Philharmonie, Essen, Germany
31st October 2011
Tori Amos, Mark Hole
It was Halloween, a surprisingly mild evening for this time of the year, and the evening TORI AMOS would grace the philharmonic hall in Essen with a visit on her ‘Night Of Hunters’ tour. It was to become the best Halloween in a long time. Read the full story below if you’d like to know why.
Mark Hole
The biography of MARK HOLE is, in a nutshell, non-existent. Thus I can’t give you much more than the fact that he’s released his debut album recently and that he’s now, obviously, supporting TORI AMOS. http://www.markhole.com/
Music & Performance
Well, if you see a guy in something like garbage bags coming on stage telling you that he’s the warm-up for tonight’s show, you don’t tend to believe that it could be more than a simple intermezzo. Wrong! Never judge a book by its cover! Apart from having a great deal of humour and keeping the audience entertained with it in between songs. Those in particular were little highlights. Stories taken right out of life enclosed in little piano miniatures, coupled with a voice as clear as a bell and as strong as a mountain! ‘Dirty Base’ was one of my favourites. If he would’ve been given more than 30 minutes, certainly no one would’ve complained. Especially the ladies who’d h likely have been treated with some more “stripping”.
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Tori Amos
TORI ANOS surely had one colourful musical career from her being trained to be a classical piano player to playing in night clubs in her teenage years and eventually to being one of the most impressing performing the music industry has to offer. This time she's going to be embarking on a tour in support of her newest body of work named 'Night Of Hunters' on which she's taking inspiration using basic melodies of such renowned composers as Bach, Chopin and their likes to create an entirely new composition. http://www.toriamos.com/
Music & Performance
Following a little break for the rebuilding and waiting the chamber quartet APOLLON MUSAGETE first appeared to deliver a string prologue before Tori entered to a screaming audience, taking position between both her instruments and start the evening with a ‘Shattering Sea’... as simple as the performance may be. I mean, there are no great gestures involved or a big band rocking the stage, which would’ve been admittedly inappropriate within the chosen environment, its impact on everyone was quite the opposite. It is simply astonishing what piano and strings can evoke if they’re working in conjunction. It made ‘God’, teasing ‘Running Up that Hill’ a sheer experience and ‘Suede’ just sounded amazing that way. 
However, sometimes there was a need to abandon the strings in favour of a pure piano and/or keyboard performance. ‘A Sorta Fairytale’ in its original state is already melancholic enough; stripped down to piano only though it’s overwhelming. ‘Indian Sumer’ and ‘Way Down’ followed it suit. Time and again, the songs included solo sections where the four-piece stole Tori the show. There are musicians that might have performed those songs standing firmly as a rock. Those four were as passionate with the music they played as it gets. They followed every turn in melody in seconds. It was just a feast to watch. Amongst Tori’s original composition that put more than just a mere smile on the people’s faces there were little tributes to other artists incorporated into the setlist like ‘Moonshadow’ of CAT STEVENS. Far more surprising for me though was that in one of the heavily demanded encores Tori played LEONHARD COHEN’s ‘Hallelujah’. For the first time she admitted when mentioning it was on special request. By the time everyone was standing to get hit by the full magic this song emits when played on the piano. 
The remaining compositions managed to push the crowd to a peak, even have them dancing. The evening closed with ‘Big Wheel’ and left the audience just clapping for more and for an ace show. As for me, having never seen her playing live I didn’t know what I missed
Setlist
01. Shattering Sea
02. God
03. Suede
04. Ode to the Banana King (Solo)
05. Leather
06. Spark
07. A Sorta Fairytale (Solo)
08. Indian Summer (Solo)
09. Way Down (Solo)
10. Fearlessness
11. Girl Disappearing
12. Star Whisperer
13. 1,000 Oceans (Solo)
14. Sugar (Solo)
15. Moonshadow (Cat Stevens cover) (Solo)
16. Your Ghost
17. Nautical Twilight
18. Precious Things
19. Cruel
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20. A Multitude of Shades
21. Winter
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22. Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover) (Solo)
23. Carry
24. Siren
25. Big Wheel
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9.3 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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