So Tori began playing piano at 2 1/2 yrs old. She entered the Peabody Institute of Music on full scholarship at age 5. She was the definition of a child prodigy! She left at age 11, hating reading music and playing other peoples songs. She was more interested in Zeppelin! At 12 her minister father began her journey of playing in local bars. Her 1st solo albulm little earthquakes was out in 1992. I was taken immediately and this album journeyed with me through high school as well as her next Under the Pink! Lucky enough to see her live in 1997 and there is nothing else like it. She was not with Lilith although Sarah McLaughlin is a fav I’ve seen 5 x! But Tori is absolutely untouchable and musician, composer and dynamic singer. Keep going please! ❤🫶🏻✌️☀️🌻
This is a great performance. I do like her music, as most Kate Bush fans do, and I have a few of her albums. I’ve always thought it unfair that people keep trying to make a big thing about her being influenced by Kate. There is certainly a little influence, which she has admitted to (“…though not as much as you might think.”) but she is very much her own great artist, and a great pianist (child prodigy). To us over here she is almost an honorary Brit, being married to a Brit and spending about half of each year living over here.
Personally, I was never a fan of Kate Bush and it feels so wrong for everyone to be comparing her with Tori. Tori is a class act needing no reference to Kate Bush to be associated with her name.
You are correct - her performances were nothing short of mesmerizing. I think of a handful of artists that I’ve seen in person that were so real, raw, and mesmerizing that it left you simultaneously in a state of stunned silence and emotionally overwhelmed- Tori Amos, Jeff Buckley, Chris Cornell’s solo tours, and the recently departed Sinead O’Connor.
I am mostly a metal head, death metal... grew up on Voivod, Carcass, Morbid Angel, Slayer.. etc... hands down the best concert of my life was the Paramount (NYC) on the Boys for Pele Tour... she just controlled the audience, it was hypnotizing, mesmerizing.. just like this.. like when someone screamed "I love you Tori", she did her whisper thing "I love you too", it was like she was performing just for you... I love King's X, my fave band by far and they have provided many many moments over the years... but Tori... it was something I can barely describe accurately... she is just amazing in every aspect.
If you only ever did a cursory look at her work, there are tons of B-sides and covers from the first three albums especially. The deluxe versions of these albums has many of them, but not all of them, so they'd be a good place to start.
I have heard this song many times. It´s like a lyrics with music and a movie, dream. Still I hope it´s about a young girl who gets a bit older and not something else, if you understand what I meen without have bad ideas of dads.
This performance was recorded in the summer of 1991. It is one of the first times she ever played the song live, about 6 months before Little Earthquakes was released. The video on YT is named “Live in Montreux 91/92” because she played the Montreux Jazz Festival in both 1991 and 1992, and both shows were released on a DVD/BluRay set about 15 years ago. The version of “Silent All These Years” you reacted to last time was from the 1992 show. You can tell them apart by the color of Tori’s top - blue in 1991, red in 1992. She’s also playing an electric piano in the ‘91 show and a Steinway in the ‘92 show. I think she says “It’s for my dad” at the beginning of the clip. Her dad is still alive today, 94 years old. The song is about a fathers love for his growing daughter, telling her to lover herself as much as he loves her.
I know Tori never performed at Lilith Fair but FOR ME Tori and Sarah are musical sisters. They were my go to in the mid 90's and I have seen them both in concert. Both were amazing!
