Excellent week

So... Monday was the day of my PhD review, and also the Tori Amos show. PhD review was surprisingly fine (and short). The gist was: 'good work. finish it up, there's a dear'. Fair enough.

I took my supervisor along to the Tori show, as well as a friend who is a big fan and her girlfriend. The setlist for the show was not great, by regulars' standards, however, the performance was pretty good, all in all. Loved her outfit too :) Highlights for me were Crucify (obviously), Barons of Suburbia and Putting The Damage On. 

I had extremely low expectations for the show, based on the new album and how much I don't like it. And none of the new songs performed live did anything to change my mind (though I did quite like 'Curtain Call'). 'Mary Jane' was the low point of the evening, completely embarrassing (Tori, we get it, you know about pot), and I think must be a discard from her musical. And it wasn't a particularly long show, so I was surprised that she did 2 covers (3 if you count the Smooth Operator improv). Though I will never get sick of Famous Blue Raincoat, I thought it was an odd choice to open with. Over The Rainbow was a waste of a song in only a 2 song encore, and I don't really like her version that much.

Having said all that, Ros (my supervisor), who had never seen Tori before, or even heard more than a couple of her songs, absolutely LOVED it. And I tried to see it as though I was seeing her for the first time too. So I did enjoy all the LE stuff, and Cool On Your Island. Taxi Ride was lovely. Barons of Surburbia was really really good. And she did perform very well. More intense and less 'floaty' than I've seen her for a while.

So, no, it wasn't a great setlist, but it was a pretty good show, and I'm glad I went. It's been a really long time since I saw her do a solo show and I forgot how good they can be if you're in the mood for them - which I was. If I'd been to see her three times already this week, I'm sure I would have thought it was lame... but I think my lesson is to not see more than a couple of shows and that way I can enjoy her more.

Tuesday night brought Placebo at Shepherds Bush Empire. They pulled out a tight, excellent show, as always, and most of the stuff from the new album sounds really good. Highlights were Special K and The Bitter End, though anything from 'Black Market Music' or 'Meds' gets a giant thumbs up from me. The less said about Brian's hair, the better. I'll try and find a picture so you can see what I mean - bear in mind the last time I saw them live, it was obvious he was thinning on top...

On Wednesday, we got up early and headed to the Eurostar for our day in Paris. It only took 2 hours 20 minutes to get there, much quicker than last time I went, and less time than it takes to get to Newcastle! Ridiculous we don't do things like that more often really, especially since it only cost us £50 each. It was a hazy hot day. We walked by the river, had a long lunch near the Sorbonne, then hung out in the giant park I forget the name of and played backgammon. Four French kids were extremely interested in our game, and so we let them throw the dice for us with each turn. Not entirely sure all our pieces were where they were supposed to be, due to some rather vigorous throwing (and despite the older girl's reproach of 'doucement!'), but I think fun was had by all. We then took a trip on the Batobus, and lay out on the deck watching Notre Dame, the Champs Elyses and various other things float by us. We got off at the Eiffel Tower, fully intending to go to the top, however at that moment a giant thunderstorm hit with torrential rain. James thought I was ridiculous for not wanting to go to the top of a GIANT METAL POINTING DEVICE while the lightning was striking nearby, but I held firm and we did not! Next time... Instead, we headed back to Notre Dame, and had crepes and hot chocolate in a very cute cafe-bar, where the guy working there insisted on changing the music on his ipod to suit our mood (we went for the chilled jazz covers by some woman I thought I recognised, but not sure). A nice way to end before heading back to the station and getting back into London for 10.30pm.

Tired now!