You can now see the set list and reviews for the Berlin, Germany concert at the Tempodrom . Tori set list included Muhammad My Friend, Apollo's Frock, Amber Waves, Little Amsterdam and the covers Wrapped Around Your Finger (The Police) and Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen) during Tori's Piano Bar segment of the show. If you were at this concert and want to send The Dent a review, please email Mikewhy at mikewhy@iglou.com with your review or comments. You can also post your review of the show on The Dent's Original Sinsuality Tour Forum. Thanks for sharing your reviews with The Dent.

More Details

Tori performed in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at the Tempodrom . Tori's special guest was Tom McRae and the show started at 8:00PM.

Set List

Special thanks to Richard G., Eric and Christoph for calling me with the set list after the show! Thank all of you so much for doing this for the readers of The Dent!

Original Sinsuality
Little Amsterdam
Leather
Cloud On My Tongue
Yes, Anastasia
Barons of Suburbia
Rattlesnakes

Wrapped Around Your Finger (Police cover)
Famous Blue Raincoat (Leonard Cohen cover)

Cars and Guitars
Mr. Zebra
Marianne
Amber Waves
Muhammad My Friend
The Beekeeper

1st Encore

Apollo's Frock
Toast

2nd Encore

Not the Red Baron
Sweet the Sting

Reviews

The latest reviews are at the bottom of this page. If you were at this show and want to send The Dent a review, please email Mikewhy at mikewhy@iglou.com with your review or comments.

You can also go to the Original Sinsuality Concert Review Forum and post about your experiences as well, or read additional reviews.


From Richard G.:

The show was really fantastic tonight, and there were many highlights. Little Amsterdam, Yes, Anastasia, Barons Of Suburbia, and the covers really stood out. It was also amazing to hear Muhammad My Friend I am sure!

Tori followed her written set list exactly as it was written. She told the crowd that Berlin felt like home.


From Sand:

Tori's written setlist was exactly the same as what she played. You could tell she was really tired, but she played an excellent show nonetheless.


From Christoph:

just came back from an amazing show in Berlin! You got the setlist already, and, yes, I can confirm, you understood Richard right on the phone - she actually played all those fabulous things!

With a nice sound (in a challenging round venue) and an appreciative audience, we knew it would be a good show once Leather and Cloud on my Tongue had been played. Yes, Anastasia was wonderful ("as always", I'm almost inclined to write), and after that came great versions of Barons of Suburbia and Rattlesnakes.

Tori's piano bar segment had Wrapped around your finger by The Police (which was a nice surprise, after all the different requests many people had submitted), followed by a stunningly beautiful rendition of Famous Blue Raincoat.

Cars and Guitars was good - Tori was in the wrong key initially but corrected this quickly, by masterfully and seamlessly starting the song again.

Mr Zebra and a powerful Marianne was next, followed by a very welcome Amber Waves. Muhammad my Friend was the first big highlight of the evening though (in my opinion, anyway). I'm not sure when I heard this song last played live, but it must have been quite a while. The song has always been one of my favourites, and it was truly wonderful to hear it again. Light show (especially the video on the beamer) was very nice and fitting as well, I thought.

After the Beekeeper, I think everybody was surprised in the most positive of ways that Tori played Apollo's Frock. Then came yet another big highlight - Toast. It's one of the most beautiful songs of Tori, and a very personal one certainly - one that I never requested, because I think it's one of those which I guess only appear in a show when they really feel it's right, or something like that. It was wonderful to see that, tonight, it actually turned up, and it fitted into this special setlist very nicely.

Not the Red Baron and Sweet the Sting ended this truly remarkable show, a great experience for sure. I'll be sleeping very well tonight (again) ... :-)


From Christine :

just a few additional thoughts on the Berlin show: Tori had so much energy that night, it was amazing. I'm thinking that itmight haveto do with the great Berlin crowd that went crazy when Tori came on stage and was very into it during the whole show. It was themost intenseversion of Little Amsterdam that I've ever heard. During the "tchtchtch" part in Cars and Guitars it seemed to me like she was almost giggling. Muhammad had a very nice oriental intro. The sound that night was just wonderful. Great, great show.


From Eric:

The Berlin show was exceptional in many ways, although such an interpretation will always have to be very personal.

But if a number of Toriphiles are standing breathless in the venue lobby after a show, this may serve as an indication that Tori has once again been able to create magic.

The way I experienced this remarkable show, Tori was extremely present. She did many little things such as hand gestures and looks, which indicated that she really was 'into' this show. The way she can slow down her songs, create tension and then release it again is anyhow one of the most amazing aspects of this solo tour. This can really only be experienced live.

I really believe that the choice of the first cover 'Wrapped Around Your Finger' was quite appropriate - this is what Tori did to her audience during this concert. We were all 'wrapped around her finger'!

