ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610150004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: CONCERT REVIEW
SOURCE: JOHN GIBBONS STAFF WRITER
Most rock concerts are notable for the crowd's noise.
Tori Amos' concert Friday night at the Roanoke Civic Center was notable for the crowd's silence.
There were, of course, moments of wild cheering and wry humor. But the rapt attention, and tears in a few eyes, set in right after Amos walked onstage for her first-ever show in Roanoke to the strains of "Sound of a Preacher Man" and sat down at her piano to start the evening with "Horses," the first song on her new album, "Boys for Pele."
Not surprisingly, there was a "preacher man" in the audience - Tori Amos' father, the Rev. Ed Amos, who sat with her mother, Mary Ellen Amos, about halfway back in the orchestra section, where they were repeatedly approached by fans before her show.
Also before Amos' set, solo guitarist Josh Clayton Felt (late of School of Fish, known for the song "Three Strange Days"), opened for her with a mix of songs both intense ("Dead American," "Paint the Tree Green") and funny (a cute but credibly funky version of Sly and the Family Stone's "Brick House").
But is was Amos' night, and she was in awesome form. It was mostly a solo show (Amos and either her grand piano, harpsichord or pump organ or, occasionally, just her voice), with guitarist Steve Caton joining in sporadically (starting with "Caught in a Lite Sneeze") and taped bass, drums and backing vocals on "Talula."
The only request she took all evening came not from the crowd, but from a group of boys who sent a letter asking Amos to perform a song their teacher had played for them ("Flying Dutchman").
Most of the songs performed were from the new album, but there was a poignant smattering of older songs, such as the title track of her album "Little Earthquakes," "Baker Baker" and a frightening rendition of "Me and a Gun," the song about her experience as a rape victim.
There were some surprising moments as well (not least of which was the choice of Led Zeppelin as the intermission music).
During "Cornflake Girl" (from the album "Under the Pink"), she performed a wild dance that was a cross between a mime and a martial artist's kata.
She also covered Fleetwood Mac's "Changes" and sampled the beginning of Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down" before her closing encore "Hey Jupiter" (also from "Boys for Pele").
And, for sheer heartfelt intensity, she performed one of the finest shows Roanoke has yet to see. Hopefully, it won't be her last here.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB