North American Club Tour; Ticket Buying Experiences

Updated April 20, 1998

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Several people have shared their club tour ticket buying experiences from Saturday, April 4th with me. Some people are happy and had a great time in line, others are glad they have tickets but are unhappy about what they had to go through to get them, and others are devastated because they were unable to get tickets. Some of these accounts are wonderful, while others are incredibly sad and horrible. The biggest horror stories come from Los Angeles and New York. On the other hand, the situation in Toronto was nearly perfect.I will continue to update this page a few times daily for a few days, so feel free to send me your own experience. My own concert buying experience is below.

The opinions here are only reflective of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Dent.

• Ft. Lauderdale
• Atlanta
• Washington D.C.
• New York
• Boston
• Philadelphia
• Toronto
• Detroit
• Chicago
• Seattle
• San Francisco
• Los Angeles

From MaidnChina

April 12, 1998 - I have a specific purpose for sending this-- (I love purposes!) Anyway... for anyone who was at Sunrise that day (I got there at about 4, but me and my friend were actually later than we hoped) I was the gal on the lawn screaming in pain. I had killer cramps and I can honestly say that I've never been in as much pain in my entire life. I have a disorder that gives 'em to me real bad. My whole point is-- I was all alone on the lawn, crying and even vomiting from the pain... and not a single person that I didn't know came up to me to ask if i was okay. I wasn't expecting mad sympathy, but I know that if I saw a teenage girl in my position I would have seen if I could help in any way. Most people wouldn't, I realize. But if you were there, you know how many people were there, and NOT A SINGLE ONE checked up on me. NO ONE. If someone had just made a call to my mother, or even 911, I would have been much better much sooner. So, thanks. Thanks a lot.

From Andre

April 5, 1998 - this is just a short note on how the sat. morning voucher sale went in ft. laudredale.

well I am happy to say that my buddy and i are genuine voucher holders, which by the way i felt when we arived at sunrise musical theater box office was a big relief.

I've waited on many lines for tickets before, but this experience was kind of frightening. I had a great feeling of dread that we werent going to get tickets, when i say the huge crowed that was there when we arrived at 9:15 am. Apparently thy started numbering people untill they got to 450 people. After that the said to fend for you self. We arrived long after they stopped giving out numbers. So I thought we were out of luck, because apparently, they started giving out numbers the night before, and people were camping out. I honestly didnt know that there were that many people who like her, but of course shes tori so it really isnt a surprise. Honestly it felt like it was a graduation ceremony, with people holding there vouchers and cheering like it was a diploma. this really was a strange experience but i am extatic that i have tickets for this show, she was amazing during the dew drop inn tour, and i expect a religios experience ounce again. (please forgive my horrible spelling)

From Tammy

April 5, 1998 - I also thought that the hand number idea (in Ft. Lauderdale) was a good idea because you didn't have to worry about vehemently keeping your place before the box office opened and the people that got there first (fairly) got their vouchers first.

The problem I had with it is me and my friend got there about 6am and we stood in the line. We heard people saying that they had numbers so we ran up to one of the fans "in charge" (he had some sort of list) to ask if we needed to get a number. He just said to get in the back of the line and not to worry about it. Needless to say, 30 mins later our hands were numbered but about 75 people that came there later than us had gotten a number before ours because only certain parts of the lines were told that they needed a number.

My hint to others that are going to use this idea: Announce the fact that everyone needs a number over and over to the WHOLE LINE (use a big sign or have the number giver standing where everyone comes in/sees them). Don't just pass the list around (have it pre-numbered or something also so the numbers don't get screwed-up--as they did multiple times =) And number the hands of people as they get a number so the number writer doesn't have to trip over everyone to write the numbers.

I'm not complaining, just constructive criticism to help the next bunch of people who try this. All and all it was a a good system, just needed a more efficent dissemination of information about what was happening to the WHOLE LINE instead of random parts of it.

From Jason Childs

April 5, 1998 - This is Spinnyboy (Jason Childs) reporting from South Florida once more. Today, tickets went on sale at 10am at the Sunrise Musical Theater.... Unfortunately, I got lost and didn't get there until 10:10am and the line was unbelievable. From what I gathered, people started arrving at the theater FRIDAY morning at 8am!! Isn't that something?! Anyways, there must have been about 800 people in line. Rumors flew that only 400 vouchers were being distributed (here is S. Florida you purchase a voucher for $55 which is redeemable for two tickets at the Chili Pepper).... but obviously that wasn't true since we made it in just fine...

The excitement is beginning!!! I though you'd like to hear a little bit on the Florida front. People as far away as Georgia were here... I'm excited to say I'll be in that room when she comes out for the first time in quite a while... =o)

From VersusMoll (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - well, here in fort lauderdale, tix went on sale at 10am today and i think the earliest people had been hanging out at the box office was since 5 pm yesterday. my sister and i got there around 2 am last nite but there really wasn't a line, people were just hanging out, it was casual. some cool tori fans started up a list on a sheet of paper so people could secure their place in a line when it was formed. around 6am we started forming a line (these weren't box office people, just tori fans that wanted to make sure everything was organized) and people went around matching the number on the sheet with a number on your hand. i'd be curious to hear how it happened in other cities, it was cool how (most) everyone cooperated, all in the tori spirit.

> i think that the people buying tickets later might want to know how
> it goes for people buying tickets tomorrow... please share your
> ticket-buying experiences so we know what to expect and how early to get
> there. (is it really necessary to stand on line for over 24 hours to get
> vouchers!?!?!)

no it's not necessary, there were plenty of tix being sold and people that got there around 8 and 9 am i think also got tix so i don't think you have to be there super early. the system seems pretty cool, my sister and i were # 118 and 119 and we got our vouchers and were out of there by 10:17am, the line went really fast. so that was cool. if anyone has any other specific questions feel free to privately email me.

From Gina Reinert

April 5, 1998 - I just got back from Ft. Lauderdale after staying up all night to get tickets for the Chili Pepper. We arrived about 9:00 p.m. on Friday and there were others already lined up . Some of which had been there since 11:00 Friday morning. I was somewhere in the first 50 people to get my voucher after 13 hours(Yeah) The Sunrise was telling us that we needed to buy two tickets per voucher, but I don't think they enforced this. I wasen't even sure for the reason in doing so. Oh Well, It is 18 and up of course. The voucher was $27.50. There was a list of names going all night to keep track of who came up first, because there was no sort of line going anywhere. They stopped counting after 450. I also heard that there may have been only 900 tickets sold? This I don't know.

From Jenny (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - we got there around 3: 30 pm :) But there were some people who had been there since 10 am. April 3rd so...That was such an amazing surreal experience. Wow. I think the people that worked at Sunrise Musical Theater were really impressed by how organized we were. We all signed a list when we came in, so that we could keep track of who came when. Then around 6 in the morning we lined up and this girl put numbers on our hands. (keep in mind this was all done by fans...it was no one's job) Then someone made a line with string and a few people were picking up trash. It was really nice.

From Maggie

April 20, 1998 - My night in Atlanta was an experience I will never forget. My friend, Alicia, and I arrived at about 7:00p.m. Friday night and luckily we were the first ones there. But not for long! People arrived in no time and a line began weaving itself around the building and into the alleyway. Tori fans came from all over the South in hopes of recieving a voucher for the concert. I was happy that my sleeping parteners were friendly( Thanks MAQ with a Q for being such a great pillow).I can't wait till the 20th so we can reunite with The ROYAL FAMILY(top ten people in line). I'll see everyone there( Elizabeth, MAQ, teddy, Shannon, Andrew, Liz and everyone that I forgot)!!!!

From Jim Weitz

April 16, 1998 - About two months ago, my daughter, Karen, told me about Tori's Plugged Tour. Being the devoted Tori fan that she is, she really wanted to be at one of these concerts. I said I'd do what I could, if she'd keep me up to date, which she did. Then we heard about the tickets going on sale in several cities. One of them was Atlanta. Since I work for Delta, getting to Atlanta from Cincinnati was no big deal. Until the thunderstorms hit. I checked the Atlanta weather before leaving for the airport, and saw the weather was kinda nasty...but didnt think it was going to be a problem. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. When I got to the Airport at Cincy, I saw the two previous flights to Atlanta had been delayed...still not a major concern. We left Cincy about 45 minutes late, about 11:40pm, and landed in Atlanta about 12:50am...the captain told us we would be several...minutes...before we got to the gate...what he really meant was..it would be HOURS. It turns out Hartsfield was shut down for about FOUR HOURS and delayed all the arrivals and departures. After two and a half hours on the taxiway, we arrived at the gate at 3:20am. I caught a couple hours sleep at the airport, and then climbed aboard MARTA, headed for the Roxy Theatre. I was quite surprised, well a little surprised anyway, at the line. It snaked through the parking lot, and somehow ended up on the sidewalk behind the theatre. Those in line around me said the security people had said it didnt look too good for us there at the end. This was about 7:00am, three hours before the tickets actually went on sale. The line kept growing, more and more Tori Fans. I wasn't at the end anymore. The sun was out when I got there, but didnt last long. It turned cloudy, chilly and windy. It may have chilled my bones, but it didnt chill the spirit of all the Tori fans that had been there, some since I was sitting on the runway. And, it didn't discourage me. Just thinking what this would mean to Karen, made it all worthwhile. When the security people, (can't really call them guards, there was nothing to guard..it was a GREAT crowd) passed out the numbers I was #468, which meant I had been successful. After standing in line from 7:00am, I finally had the tickets in my hand at 11:15am. Everybody affiliated with the Roxy, and all the people in line were GREAT. After getting the tickets, I walked across the street to Starbucks, and drank something HOT...and my phone rang, and it was Karen. After a couple questions, she knew I had the tickets in my billfold...and she was ecstatic to say the least. Knowing the trip home was going to be delayed as well, I had lunch at Hard Rock, and headed back to the airport, to find all the flights to Cincy full. But found a route home via Nashville. I arrived home about 24 hours after I left, Tori tickets in hand. And next Sunday morning, I will be headed back to Atlanta to see a very Talented Tori Amos, with my very lovely daughter, Karen. It was well worth the trip.

From Alicia

April 16, 1998 - i recently got a voucher for the april 20th tori show at the roxy. my friend maggie and i arrived in atlanta at about 7pm fri night(on apr. 3)before the tickets went on sale sat. morning at 10am.- we were the first ones there! we kept our places in line throughout the night and met some great people! during the night(or the next morining-i dont remember),the security handed out "E's"(those of you there know what i mean!) so we could use the bathroom inside the roxy. throughout the 14 hrs., not one person walked by without saying, "oh my god, what time did you guys get here?" so eventually we made a sign answering all their ?'s. anyway- being first in line,we got our voucher and left around 9:45am sat. it turned out to be a good night and i cant wait till the 20th!

From Christopher Scott

April 12, 1998 - Two friends of mine and I left our college to get in line around 8PM. When we arrived, there were only sixteen people in line. (We were 17-20) Everyone was just sitting around underneath the marquee shooting the bull. As it turns out, all those already there got incredilby lucky for the marquee, because around 11:30 a serious thunderstorm blew right over us, soaking everything not underneath. Fortunately, everybody there stayed dry. After that, however, it gradually became colder and colder... I was lucky enough to have aquilt. Some people had sleeping bags, but many only had their clothes and jackets.

The experience was great. We met some really cool people from Savannah and Macon. The ages there were also impressive, from high school to those pushing forty, all waiting in line with us. Around eleven, they moved us all out from the doors, where we had wrapped like an amusement park ride line up back, and out, to one straight line from the door, down the street, and into an alley, behind there eventually into a parking lot, where they again formed weird designs with their lines. At midnight, another friend from school joined us in line.

There was plenty to do while in line. Most people were really friendly as well. Many went for walks, as coolers, chairs, sleeping bags, and other people held the places in line. There was Johnny Rockets behind us, Starbucks down the street, and and IHOP across a courtyard. Plus, people had cards, walkmans, anything you could think of. I happily fell asleep in my chair with the quilt over my head to stay warm.

