Tori Amos - O2 City Hall, Newcastle 16.04.2026

It’s been 22 years since Tori Amos last played here in Newcastle and the sense of excitement and anticipation in the foyer of the City Hall is running high as I watch people streaming through the doors eager to take their seats and not miss one single moment of tonight’s show.

The stage is sparse yet elegant and drumkit stage right, three mics stage left and centre stage a grand piano and two keyboards and an array of bass guitars all lit in a hazy purple hue it’s like the largest smokey club set up!

Ash Soan arrives on stage first to a healthy applause taking his place behind the drums closely followed by Jon Evans on bass(es) and the three Angel Witches singers (Liv Gibson, Deni Hlavinka and Hadley Kennary) and they set off with the intro to tonight’s event.

The crowd erupts as Tori makes her entrance smiling and waving as she makes her way to the piano stool and 'Fire To Your Plain' begins our delve into the back catalogue! From the get go the sound is incredible in all my years coming to City Hall I’d be hard pushed to pick a gig that had as clear and warm a sound. And each song is lit perfectly but not over the top to distract from the music.

The arrangement is slightly stripped back with Tori playing mostly on the piano but the addition of The Angel Witches on vocals adds a huge warm depth to each song throughout.

Our only glimpse of new material from the forthcoming album 'In Times Of Dragons' is up next with the dark brooding piano driven 'Shush' dealing with the still all too often silencing of women by those in power. A stunning song making me look forward to the album release for more.

The crowd are hanging on every note and when 'Don’t Make Me Come To Vegas' makes an early appearance with that slinky bass line I can tell that tonight is already going to be a lot of peoples gig of the year and it’s only April!

Toris’ piano playing is incredible and watching her switch from grand piano round to the electric and synth without missing a beat vocally or musically (and occasionally playing both at the same time) was mesmerising.

It felt like the whole of the audience had held their breath during 'Little Amsterdam' nothing could be heard except the song filling the Hall making everyone’s hairs stand up on the back of their neck!

Have to applaud the crowd too as there was none of the annoying chatter that spoils so many gigs of this nature even phone use was sparse despite not being frowned upon!

It’s hard to pick any particular highlight from an evening filled with so many and considering the set had tracks from 12 of her 17 albums (including the upcoming one) I’m sure everyone had their own favourites of the night.

However as' Boys For Pele' is a favourite of mine 'Caught A Little Sneeze' certainly stood out for me with Tori’s vocal absolutely smashing it! She still has a fantastic vocal range but with those Angel Witches bolstering it, it’s a whole new ball game.

'Josephine' makes a live tour debut to many a delighted fan with Ash’s almost military like snare driving the song at a slow marching pace whilst Tori tells her tale!

An extended 'Witness' sees out the main set to a rightly deserved standing ovation after what felt like a gospel experience through the song!

Returning to the stage the band kick into 'Body & Soul' one of the rockier numbers of the night with Tori taking on the characters of Pip & Santa from the 'American Doll Posse' concept album and kicking new life into it with Ash and Jon again adding solid backbeat throughout.

The sets have been changing every night which is brilliant especially for those who travel to more than one show so knowing it hadn’t been aired the previous two shows I wasn’t sure if 'Cornflake Girl' would make it especially as these sets have been really deep diving into the albums but she was given an outing to a huge reception!

I love how this song has been used in the recent Yellowjackets TV show it’s tale of backstabbing and betrayal just fit so well!

It may have taken two decades to return but it was worth it?

You bet your life it was!

Tori Amos

Review & Photos - G's Gig Photography