Tori Amos, Birmingham Symphony Hall, May 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Expect the unexpected, anticipate the astonishing and most of all imagine the extraordinary, for when it comes to watching Tori Amos on stage you can do more than sit there and take in the majesty of it all.

With a new album having been released on the same day, the audience at the Birmingham Symphony Hall might have expected an evening in which the legendary musician, a woman who makes the confessional poetry of a previous generation seem like a child’s play thing, would pay homage to her new creation and throw for good measure some of the songs that have propelled her to the absolute top. Nobody would have batted an eyelid, nobody would have said a word except for the very audible mutterings of content and slight out of control breathing as men and women swooned at her piano pedals.

Expect the unexpected though when it comes to Tori Amos for she really is her own chief, her own guide and musical conductor. There really is no way to prepare for one her gigs, especially when in one of her favourite venues for what she does to a piano is echoed in the hearts of all who go to see her play. The fearsome chaperon guards her music carefully and rightly so for being unique is an honour and an immense privilege, it allows you certain musical moments of glinting misbehaviour, of teasing a crowd and then leading down a path to which they never expect and yet throughout it all, the applause and praise was so audible, so dynamic in its fulsomeness that visitors around the Broad Street area might have wondered if Aston Villa or Birmingham City had somehow won a trophy this season.

Anticipate the astonishing; there is no way to do that fully with Tori Amos, for what she brings to the piano cannot be predicted. The songs you believe you might here never materialise but what is played instead makes you giddy with excitement and make your heart palpitate as if it had been allowed to enter your version of Heaven on a day pass.

From the openers of Parasol, Honey and Tear In Your Hand, Ms Amos cajoled, enticed and sweet-talked the crowd in to joining with her on what was essentially a voyage of discovery for the Birmingham crowd. A set which encompassed the outstanding talent that Ms Amos has, the dedication in which she has always employed and the daring, that wonderful adventure in which she captivates, heroically not giving the audience perhaps what they think they want to hear but instead what they don’t know they need to understand.

Tracks such as Mr. Zebra, Caught A Lite Sneeze, a cover of U2’s Running To Stand Still, the exceptional Winter, a new track from the Unrepentant Geraldines album, Invisible Boy and the much loved Cornflake Girl all made their collective mark on a night in which the extraordinary happened.

It is never a dull affair watching Tori Amos, the adventure always a spirited event and one in which you could watch again and again and Ms. Amos would always do her own thing, her own way and would always be spot on. Dazzling!

Ian D. Hall