you for a while

(Middle Kiddle is the only cute phrase I could come up with to describe the U.S. states in the middle of the country. Sorry…its bad I know.) ~China2Ny

All reviews in this series are written by Kelli.

Detroit, MI

Featured Doll: Santa
Rating: 5 out of 5 Wigs

“Put your hands up for Detroit.” MI. “We love this city!” Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Santa is in town, sir! Reasons to buy this boot?

1) The only release of My Posse Can Do. She can flip her hair, I can flip you off! It’s solid!

2) The debut of the wonderful, resplendent, She’s Your Cocaine!

3) Another great version of Dragon. If you don’t know the beauty of this song, go check out the PS22 choir doing a version on youtube. Makes me cry every time. Greg and the kids are just so special!

4) The Black Dove incident. If you are like me, and love to laugh with Tori, this is the track for you. Tori has to take her corset off mid-song, and the boys do a jam which sounds like heaven.

5) The combo of Siren/Honey. Excellent. Siren is just so much better live than on the soundtrack and Tori does a kick ass intro, it’s a mellow version. While I’m not a fan of Honey, it’s a flawless version with a lovely intro. It’s piano playing at its best. Take that Elton John. Pew pew pew!

6) Baker Baker followed by Cloud. On. My. Tongue. Followed by Carbon. Followed by Horses with the band. Such beauty it gives me chills. If I had a child, I would want it to be as beautiful as those songs.

7) Overall, it is a good set for your money, with great performances, rare songs, and just the quality is breathtaking. Worth it just for Carbon.

Cleveland, OH

Featured Doll: Pip
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Wigs

“Cleveland Rocks! Ohio!” Sorry, you are too young to remember the genius that was The Drew Carey Show? Your loss.

Ok, so when I met Tori for the first time this year I was going to say to her “I think Pip should do Blood Roses!” But of course, I was too flabbergasted by being in the presence of Tori Amos. The Tori Amos. And, I got very freaked out when I read that Pip played it. Like you do.

Anyhow, it is very mellow version, if you were expecting venom, well; Pip got it all out during Cruel, as she does. Our little Pipster certainly needs to go to the doctor for that case of Tourettes, either that or write a very sexy erotic novel, “You’re just a chick, but you fuck other chicks, don’t you bitch? This is not about the boys, you’re a f*****g traitor c**t, you’re just an evil little c**t.” My, what language! Crucify followed by Tear in Your Hand? Nice!

Another nice version of Northern Lad, tame, but well, Pip was on. A very hot version of Take To The Sky, and an improv. about Ohians, very pretty, about needing to be ‘saved.’ And a lovely version of Cool on your Island. Seriously, I hated this song until I heard the L&B version. So pretty! It makes me cry. A lovely version of Concertina/Spark and of course, my god, Hotel. Best song!

Indianapolis, IN

Featured Doll: Isabel
Rating: 3 out of 5 wigs

The Iz monster breaks open a case of Sweet Sangria. Izzy’s set is awesome. Izzy is spitting the last lines out and then you hear “Come on boys, one more time for Mr. Lincoln.” Yup, they do it twice! Tombigbee… ohhh… so good, it should be illegal! Black Dove love. Get this song on a boot this tour. It’s brilliant. Bells For Her in to a flawless liquid diamonds into a lovely improv. about Indiana. Ohh, and a lovely version of Crazy and Mother. Again, I wasn’t fussed about Mother until I heard it live on a boot. So magical! Virginia and Space Dog are hot. Space Dog is with the Andromeda intro. The grapefruit is winning!

Milwaukee, WI

Featured Doll: Clyde
Rating: 4 out of 5 Wigs

Tori comes to Laverne and Shirley, but Squiggy gets a bit busy. Clyde has a standard set in the Milwaukee show, Juarez, Little Earthquakes, Beauty of Speed, Roosterspur Bridge. The set doesn’t light up until after Siren, unless you could listen to the perfectly executed versions of Pancake, Cornflake Girl and Lust all day. So for T&Bo we have something special. Winter, so pretty! Strange, which is just breathtaking, and another beautiful, flawless version of Carbon. But the version from Detroit wins, “no, I can’t HOLD!” It’s wonderful how Tori does Carbon so perfectly when I can’t even listen to the song without crying. Ohh… and then Horses with the band! And then… wait for it… Father Lucifer with the Steve McQueen bridge again! I am so jealous of the people in Milwaukee, my god!

Chicago, IL Night 1

Featured Doll: Santa
Rating: 4.8 out of 5 Wigs

So, this is Santa’s town! (As she says before Dragon.) I suggest all Tori fans buy the two Chicago boots if they haven’t already. Why? She’s Your Cocaine. And the debut of a little ditty that has nearly caused me many car accidents from ‘car dancing,’ Raspberry Swirl. Santa stops singing at the end of the song to dance, according to my boddy Mel, who was there. But we were dancing already! Concertina is nice, as is Your Cloud and Take To The Sky. The improv., well, Tori takes on an old classic and turns it into ‘Everybody knows the Trouble I’ve seen.’

But the real winner here is Cooling, with the Brambles bridge. Ok, so I know you have Cooling with Brambles on the Spark single, and in A Piano, but do you have it live, and in such excellent quality? Make sure you get a boot, maybe even a FLAC with this song on it, it is transcendent. Oh, and Tori fucks up on Hotel, she’s so cute when she does it! The rest is pretty standard, HJ / CR / 1, 000 Oceans /Precious Things. What can you do?

Chicago, IL Night 2

Featured Doll: Pip
Rating: 5 out of 5 wigs AND a gold star!

So unless you have been on a remote submarine submerged in the Atlantic for the last six months studying tectonic plate movements in the ocean, you may have heard that Pip did Me and a Gun? Well, she also does a kick ass Cruel, too! “You think you can make her a c**t and f*** her, well I’m going to rip your f****** c*** off!” Indeed! Is it worth buying this boot just for Me and a Gun? Well think, how would you feel if you didn’t buy it and years later you looked back and needed to refer to it and youtube had taken it down, or listen to it again in high quality, and you don’t have it? What do you do? What do you do? You make sure that that doesn’t happen!

Apart from that, liquid diamonds into Caught a Lite Sneeze is hot, Winter is yummy and the improv. before Happy Phantom is wonderful! The improv. ‘I can’t fuck this up’ has become my mantra lately. Digital Ghost, well, I’m not a fan of the song, but it’s a great version. And Hotel? Well, she fucks it up again! My god!

Lawrence, KA

Featured Doll: Clyde
Rating: 3 out of 5 wigs

Standard Clyde. BOC/ Little Earthquakes/ a funky Juarez, one of the best of the tour/ a sable Little Amsterdam/ best Girl Disappearing of the tour. Crucify/Sugar. Improv. about Tori’s monitor breaking and the only Mother Revolution of L&B’s. Ok, so as an audio perv, it isn’t the best. Tori’s voice is too loud. So loud that it is distorted. But the emotion – it’s all there baby. Like all live versions of Tori, even if the sound is going bad, and she fucks up a bit, and it doesn’t sound right – she still gives you chills. So Frog on My Toe and an improv. about not wanting to leave, because the places Tori is visiting is starting to feel like home again. It must be so difficult to live so far away from the places that made you who you are… and Tori’s song about her Poppa shows that.

Ohhh… and then we go into Mother. If you are crazy about this song -between the L&B of this and Indiana, this version wins. Really, it all comes down to what you like in the setlist. Virgina is awesome. ASF, PT/HJ. Meh.

Filed under: Legs and Boots Review on January 4th, 2008