Tori did not waste any time during this show. Already 'Little Amsterdam' had an intensity level that made clear that this would have a chance to become quite a night. Even 'Leather' had a little extra liveliness to it. 'Cloud On My Tongue', gorgeous as always, was followed by a strong 'Yes, Anastasia'. With the show taking place before a 'day-off', Tori did not hold anything back. She brought the song to life with heavy dynamics (truly visible in her piano playing during 'Yes, Anastasia') and with a wonderful flow. 'Barons Of Suburbia' as well as 'Rattlenakes' were exceptional, with every note being perfectly and seemingly consciously placed. At that time, Tori was already playing with us as her audience.

Starting the piano bar segment Tori announced that she would play some songs that had been requested - and that we should 'beat each other up' if we would not like them...

The covers that followed were not 'new' as in Hamburg on the day before, but they were performed in the most amazing way. Tori did not only perform the songs musically on this night - she also performed them emotionally, in an almost theatrical way. Tori seemed to really feel the songs while she was bringing them onto the stage.

'Cars And Guitars' was a lot of fun and harmonically very attractive, too. The 'restart' that Christoph has already reported on was part of the fun - it is indeed amazing how Tori handles these things. For me, it almost looked as if Tori was so much 'into' this show at that time that she was even a little bit in danger of 'forgetting' the 'basics'. She performed on a very high level and there seemed no need of 'controlling' anything anymore. 'Mr. Zebra' was a nice treat in this circus-like venue and had with the 'Kaiser Wilhelm' line even a little German/Berlin reference. It led directly over into 'Marianne'.

'Amber Waves' was once again glorious with Tori's regular switching between Bosendorfer grand piano and organ.

With 'Muhammad My Friend', Tori had the first big surprise of the evening for us. Breathtaking, with a new intro that appeared back towards the end of the song (similar to the structure of the new arrangement for 'Liquid Diamonds'). It was perfect, extremely enjoyable. We may speculate that Tori wants to take this song with her to Istanbul, which will be her last European date in just two-and-a-half weeks from now.

'The Beekeeper' again showed its scary beauty. During the song, I once had for a moment the impression that Tori was a little lost in her own performance, but she picked up again and finished the song as usual.

The first encore set certainly was another special highlight for me - although it is not quite fair to single out specific aspects of this overall amazing show. 'Apollo's Frock' surprised everybody and it is to me still unbelievable how easy it seems for Tori to simply pull out songs that she does not regularly perform. It was pretty and emotional and led into the even more emotional 'Toast' - and I can only support Christoph's comments on its appearance.

The second encore set had the always welcome 'Not The Red Baron', performed with a smile, and the rhythmic 'Sweet The Sting' that had us all swinging along, starting to remind us that all good things will end and that reality would have to set in again after this final song of the night was finished. It still took some time after having been drawn into this performance to 'get back to normal'...

The day in Berlin was a beautiful and very warm summer day. When we finally left the building after this experience, we found that it had rained during the show, that Berlin had cooled down significantly and that some thunderstorms were still going on around the city. The tension that the heatwave had generated during the day was finally released again. How appropriate!


From Sascha:

Tori Amos' concerts are more than only one thing: a mixture of concert, church service, religious experience, 1920 style Cabaret show, all rolled into one. And Tori Amos herself: singer, diva, priestess, witch, magician. Coming on stage in a long white dress she is all that, an figure both ethereal and down to earth, angelic and demonic, pure and dirty. Everything is light as a feather and haevy as lead at the same time. Few can fill the largest room just with her presence the way she does. Her stop in Berlin, her "favourite city", as she said, was no exception.

Varying her setlists like nobody else can, every show is new and fresh but at the same time more than familiar as she fills the night with her trademark sound, her piano and that voice that is too rich to describe. In a way, from the moment she comes on stage until she leaves again, lightly running backstage, it is all one long winding song. No matter if its her song or a cover, with the Tori Amos sound, her piano and organ play that wraps it all together, her voice, it all becomes one.

That is her strength and her weakness, too. While it serves as a thread that binds the evening together and creates an atmosphere that is totally unique, mixing the melancholy with the exuberant, the joy with the grief, the light with the heavy, and that fills the audience from the first to the last second, it also makes it all a little repetetive. When she draws out every vowel as if it was chewing gum, when she twirls every word around as if it was the most important ever, the song become a little bit the same and indistinguishable and lose some of their individuality.

Having said this, Tori Amos concerts are never boring, so high is the level of energy she brings to the stage, so much does she live, relive and suffer each song. A one woman band, she plays a grand paino, two organs and an electric piano (only one song). The focus is really on the piano, her instrument, the one with and through which she lives and probably dies, too. Often she plays piano and organ at the same time or moves back and forth from one to the other, turning and bending on her stool. She caresses her instruments and tortures them, there is no border between the light and the heavy, the quiet fragile and the loud powerful.

