Tori Amos @ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 6 November

One could be forgiven for expecting a rigidly structured 'play the album in full' style show to support Night Of Hunters, Tori Amos' recent boundary crossing effort for classical label Deutsche Grammophon. It is refreshing to see an artist resisting this most obvious of options, even though her Chopin, Satie and Irish mythology influenced composition lends itself readily to such treatment. Commendably, Amos chooses to craft the new material around unpredictable selections from her rich back catalogue tonight, ensuring a crowd pleasing balance of narrative coherence and genuine spontaneity.

In a 2009 interview with The Skinny, Amos commented on the idea that 'conversations about the subjects (of her songs) can overshadow the compositional structure itself'. If there ever was an imbalance between form and content in her shows, it isn't in evidence tonight. Powerful string arrangements from the accompanying Apollon Musagete Quartett are exquisitely controlled – opener Shattering Sea bristles with menace, fleeting with ease between melancholy and wild fury. Suede, Bachelorette and Snow Cherries From France create odd, distinctive detours before the Hunters thread is picked up again with a haunting Nautical Twilight.

Amos doesn't suppress her playful sense of humour, either; commenting on her choice of pink dress for the show, she allows herself some well-timed digs at the supposed importance of football colours. Numerous standing ovations deservedly greet the closing part of the set, as Winter, Precious Things and Cruel are, like so many songs in this performance, given a new lease of life.