Five songs into her performance at Irving Plaza in New York City on Thursday night, Tori Amos made a surprising revelation: She's popping steroids.

"I lost my voice, and my doctors gave me 'roids," the plainly clothed

Amos whispered to the crowd, as she sat between her trademark baby grand

piano and a synthesizer. "And I don't know how those weight lifters do

it, because I'm ... I'm craving things!"

Even then, not nearly halfway into her set, the crowd had already made

one thing clear: They were craving Tori. Requests echoed from the

balconies and the back bar, even from the industry-thick VIP section.

Old Tori, new Tori, rare Tori.

What the crowd got, much to their delight, was a delicate balance of Tori -- a set heavy on material from her upcoming from the choirgirl hotel album (May 5), plus staples from her first two albums, Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink.

One thing became quite apparent during the show: The new Tori Amos has, in a sense, returned to her roots. Gone were the dance and soul elements present on 1996's Boys For

Pele. In fact, only one song from that album, "Putting The Damage On," made the

evening's set. Instead, through new material and select cuts from her

catalog, Amos made it clear that she is currently all about the raw intensity and

grrrl power that made her the anti-rock star of the early 1990s.

For this short promotional tour (which hit Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and

Washington, D.C., earlier this week, and continues with shows in Boston, Chicago and

then the West Coast next week) and an extended leg this summer, Amos boasts a

live band (guitarist Steve

Kailen, bassist John Evans and drummer Matt Chamberlain) -- something new for fans used to seeing her perform solo at a single baby grand.

On a crowded stage in a crowded room, Amos was reborn, and with her

new material and the sound of older songs such as "Icicle" freshened up by the

backup band, there's a new strength behind alt.rock's pre-Lilith

princess.

The eerie opening to choirgirl's first track, "black-dove

(january)," was a perfect beginning for the night's performance. She displayed her striking vocal range in a song that

echoes and crescendos. On "Precious Things," from Little Earthquakes,

the backup band stretched the song's resounding chorus into a

thunderstorm of sound, lit by throbbing lights.

On a few more new songs, "Northern Lad," "Cruel" and choirgirl's first single,

"Spark," Amos displayed a raw intensity that I hadn't experienced since she debuted with Little Earthquakes eight years ago. "Northern Lad," with an

a cappella opening and lines such as "It's so fucking cold," is strong, as

is "Cruel," which bursts with a grungy intensity reminiscent of

"Precious Things" touched with the lucidity of "Bells For Her,"

from 1994's Under The Pink.

For many members of the crowd that packed Irving Plaza (the 700-odd tickets to the show had been bought up in just a few minutes when they went on sale three weeks ago), Amos' performance was an emotional experience. Composed mostly of young

women and younger girls, the audience reacted to Amos' every move --

screeching loudly as she sipped from a paper cup, or synchronizing

their bellows of "I love you!" to land during pauses in Amos'

between-song banter.

As Amos told her own stories through her songwriting, audience members

reminisced as well, with giggled tales of "I fucked to this album so much in college."

Amos looked to the past for the powerful, concluding two-song encore of "God" and "Silent All These Years."

One fan, Megan Genneo of White Plains, N.Y., who cried during "Icicle," said that song evoked memories of her late mother. "I listened to Under The Pink when my mother was dying," she said. "I think the only thing that kept me sane was listening to [Amos]. Some days, I'll listen to her, and I'll smile. But right here, right now -- she's up there, and ... it's so emotional."