Around dawn, they handed out flyers detailing most of the information that had already been posted here, RDT, and elsewhere. Then later, they handed out placeholder business cards to reserve the place in line. My friend who came late had brought along a friend who didn't even buy a ticket - he just stood in line! He sold his place about twenty minutes before the doors opened. All told, we waited fourteen hours to be done in five minutes.

I can't wait until the concert. It will be my first Tori experience, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I can't wait to see the other people that I met in line, for we met some really awesome people. It was kind of ironic in a way, though. My sister lives in Philadelphia, and got tickets for the show there as well. However, instead of waiting as long as I did. She arrived at 9:45, found a friend in line, and was let in. All told, she waited for forty-five minutes. Just doesn't seem the same. It's not that important - either way, I got the better experience out of it.

From Jessica Branum

April 10, 1998 - My husband and I got there at about 9:30 and we're plesantly suprised to see there were only about 30 people there. we got setteled in and started waiting. We made some great friends, some who even shared food with us (thanks for the corn, Liz!). Most of the time we talked ot a girl from Athens (Hi kelly!). We had the best time. Sometime in the middle of the night the security guards came out and made us all move down cause we were piled in front of the doors cause it was covered there and we were blocking the way. That caused a LOT of confusion among people. Still, we moved and got setteled in AGAIN. Everyone was REALLY nice. We'd hold our places in line for each other and all sorts of things. People would drive by and ask who we were getting tickets for and in unison everyone would yell "SPICEGIRLS!" and they'd give us dirty looks :). Finially around 6:30 or 7 the one guy working there with the megaphone(Dave i think his name was) handed out some flyers and told us how things would work. at about 9:15 they handed out yellow buisness cards with numbers on them so your place in line would be assured. My hubby and I were numbers 34 and 35 (YAY!). the line started moving and within 15 minutes we had our tickets and were on our way home to get some much needed rest. :) I can't wait for the 20th to get here so I can see some of the people we met again, and, of course, see Tori :).

From cristina

April 7, 1998 - I have to agree with the other Atlanta toriphiles who expressed great pleasure in the behavior of everyone in line. Everyone behaved themselves and were extremely nice. I certainly hope this behavior carries over to the night of the show. Anyway, my experience was very positive and upon reading the harassment of toriphiles in other cities, I consider myself lucky to be holding a voucher. My friend Jon and I left Friday night from Nashville (almost 4 hours away) around 7 pm. We arrived in Atlanta around 12 am eastern time. After 3 tries, we finally got a hotel room near Marietta. At about 7:30 am we left the hotel, got coffee, and proceeded to the venue. By 8:30 am we had a spot in line. I seriously had lost hope for a ticket. There were a TON of people there and the line behind us was enormous. It was FREEZING cold, the wind was something awful, but at least it wasn't raining. The staff of the Roxy were very nice and informative. Around 9 am, they started passing out flyers with info on it and one worker got on a megaphone and informed the crowd of how the whole thing would work. They passed out yellow pieces of paper with numbers on them and then opened the doors at 10 am. Jon and I got numbers 515 and 516. I think they were only passing out 750. The line moved VERY slowly and snaked around the parking lot very strangely. By 11:30 we had our vouchers and the David Poe sampler in hand. I consider myself fortunate that we had it so easy. I am truly sorry to all the other toriphiles that had to endure such horrific atrocities just to get (or not get) at ticket. I hope that the NY and LA venues (although I sincerely doubt it) learned a lesson from the hardships of potential customers.

From Megan Dougherty

April 7, 1998 - Saturday 4-4-98 Tix went on sale for Tori's concert in Atlanta GA at the ROxy theatre. I've never seen her in concert before so I really wanted to go o this! Well I got up at about 7 and was at the venue at 8 and tix go on sale at 10! So when my dad and I got there there was already about 150 ppl lined up and sleeping (they slept out there!) and it rained the night before and was extremely cold.. Look how much these ppl LOVE Tori!!! So we lined up and the line was going around the building, thru the parking lot, and around the other side of the building.. The venue only holds about 1500 people and so not everyone got in, and they handed out numbers.. so everyone had to stay in line and not move (out of line) if u wanted a ticket.. I was #526! The wind was VERY cold and it had just rained the nite before which made it EVEN COLDER! Finally after about 2 and a half hours of waiting and standing and freezing.. they finally let me in to buy tix.. Too bad the seats are on a first come first serve basis.. haha, people there at the venue were also giving out DAvid Poe's little like demo cd after u signed up for the tickets.. =)

From Jennifer Whittle

April 6, 1998 - I just want to thank everyone for being so cool down at the Roxy on Friday night. I arrived about 11pm and had a great time trying to stay awake all night. The owner of the Roxy was simply the nicest guy ever, opening up the theater to let us use the restrooms and pay phone. But most of all, the fans were just great. Eveyone behaved themselves, except for the drunk guys in the alleyway who must have had three cases of beer (those in the alleyway, you KNOW what I'm talking about!) I sat with a few wonderful Toriphiles and I want to say HI to Brendan who I had a great time sitting next to for 11 hours! See you guys at the show!

From Nadyne Mielke (Precious Things Post)

April 5, 1998 - My husband, two friends, and I arrived at the Roxy around midnight. We had thought that there wouldn't be anyone there, but we were wrong. We got in line, and we ended up being 95, 96, 97, and 98.

I have to say that the folks at the Roxy in Atlanta were very cool. A guy came around with sheets of information about how it was going to be handled. He answered any questions that came up {and even went to great lengths to answer the question I asked him about one of the people that will be coming with me, a wheelchair-bound woman}. Around 1am, they opened up the venue and let folks in to use the bathroom and such. There were no problems that I saw with all of us that ended up camping out.

I think that anyone who arrived at the Roxy after 7am or so, though, didn't stand a chance of getting tickets. Even though the Roxy holds about 1400 or so, the line just exploded between 5am and 6am.

Around 9am, the security guys started handing out little yellow tickets with a number on them. They announced that if anyone was caught selling their ticket or swapping or anything like that, they'd be taken out of line. At one point, two people closer to the front of the line were kicked out. {One 'cause he cut in, the other who had let him in.} There was cheering as the security folks did that.

Overnight, though, line-cutting wasn't really an issue. Everyone who'd been there for awhile knew where they were in line, and had probably started talking to the folks in front of and behind them. I made sure that the three guys behind us kept their place in line when they ran out to get coffee and doughnuts at one point, they did the same for us my husband and a friend ran to our apartment to pick up some blankets and such.

Overall, I could've lived without the camping out, but I do think that it was handled pretty well. The folks at the venue were good, the security guards weren't assholes, and the people in line were all very good. Assuming that their behavior in line is indictive of their behavior at the show, I don't think we'll have to deal with any screamers {thank god!}.

For whoever's keeping score, tickets were $28.50 each.

From elizabeth

April 5, 1998 - getting tickets in atlanta turned out to be really cool. i drove up there the night before and got to the roxy around 7:30. there were already a few die-hards there(including maggie and alicia, two 16 yr. olds who had driven from macon with their moms)but i ended up being number four in line. we spent a crazy night on the streets of atlanta with only a few obnoxious security guards. most of the staff from the roxy were very helpful though and let us in to pee around 1:00. around 6:00 am people started crawling out of the cracks and the line stretched down the alley into the back parking lot. they passed out numbers around 9:00 and the first ones of us had gotten our tickets by 9:45. it was a good night...i met lots of great people - the top ten - you know who you are. anyway, i can't wait....2 weeks to go...

From Michael Wiggam

April 5, 1998 - I have my tickets and hope other Toriphiles will be in attendance. When I went to the Roxy, I expected a line around the block, but I was plesently suprised to see approxiametly 13 people at 12:30. There were a few tickets left and it looked like more people were coming with money grasped in hand. The ticket has the picture you had of Tori lying on the floor. I will send you a review when it the concert comes and a setlist if you want. Keep up the good work.

From Ronald Pineda Casison

April 16, 1998 - Well, Thank God I'm going to see Tori next week at the 9:30 club. I had been anticipating this sneak preview tour for some time now. Calling the venue and WHFS everyday for the past couple of weeks, even going to the 9:30 club last month asking about news of Tori coming to their club for her club tour. I had been anticipating her 9:30 date ever since you first mentioned rumours of her sneak preview tour on your fabulous page. I must say it has to be the best musician web page on the net and very deserving of a mention by Johnny Riggs on WHFS. Speaking of Johnny Riggs live interview on WHFS with Tori at 5:00 that Friday,I knew tickets were going on sell very soon because Really Deep Thoughts mailing list had already began posting the warnings of the club dates that had already gone on sale.Atfirst they gave misinformation about it believing the tickets would go on Sat, at 10 in the HFS parking lot, and I tried getting directions to the station thinkng I may have to camp out. You couldn't get a word out of anyone about it. Then RDT mailing list hearing the news of Riggs expectant live interview with Tori on Friday at posted the warnings indicated to keep Friday afternoon open just in case.It was already Friday morning at this point of the ticket anticipation reaching its height knowing they would be on sale and trying not to imagine the possibility of missing out, but ofcourse taking comfort that she would return on her major tour, but I had anticipated this club tour for too long to entertain such doubts and I was going to do every thing in my power to try to be in the right position at moment they would go on sale.

Since everything was hush hush right up till the time Riggs announced it, the anxiety was killing me. After I read the RDT e-mail warning, I raced ran full speed to my car having gone to my morning class and went straight to the 9:30 club putting two and two together from the knowledge that they should go on sale at the venue from the dent, the being thrown off momentarily by the misinformation of them going on sale at the HFS parking lot, then learning that when and where would be announced on the radio during a live interview with Tori. I arrived at the 9:30 club at around 1:30 in the afternoon prepared to camp out if I had to, a saw anotherfan and her pal around 3:30 looked like possible Tori Amos fans but couldn't be certain, I walked to the fron t of the club and I asked one of the workers if Tori AMos tickets were going sale that afternoon the same person I had asked one month earlier and all she said was you have to listen to HFS at 5:00, a couple of more fans lined up near the booth about 8 or ten people I choose to remain in my car in order to hear the announcement and Tori on the radio. I was literally praying for them to go on sale there, still not totally certain they would , but knowing must likely they should for all I know those people could've been there for the concert there that night. I even asked one guy if he knew as he walked by and all he said you'll have to listen to the radio. Well, my anxiety was lessened when I saw the HFS van parked outside the venue around 4:10 but I still was absolutely certain because they could have been there because they were sponsoring a performer that night or something, later they starting putting HFS posters on the wall. Well, 5:00 had finally arrived and they played Silent All these Years and Spark right before it turned 5:00 , and I was still praying when Tori finally came on it was cool and kinda surreal in my mind knowing she'd be performing at the club in a week and a half, well after some small talk they finally announced that they indeed were going on sale at the 9:30 club at 6:00 with Tori telling everyone to make sure they drove safely to the club.Once I heard and Tori gave her goodbyes I jumped out of my car and went straight to small line in fornt of the club there was about 10 people who like me made sure to situate themselves with most likelihood they would indeed go on sale that afternoon. It was cool hearing Tori live just then on the radio and then waiting there in line.Thankful. -Ron

From Brett Cunningham

April 16, 1998 - Me, my friend Jimmy, and my friend James were all ready to be at the WHFS parking lot Friday night, after Tori was on Letterman, around 2am. (We had even taken a test drive to Landover --- just so we wouldn't get lost in case of a rush) Needless to say we were all very angry when HFS announced that tickets would go on sale in 40 minutes, at the 930 Club. None of us knew how to get there, and I had never even driven to DC before (I was the designated driver.) Well, me and Jimmy picked up James, and we went at extreme speeds, bitching and moaning all the way...We were all quite frazzled.

We finally got to a metro station, and the stupid metro guy said that instead of taking the subway, we would have to take a bus (even though we had already gotten farecards.) The busride was awful. It stopped every five minutes, and ended up taking about 40 to get down a very short length of road. (We later found out that if we had taken the subway, we could have made it in 15 minutes!)

Anyway, we got to 930, and were quite pleased when the security woman said that we were 'very in the clear.' So, we were gonna get tickets! the line advanced very fast, and HFS was playing the new record on big speakers, so it was very fun waiting in line. We all bought our vouchers, and then were escorted to the exit, which was downstairs through the bar area.

