When Tori Amos took the Wolf Trap stage on July 5th, there was a reason the crowd was thrilled. Not only has Amos toured in support of his 2021 album Ocean to Ocean, but he’s also returned to his former base in the Baltimore/DC area.
At the beginning of the concert, she told a story about an ill-fated gig at a piano bar in DC whose manager did not notify her to replace her. When she showed up at the venue and was sent home, her bystanders told her that her venue would one day regret it.
The loss of the piano bar was a gain for Wolftrap, as Amos came out full of cheerful energy that even his broken leg couldn’t hold back. Accompanied by longtime bassist Jon Evans and new percussionist Ash Thorn, Amos performed nearly two hours of material on a Bösendorfer piano and electronic keyboard, often playing both simultaneously.
It was Amos’ first performance with Wolf Trap since 1996. That year Amos promoted “Boys for Pele” and toured with piano, harpsichord, harmonium and guitarist. At that show, she recounted her recollection of being invited to a Wolf Trap show by boys, who then turned her down. Some of her others took pity on her (Amos recounted) and invited her to sit on her lawn with her.
Amos has a reputation for being dark and fierce, and those two words can’t quite describe her interactions with fans and bands. As Evans played the lengthy intro to “Wednesday,” Amos watched with a grin as if it were a playdate, not a concert in a 7,000-capacity theater. (Wolf Trapp provided an onstage sign language interpreter and signed the lyrics as Amos sang, which was an unusual courtesy).
Amos’ backstory is legendary. At age five, she was a piano prodigy who was admitted to the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. When she failed to renew her scholarship at the age of 11, her pastor her father accompanied her while she frequently performed at gay bars around Washington, DC. Her father didn’t acknowledge everything he saw, but he argued that he wasn’t doing her duty by not supporting her.
Along the way, she released her first single, “Baltimore,” in 1979 at the age of 16 (as Ellen Amos). She won a contest to record a new theme song for the Baltimore Orioles. The mayor of Baltimore also gave Amos a certificate of commendation. In an interview with The Washington Post, she said she would become a legend.
She continued to play into her adolescence, but during her time in Washington, D.C., lobbyists and candidates would come to the lounge where Amos played, and the waitstaff would tell her of the deals made there. Amos, still challenging the church’s authority, was appalled at the depth of her manipulation and corruption she witnessed. Her songwriting took on a new urgency when she performed a few blocks from the White House the night Reagan defeated Carter.
The unflinching song that defined her wasn’t released until 1991’s Amos debut, “Little Earthquakes.” A few years earlier, Amos had moved to Los Angeles, where she fronted an ’80s pop band called Y Can’t Tri Reed. If the band’s album sales and reviews hadn’t been so dire, perhaps Amos wouldn’t have blended her piano skills with the outspoken beliefs that have come to define her music.
It’s true that Debbie Boone’s acting probably didn’t do much for Amos’ chops, but her playing time in DC proved invaluable. Her proximity to secrecy and power eventually inspired her songs like “The Wrong Band” and the rare “Bug a Martini.” Although she didn’t choose those songs for her Wolf Trap performance, she did a poignant “Virginia” that explores the oppression of Native cultures. After one song, Evans and Thoran left the stage, and Amos delivered a moving solo of “Gold Dust,” from 2002’s Scarlett Walk. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, the lyrics quoted DC’s “Cherry Blossom Canopy” and brought the crowd to tears.
As strong as his ties to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. are, Amos also has memories of an obscure town along the New River where his parents owned a farm. When the city showed Amos some of humanity’s worst flaws, she returned to her farm to pick blackberries, observe the moon, and watch cows give birth. She composed the song “Girl” there.
Her songs are full of respect for the land, but 2021’s “Ocean to Ocean” extends that grace to water. Amos performed just two of her most recent songs from that album, including the title track, which features a lengthy piano intro before a hypnotic melody kicks in.
Some of the early songs were a little slow for audiences who were dizzy from the heat. Everything changed when she hit the opening riff to “Cornflake Girl” and everyone jumped up and started dancing. She kept her energy high during the encore, singing a snippet of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” interlocking with her own “Bliss.”
Amos and the crowd seemed to be pumped all night, but she only played one more song, which was also a fan favorite. Only at the Tori Amos show can a piano-played rock anthem about female wrath leave the attendees smiling.
Erin Lindall Martin is a creative writer, arts journalist and visual artist.Learn more about erin rindallmartin.com.