After a short but sweet "Original Sisuality", "Little Amsterdam" is dry and rough, "Leather" folky and sweet before she turns to two songs from her masterpiece "Under the Pink", the haunting and painfully intense "Cloud on My Tongue" and the powerful and aggressive "Yes Anastasia" - for me two of the show's highlights which in their constant reinterpretation sound as fresh as when they were first written.

After two fine but unspectacular songs, "Barons of Suburbia" off the new album and "Rattlesnakes", "Tori's Piano Bar", the segment in which she plays two covers requested by the fans via internet. Having "treated" recent audience's to songs by Georhge Michael and The Eagles, we were lucky. The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" sounded as if it had always been her song and Sting shoul pay her royalties. But the night's most magic moment was her interpretation of Leonard Cohen's beautiful and tear-soaked "Famous Blue Raincoat", a high standard she meets easily. Instead of "Sincerely, L. Cohen" she yould have sung "Sincerely, T. Amos" at the end.

Back to tthe new album and some nice vocal percussion for the nergetic "Cars and Guitars". Two more from the night's featured album, "Boys for Pele" (from which she played five songs", followed: a lightfooted "Mr Zebra" and a heavy, slowly rolling "Marianne". "Amber Waves" adds a lighter but more epic touch and befor the regular set ends with an inspired "Beekeeper" on which she punds the organ as if there is no tomorrow, we are in for another threat: "Muhammad My Friend", heartfelt, strong, insisting, she wails, cries and begs: "We both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem". Of course it was. A short break and a stage rush later, the rare "Apollo's Frock" shows up in all its sombre dignity before the complex "Toast" leads us on another rollercoaster of emotions. Then she is gone and back again in the blink of an eye for a subdued and grave "Not the Red Baron" before the show ends on a lighter note, the driving blues-jazz-funk inspired "Sweet the Sting". Then it's over before we know it and reality sets in far too quickly.

Perhaps not the mesmerizing magic one would wish for, but an excellent concert nonetheless, full of energy, intensity and every emotion you could think of. What remains when all is over is the voice. This world of expressions and sounds, some dug from the ground, aome out of this world. She fights battles with every word, every sound, she lets none pass lightly, she makes them linger, lets them grow and wither, rise and collapse. When all is said and done, they stay in the room, they follow you home, they remain in the air. Somewhere between sky and ground, between heaven and hell. Just like that fallen angel who has just left the stage.


From Susan:

This was my second concert and the first time I saw her without the band. It was awsome and her voice is so incredible and getting better the older she gets, although she seems to be trapped in a timeless sphere.

Little Amsterdam was a great start and after Ive heard of the powerful perfomances this tour she didnt disappoint expectations. She did a lot of impovs/ repetitions and hand movements during it. During "you see her olives are cold pressed" she touched her right breast and raised it up and once used her hand as a a gun pointing several times at us.

before she sang Leather she said, how much she liked being in Berlin and that nobody knows about it. She also told us how she feels, as if she had been in a Piano Bar in Berlin in a former life where she would play this song. Very cute !

Cloud On My Tongue much alike the DVD version, beautiful Yes, Anastasia version she does this tour Barons of Suburbia , how powerful with her being trapped between piano and hammond, the piecing a potion, and she is risen parts were extremly amazing Rattlesnakes as always a nice time to catch your breath

before the piano bar she took the notes with a funy expression on her face and told us that she was taking requests for Germany for a while and the chosen ones were these two, she also admitted, we should beat ourselves up, if we dont like them floating over the piano, unsure which one to play first she spoke to herself (very funny) Wrapped Around Your Finger , beautiful

Famous Blue Raincoat , good as always, but during the lines

"and what can i tell you my brother, my killer, what can i possibly say? i guess that i miss you,i guess i forgive you i'm glad you stood in my way. if you ever come by here, for jane or for me your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free."

she looked rather sad and it became clear, these words changed their meaning for her, very heartbreaking !

Cars and Guitars a long chum-chum part, unfortunately nobody clapped along Mr Zebra Kaiser Wilhelm line in Berlin ! nice Marianne very emotional Amber Waves good to hear that one Muhammad My Friend very powerful with a lot of rocking and moving and touching The Beekeeper not as emotional as Id expected it, maybe because her set was filled with great up-tempo songs Apollo's Frock what a surprise Toast very beautiful Not the Red Baron how great is she, to hear this one live, thanx a lot Sweet the Sting very sexy , people were swaying a lot , and she sang baby is it sweet , my boy

What a night and having seen her so close is an experience! Shes been in a real good performance mood! The way she keeps eye contact is incomparable. And the way she walks over to the Fender in her long dress, very cute . Hope youve fun seeing her along the rest of the tour!