In the bar, they had Under the Pink playing, and they had people from RAINN. No one else has ever mentioned anything about this, so I'm assuming it was exclusive to the DC ticket buyers. They were 'selling' memberships to RAINN, through contributions of all different monetary values. I donated $100 (I had just gotten paid) and I received:

• Official RAINN membership
• One white XL "Unlock the Silence" CK T-shirts
• 3 Limited Lithographs
• 1 promotional lyric book for ..from the choirgirl hotel..
• And one *SIGNED* promo lyric book will be sent to me along with the RAINN newsletter...

I thought all of this was so neat! And for such a wonderful cause! Anyway, the Lyric booklet is really neat, because they leave a lot of room for whatever you want to add to it. It's kind of like a scrapbook. It's printed on very high quality paper, which has a beautiful rose/grey color.

From Erik and Michele

April 12, 1998 - We were at the 9:30 Club yesterday for a Mono concert, and while we were going to get our tickets someone called the box office. We could tell from the conversation that they were talking about Tori tickets and the woman in the box office said that the tickets were "sold out in about an hour."

WHFS's website www.whfs.com also stated early this morning that tickets were sold out.

We got tickets though, sometime in that hour that they were on sale! :)

We planned out our trip to Landover well. We took a sleeping bag, some junk food, 17 hours of Tori music to get us through the evening, a copy of the new Spin magazine, still fresh in its wrapper... and of course, a radio, to Metro Center and sat above the metro station, waiting for Tori's announcement. (We can't hear WHFS at the dorm here in American University, and we wanted to get close to the 9:30 Club and Landover, just in case.) We were hoping we weren't going to have to wait all night for tickets, and at 5:22pm, Tori and Johnny made their announcement. The 9:30 Club, in about 40 minutes. So, they started playing Raspberry Swirl, and Michele seemed to want to stay to tape it, but I started running down the steps to the metro. We got to the 9:30 Club around 5:55 pm, and there were already around 100 people in line ahead of us. WHFS had a van set up, playing the new album, while hundreds of fans scrambled to the line.

The voucher system went pretty smoothly, the only thing that scares us is that Michele happened to get voucher number 666. They weren't handed out in any particular order, because many people were filling out vouchers at once.

There was a lot of RAINN promotional stuff handed out, and some WHFS keychains and magnets.

It was a quick, efficient ticket distribution, which didn't make us wait for many hours on a street corner, which made us both very happy!

From L B

April 12, 1998 - I am really aggravated and annoyed at the ticket sales in Washington D.C. I am Jewish and I was at home celebrating a very important holiday, Passover. There would be no possible way for me to be able to get tickets, nor anyone else who was celebrating the holiday. i really feel like this was a discrimination against Jews, even if not intended. Also, with 40 minutes notice, it is extremely difficult for anyone who is not relatively near D.C. to get tickets. I feel that WHFS and Tori were wrong to announce the time and place with such short notice. I am extremely angry that something like this could happen. And I don't believe that this voucher system is an accurate way of getting tori fans together for her concerts. WHFS was risking people's lives getting down there as well as making sure that no Jewish person was able to get tickets...and I am mad.

From Annie Lizik

April 11, 1998 - so, I know that you've gotten several emails about the whole ticket buying experience that people had at the 9:30 club yesterday... but well, mine... just well... flat out sucked... and there's really no other way to put it. Mostly, I (and the two people I was with) are really just angry with HFS... come on... they announced at 5:20 that the tickets would be going on sale at 6... now you tell me... logically... does this make sense? The people at HFS know full well that over half of their listeners live 2 hours from the 9:30 club... basically, what I'm getting at is that I didn't get tickets. My friends and I hauled ass to the 9:30 club... it took us longer to get there than it should have (partly because we got in an accident... the things we do for Tori!!) The thing is... Tori has said that this club tour is for the REAL fans... and well... I've loved Tori since I was 12, and I'm 19 now... so you do the math. And to make matters worse, later that night, I run into this girl that I know... she got tickets for the show... and you know I don't know this girl very well, so I'm not going to make any judgements or anything like that... but I do know that she hasn't liked Tori for nearly as long as I have (and even the people who have... I doubt many of them were 12 years old when they were stealing their brothers cd's to listen to someone, who at that time your "friends" thought was extremely "uncool", whatever that is) anyway... I really do have a point, I swear... my point is... Tori's idea about having this concert be for the real fans, didn't work... it just didn't. I blame a lot of this on HFS for announcing the time of the ticket sales so late... I really hope that Tori doesn't do this again... but even if she does, my friends and I would probably still drop everything, drive for 2 hours, get lost twice, have our car hit (while we are sitting still) all over again just to see her...

From Joey

April 11, 1998 - I just wanted to share my ticket buying expierience for the Tori show in D.C. I live, work, and breath in Richmond, Virginia, which is about an hour and a half from D.C., hoping to find out when tickets went on sale so that i could spend the day in dc to purchase them, i was calling the 9:30 club and Protix ( the ticket company that was said to be handling the show), everyday! And everyday i got the same remark, we dont 'have any information on that show as of now, check back later. I thought this ridiculous, here it was less than two weeks away from the show and they won't even admit to confirmation yet!!!!!!!! I was starting to get nervous and actually scared that the show would not go on after all. Then yesterday, on my daily routine of calling, i find that not only have the tickets already gone on sale, but they're were fucking sold out! I was furious, i don't 'mind Tori's way of selling tickets, but they could have least let the public know that they would only be on sale by surprise. So now for the first time since Pele, there is a show in my region, i won't be attending. It's quite pathetic actcually, i'm so depressed!!!!! But since i took the day off, i'm going to DC that day anyway in hopes of getting in somehow, by the will of god!!!!!!!!!!!! if nothing else, i'll get to talk to Tori for the first time since oct. 96. I have some things for her and maybe with a few puppy dog faes and my pathetic story, she'll slip me two tickets!!!!!!!!! IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS DC TIX AND IS WILLING TO SELL! EMAIL ME!

jEoy@aol.com

From Chaijean

April 11, 1998 - I know you have a lot of experiences being reported to you, but I thought I'd just add my input. We listened to the radio for what seemed liked hours Friday evening waiting for the announcement, and finally, after teasing us endlessly (at one point Johnny Riggs played a tape of Tori saying "Hi Johnny" and then said that Tori hadn't really called yet and we should keep listenening!) Tori did call. Even when she called, they decided to talk for five minutes before they made the announcement. But then they said they'd be on sale at six o'clock Friday night and we should get to the 9:30 club asap. About ten minutes later, we were in the car and headed to D.C. from Baltimore. Ruch hour traffic was not the most wonderful experience ever, but we finally got to the club at about 7:20. At this point, the line outside the club was about one and a half blocks long (not bad at all). I ran and got in line while my mom parked the car. The people in line were all pretty calm, except for some excited squeals of "Tori!" When you got to the front of the line, you had to show id and then you were directed to one of three places to buy tickets. We were told to go inside, where there were about ten people selling tickets. We filled out vouchers and were out of the club by 8:00. I got tickets and only had to wait a half hour! Unbelievable!

From Jon Shank

April 11, 1998 - Okay, well, here is my experience for tori tickets. This takes place in not one, but two cities. First of all, i had seen the leaked info on the 930 club, so for about a month i was all pumped in ready to get tickets on the 11. I had summoned a ride from a dedicated toriphile(who i hadn't meant) and my best friend was also going along for the ride. Then tori(whom i love, but hated for some minutes on friday) decided to change all around. Now, we live about two hours from d.c., so when tickets were announce(and the delay didn't help)only 40 minutes before they went on sale, we knew we were screwed, but we tried anyway. I met our ride(who turned out to be one fo the most wonderful people i've ever met) along with my friend, and we took off, having no clue where in d.c. the 930 club was...we got to d.c. in record time, an hour, but stil didn't know where to head. i finallly got the adress through information, and we parked and hoped the metro. We asked a transite "authority" worker where the club was located, what metro to hop and he gave us wrong directions. we spent an 1 and 30 minutes changing directions and riding d.c. subway system. When we finalyl go to the club, totally out of breath and tired as hell, we felt a snece of truimph...tickets had been on sale for an 1 and a half, and the line was short, only about 12 people infront of us..about tow more went in and then they announced they were sold out..well we were pissed... we had already felt that they the whole thing had been handled was rude, wrong and jsut made things tough for the true die-hards such as ourselves..we were not happy campers...we moped for awhile, pissed(and we still are very displeased with how tori ad whfs handled these tickets..the noticfiation gave no time for people who had to drive and din't know the city...)but then i remebered that tickets were going on sale in philly so we decided to go there, which was a four hour trip, about the same distance d.c. was from ouroriginal starting point, only in the oposite deriction..so we got a bit e to eat, stopped back at our dorms(we are all washington college students) and then headed to phily) and of course when we were like one street away we got lost...we finally got to the electric factory at 2, and there where already a little over a 100 people there...and it got cold(personally i wasn't prepared and frose my ass off) everything from there went smoothly. The security staff couldn't have been nicer, and some radio stations were on hand with food and stuff. tickets went on sale at 10 and even though we were like 115 we got tickets in a little over a half an hour...but we were tired and dead...the person whpo was first in line, though had gotten there at 8am the day before...so we got tickets, and were happy in the end..we met cool people and ha fun freesing to death, but overall, we were very disappointed(as were a lot of other people) witht he way some things were handleed...so that is my story..sorry it is so long...

From AKatUVa

April 11, 1998 - It is nice to hear that so many true Tori fans got tickets to the D.C. shows and that the scalpers were kept away. Unfortunately, there were some casualties due to the way tickets were sold. I live in Charlottesville, VA, which is about one and a half hours away from D.C. and I was already to head there after work and camp out all Friday night for tickets. By the time I checked the Dent and the WHFS web sites for ticket info, the show was sold out. By giving such a short notice, anybody who lived more than an hour away was automatically out of luck. There are a lot of Tori fans who live in suburban areas or smaller cities, but unfortunately, if things continue the way they were in D.C. they are going to get completely shut out. I guess my bad ticket buying experience was that I didn't even have the chance to stand in line and wait...Well, I don't want to make this a bitch session :), but those of you who did get tickets, make sure you post those reviews in full detail!

From Mahdi Tehrani

April 11, 1998 - I was so there!!!

Well for the past 3 days my life has revolved around this Tori announcement in hopes that I could (and would) do anything to get tickets! So Come Friday I'm in the Dulles area at WORK and it's 5:00:

So I take My break and run out to the car and listen to Mr. Riggs and Tori in hopes that they weren't going to pull something cute like put the tickets on sale right then only in DC when I get off work at 10:00. Well, for the past 2 months nothing has gone my way, so why should this? Well, I do the only thing a Huge Tori fan could posibly do at a time like this: I quit work and went 128 MPH on RT.66 into DC and got down there in 35 Min. Well, As I sit in line realizing that my life sucks and I just Quit my job and how I really need to be in the presents of Tori and that I think going to her "Experience" would be the turning point in my life I get within 5 people of the ticket window and as #5 screams "YES", the gentalmen that was watching the line let us know that "That's it", no more tickets. Life truly sucks.

I have Never gone that fast.....in a VOLVO Station Wagon!!

