Tori talks about the 1999 Tour...
How is this dynamic between you and Alanis
Morrisette? It's really the first time you've gone out on a co-headlining kinda
tour. Correct?
"Yeah, first time... We get on really well. Really, really well. I know - I
have really good manners when I meet my contemporaries. But some of them, you
just wanna sit down with. Why?? I don't know. And she's one of those people
that you just feel like- this is somebody I've known for a long long time and I
have no idea where." [WHFS Washington DC - August
25, 1999]
The singer tasted megastardom vicariously this summer, when she toured with Alanis Morissette. "You're like this meteorite," Amos observes of Morissette. "Everybody's singing your music and has an opinion about it. I sort of cruise in the underground. Sometimes you have to search to find what I'm doing." [USA Today - October 1, 1999]
On your tour with Alanis Morissette, do you
feel a synergy or has it been more like an intersection of two separate worlds?
"Oh, yeah. It's about the differences. It's two fully rotating spheres, each
one on its own, that have decided to hang out together for a few weeks. I say
it's like two pirate ships in the cove. Some people came over on hers, others
came on mine. But if you came on hers, you hear there was some good wine on mine,
so you come over and try it and you might find something you like. That's what
we hope is going on, at least." [Wall of Sound (www) - September 1999]
The former solo performer has settled into
cozy camaraderie with her own band. That bond, she says, has strengthened the
performances. "A lot of it happens because of the conversations
after hours on the bus. You cannot contrive that. It's about people hanging out
together."
That experience has continued on the month-plus
tour with Morissette - Amos' first as a co-headliner. One big difference?
"I have to be on time," quips Amos, who goes
on first to ensure that her piano stays in tune. "[Morissette] was very
gracious about that. They wanted to do a changeover every night, meaning a swap
[of billing order], but pianos don't work like that. Once it's in place, it
doesn't move."
Although she and Morissette have had "a
good cup of tea here and there," Amos says, each
is busy within her respective sphere on the road. "It's like two
beehives... We're a traveling village of buses and trunks, and it takes a lot
of mutual respect... and a great sense of humor." [Los Angeles
Times- September 23, 1999]
"I've never done a tour like this before - with somebody. It was actually
Morissette's idea. She had come to see me at Jones Beach (on Long Island, New
York), and we had a cup of tea and a giggle and got along really well. We share
a lot of the same philosophies of putting on a show, which is important."
As far your end of the tour goes, were you eager
to be back on the road with a full band?
"Wanting to play with these guys again was really a burning desire. I enjoyed
playing with them (on the last tour). That's not to say there weren't rough
spots. Because I have to play and sing at the same time, when you play alone,
you cheat a lot. You can stretch bars and stuff. But when you're having to hit
the marks as a player as well as a singer, you try to drool, find your note,
breathe and wiggle, all at the same time. And not lose your lunch. That's a
tall order for me."
Your shows are pretty personal affairs. Was it
tough adjusting to sharing a stage and losing some of that intimacy?
"There are things you can't do with a band that you can do on your own. There's
not going to be the same intimacy. That's like saying an orgy is as intimate as
a honeymoon. But there is a sensuality that a band can have because there's
tension between and among people, as opposed to tension between one person and
her instrument." [CNN Online- September 29, 1999]
What was your over all thought on the tour
with Alanis?
"Well you have to figure that two separate productions working together is
very tricky. All things considered we both handled it with mutual respect and I
grew to like her in a big way. Friendship is a very sacred word and I don't
throw it around lightly." [Gay.com chat - October 2, 1999]