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Tori Amos uplifts Millennium Park |
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Written by COLIN LEICHT / Photos by BARRY BRECHEISEN
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Wednesday, 31 August 2005 |
Nothing can prepare the senses for Tori Amos. This was especially true at the first pop performance to grace Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion, on the last crisp night of August. As the fans gathered around the stage, the lawn, and even outside in the park, the twilight faded, and Tori appeared, like an angel bathed in white, ready to enrapture her audience with “Original Sinsuality”.
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Tori Amos
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 Entertainment
Art
Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park
Chicago, Ill.
August 31, 2005
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The atmosphere breathed symbolism; behind Tori this evening stood an apple tree, complete with serpent and a loose apple bearing bite marks. This is merely a touch of the religious symbolism that Tori has threaded into her new album The Beekeeper. According to her MySpace page, this latest album involved a great deal of research into the “hidden” Gnostic gospels, lately brought to attention through the novel “The DaVinci Code”.
But don't worry, Tori hasn't gone Christian rock. On the contrary, Tori enthralled her fans with her melodies, and one hand danced on the piano, while the other twirled on the organ. Tori brought emotions deeper, moving through “Crucify” and “Silent All These Years,” and blending “Running Up That Hill” with a soulful performance of “God”. All the while, the crowd was speechless, bathed in blue and yellow lights, oblivious to the metallic ceiling above, and the city skyline behind.
As the space between the fans and the singer saturated with passion, Tori sang about “just passing you by, on my way,” while using her voice as to emulate the buzz of bee. Then, dramatically, she got up, and flew off the stage.
At the first sign of her reemergence, the entire front section rushed the stage, bearing imaginary candles. Before the show, Terri Hemmert from WXRT had announced that $75,000 had been raised for New Orleans victims, and this tragedy was echoed as Tori sang that “not even you can stop what is coming.” With the air thick with spiritual awe, Tori performed “Black Dove.” As if to mark the finale, a bird soared out from the stage, over the enchanted audience, into the night sky beyond. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