From J. Hunter

April 11, 1998 - Thought I'd relay to you my ticket buying experience. First off, I'd like to thank you for this site because after reading all of the horror stories in other cities my theory of how they would sell the tickets proved to be correct. Since I don't listen to WHFS, I don't know what information was given before today, but when I saw an ad in the City Paper (a local Washington DC free paper) the day before mentioning that ticket details would be announced on WHFS at 5PM, I assumed that tickets would go on sale that evening shortly thereafter. My assumption was based on the fact that: 1. Metallica tickets were going on sale the next morning from the same ticket company and 2. No way was the 9:30 Club going to deal with people camping out when they're open for business. Just as I was finishing up work and getting ready to leave at 5:15 they made the announcement by having Tori call in to the station (bless you Tori for inadvertently delaying the announcement because of your photo shoot! At least I'm assuming since it was delayed that the call was live and not recorded). Luckily I work across the water in Alexandria, VA so after purging an ATM and doing 85 up the GW Parkway and dodging and weaving in DC I was there. Unfortunately, my regular parking spot was off limits as they kept all the lanes open for rush hour! With a little luck, I found a spot a few blocks away and started running. By the time I got there at 5:55 or so, the line was already around the block! I'm assuming that a lot of people had already showed up at the club before the announcement was made knowing that they would release vouchers soon afterwards as I had to have been behind around 400-500 people. At that point, I knew I'd get tickets (capacity is 1200 with a 2 ticket limit) but I figured I'd have to wait forever. What I didn't know until I got up to the front of the line (and much credit to the club for doing this) is that they had about 10 people taking money and selling vouchers in order to speed up the process. I know there will be a lot of unhappy stories as my vouchers were numbered in the low 900's and when I left the line was still around the block so I know a lot of people missed out. I know the club was trying to sell the tickets before they had to open up for business, but I think it would have been less stressful if they had done it on Saturday so that people wouldn't be at work and then have to deal with rush hour traffic to get to the venue (I certainly hope nobody got hurt on the mad dash there because I know I was driving like an idiot to get to the club).

Well there it is for what it's worth, again thanks for the site and I'm curious to see what other opinions fans had of the experience.

From Sara Mitchell

April 11, 1998 - Well, I got them... the Tori vouchers, that is, for her April 22 concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.!!! I am so excited, this is actually going to be the first live modern music performance I have ever attended, and it is going to be Tori!

Anyway, rumor had it that tickets would go on sale at WHFS in Landover, MD, on Sunday morning, so three friends and I (hi, Maggie, Kevin, and Alan) headed over around 4pm. There, we met a handful of other diligent Toriphiles, waiting around for the same reason, and chilled with the car radios on full volume to hear the official radio station announcement at 5pm. Five o' clock came and went, and all WHFS did was play two Tori songs ("Silent All These Years" and "Spark" - and this was the first time ever I wanted so badly for a Tori song to end, so I could hear the announcement!) and tell us that Tori wouldn't call immediately because she was in the middle of a photo shoot. We waited impatiently until 5:20 or so, when she finally was on the phone, and then chit-chatted with Johnny Riggs about her album and her marriage and The Dent (yay!). Finally, at 5:25, we had our info -- tickets were on sale in less than an hour at the 9:30 Club itself!!!

I have never gotten from Landover to D.C. so quickly. About 15 minutes later, we flew out of the still-moving car and got into line. We were maybe 200 people back and knew we'd get tickets since we knew it wouldn't be a lottery system in D.C. It was so surreal; I barely could believe I'd have my hands on Tori tickets! The line moved quite quickly, and by 6:30 we all had two vouchers apiece and huge smiles on our faces. We gloated past some people we knew in line and left. And we'd been prepared to camp 17 hours overnight if we had to!

Overall, it was a really fun experience. It was a little hectic, trying to get information and get tickets in less than 2 hours, but I was relieved to get tickets fast and not wait almost a day and then miss out. I'm ready for the 22nd.

From Michael J. Zwirn

April 11, 1998 - 7.00 pm EST, Washington

Well it has been an exhausting but very rewarding afternoon -- I left work around 2:30 and was in the parking lot of WHFS in Landover just before three o'clock. Only missed one exit, which is pretty good given my facility with directions. There were only about five people waiting when I got there, and around 15 were there until around 5:00, when after interminable hype, WHFS did get around to playing two Tori tracks and then getting her on the phone. The chat with Tori was nice enough - she talked about being surrounded by cameramen and WHFS spoke briefly and respectfully of her marriage - but we all were waiting for the announcement of ticket availability. At 5:20 or so, they let the information out - 9:30 Club, in Washington, at 6:00 pm.

So we scambled into our cars, hit Rt. 50 Westbound (well, MOST of us did!) and careened recklessly into downtown DC in the height of rush hour. Took about twenty minutes to get to the 9:30, and I parked half on the sidewalk, in front of a fire hydrant, to rush into line. At this time there wasn't much of a line at all, so with great relief the fellow HFS'ers and I saw that we wouldn't have any trouble getting vouchers. By 6:00 the line was fairly long, and by the time I got out of the 9:30 with my precious pieces of yellow paper it was around the block and getting longer.

I think HFS and the 9:30 arranged the whole thing quite well, and I am pleased that everything seems to have worked out. They clearly learned the lessons of previous ticket debacles.

To all the folks who were waiting with me -- sorry I ran off, but I was terrified of getting a ticket (parking, not Tori!). Hope to see you on the 22nd.

From Joe

April 12, 1998 - Hello everyone.

Grr, this is a sad story.

I went to Irving Plaza pretty early. I arrived there at around 6:30 and when I got there, there were people who had decided to camp out for tickets. The line of people camping out went on for about a block. Then there were other people on line for yet another block and at the turn of that block was the end of the line. Many many people arrived after me and for about an hour nothing happened. We just stood still. Suddenly we began to move and we moved almost a block up--it was very exciting (the entire Tori line went on for 4 blocks, so bad that the back of the line met up with front of the line). By 8:40 people came to announce there were no more vouchers. It seems that even though tickets went on sale at 10 a.m., they decided to hand out little blue tickets for the vouchers. If you had a blue ticket, you could go inside and get your vouchers. Well I spoke to the box office and then a worker and they said only 200 tickets for vouchers were given out. He said, assuming that each person buys 2 tickets, that's 400 tickets already sold out. But when I spoke to webmaster@irvingplaza.com I was told 850 tickets were being sold---so what I'd like to know is [1] why did they start selling BEFORE 10 am??? [2] Why was I told 850 tickets and then only approximately 400 tickets were sold??

This angers me. I understand the people who slept out deserve the tickets more than anyone, but I wasn't that far on the line and if they stuck to the original 850 tickets that I was told of, I would have *easily* been able to get my tickets for the show.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

In extreme anger and frustration,
Joe

PS I know many of you may think I'm just a jerk who can't accept not getting tickets. That's not how it is. I'm not like that whatsoever; I'm just upset that I was told of 850 tickets and then I was told right to my face only 400 vouchers could be purchased.

From Kate

April 10, 1998 - It's been almost a week since my disappointing ticket buying experience in New York City, but I just now read many other peoples comments. I can relate to a lot of what some people said, but some of the comments made me even angrier!!

I am a huge, extremely devoted Tori fan, but I also happen to be only 15 years old. Therefore, I was at a serious disadvantage. I cannot drive, and I do not have a driver's license. This presents a transportation problem, and it is only because I am leaving for London in a couple of days that I have any sort of ID which Irving Plaza would consider legit. I find it absolutely unfair that school IDs were not sufficient, and I am terribly sorry for anyone who ran into a problem because of this. Some may think that if I am a "real Tori fan" I will sleep on the streets of New York all night. Of course I'd be willing to, but I would have to run away from home to do so. I think it was extremely kind of my mother to offer to get up at 5 am Saturday morning and take me and 4 of my friends into the city. In fact, it was more than kind of my parents to even let me go. I feel that this whole system puts kids at a disadvantage. I don't know if it was designed like that in general...but since I am almost positive that other venues allowed school IDs, Irving Plaza is also responsible. They probably just don't want a lot of kids there. I'm sorry if I have mature musical tastes!!

Needless to say, I did not get tickets. That upset me enough, without having my hope strangled by the alleged Irving Plaza security. They were terribly rude. Personally, I think that they had to resort to cruelty because they were shocked by how few people actually got off the line after being screamed at. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to excuse their behavior--the screaming wasn't necessary.

I found this entire experience disappointing, for a number of reasons, but I thank you for giving me the chance to vent!!(even though I sound like a whiny teenager) Your site is the best!

From a.r.

April 10, 1998 - hi guys, i just wanted to let you know that i was one of many who had an awful experience at Irving Plaza on saturday. i was so upset after reading everyone else's accounts that i decided to write a letter to the management to tell them of my distress. well the manager called me back today and very politely apologized, explaining all the problems they had and expressing that he was upset that we felt we were treated badly. he was very verrry cool about it and went out of his way to make sure i got into the concert. with this i bury my hatchet, it was a grand gesture and i am so very thankful to them.

From Laura

April 8, 1998 - I have to say that I was not half as outraged by the ticket situation at Irving Plaza as I was by the accounts that I've read on this website. I was one of the many who showed up at 6:30. Though I walked away empty handed, I realized it was because I underestimated the integrity of the people who were trying to get tickets. The venue clearly stated that no one was to line up before 7, so I thought that people would abide by that rule, but I understood once I got there that there were certain ways of getting around it. I did not cry or yell, or stamp my feet when the show was sold out, I was just inwardly disappointed. Seeing her in a small venue again would have been an incredible experience.

But I am furious at the comment made by someone that every one who got tickets was a "hardcore" Tori Amos fan, especially after what I read about how they treated some of the other fans. I whole-heartily agree that the people in the front of the line were scoffing at those who thought they were following rules, or who have obligations other than sleeping on the streets all night. I don't consider my self "hardcore" anything, but I do consider myself a devoted fan, who happens to have a full time job and a young child. As I walked by, on my way to my place in line someone yelled out "Better luck next time, you should have gotten here yesterday like the rest of us." Hmm, was that person a hardcore fan, or an obsessive punk who thinks he has become the spokesperson for Tori fans around the world?

My heart goes out to the poor soul who was threatened and had things thrown at her because she was sitting across the street trying to get some studying in. Again, hard core fans, or kids with nothing better to do with their time? I would like one of these people to define the word "loyal" to me.

I enjoy the idea of someone who has never seen her before experiencing the intimacy of a show like this, getting the opportunity that some of us early fans had. They do not compare to the arena shows. Isn't it always nice for your favorite artist to touch someone new? These foolish possessive "fans" should be ashamed of themselves.

It's very disheartening to think that the biggest disappointment of the morning was not my inability to obtain tickets, but the lack of communion that I thought fans (of any artist) had. I don't claim to know what Tori Amos thinks or feels, but I can't imagine that anyone would smile down on this.

From Kerri L. Mason

April 7, 1998 - I just read everyone's Irving experience, and I must say that I'm quite surprised that they had any issues with the staff. I was actually quite impressed with the organized way in which everything was handled - especially the 7 am shift from the other side of the street, which I thought would erupt into absolute chaos! They were very honest about everything, and if they tried to discourage people from waiting I think it's because they honestly didn't think they'd be able to get tickets. But, this was just the way of things from my vantage point.

As with most Tori line-waiting experiences I've had (and there have been many over the past few years, I promise you) it was again the fans that disappointed me. I can understand being protective of your spot, etc., but this aura of absolute authority in terms of all things Tori, this idea that they (whoever they may be) are the only people worthy of getting tickets and that the rest of us are pathetic undedicated poseurs...well, that's just sad. I hate getting that up-and-down look of disapproval from a person who I should feel some sense of community with. People are, in the end, too obsessive. What fun this could have been if everyone could have just dropped their guards and had a good time!

Maybe things will be different at the concert, but at a general admission event, I can only imagine the elbowing, etc., that will inevitably ensue.

From BFett26 & Sean

April 7, 1998 - OK. My boyfriend and I got to Irving Plaza at 3pm Friday afternoon. There WERE already people there since 11am. NO there wasn't a line IN FRONT of Irving Plaza. We lined up ACROSS the street. That's what that big huge line of people was honey. We kept the line all night. There were no line cutters. Everyone got in back of the person before them. Read my boyfriend's story for more:

Dear EVERYONE,

I am sorry for those who did not but I GOT tickets today -- and don't you worry -- we paid for them aside from the 60 dollars.

Here is a short part of my story.....

WE arrived at Irving Plaza yesterday at 3pm -- planning to camp out all night -- tickets were to go on sale the next morning at 10 AM -- needless to say, there were already about 20 people there --- since 11 am that morning -- props to them.

That began our tireless effort to see Tori --- here are a few interesting happenings on the streets of New York all during the night.

--- By the time tickets went on sale there were so many people that the line went all the way around a city block and the end met the beginning. That is when Irving Plaza decided to hand out pre-voucher vouchers.

--- Ok there were many estimates on how many people were there --- the "all night" crowd numbered about 250ish -- they all got tickets -- when we asked the guy at Irving Plaza how many people were there -- he estimated anywhere from 1100 - 1800. Needless to say only about the first 400 people in line got tickets -- those who arrived any later than 4 am were in serious danger of leaving empty handed.

