"Let's just pretend that we are all sitting in my lounge, just having a good evening. I'll take some requests, I got them here. And even if I don't play them tonight, I'll play them another night," she said.
The crowd reacted with cheers, perhaps a few tears were shed by the most die-hard fans. Tori Amos was in South Africa and I was there.
"I wrote this song for a friend of mine some years ago, when he was having a pretty rough time. That's when you know who your real friends are, when you're not popping champagne bottles and not making people's face pretty anymore. That's when you know who the cunts are, and there's a lot of them. There is some good one's too," she laughed as she started playing Taxi Ride on her piano.
Amos, who effortlessly switched between keyboard and piano, wowed the crowd with old favourites such as Bells For Her, where she ambidextrously played both piano and keyboard, Virginia and Cloud sleeping on my Tongue.
The intimacy of the concert delighted all senses, gripping the eyes in spectacular backdrops accompanied by the harmonic wailing of Amos's vocal prowess. The crowd was often stunned into silence, her voice transcending and whispering. Anticipation.
She still managed to surprise the listener, with little foxes slipping into her well known lyrics, mostly in the form of curse words. The crowd cheered in delight, every single time she cursed.
The esoteric singer never ceases to amaze. She uses normally perceived imperfections, the things our voice teachers always warns us against, such as swallowing and breathing heavily in her act. This wasn't on my bucket list, but it sure as hell should be!
