Wow. Last night was incredible. Noah and I hit up the Tori Amos concert at Chastain. That was my first time going there, and it rained a little bit, but I would have loved it if there had been thunder… it would have created an awesome atmosphere. But the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and we got to listen to the most wonderful sound in the world while gazing up at the stars.
I have to mention a couple things that really bothered me though. The bad thing about having a concert at Chastain is that all these yuppies have season tickets. Which mean you have all these people there who have no idea who they’re going to be see. And then they find out, they’re shocked. The thing I love about Tori is that she sings the things we’re afraid to say. The feelings and thoughts we have that we don’t ever voice. Her music is honest. And yes she says words like fuck, pussy, and a ton of other things that some people deem inappropriate. But seriously, they’re just words people, listen to the song, listen to what she is saying.
I strive to be like that, to ditch all expectations of society, and just live. Live the way I want to, screw society, and screw what it says I should do, where I should be, or what I should say. Maybe that’s what draws me to Tori so much. The fact that I see in her the person I feel I am growing into. Or at least struggling to.
Back to the yuppies though, I could sit there and look at the back of their heads, observe their whispering and their mannerisms, and I could tell. I could tell everything just from that. The 3 ladies sat in their dressy little outfits with their husbands who wore their golf shirts and khakis, all in their 40’s or 50’s. I looked at those girls, and I could tell they were the popular girls in high school. Even though they were 20 something years out of there, they still had that mentality. If a gay couple walked by, they had to shake their heads and engage in a whispering fest, if Tori said a bad word, they had to have a five minute conversation about it with their husbands. If one of them had to go the bathroom, all 3 of them had to go. Like the girl next to me whispered, “Group trip! Group trip!” I mean seriously, at 40 are we still incapable of doing simple things like going to the bathroom on our own? It’s just plan sad. I never understood that whole group trip deal. The girl next to me shared my aggravation. Every time they would engage in a conversation, she would lean forward and tap them and say,” Excuse me, she’s singing”. However, this really didn’t seem to faze them. The women never actually came back from the bathroom, 30 minutes later I guess the guys either figured they’d either been dumped or perhaps they should go make sure the dynamic trio didn’t fall in.
With all that aside. The concert was absolutely incredible. Tori was drop-dead gorgeous as always. And the setlist was amazing. She played this one song, Siren. The song was my favorite for several years. It was in 97’ on the Great Expectations soundtrack. I was only 14 at the time it came out, but I could close my eyes and listen to that song, and it would just take me light-years away. Away from all that ELCA crap, away from all my insecurities… and I could just be and feel that feeling of inspiration. Isn’t amazing how music can do that to you? Take you away, make you feel like you could do anything, make you realize that all the little everyday routines are stupid and pointless? There are certain songs that get me like that. That make me realize how small and insignificant everything is, that we are apart of something so much greater than ourselves. There’s like 20 of Tori’s songs that get me like that. Besides that, the ocean, the desert, a sunset, the northwestern mountains, thunderstorms, and a cloudless night all get me like that too. I try to describe that feeling to other people, and most of them don’t get it. They just say sure Emma, okay, yeah. But it’s their loss. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. The people that do get it though, realize how small everything is, they realize that you have to stop and smell the roses, because that’s all we can do. Live life, enjoy it, and try to not let the hard stuff, the drama take over. We have to be free, and follow that feeling that drives us and inspires us. Because that’s what we need to be in pursuit of… that’s what really matters.
With all that being said, here was the setlist. God it rocked :)
Original Sinsuality
Crucify
Sugar
Father Lucifer
Cloud On My Tongue
Barons Of Suburbia
Playboy Mommy
Piano Bar
Georgia On My Mind
Drive (R.E.M. cover)
Cars and Guitars
Spark
Northern Lad
Siren
The Beekeeper
1st Encore
Happy Phantom
Your Cloud
2nd Encore
Sweet The Sting
Cooling