--- Mad props to the Irving Plaza staff -- incredibly organized and ran very smoothly. ALSO (check this out) an employee from Krispy Kreme donuts kept bringing everyone in line free hot bagels and donuts -- at the end we all banded together and bought him a ticket!

--- My girlfriend was possibly casted for a show coming up on MTV about Tori -- due to air the week before the new CD.

---- Atlantic Records was wandering here and there asking questions and filming "Questions for Tori"

FINALLY (this felt so good) . . .bear with me here

I PERSONALLY FOILED 2 SCALPERS !!!!

There were these 2 guys in line ahead of us -- and right after they purchased tickets -- I found out their intentions . . to scalp They asked me how they could sell the tickets with their info on them -- I first told them that it is not going to work (they did not believe me) -- but then I decided that they should just send photocopies of their ID to Irving Plaza with note stating their "situation" . . . I am presently alerting the Irving Plaza box office of the matter -- and hopefully Justice will be served.

Thank you everyone for letting me vent - - congrats so some ... condolences to others

From Tim Petrochko

April 7, 1998 - I can't express to you in a letter the anger and outrage I am feeling right now. I waited on line for almost 4 hours and was only around the 400th person. it didn't make sense that they were sold out. my gut feeling was that we were being lied to, but I let my brain get the best of me once again. I could have had tickets to see Tori, but because of the piece-of-shit pecker-head scalpers at irving plaza and the poor security there, I'm shit out of luck. when they came to us in the line and told us, we just stood there in disbelief. After 20 minutes of them telling us that, my friend and I left. I can't believe that people could be so heartless. Those bastards need to be shot. I hope they get arrested like the poor sons-of-bitches they really are. I plan to write irving plaza and tell them/complain about this. I'm so amazed that people could do such a thing. There was one good thing that came out of this is that i met three really cool people. One girl (I believe her name was Mandy and her friend was Joanne i think) had seen Tori 14 times and met her 6 times! There was this really cool guy who was waiting next to us who's name i didn't catch. If any of you are reading this, email me. If anyone would like to share stories about their good or bad experiences email me at banana_king@hotmail.com

Well I hope others have better stories than i do.

From Erick Battaglia

April 7, 1998 - i just have to make a small comment.

okay, a few small comments.

#1 someone noted that the security people helped us across the street, eliminating the chance of line cutters... this was unfortunately untrue. three girls cut in front of my three friends and i and i was pissed! at first i wasn't sure whether to say something or not. then i finally decided to just cut them back. we all walked in front of them to the people we had been speaking to before in line. the three girls really didn't have much to say, which left me satisfied knowing that they at least knew what they did was wrong. i couldn't help feeling horrible, however for the last three people in line that now cold not purchase vouchers because of these three girls.

#2 i met some very interesting people in line. i went with three female friends of mine from school and we got there at about 4:45. at first we were going to go at 7, but i had this strange feeling that we should get there ASAP. so we didn't even go to sleep when we got to her house in Queens. we just hopped on the subway with our blankets and pillows and resolved to get our sleep in the line--which we did. but first we met two nice girls from long island and a guy from california who now lives in the city. on the line for the macdonald's bathroom i met the girl who sent the spin info to the Dent! she was really nice... and there was a guy who was a film student at NYU. even the people behind us were nice. well, before the line cutters got there. a reporter person came around and asked us about experiences we may have had with tori...

#3 i told the reporter that i almost touched tori at a concert at the state theater in new brunswick last year. i guess the reporter wasn't that interested... but the girl behind me was... i told her how after the concert, tori had a secret getaway behind the theater that only thrity or so people, including myself and friends had discovered. unfortunately it was about ten people too much... and i was ony able to get within six feet of her. but i told her that i loved her and i'm sure she heard me.

anyway... just thought i'd relate those little anecdotes... about my trip to the city on Saturday. oh yeah, and i got the voucher... which i will be sharing with my sister...Jodie732@aol.com. the fact that i got my voucher that day made it a very happy birthday...

From jaymi

April 6, 1998 - just wanted to add my thoughts to this. the girl in front of me did not get tickets because irving plaza (nyc) would not accept her school i.d. why, i don't know....but there were a few others that i know of that didn't get voucehers because of this. my advice? call ahead of time. i'm sure every venue is handling this differently (as far as what they will/will not accept). good luck getting tickets!

From Dana Dunn

April 5, 1998 - I decided to email you about the Irving Plaza ticket sale that went on this morning. By the time I got there around 5:35, there were hundreds of Tori fans waiting on line before I got there, and even some of them slept there overnight. To my surprise, I managed to get tickets JUST before it was sold out. I waited on the long line for over five hours, stressed out about whether or not I was going to get a ticket. This was the first time I've ever waited on line "the old fashioned way", because I always got my tickets through ticketmaster - I was definately not used to this sort of thing. Way more than half the line, which was behind me, stood even more Tori fans who were literally kicked off the line, because of the head count by the venue people. I felt so bad for them. Some of them were in tears, pissed off, and some even started arguments. The venue people tried to scare everyone by saying that there was only about 500 ticket available, which made every one even more stressed. Actually, there was a little over 700 tickets available. I couldn't believe how mean these venue people could be, but hey, I guess it's just their job. Well, I guess I will make this email short, because I know that you probably have many things to do. I just thought you would have liked this little piece of information to add to your records. I guess going through this tiresome experience will definitely be worth it! I can't wait for the show!

From Alex (rec.music.tori-amos)

April 5, 1998 - OK, having been there this morning, I can tell you that, yes, it was handled horrifically. The IP security guys were completely obnoxious, and several people filed complaints with the manager after the tix were sold.

I got there shortly after 7 after oversleeping (ugh) and landed somewhere in the 400-450 range of people. I was not surprised at all that the 7 AM line up time had not been enforced.

Around 8:00, these slimy obnoxious lamers started going up and down the line announcing the show was sold out, and that the vouchers were already handed out. We knew it was bullshit, and a lot of people just ignored them. For 2 hours, we didn't know who the hell they were! We thought they were obnoxious scalpers trying to get people off the line. When I found out they were IP security, I was fucking outraged.

The IP assholes completely misinformed the crowd about the blue tickets, and that really upsets me. The blue tickets WERE handed out to the first 300 people or so, but they did not equal the actual number of tix that were eventually sold. It should not have been a big deal. The fact the security pricks decided to inform us every 5 minutes that the show was sold out and "You're wasting your time! Go home!" when the show was not even on sale yet is deplorable.

Fact is, the show did not sell out until around noon. Many people waited on line despite the assholes physically blocking us from the line and telling us we're wasting our time. I finally got my voucher at 11:30, and there were only about 20 vouchers left at that point. I feel horrible for the good chunk of people who actually believed the show was sold out at 10:20 and left.

It was a surreal morning. While I'm happy I got my voucher, I feel terrible for those of you who could not get in due to the ineptness of the IP staff.

Even though the morning was extremely stressful, and the IP staff horribly, unacceptably rude, the best thing that came out of it was that every single person who got a voucher was a hardcore Toriphile. Despite the mess, it was extremely worth it in the end, and I feel incredibly lucky that I will get to see Tori again. I know this is the last time she'll play venues this intimate (after 'choirgirl' comes out, you KNOW she'll end up playing arenas in the future). It's going to be a very special show, and hopefully there will be some sort of meet and greet at soundcheck where I can finally talk to her and thank her for, well, everything.

From Jen

April 5, 1998 - Dear Mike, This is unbelievably weird. Irving Plaza has the capacity of 850 yet i was informed by my friend who was trying to get us tickets that only 150 were sold...i'm sort of hoping i'm wrong because that's terribly unfair and defeats Tori's intention of keeping the "poachers" away...but then again, on a selfish note (which i'm sorry to admit) it may mean that other tickets are out there and i may actually have a chance. If you have any info. please let me know. Beyond disappointment i'm upset that they would partake in something so blatantly illegal but i guess that's just my naivete speaking. Again, it's possible that i'm wrong. talk to you later.

From kRiS** (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - the irving plaza ticket lineup was somewhat insane. :P

the line was supposed to start at 7am, but it was a given that people would get there WAY before then. so me and my friends got there at 12am and we were about 70th in line. :-o we *DID* get tix though...thank god! :o) the people who were at the front of the line, i heard, had been there since 11am the previous morning!

irving plaza apparently only had 300-350 tickets to give out, so only the first 150 or so were guaranteed tix if everyone bought 2, which i am sure they didn't. ;o) i felt bad for the people who showed up at 6, thinking that they were showing up early for the lineup at 7. they waited til 10, only to be turned away for tix as far as i understand. there were news cameras/reporters and MTV news was there as well, asking everyone to add their names and phone numbers to this sign-up sheet. they are apparently having a segment on tori and would like to talk with several "die- hard" tori fans (as he put it) for it.

i would say for the most part, everyone was pretty nice about staying in line and everything. there was, however, one point when everyone dashed across the street (we were waiting ACROSS the street from the box office since we weren't supposed to line up there until 7am) and started lining up by the box office, and people just started cutting in line and everything. grrrrrrrrr. but it was a false alarm and everyone went back to where they had been before. when 7am finally came along, a guy from irving plaza came out and directed all of us, 10 by 10, to cross the street in single file which was VERY good...totally eliminating the chances of people cutting in line. :)

From Julie (Precious Things post)

April 5, 1998 - What a terrible day that was! I woke up at five thirty am and my boyfriend was supposed to pick me up at six am. He came two hours late. We arrived there, and I'm not sure if everyone here realizes how long a NY city block is - it's pretty big. And the line was ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BLOCK. I saw sleeping bags - people camped out! It was kind of pathetic in a way, they looked like they were homeless or something. And there are people who really have to live like that.... ANYWAY - I was on line for about two minutes when someone from the Irving Plaza came out and said, "We have enough people to fill this place three times over...even if you wait until noon, you still won't be able to get tickets. I'm only telling you this b/c I don't want you to waste your time." I already figured this out as soon as I got there, so I just stepped off the line and left. And there were people who still continued to stay! Now that was dumb, b/c anyone could see that in order for you to get the tickets, you had to have been waiting since like, two am or something. I thought it was a little unfair, considering we were told that line up started at seven am. But I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be - I mean, she's coming back in the summer. Also, my math final is that Friday, so I guess it's good that I get to stay home and study. :p I'd rather see Tori, though.

From Mac456789 (Precious Things post, responding to Julie above.)

April 5, 1998 - Oh no...you shouldn't have listened to those men! They were scalpers! We asked them details about the shows and they had no idea!

I was amongst those that stayed; I later saw those same men online laughing buying tickets. Although I can't imagine how they are going to scalp the vouchers, it seems pretty strict..

From Peter (Precious Things post)

April 5, 1998 - Well, I had a pack of 5 friends get to Irving Plaza @ 3:30am...they were first...but were moved so they weren't in front of Irving Plaza...7 am came around and everyone ran right in front of a line that was already made....the people of the original line started screaming....You'd think people could be courteous to people who camped out.....but I got there w/ 4 other people @ 7am and I truly thought we were going to get tickets since Irving Plaza is a not a small nor big venue....I've been there before it is 2 floors....but we waited till 11:00am and we left although I got my friend in the front of the line to get me a ticket....I AM SO HAPPY I AM GOING! WOO! so yeah....Luckily I have a friend who is an obsessive Tori fan....

