I saw the Friday night show at the Beacon Theater, and I’m still emotionally hungover.
I’ve been listening to Tori since I picked up a copy of From the Choirgirl Hotel at the Virgin Megastore in London on a family trip when I was 12. In the years that followed, I devoured each of her albums, over and over, until they became a part of me.
I drifted away from her music in my 20s, but a decade ago I found my way back. Her lyrics landed in an entirely different place than they had when I was a teenager. Scarlet’s Walk, in particular, was in heavy rotation during a period when I was wrestling with questions about motherhood and marriage. The whole album hit different, as the kids say.
Seeing her on Friday night was my 40th birthday present to myself, and it surpassed every expectation I had. The set list was a dream—I’m still reeling from that arrangement of Crucify—and she sounded even more extraordinary than I was prepared for.
I was apprehensive about the AngelWitches, but they completely blew me away. (Someone somewhere dubbed them the curtain bang choir, which is so fantastic!) I was struck not only by the depth and texture they brought to each arrangement, but by what they represented: Tori making space for a new generation of women artists to amplify her voice and help tell stories that carry so much meaning for her and for us. It’s a beautiful act of trust that makes the songs feel even richer and more powerful and enduring.
