From: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org (precious-things-digest) To: precious-things-digest@smoe.org Subject: precious-things-digest V12 #84 Reply-To: precious-things@smoe.org Sender: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-precious-things-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "precious-things-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. precious-things-digest Saturday, October 13 2007 Volume 12 : Number 084 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [pt] Just saw a drag queen doing 'Cher' ... ["Karen Hester" Subject: [pt] Just saw a drag queen doing 'Cher' ... Or rather, Tori with wigs, stage make-up, vinyl leggings and yellow satin (as Pip), a sequined one-armed boilersuit (as herself), and eyebrows that if plucked any higher would lead to a receding hairline. Last time I saw Tori was the Little Earthquakes tour and this was somewhat different :) Perhaps part of me expected a curly red-head in jeans and bare feet to wander on-stage and strike up conversation. Instead, only one chat; dramatic posing and dancing; a finger to the audience (from Pip, not Tori); three songs solo; a rainbow of lights. It felt more like a circus than the intimate show of my memory - lots of fun, but no moments of transcendence and little subtlety. Nothing wrong with fun, though! [It was also jarring because I saw PJ Harvey for the first time last night, and that was Peej solo playing guitar and piano, and it really was breathtaking, I had to pause my breathing since the magic was so delicate and you could blow it away. Of course Tori is amazing doing the intimate solo thing, and Peej can dress up ridiculously and have fun, but the two different approaches in adjacent nights had me dizzy.] The most exquisite song for me was 'Bells for her' - haunting. The people next to me were having a loud conversation about when they should leave (now, please). 'Siren' and 'Hotel' were a joy to hear, and 'Cooling' had the brambles bit, my favorite line. Did she sing "but do i hate what [Bush] is"? She did something to the lyrics there, and smirked. 'Digital ghost' was such an 80s rock ballad, 'Code red' was grinding; 'Bouncing off clouds' didn't have the lightness of the album version, but all were fun. Her story during the T&Bo solo section was about her plane flight in - sitting in first class seats and yet she's vibrating. She looks down and sees her daughter shaking too, and notices where her hand is. "We don't touch our privates in public" says Tori. Tori's voice soared gorgeously during the solo songs; she tightened and strained it sometimes with the band. It's odd how slow some of her songs have become (eg 'Crucify', 'Hey Jupiter', 'Silent all these years', 'Cool on your island)'- not so much the interesting deconstruction that happens when she's solo, rather just plodding. It's like Tori's taken the rhythm out of her piano and voice and lets the drummer handle the rhythm and structure (thud, thud, plod), and she meanders with the melody. Set list http://www.undented.com/tour/890/nyc1 Tori came on much earlier than expected, there were heaps of people waiting for drinks and the insane women handling the women's toilet queues went haywire. The opener must have played a minute set. Karen, looking forward to tomorrow night, I'm prepared this time :) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:13:34 -0500 (CDT) From: handal@r2d2.reverse.net (Richard Handal) Subject: Re: [pt] Just saw a drag queen doing 'Cher' ... Thanks a bunch for putting that together, Karen. It's been odd to see so few concert reports here since the tour began. Maybe more will show up during this leg. As of several tours back, Crucify had morphed into a 10-minute extravaganza. Sounds as if it still is. Overall, I can't even begin to imagine attending one of these concerts after not having gone to any since 1992! As little as I can conceive of getting into Tori with an album later than LE, thinking of skipping concerts for all those years after attending one or more in 1992 is enough to make me dizzy! I'm interested in the times you refer to when you say she came out earlier than expected. Over the past several tours, let's say the posted curtain was 8pm: The opener would come out and do around 35 minutes, and then she would hit the stage near 9:15, maybe ten minutes either way. Did she come out earlier than one hour after curtain as printed on the ticket? I had the sense that these shows were of the 2:15 variety rather than the 1:45 variety, so I'd been wondering about this issue. I must admit, I haven't read many comments on Undented after the first few concerts, but neither do I recall any specific times mentioned. If she's doing 2:15 and ending by 11pm, she'll be taking a lot of people by surprise, absolutely. Much thanks again, Karen! And I thought tonight's *April* performance on The Late Late Show was like peering into an alternate universe! Be seeing you, Richard Handal, H.G. ------------------------------ End of precious-things-digest V12 #84 *************************************