Tori Amos On MTV Unplugged

Program taped on April 11, 1996 and broadcast for the first time on MTV in the U.S. on June 26, 1996 and on MTV Europe on August 3, 1996.

Tori was simply stunning, and my only complaint was that we won't get to see the other half of the show. Obviously in an MTV hour (defined as a block of programming consisting of one-third commercials), there is only so much you can fit in. The original taping that occurred on April 11th in New York City had 16 songs, and we saw 8 of them on the air.

Here is what we saw on the broadcast:

Cornflake Girl

Blood Roses

Silent All These Years

Icicle

Caught A Lite Sneeze

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Hey Jupiter

In The Springtime Of His Voodoo

If you look at the April 11th set list for the taping of this show you will see that we DID NOT SEE Leather, Putting the Damage On, Doughnut Song, Marianne, Precious Things, Me and a Gun, Honey, and Space Dog.

You can read an account of the taping of MTV Unplugged from someone who was there by clicking here.

In early 2001, MTV in the U.S. broadcast a show called "Hips, Lips and Genderbenders: MTV's History Of Sex," which featured the top 40 musical acts with an impact on sexuality. Tori was voted #19 and among the footage of Tori they showed, there were a few seconds of Tori singing Me and a Gun from the taping of MTV Unplugged. (Which as stated above was not shown during the MTV Unplugged broadcast.) You can see screen shots from this performance by clicking here.

Cornflake Girl 2

Tori spoke a few times on the broadcast. She commented on the environment of the concert. "This is very tricky, you know why? Because I can SEE you....I've been singing for so long in the dark...Oh my God, you're really THERE." She talked about the church hymns she was forced to listen to. She said the music was beautiful but she knows they didn't tell the story right. She then did a little Onward Christian Soldier prelude to Icicle. Before Caught A Lite Sneeze she mentioned that maybe she should be doing Tori PLUGGED since she is acoustic all the time anyway.

Cornflake Girl 2

Her smiles during the intro to Caught A Lite Sneeze were amazing. It was the visual moment of the show for me. Somewhere Over The Rainbow continues to be one of the saddest and most beautiful covers ever, and of course several of the songs featured her buddy Steve Caton on guitar (He was plugged at times I think...).

The photos below are from throughout the show. Enjoy!

The Photos

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