of her work are doing this is doing this immensely talented, provocative and versatile singer a great disservice.

Nowhere is her engaging versatility more in evidence than her live shows. While the meandering and concept-album nature of her recent studio material has frustrated some (with the last three albums weighing in at over 18 tracks long, and involving a variety of complex alter-egos), her stage sets and personas are consistently fresh and invigorating. Song interpretations vary according to whether Tori plays solo or with her band, and she relishes her gift for improvisation. Thus, a song that sounds average on the album can be knocked into spellbinding shape (‘Strong Black Vine’) and an already-excellent song (signature hit ‘Cornflake Girl’) reworked into an even better one.

Thursday’s show, accompanied by the band – bassist Jon Evans and drummer Matt Chamberlain – offered a mix of old and new material, taking in most of the standout tracks from latest album Abnormally Attracted to Sin, released in May. The Portishead-style opener ‘Give’, arguably the album’s best, set the scene for an evening of piano-tinged electronica, and accompanying light shows that Muse would be proud of. Those familiar with Tori’s more direct, piano-only gigs, such as May’s one-off performance at the Savoy Theatre, may have longed for more beautiful solo piano renditions such as the classic ‘Winter’ and b-side ‘Cooling’ – the latter featuring the rarely-heard bridge part. There was a lamentable absence of Abnormally Attracted To Sin’s two Brechtian cabaret numbers ‘Mary Jane’ and ‘That Guy’, with their glorious theatrical oompa-pa. The lack of cover versions (Tori often covers a well-known song by a band hailing from the city in which she is playing) was also a disappointment, but this show clearly belonged to the band and that, in this band’s case, is no bad thing at all.

Tori Amos – ‘Big Wheel’ (live at Hammersmith Apollo)

In keeping with the latest album’s stated theme of exploring notions of ‘sin’, the performances were somewhat sexualised. The 46-year-old mother-of-one dabbles in measured raunch and tongue-in-cheek sauce as skillfully now as she ever did in the 90s, and puts Madonna’s toe-curling Playboy Seniors routine in its place. Her on-your-feet rendition of the utterly brilliant ‘Raspberry Swirl’ similarly offered up a lesson to Katy Perry in doing sexually-fluid dance choruses. Final number ‘Big Wheel’s playfulness was further enhanced when half the audience messed up the rhythm by clapping along on the off-beat and it took two delightful, determined repeats of the chorus, through to the bridge “I am M.I.L.F don’t you forget!� for them to hit the right cue. These were rare moments of light banter in a gig of almost religious intensity, but, cutting a ravishing figure in silver leggings and high shoes, and on top vocal form, Tori needn’t worry about being forgotten.

The album Abnormally Attracted to Sin is out now on Universal

By Maxine Frances-Roper