P.S. I couldn't tell you if they were scalpers or not...but first I thought they were but then I kept changing my mind.....who knows....they were at the end of the line of the "blue ticket holders" 220 of them were handed out....I'm not sure if they were buying tickets

From Sean Hooks (rec.music.tori-amos)

April 5, 1998 - In my opinion, Tori definitely does care about her fans. That's why these venues are so small and there is no bullshit lottery like Ticketmaster that rewards nothing except randomness. When you use the lottery system, the fan who barely knows who Tori is who gets there a minute before the box office has the same chances of getting tickets as the hardcore fan that knows every Tori song and has been there since the previous night. Having this tour done non-Ticketmaster on the voucher system(at least that's how it was done at Irving Plaza)virtually eliminates large scale scalping and rewards the fans that get there the earliest. Now, at Irving Plaza there were a few screw-ups and their system could use some reworking but still, the fans who get there at 9:30 thirty minutes before the box office had no chance while those who had slept over since the previous night all pretty much got vouchers. Now, there was a mess-up in the line that let some people who were arriving at 7 and 7:30 to skip ahead of some of those people and lets be realistically, it always sucks to be one of those people right after the cutoff, in this case the cutoff for the blue tickets of which they gave out about 400(which means a max of 800 tickets). This assumes everybody in line is buying the max 2 tickets. And though I disagree with the security's original treatment of the crowd after originally dispersing the blue tickets and all the BS about how unless you had a blue ticket you weren't getting tickets, in the end they made everyone without one get out of the line and form a parallel line. Then, when it became clear that the blue ticket having people's line was almost at its end, they filed in those who had waited around in optimism behind them. And as I left it looked like at least 10-20 of those who got shafted out of blue tickets for whatever reason were definitely gonna get in(which is just common mathematicl sense considering that it's virtually impossible that every person holding a blue ticket was going to by the max 2 tickets, also you knew there were gonna be a couple of mishaps where peopel didn't have ID or the right amount of money and that would let a few more sneak in).

As far as I'm concerned it was a trying experience and even though I got there before 7 when the line formed and I was still just behind the end of the blue ticket people and even though I had to deal with the security guards and managers yelling at people to get out of line becasue they had no chance of getting tickets even though anyone with half a brain knew they did, I thought it was a good experience. Standing in line for 5 hours surrounded by fellow fans all with the same goal in mind is a bonding experience in a way. It was cold but not that bad and thank God it didn't rain or snow. I met some interesting Tori fans, all very dedicated. And I knew that if for some reason I didn't get tickets(I did) then at least I was losing out to fellow fans and not just somebody who showed up at the last minute who doesn't even know Tori's music. After finally getting my voucher I was elated, exuberant, triumphant. I had t weather a lot of shit to get it and that made it that much more satisfying when I did. I mean people were literally jumping with joy when they had those yellow slips of paper in their hand, and everyone was a hardcore Tori fan. And again, though their system was extremely flawed and a lot of people were unhappy for long periods of time, it's still a hell of a lot better than a random chance lottery, or worse the Ticketmaster bracelet system. It was how concerts should be, long lines of people at obscene hours of the morning, first come first serve(pretty much), all "real fans" bonding over their love of the artist or band performing, and best of all a really show venue, the way a show should be not at some arena or other such multi-thousand people venue where Tori is nothing more than a speck of red hair in the distance and the people to your left are talking about their businesseses and comparing suits and the people to your right think that Tori "is the one who sings that Cowboys gone song right?". So all in all not perfect, but a throwback to the pre-Ticketmaster-controlled days where people just had to get there as early as possible and hope. Congrats to all those who are gonna be there for what I'm sure is gonna be an intense show.

From Jennifer S.

April 5, 1998 - Hi. Congratulations on securing tickets...your experience sounded a lot better than my own, and even though I was one of the lucky few to get tickets, I've decided (unfortunately) that this concert will probably be my last Tori concert. I live in New York because I am a student here, and my apartment is roughly four blocks from Irving Plaza, so again, I was lucky. Yet, when I arrived on the scene, I came across the MOST DISRESPECTFUL and obnoxious Tori fans I think I've ever encountered. I've been to four of her shows (2 in '94 and 2 in '96) and never have I had to put up with a ticket securing experience as disheartening as what I went through on saturday. Since I was told by an official employee at Irving Plaza that line up time was not until 7 am, and that any one who arrived earlier would have to wait across the building in some sort of informal congregation, I didn't arrive until around 5 am to the venue. And instead of joining everyone else that had congregated across the building, I sat in the diagonal corner so I could hopefully get some studying done, so the waiting would at least be a tad productive. My friend who was waiting with me told me that the ticket hopefuls diagonal to us were giving us angry evil stares, which were only enhanced by one of them walking over to us and threatening our lives if we expected to get in front of them when 7 am rolled around...we got fruit thrown at us and angry screams and hateful words projected at us, although, in my mind and in the mind of the Irving Plaza, we had done nothing wrong.

This girl proceeded to tell me that I wasn't a loyal fan (or else I would have been waiting all day previously) and that I should, in effect, just run away because I "looked like a middle-class white girl who didn't know karate." Can you believe this???? I wasn't planning on creating any kind of violent mob and I also wasn't planning on cutting in line because THERE WASN'T A LINE YET. I felt I had no need to justify my credentials to this obnoxious girl and I told her that Tori would disapprove of her violent manner towards me. Mike, is this the state of Tori fans in 1998?? When I was thirteen years old (six years ago) and listening to Little Earthquakes on my walkman riding on the bus to middle school, I had no idea that Tori's popularity would grow and create such militant fans. I am thoroughly disappointed and I plan on writing a letter to Tori, expressing my disbelief. After that rather hurtful experience, and fearful for my safety, I walked around the block to reach the end of the informal congregation and waited there until 7 am, when everyone was moved to the front of Irving Plaza and around the corner. Sometime during 7 and 10 am, the employees passed out blue tickets which semi-guarenteed a voucher. People who didn't receive a blue ticket were harassed and told to go home...Tori fans reacted spitefully and many yelled back at the employees claiming that they had every right to wait for a ticket...at this point, accusations were made concerning people who had cut in line and whatnot. It was a circus. Regardless, I was one of the last people to receive a voucher after a most-eventful morning.

Mike, I hope that other cities were gentler than New York...this is ridiculous.

There is a line between idolizing and admiring. And I never want to go through an experience such as this again to see someone whose music I admire and whose personality I adore, but do not idolize like some sort of god. This is not right. Tori does not preach violence and hate..."girls, girls, what have we done, what have we done to ourselves?"

Sorry to make this so long...but I had to share this with someone. Let's just hope that the actual concert doesn't turn into some sort of riot, with people kicking and screaming to get close to the stage.

From Katherine Agurcia

April 20, 1998 - Haven't quite gotten over the excitement of actually holding a Tori Concert voucher in my hand...

After reading all of the horror stories (my heart goes out to the fans in L.A.) I was scared about missing out on tickets for the Boston show. I wanted to go there since Thursday night, but my roommate (thankfully) kept me at home. I got there at 10 pm on Friday, and thanks to Brian Nash's great number system, I was #51.

The entire line was great. There was a feeling of cameraderie between everyone... some awesome girls in front of us in line offered to let us hang out in their car... the couple behind us was pretty cool about lending us a blanket... The number system allowed us to chill out and take off for little breaks... which were pretty necessary.

It was INCREDIBLY COLD. I tried to sleep on the floor and failed. After thawing out my feet, a friend and I took off for a little tour of Chinatown and South Station (which are really cool at night). After coming back I and two others engaged in a fierce game of hopscotch (which I won :-) )... and to those who want to thank the guy with the great chalk idea (writing your numbers on the pavement to keep your place) his name's Stephan.

I want to thank Brian for his great system and keeping everyone cool, the Orpheum people for bringing us in from the cold, and everyone at the line who made the experience so much better! I cannot describe the feeling of actually holding a voucher in my hand. I am from Central America, and through all my years of Tori-loving, I never thought that I'd ever make it to one of her concerts. Now, with the concert only 2 weeks away, one of my greatest dreams will come true. Brad, Thea, and Stephan... exhilira-SHON... :-) WE'RE GOING TO SEE TORI!!!!!!!! :-)

P.S.---> G., this one's for you! :-)

From Brian

April 16, 1998 - I'm the "guy named Brian" who helped to organize the Boston line. I just wanted to thank everyone on the line for being so incredibly wonderful. It made life very easy and exciting fro a mere 13 hours. I can't wait to see everyone at the show, especially as I have all your names! :)= Forgive me if I refer to you by number. Many many thanks to the Orpheum staff for being so helpful and letting us in from the cold! You guys were great, and judging from the other reports, we were just the happiest darn Tori-line in the world!

From Chris Wyman

April 16, 1998 - I thought I'd quickly share my experience from the morning of 4/11/98 purchasing Tori tickets at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston.

First, to set the record straight, tickets were sold to more than 600 people, as my friend and I were numbers 613 and 614. We figured they let in at least 40 more people after us, so I'd guess the total number of people who were allowed to buy tickets was around 650-675 (a lot of people bought only one voucher).

Anyway, I guess we were a little lucky since we got there at around 8:00 and were still able to get vouchers. Everyone was kind of worried about some Jim Jones kind of thing since everyone was being herded into the Orpheum but no one was telling us why, but it was nice of them to let us in to keep warm. They began selling around 9:30, and were organized enough to sell in the order that people were in line. We finally got our vouchers around 1:00, but it was well worth it.

My friend and I have had this luck before. Last year, we were on a trip to California and decided to camp at the Grand Canyon. We arrived at the South Rim just in time to see the sunset (which was awesome), but then needed to find a campsite (of course we didn't have a reservation). We got in line for the nearest campsite and were the last car allowed in for the evening - they must have turned 20 other cars away. I think we need to play the lottery together.

Thanks for the site - we'd never have been able to get tickets without it. Since we were the ones who got up early (for us) and waited, we figure our girlfriends owe us dinner before the show!

From Silly Pooka

April 16, 1998 - Hello, I was just reading about the Boston Tori Ticket buying experience at the Orpheum, I noticed that all these people were within the first 550, I'd just like to say that me and my boyfriend were within the last 10 people to be let in to the theater. It's strange to think that, if we (me and my boyfriend) could have almost missed getting a tickets just by sitting and eating a nice warm breakfast!! Now that Ilook back I am VERY glad that we did not. It was one bizzare experience, I have never been to a club concert before in my life, and i am glad that my first one will be with the group of people that I sat with at the Orpheum Theater!

From rana siegel

April 12, 1998 - A very quick responce to my experience at boston. First, I would like to tkank a man named Brain who wonderfully and spontaneously help organize the line. He made it possible for all of us to relax, take walks. . . I was and still am very gratful. You did a great job!!! Thanks to the staff at the orpheum for letting everyone in so we can get out of the cold. When I read some of the responces (boston, detroit. . .) I could not imagine how early people arrived. I myself arrived at 4:00 and compared to others that wasn't very early. It was amazing to see all of the dedication.

Before I come to an end there are two things that I must share with everyone. First (and this leads in to the second thought), while waiting this man in the middle of the night walks by everyone waiting on line. Curious, he asks what this was all for. People replied that it was for tori amos. Uninformed, he asked if that was a band. "No" someone answered and said that it was a one women band. In responce, the man said "she must be a hell of a women". I myself was not there when this man said this, but people soon after told me. Of course the man was astonished that everyone was there for one women, one indivisual. It is amazing to know that one person can attract so mant other peoples' heart and love. I started to think about that idea. In all cities combined, thousands of people gathering hours and hours to see one women, her words, her thoughts, her music. The power of one. It is hard to put in words the feeling I get when I think of so many prople's hearts going towards one direction. It touches my heart. This situation gets me to think about how in a worlds where people seem so apart, think that they are alone, and are so different in many ways, share such a strong bond, share and are united with the same affection and love the same person. What a waonderful think and a wonderful person. (if someone wants to responce rs3810@rwu.edu)

From jessie rauch

April 12, 1998 - i just finished 5 hours of intense napping after buying tickets for the Boston show this morning.. (yup, thanks to Super-Brian, i've got a faded number 23 on my hand.) i showed up to the Orpheum around 6pm Friday night, and was greeted with "hey! welcome to the line! you've got to meet everybody!" - which pretty much set the tone for the whole experience.

When there were still only 50-60 people on line, we set up my portable CD player with these little tinny speakers on the sidewalk, and popped in a copy of the Spark promo... dead silence... everyone quietly gathered around the little set-up, and for the duration of the CD, no one hardly said a word, and we all just sat there and listened. (To a CD... on really crummy speakers... it wasn't even that loud.) It was pretty cool way to get my first taste of the new Tori album, and i think a lot of other people felt the same way.

