you for a while

All reviews in this series written by Kelli.

Nashville, TN

Featured Doll: Isabel
Rating: 3.7 out of 5 wigs

So Tori/Isabel does a lovely improv. to start off the show which mashes up ‘Dixie Land.’ If you’re from the South, well then, it’s seriously lovely! It’s a lovely standard Isabel set, but unless you’re Izzy mad, I would buy a later Izzy boot with ‘Mountain’ on it. The Power of Orange Knickers makes its debut, it’s nice, so is Putting The Damage On. I could listen to that song all day, it’s just so… pretty. But the winner of this one has to be Cooling (w/Brambles) into Cool On Your Island. It’s a twofer! A twofer of beauty! I seriously needed gauze for my eyes! So pretty! 1, 000 Oceans into Hotel, well this one she doesn’t f**k up!

Fort Meyers, FL

Featured Doll: Isabel
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 wigs

Yo, George! Izzy in da house with some Mountain. Her message? “Drop beats, not bombs!” Word. Ok, so this is an ill version of Mountain. Ill. It’s really lovely. Should you choose this boot over San D? No way. I’ll get to the loveliness of the San D show later, but as a package, this one does not have Santa and it does not have the best version of Code Red, ever. But it has some Sweet Sangria, some Tombigbee and some Voodoo. God, I love that song!

So everything is pretty much standard in this set, some Amber Waves, some Pancake, some Glory, some Seaside. They are all pretty good, standard versions. I don’t have any emotional connection to the songs, I always seem to skip them on the records, so I can’t really comment. But it does have a version of Suede. Suede, along with Datura, is pretty much TVAB for me. The guitar work is subtle, Tori is a bit flat… but – it comes with the ‘little sister’ bridge. Hell yeah!

Melbourne, FL

Featured Doll: Clyde
Rating: 4.7 out of 5 wigs

Here comes the Clyde! Does she deliver? Yes. Little Amsterdam is lovely, and jazzy and it comes with a fab intro about it being Clyde’s town! I’m glad our little girl has some courage to assert herself! Little Earthquakes is fab, and of course, Upside Down. Father Lucifer makes a come back with a lovely acapella intro, and if you’re into some Digital Ghost for dinner, well then, the good news is that Tori delivers! Ok, well, the ‘you’re a diamond’ improv. is awesome, as is the ‘pass the chicken’ improv. It’s all about Momma Amos’s fried chicken. The stars of the menu are Honey and Marianne! We have Marianne on a boot! So good!

There are improvs galore as Tori does a ‘I know you’re out there, shining’ before Twinkle. Tori’s home now, and around her family, and so we get a very special set and a very special debut of The Beekeeper. Tori is crying when she sings ‘send this message to Michael.’ Worth buying just for that. Such sadness.

Clearwater, FL

Featured Doll: Pip
Rating: 3 out of 5 wigs

So much Florida! Florida be representin’, boy! Oh dear. Pip is back with her Cruel rants again! “You think you can rip inside my c*** and serve me up, and you think that I’m going to lie down and take it.” You know what, Pip/Tori has gotten some flack from what we call ‘playahataz’ in Toriland for her outbursts. So you don’t like the fact that Tori expresses emotional pain and anger on stage coupled with classical piano playin’ skillz that pay tha billz, you think your angry and disapproving comments are going to stop her? Please!

Anyway, Pip does the album version of Professional Widow, which, in my opinion, is the best, and better than anything anyone called Armand has remixed. The highlights are Horses and Martha’s Foolish Ginger, as well as the improv. about a young lady in the front row who forgot to be brave today. But that’s ok, it even happens to the Tori monster, she got your back, yo! Carbon makes another special appearance, as does Never Seen Blue, and there’s a very lovely version of Black Dove.

West Palm Beach, FL

Featured Doll: Santa
Rating: 3.9 out of 5 wigs

Santa’s voice is a bit flat in this one… too many cocktails? Perhaps! So we have a cool Santa set – Body and Soullllllla, Cocaine, Raspberry Swirl, Hootchie Woman, You Can Bring Your Dog, Secret Spell. Pretty standard. Space Dog with the Andromeda intro. Hotel! Yay! Tori’s voice is still off on this one. Improv. about Mary’s House. A very cute cover of ‘over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go’ – I love Momma Amos! Big props! So some Your Cloud, Spring Haze, which is great. And a cover of Amazing Grace. So beautiful!

You can just tell that the Dr and Mrs Amos are in da house. If you have parents who don’t know why you like this “Tori Amos woman” so much, play them this concert. Because it is followed by Gold Dust, which people have been requesting for years and Tori is reluctant to play because it is just too damn emotional for her. You can hear it. And some Josephine… this T and Bo is spectacular! Some Sugar, Code Red, BOC and some Digital Ghost.

Filed under: Legs and Boots Review on January 5th, 2008