Properly greater than a yr into her Ocean To Ocean Tour, Tori Amos continues to be taking dangers and taking part in together with her again catalog in recent methods. Fourteen months after we caught back-to-back live shows within the D.C. space and Philadelphia, we had been greater than prepared for extra, so we drove as much as Crimson Financial institution, N.J., for an additional stellar, shifting efficiency by Amos, joined once more by bassist Jon Evans and drummer Ash Soan, who’ve coalesced into an intuitive, jazz-inflected combo that is aware of when to increase an intro for a number of minutes of scrumptious sonic exploration and when to carry again for deliberate silence.

Of the 16 songs she rolled out on the Rely Basie Middle For The Arts, lower than a 3rd had been repeats from the exhibits we noticed final yr: “Ocean To Ocean” (the title monitor of her most up-to-date album and the tour’s namesake) and main-set-closer “Cornflake Lady,” the one two numbers which have appeared on greater than 80 % of the tour’s setlists; “Candy Sangria,” which has been rolled out lower than 30 % of the time however in any respect three dates we attended; “A Sorta Fairytale,” promoted from the third music of the evening in Maryland to the primary in Crimson Financial institution; and “Take To The Sky,” relocated from close to the top of the principle set in Philadelphia to the final music of the encore in Crimson Financial institution.

Whereas it appeared noteworthy final yr that so little of the album being promoted had made the transition to the stage (representing three of the 17 songs performed in Maryland, with one addition in Philadelphia), in Crimson Financial institution, that quantity had been decreased to only one. (That’s half the tally of the earlier evening’s cease in Boston, the place “Ocean To Ocean” was joined by my favourite music from the report, “Steel Water Wooden,” making its U.S. tour debut.)

The truth is, you might be forgiven in the event you assumed that Amos was selling her File Retailer Day assortment of Little Earthquakes b-sides, with a set that provided three songs drawn from that period (extra about these later) however none from her landmark 1992 album itself, or the idea of non-album tracks generally, together with one every from 1994’s Below The Pink classes (the bewitching “Sister Janet,” one in all Amos’ two solo numbers, which complemented two from that album) and 2004’s Scarlet’s Hidden Treasures EP (the wistful and mysterious “Ruby Via The Trying-Glass,” as a lagniappe to 3 from the epic Scarlet’s Stroll).

On the coronary heart of the present was an unlikely first: the one-two punch of “Ode To The Banana King” and “Fairly Good Yr.” Although “Ode To The Banana King” first appeared in 1992 as a b-side to “Silent All These Years” within the U.Ok., in accordance the exhaustive and addictive Tori Amos Setlist Database, this present marked solely its seventh dwell airing. Understandably, a lot of the viewers stood and hollered in awe as quickly as they acknowledged these darkish opening chords, then settled down to understand Amos’ highly effective solo model, which instantly segued into Below The Pink’s “Fairly Good Yr” (broadly considered the sequel), with Evans and Soan making their dramatic musical entrance accompanied by appropriately dramatic lighting. Acknowledging that it wasn’t her concept, Amos nonetheless killed the impressed pairing together with her passionate piano and voice, a reminder (as if we would have liked one) of why she deserves to be considered a legend in her personal proper and never merely an echo of a sure predecessor or a pastiche of her influences, as unimaginative detractors have claimed over time.

Amongst her many skills, one which units Amos aside is her capability to identify thematic threads and weave them collectively, rend them aside or recontextualize them to let the seams present. Past “Ode To The Banana King”/“Fairly Good Yr,” delivering Boys For Pele’s opening salvo of “Magnificence Queen”/“Horses” was a spellbinding instance of the dynamic magic that occurs when Amos follows her personal prepare of thought and brings us alongside for the journey.

In its personal approach, supercharging American Doll Posse’s “Physique And Soul” with interpolations of Depeche Mode’s “Private Jesus” reveals additional aspects. Though I’ve by no means actually cherished Amos’ admittedly selective use of the type of prerecorded vocals that make the mash-up sound extra premeditated than obligatory, it served a goal within the encore to bridge the non secular sensuality of “Physique And Soul” and the spectacular “Take To The Sky,” which has advanced mightily from its unique type as a b-side to 1992’s “Winter.” By this level, the dwell association’s embrace of Carole King’s “I Really feel The Earth Transfer” looks as if an inextricable a part of Amos’ steely affirmation of religion in her musical calling and her capability to chart her personal future, however at this explicit second, Amos illuminated nonetheless extra connections with delicate and not-so-subtle shifts within the lyrics. Closing the loop to emphasise the environmental concern that drives “Ocean To Ocean,” she modified King’s lusty refrain of “I really feel the earth transfer underneath my ft/I really feel the sky tumblin’ down” to “I really feel my earth transfer underneath my ft/And he or she is waking me up/She’s shaking me up,” even because the viewers was on its ft, shifting to the irresistible rhythm. So too did she reframe her youthful self’s problem to the patriarchal figures blocking her inventive path (“You possibly can say it yet one more time, what you don’t like … Then have a seat whereas I take to the sky”) to explicitly refute Ron DeSantis’ hateful worldview and refuse to cede her American residence base of Florida to bigots. Thumbing her nostril on the Don’t Say Homosexual crowd, she chanted “homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual homosexual” and intoned “Florida loves Jesus/Jesus loves gays,” which elicited shouts of affection and sustained cheers that introduced the night to a rousing finish.

Different highlights included “Fireplace To Your Plain,” one of many standouts from 2009’s Abnormally Attracted To Sin (performed for simply the eighth time, based on the Tori Amos Setlist Database), cryptic marital plaint “Lust” (from 1999’s To Venus and Again) and the fantastically baffled “Sugar” (the b-side to 1992’s “China” and Amos’ twenty fourth most-played music).

Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Tow’rs opened with a genial set of songs about looking out and rising.

—M.J. Fantastic; photographs by Chris Sikich