Later on, some of the gang at the front of the line put together a photo - a bunch of us laid down on the ground to spell "TORI" - Brian was the photographer, but he had a couple of cameras - i'd love a copy of that (* please * get in touch with me if you have that photo).... i was dotting the "i."

Quite a few of us were bummed out by not being able to catch Tori's Letterman performance, but then someone showed up with yes, a portable TV. ("We'll yell when she's on!") But by that point i had made friends with someone from the line who was sooo cool that she invited a couple of us to her apartment (just a 15 minute walk from the theater) to wash up, have a glass of water, and sit in her living room to watch Spark on Letterman and a compilation of Under the Pink videos. (Thank you #21 & #21A!)

And the thing was, the line was so respectful and cool that people could leave for an hour or more at a time to walk down through the Common or even just to meet the other kids camped out down the street.... Brian's number system was honored the whole night, right through the final line up as we filed through to get our vouchers. As more people began to show up, especially after midnight-1am, the line wrapped up and back through the alley (the people I met up at the top of the outside corner of the alley were about #200 or so...) by morning the line was out down the block and around the corner.

Once we finally got inside... the applause was thunderous when #550 came through the door (the so-called cut off point as Avalon seats 1100) and more people kept coming in. The cheering was even louder when we thanked Brian Nash for his organization (his "spot" wasn't too far back from mine - he was #33, and i don't think i saw him sit down once after he got there...) And #1 got a loud cheer as well when she finally bought her tickets (she had been there since 9am Friday morning!!) My friends and i got back outside right around 10am, and people were still being turned away in packs (Sorry to those who got shut out!)... when we picked up a copy of the Boston Phoenix, there was a full page ad for the show on the inside cover.

anyway, be sure to send me email if you are one of the many i promised to make a copy of the Spark promo for... i'm glad i got a chance to share it with so many people on line last night... (yup, i'm the girl with the crappy speakers and the golden CD)... see you all again on the 25th!

yrs,
jessie
jrauch@cs.smith.edu

PS also, i was sitting in line near two members of the band Misconception (thanks again for the CD, Steve & Vince)... they're from the New Haven area, but they play through New England and New York.... (they're sort of guitary and Dream-Theater-ish... and half the band camped out all night for Tori tickets)... if anyone wants to hear a copy of their CD, let me know.

From Mike Thomas

April 12, 1998 - first, I love your site so much. If it weren't for you I probably would have missed out on the plugged tour. But I happend to find out just in time and spent last night camped outside the Orpheum Theater in Boston and now I have tickets for the show. The camp out went really smoothly and was a lot of fun. There was this guy Brian there who was a huge help and gave everybody numbers and kept a record of who was buying what tickets, etc. And he impressed the hell out of me because I talked to him for maybe a minute when I got the number, but three hours later when I was coming back from a pizza hunt he approavhed me and told me there were some friends waiting for me. I don't know how he remembered, but it was cool. And the people at the Orpheum were great, they brought us in from the cold around 8 which made things a lot nicer, even though the staff talked to us like we were high schoolers in an auditorium. But overall it was a great experience and I am so psyched for the show.

From kristen byrne

April 11, 1998 - well, here's an account of my ticket-buying experience....not much frills, but hey, that's ok. simplicity sometimes is best thing. well my friend and i tried our best to wake up early, but we weren't able to leave the hotel until after 5:30 pm. so we got to the orpheum about 6 am to see people who have camped out the night before. i was paranoid that we would miss buying tickets, but brian (i believe that's what his name was) kindly directed us to the end of the line at the moment, which went around the block...i breathed a sigh of relief that i was #391. (brian had assigned us numbers as we joined the line.) from accounts from other people, about 550 people were allowed to buy tickets...the capacity being 1000 tickets. anyway, it was freezing cold, but i was amazed of the whole process. everyone was so nice to each other and so calm......it was so orderly and "processed"--it was incredible. there were no riots...just cold EWF's waiting in line. orpheum allowed us to enter the theatre about 8 am i believe. so we could all warm up...and wait another hour...but they did sell tickets early...about 9:30 i think since everyone who was able to buy tickets were seated already (of course all in order). so, i have my voucher for 2 tickets. and now i have to figure out how to get my friend in who is only 17...shhh! TO THOSE WHO WERE IN LINE: it was worth it wasn't it? i just couldn't believe i was actually there. just a little criticism...it wasn't too bad, but i noticed the litter around. orpheum was nice enough to let us wait around...some of us till the night before, so i was a little embarrassed of the condition the street was in. some of you may have seen a korean girl and another girl in black picking up leftovers...i was the korean girl. *smile* let's try to keep what's ours to ourselves ok? and not leave a mess for others to pick up? ok...i'll come down from my soap box now. anyway, i'm looking forward to the show. i wish i could celebrate, but i'm exhausted and feel sick. and i'll see you all at the show! i'll probably be the one with a crate or stool in one hand cause the show is standing only i think and i'm so damn short!

kristen byrne (whoever is in CT...come to the RAINN benefit april 29th!)

From Carrie-Ellen Batcheller (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - I am very tired from waiting in line for tickets in Boston since 9pm last night (: . But hey, I'm a happy kind of tired because I got vouchers!(: . I was #38 in a line which turned out to have almost 600 people in it by 10am! The Orpheum staff was nice enough to let us into the place about two hours before tickets went on sale so that we could keep warm. It was a long cold night in Boston, but all the Tori fans were nice and it was fun getting to know some of the people there. There seemed to be a group spirit there (:

One of the reasons for this message is to thank someone who took it upon himself to organize a line of 600 people, I hope he is on the list so that I can thank him. His name was Ryan (or Brian?) Nash, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your high energy, enthusiasm and great leadership! Without you, things would have been quite chaotic (:

I hope all of the people on the list who waited in line got tix (:

From Lynne

April 11, 1998 - First of all Mike, You have a wonderful web page as a tribute to Tori and her fans. I want to thank you very much for your work!! I love it! Ok, onto my ticket buying experience.... I have never had the opportunity to see Tori live yet, and I truly believed that I would be shut out once again for this tour. Last night I was so anxious about the thought of having a bad experience in line waiting to get tix, that I actually told my husband, Jeff, that we should just forget about trying. He didn't have to try hard to convince me that I'd regret that choice forever. So, of course, we journeyed into the city to attempt to get those precious things. We arrived at the Orpheum Box Office around 5:30am (believe me I was kicking myself that we didn't get ourselves there earlier!!). The line of Toriphiles in sleeping bags seemed endless...I was so excited though...I had such a stupid grin plastered on my face!! The sweetest guy approached Jeff & I and explained that he was helping to keep the line in order by having everyone sign their names in a note book, which had a number designated to each hopeful customer. He then marked the back of our hands with OUR number. WOW, we were #359. Jeff & I thanked him, and then quickly began to calculate how many tix would be sold ahead of us....358x2....Yippie!!! OH my God, we knew at that point that we would in fact get our moment to experience Tori live!!! Since we were all being respectful to each other & acknowledged the list to be "set in stone" people didn't have to worry about someone moving ahead of them if they left their space for a short period of time. As the hours passed, our co-liners were able to come and go as needed, to relieve themselves from the cold...get a bite to eat...etc. :-) This helped to make the experience enjoyable....and I personally didn't see anyone abuse this freedom. The line was filled with polite, considerate, sweet people that were all (COLD &) EXCITED to reap their reward. One woman, who was in line near us, actually passed out mini-donuts to all of us (at least the hundred or so people who were located on this particular street)!! Yes, the line did wrap around a couple street coners!! Around 8:00am, the kind Orpheum staff allowed us all (well, around 500+ ??? of us) to enter the theater and take a seat in the order we had formed the line. Unfortunately there were another couple hundred people left outside without the hopes of getting a ticket. :( We were all thrilled by this turn of events...wow, we could thaw out! It was quite nice to be sitting indoors with the exact crowd we would see the show with. People exchanged email addys, etc, to swap Tori rarities or just to help each other fill in the gaps of their collections. We waited another hour or so (I believe it was before 10am, not sure tho??) before they began the process of selling the vouchers. As people were allowed up onto the stage, about 10 at a time, others cheered them on!! Especially the sweet guy who had started the list, He received a huge applause. Which of course he deserved. After all, his help in organizing us made the experience safer & more pleasant! Jeff & I received our vouchers at about 10:45am!!! I was elated!!! To finally have Tori Tix....after all my doubt and anxiety!! Needless to say, this was a fabulous experience and Toriphiles are the best!!!!!!!! Thank you all for the shared experience!!! I will be floating two inches off the ground until the show...and I'm sure I'll be even higher (believe me without any substances!! :) than that during & after the show. One other quick note: As a life-long MA resident...It was such a treat to be able to actually stand on the Orpheum Stage!!!! This is a very historical theater in Boston....unbelievable performances have taken place there....including my sweethearts, U2, who actually recorded live material on that stage. This was just an added bonus for me!! Thanks for letting me share this with you.

From Lisa Street

April 11, 1998 - I must begin by giving a big shout out to Brian Nash. he took on the job of counting, numbering, and watching over everyone in line. we got there around 1am, i was number 165. Overall it was a good night, everyone was friendly, my bladder made it through, and i even took a little cat nap. oh, and we played the game of UNO from Hell! (lasted over and hour and half, but it killed a lot waiting time). Around 8am the people from the theatre let us in and they even started selling vouchers early (about 9:30). That's the word from one tired girl in Boston.

From Andrea Cleaver

April 11, 1998 - 550 lucky people have earned the opportunity to see Tori at the avalon in boston on april 25th!!

what a long, amazing, incredible night. the first person arrived at 9:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the majority arrived between 6 p.m. - 6 a.m., even though more people came when they were letting us into the orpheum.

major appreciation goes to brian, a toriphile who had that handy marker and notebook, gave everyone in line a number (my # 21 will always be a great memory) and kept their name in a notebook. he did this all night long, as people continued to arrived. when he reached 550 earlier this morning, his work was done. thanks for doing such a fantastic job.

everything went smoothly, luckily the night wasn't too cold, around 35 degrees. the orpheum folks let us in around 7:45 and we sat in their auditorium. they let us start purchasing the vouchers about 9:45, after the alloted 550 people had been let in.

yes, this show was 18+ and id must be shown to get into the avalon. one mother had driven her 16 year old daughter to boston yesterday all the way from rochester, ny. they were a couple people ahead of my fiance and i when we arrived around 6 p.m. we let them call the avalon just to verify that everyone had to be 18. the daughter was pretty upset, but we promised we'd keep her up to date with later tour info.

i met so many wonderful people and am really looking forward to seeing you all again in 2 weeks.

From LadyDragon Heather

April 11, 1998 - Since you seemed shocked by the rudeness of some venues....I decided that I should write to you and let you know how GREAT the Boston line was. The first group of dedicated wanderers appeared outside the club at 9am Friday morning! By 2 pm Friday they were up to number 32 and an amazing fan named Brain hadorganized a complete notebook and marked everyones hand with a number. ( He kept at the numbering until 9 am!!)

My boyfriend and I arrived around 11 pm ( number 73&74) and from there it was pure fun. EVERYONE in line was polite, helpful and easy going. We all shared snacks and games, blankets and pillows.... IT was one huge party of toriphiles!

At 7 am we all lined up in 4 rows near the door and some brilliant peron handed out chalk so that we could mark our numbers on the ground under our feet. At 8 ish the club owners opened the doors and allowed us all to sit in the theater so that we wouldn't be cold. As the first person on line and our savior organizer went onto the stage to get their vouchers everyone cheered and screamed "We love you guys!"

It was great. I've never had such an intense bonding experience. Everyone got their tickets in order....and everything was fair. Even the coffee shop down the street where we all went to the bathroom was filled with helpful friendly people. They even let us wander up there to get warm after they closed!

I'm going to put up a page sometime tomorrow night with photos of everything :)

From Benjamin Spear

April 11, 1998 - Dear DENT,

Let me start by saying that I LOVE your site, top quality, everything. But, OK, now to the point.

I waited for Tori Amos Vouchers in Boston this morning. I have to say, it was a positive experience. It was a little cold, but the people were great. I'd like to thank "Brian" the whoever-you-are man who organized all the numbering, and organized most lining up and crowd-control. He made it easier. Also, the Orpheum people made things much smoother- they let us inside around 8am, at which point we REALLY needed to be warmer. I was number 159 in line and I was walking out with my vouchers at around10:30, it was great. I'm SO EXCITED!

