TORI!!!!!!

Last Sunday, December 16, 2007 was a day I had been anticipating for months... the final concert of Tori Amos's worldwide tour was right here in Los Angeles, and Denise, Phil, and I had tickets! When Tori's latest album, "American Doll Posse," was released, Denise ordered it for me through itunes, paying a bit extra for the pre-sale ticket option. So, when the tickets were finally announced, we had a pre-sale code to get tickets early, which we also provided to Phil so he could get early tickets as well. The irony is that despite the fact that we gave Phil the code and ordered our tickets before Phil, he got better seats than us! I'm assuming this is because he ordered just one ticket for himself, therefore he could be squeezed closer to the front in between multiple parties, but I was still slightly jealous and considered taking him out. ;)

The concert was at the Nokia Center (yes, the phone company, an unfortunate trend of arenas these days), a new venue downtown next to the Staples Center (yes, the office supply company, don't ask me). It is a very nice theater, the lobby is fully equipped with bathrooms, several bars, and of course, display cases full of Nokia phones (gag). Upon our entrance, I went straight to the memorabilia stand. I was on a mission to finally purchase a Tori Amos t-shirt. This was my third Tori concert, but the prior two occurred at times in my life when I was flat broke.... college. I'm finally at a point in my life where I can afford a concert tee! Sad, but true. However, mission accomplished! I have one and I love it.

After my success we headed for the bar line to get a beer for Denise and some wine for myself. We said our goodbyes to Phil and headed to our seats. Even though we did not have the fantastic view Phil did (he said she was pretty much right in front of him), we still had excellent seats. This was by FAR the closest I had ever been to Tori (remember Kate when we were like in the last seat in the last row? haha!). We were seated next to some lovely, but chatty, gay boys who just wanted Tori to sing "Cruel," and she did.

I will not go into every detail of the performance because honestly that would be boring AND it is really sort of a blur. She was two of her characters that night, as well as herself at the end. In case any of you are wondering if Tori has multiple personality disorder, I will say maybe. Haha! Seriously though, she is an ARTIST and we cannot question her artistic decision to perform on this album as 4 other characters at times and at others as Tori! Artists just think differently than we do and we are not meant to understand! :) In all honesty, I love that she did that, it makes her album more poignant and it allows her to explore aspects of her personality, and the collective consciousness, that she might not be able to tap into otherwise just as herself. Maybe I do understand..... but I digress. Back to the task at hand.

She first appeared as Isabel (which meant a blond wig). I remember she sang "Yo George," and "Waitress." I can't recap song for song, but I can say that throughout the whole concert there was a lot of stuff from "Under the Pink," which was a nice surprise. Second, she came out as Pip (which meant a black wig), one of the angriest characters on the album. This performance was pretty powerful. She did "Fat Slut," and and AMAZING rendition of "Cruel," as well as other high-energy songs that I can't quite think of. Finally, she was good ol Tori again. Other songs that come to mind are "Amber Waves," "Bouncing Off Clouds," "Crucify," "Talula," and on, and on, and on. The lighting was fantastic, her costumes were eclectic, and the audience went ballistic. :) After hours of performing, two encores, and a bow, the night was over. I L.O.V.E.D. IT! Someone told me of a rumor that this might be her last big world tour, if this is true, color me depressed right now. :(

One final story... after the concert, I had to pee. We went around back to the parking garage where some bathrooms were still open. After I came out I was talking to Denise and laughing much too loud as always. This night however, my loudness was to my advantage because I caught the ear of a man walking by that worked on the tour. He said, "Hey! Are you a die hard fan?" I hesitantly said yes, wondering what he was going to try to sell me. He replied, "Here you go. It's not signed, but it was used in the show." He flicked something at me, and it landed on the ground in glorious "clink." It was a guitar pick used in the show!! I will not go into all the random events that fell into place to get me that pick, but it was destiny. :)

After my brush with destiny, we waited around out back with a few other fans who had heard whispers that Tori might be exiting out the back door. After an hour had passed and still no Tori, we decided to leave because it was freezing and I could stand the pain no longer.

Another night with Tori was over, but I went to sleep that night smiling, holding the pick in my hand, dreaming of rainbows and kitty paws. (Not really, but what a great ending to the story huh?)