From Dominic Marullo (precious-things post)

April 11, 1998 - i just got back from getting my voucher and i want to tell you what it was like. at 5pm there were only 13 people at the orpheum...i left. i came back at 11pm and i was number 79. there was a brilliant person there named brian who had a notebook and numbered everyone. the orpheum guys went by his numbers and we lined up accordingly at 6am by writing our number in our spot with chalk. they let tons of people in but had to turn away many. that is the brifest possible account i can give of my 11 hours in line.

From Keith Williams

April 11, 1998 - Whooooooooooooo! my wife and I drove about 125 miles to get to the Orpheum in Boston. My warmest Thanks and congradulations go out to a Man named Brian for unnofficially organising us (sorry bout spelling ,just got home) . We got tickets,I was #300A, my wife was #300. It wasn't bad other than the ticket from the Boston Police Dept. but they were just doing their job. Thanks again to Brian#33

From April

April 16, 1998 - My boyfriend and I got in line at 1:30 am, and were 110 and 111 in line- right behind Audrey and Christine, Lynn, Mark, and Carl (the guy with the new sampler!) We had driven up from Virginia (Charlottesville) the same night and were not looking forward to a night on the streets. But like Audrey said, the experience was well worth braving the cold and the wind. There was constant entertainment from the fans and random people on the street- the funniest had to be the "Tupac and Elvis" concert (I guess they could sound alike if you're completely wasted!) Thanks to everyone in line for an experience we will never forget, and thanks to number 111 to waited with me on the streets of Philly. See you at the concert AK and JVL!!

From Audrey

April 12, 1998 - I showed up at the Electric Factory Concert Hall around 1 am Saturday morning. My best friend, Christine, and I were number 105 and 106 in line. We heard that the first people in line had been there since either 5:30 am or 8:30 am on Friday, April 10th. The next person in line got there about 6 hours later. The line started at the gate to the parking lot more than 100 feet from the door of the EF. That is because they were having a concert going on that night and didn't want people blocking cars and concert goers and such.

I never met such a bunch of friendly people as I did that night. To the right and left of us were introductions, sharing of info, and playing of tori amos music, including myself. This fellow behind us, Carl, worked at a music store and probably was the only person in the whole line with the 4 song sampler which we eventually did play for a small crowd. Anyway, news travelled fast, and he was a celebrity by the end of the day.

Throughout the night, Tori fans walked up and down the line of fans sleeping, singing, eating, talking friendily to everyone. giving information about where the nearest bathroom was: turned out to be a diner about five or six blocks away. This diner was constantly packed but an excellent place for hot dogs (peachy keen ones) and hot chocolate. AND I had to be taken to a secret back bathroom, through a club setting, that was wallpapered with pictures of asians doing kamasutra like things. gisha-girls with with hairy cunts and japanese men with gi-hugic penises - crazy stuff!

after the concert of that night was over, the employees of the EF let the line come closer to the actual door of the building. This, i thought, was mighty nice of them.

By morning, there were pretzel men walking up and down the block. a MAX 95.7 radio station van came out with orange juice, oreo cookies, and, of course, their bumper stickers, to give out for free to us Tori fans! whee! Next, Y100.3 van came out to give us free diet pepsi and y100 keychains, stickers, bumper stickers, and magnets. how useful of them. by this time, 7am, the line went all the way down 7th street, and up spring garden st. there were probably about 500-700 people in line.

even before 10am, the line started moving! the EF were letting in 8 people at a time. the tickets were $27.50 eash, $55 for two. photo id was required and people were only allowed to buy two tickets each. except that THEY WEREN'T THE ACTUAL TICKETS!!! Oh NO! They give you a VOUCHER, that you must bring at 3pm on April 26th to trade in for the actual ticket. There are no seats at the EF, so first one through the door, the best spot you get. It is a very very small establishment with a stage, floor, and upper level on the right (facing the stage) for the over-21 crowd. But as a 22 yr old, I would rather be at the stage with the youngins if to be right in front of tori herself.

So, I've got to go through this all over again on the 26th. it'll be worth it. and being that this was my first camp out for tickets...it's an experience. I thought it would be horrible, but I've had all-nighters that were, and this was fun, informative, and heartwarming. however, I have a newfound knowledge about what it's like to have to sleep on the streets of philadelphia. and that, I don't recommend alone, it's scary. and it was cold. only with hundreds of tori fans did I feel safe and sound. people driving by in cars would ask us without fail, "who are you waiting for tickets for?" "Tori Amos!" "WHO?" "Tori AMOS!" "He's a pussy!!!" "She's a SHE! and YES she's got a pussy!". Even a cop stopped by and asked and even heard of her. but he went on to say that his fav was frank sinatra. oh well. a couple of black guys came around to talk with us and yelled that this must be the line for the tupac and elvis concert. shrug.

From Zach Blas

April 12, 1998 - OK, I obtained 2 tickets for the Tori concert at Electric Factory this Saturday! Here's my story: I got up at 5:00 in the morning to get ready for the long trip to Philadelphia. I was ready to leave at 6, but my friend Jessica didn't get woken up and wasn't ready until 7. My dad drove, and Jessica and I rode in the back. It took us about eight hours to get into Philadelphia. When we got to the Electric Factory there were 4 people there. They had been in line since 8:00 AM in the morning!!!! So we told them we'd be camping out with them also and went to get something to eat. When we got back around 5, there was about 5 more people. The people who were there first were soooo nice. They kept this chart that everybody in line signed so there wouldn't be any problem about line order. (I was 4th!) So, we waited for 17 hours....during the night I think it dropped below 30 and the wind was unbearable. Security was very friendly....they had someone watching us just about the whole night, and they were very good about not letting people cut line. So, in the morning the line was stretching on forever and ever. A local radio station also came and brought everyone breakfast. So, I got my ticket right at 10 and came back home. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I met so many awesome Tori fans! Jennifer, Melissa, Jason, and Christine....if you're reading this--you guys are the best!!!!!!

From Kim1231695

April 12, 1998 - I'M GOING TO SEE TORI!!!!!!!!!! my ticket buying experience in philly was interesting. we arrived a little after 7am, and waited in line for about 6 hours. we also barely got tickets-there were about 480 people in front of us! it was freezing cold, i felt bad for people w/out blankets. there were no horror stories like NYC, but there was this accident we saw where this truck ran into a car, flipped it over, and it landed on and crushed some guy underneath. police, firepeople and ambulances came, it was entertaining. the people seemed friendly, there really wasn't any probs. anyway, meghann is a goddess! for letting me come with her and her bf since none of my friends would come with me. we were nervous about not getting the tickets, but i would have killed if i didn't. some advice for buying tickets in philly- beware of pretzel vendors! ;) I'M GOING TO SEE TORI IN 2 WEEKS! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

From Skye238831

April 12, 1998 - Hey Mike--I definately agree that the actual line was completely orderly, but the people there were a completely different story.

I arrived at the EFC at around 6am, and I nearly cried when I saw that line. It was totally unbelieveable. That's right, I didn't camp out. Some would say that I'm not a devoted fan, and they can think that if they want to. But the fact is, I'm only 16, and there was absolutely no way my parents were going to let me sleep on a street in Philadelphia. And when it comes down to it, I'm not going to toatally defy my parents so I can be considered a 'devoted' fan.

I don't understand why we're all competing with each other to see who likes Tori the best. Music is something to be shared, and right now many Toriphiles have the sharing skills of a two year old. While I did meet some people that were totally nice (Including a toriphile who continually let me use her lighter and even offered me food), I have to say theat I encountered far more obnoxious, rude, and nasty people. Check it out--people from the front of the line walked to where my friend and I were standing and shouted "I'm glad all the devoted fans are up front." Come on. That's just stupid and uncalled for. Almost directly in front of me were about four toriphiles in their 20's, and I doubt anyone has ever annoyed me so much. They were bitching and moaning about "All the little high school kids", and one was running around with a y100 sticker on his crotch, while another had stickers all over her ass. If beingmature means that you act like that, let me never be mature.

When I finally did get my tickets, I actually cried. The seven hour wait had paid off, and it was well worth it. It just makes me sad that people are willing to hurt (and bother the shit out of) anyone they can to get their hands on tickets. To those who did get tickets, congrats. My heart goes out to those who didn't, I know you guys love Tori just as much as those who did get tickets.

From Elizabeth Perry

April 11, 1998 - Just wanted to tell you about my ticket buying experience at the Electric Factory last night and this morning. I got there at 11pm last night, and there were already about 30 people ahead of me. I was not very surprised to find that most of the people there were friendly, and there weren't too many problems keeping my space in the line. Anyway, I tried to fall asleep but it was way too cold, and somebody was blasting Marilyn Manson, so basically I stayed up the whole night waiting, and waiting for 10am to roll around. Around 5am, I would say there were about 300 people in line, and around 8am, the line had grown to be huge, around 1000 people. It was crazy, and I was glad that I was near the front. Well, the vouchers were handed out starting at around 9:55am, and I got mine around 10:15. The whole process went pretty smoothly, and I was very happy with my experience. Needless to say, the line of people behind me was IMMENSE. I hope everybody there got their vouchers. Sleeping on the concrete in front of the Electric Factory was not the best experience of my life, but I think that the process was fair, and those who showed up early enough got their vouchers quickly and efficiently.

From James Brant

April 11, 1998 - Hey I just got home from getting tori tickets in philly. I arrived at 6am and there were already 350 people in line! The first people in line got there at 8am on Friday morning. The deal was if you didn't get there by 7-7:30 then you had no chance of getting tickets, they completely sold out a little after one. The voucher system was a very slow process and the line creeped along moving about ten feet once every five minutes. From what I observed there was a lot of line cutting which wasn't a cool thing at all so some of the people that had been waiting in line for hours upon hours did not get Tori Tix because of these people. All in all I had a good time, I met some really great and interesting people in line, and I can't wait to see Tori in two weeks!

From Ziggie22

April 11, 1998 - wow, is all I can say....wow. I got to the Electric Factory box office at about 3 a.m. Saturday morning, and there were about 150 people ahead of me in line. It was so great...yet cold. I met some really cool Tori people, and some loud babbling idiot (sorry to that guy if he should read this) named Mike, who seemed to have connections all over the place....well, he babbled loudly all night, not allowing anyone to sleep, but made up for it but pulling a few strings and getting a friend of his to let us inside the venue to use the bathrooms. =) This was a good thing. All night long cars drove by, "who are you here for?" what did we say? "Prince" One woman actually believed us and made her husband stop and wait with her at the very end of the line, she must have been disapointed not to get tickets (being at the end of the line) and realizing that it wasn't for Prince. Last night/this morning was freezing cold. Luckily my good friend, (I just met her) in front of me in line let me borrow her gloves...how nice :) Some people are so kind. Anyway, I feel bad for those people who decided to come to the box office at 9:00, considering the tickets went on sale at 10:00...there was no hope for them getting tickets. In the very front of the line were the most dedicated Tori fans I had ever met, they had been there since Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. keep in mind tickets didn't go onsale until Saturday 10:00 a.m. All and all this was a really good experience for me, I met a lot of really cool people, and I would do it again, because in the end I know all my waiting in line will pay off, when I get to see Tori.

From Jason Horst (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - Yeah, baby! Thirteenth in line. Vouchers in my pocket now. I'm flipping! Camping was great. Met TONS of awesome people and we all froze our asses off together. The first people there showed up at 8:00am on Friday... That's dedication, folks. Can't wait to see you all there! I'M GOING TO SEE TORI!

From Christine (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - Like Jason, I was there in Philly camped out...just got back home to Jersey...was THIRD in line and got there at 4 pm Fri......a lot of amazing people were there and even though I was lying on the filthy concrete it was all worth it... I came outta the Electric Factory screaming!!!!! So happy I don't have to stress anymore...

From Syzzy

April 16, 1998 - I was reading about the Toronto adventures in ticket sales for the Phoneix Club by Mr. Chris Cates, that you posted. I was the "unpleasant" woman driv