On Friday, October 3, 2003, Tori was one of 8 artists who performed at MixFest X, in Boston, MA at the FleetCenter. This event was sponsored by radio station Mix 98.5. Tori's 6 song solo set was surprising because it was almost all covers! Click to see the set list and some comments from people who attended the concert.

More Details

Set List

Special thanks to Matt Page for calling me with the set list after the show! Thanks also to k* for emailing me after the show:


House Of The Rising Sun
I'm On Fire
Take To The Sky (with 'I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet')
The Needle and the Damage Done (just part of this cover)
Leather
Smells Like Teen Spirit




If you go to Wireimage.com and do a seach on 'Tori Amos', you will find 17 photos of Tori performing at Mixfest X. You will only be able to see the photos at full size if you are a paying member of that web site, but the thumbnails alone are very nice!

Reviews

From Matt Page:

Matt sounded really pleased with Tori's short appearance at this event! Her set list was really surprising, in that it included 4 covers out of the 6 songs performed. She performed solo at the piano, and looked really beautiful in her black outfit. She was really roaring at the end when performing "Smells Like Teen Spirit". During "Take To The Sky", she once again used part of Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet' during the performance. Tori only performed part of her cover of "The Needle and the Damage Done".


From Kim C.:

I couldn't be more pleased with the set!!!!! How surprising! The highlight,in my opinion, was easily house of the rising sun. Her performance was unbelievably powerful. And her outfit,oh my! Tori looked so hot(very reminiscent of johnny cash). It was so wonderful to see her like this!!!!! I'm already thinking about next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!


From Ladytorilen:

I also came back from the MixFest but I was somewhat disappointed. Not because Tori was disappointing--Tori was as amazing as ever, and she really did look stunning in her black outfit--but because I felt that her talent went to waste this evening. You see, Tori was playing amidst acts like Michelle Branch, Dido, Jason Mraz, Train, etc., and these are all good acts in their own right, but they are all mainstream and the audience around me wasn't into Tori. I enjoyed the covers Tori played tonight but I felt that she "had" to play covers to appease the audience. I hope I am the only one who got that impression, though!

Otherwise, Tori's short performance was astounding. This is the fifth time I've seen her, and each time, she gets more and more incredible. She just positively blows me away. The most important part was the cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit--that was the very first song out of Tori's mouth at my very first concert, and at this show, it was the last song, so it was a very moving, important, sentimental performance for me. I can't wait for her next tour to come around!


From Marla Tiara:

I really had a nice time at Mixfest last night. Tori's set was short, as you already know, but I got to hear some covers I'd never heard before live. Tori seemed a bit distant, but that's not surprising I guess - there were tens of thousands of people there and it seemed like most of them were there to see other artists. Tori looked absolutely gorgeous though, and her voice sounded beautiful. During Take to the Sky, she not only did I Feel the Earth Move, but also sang the "All the way to the White House" line and we all cheered and danced. Although I knew it would be this way, I was so sad to see her go after only a handful of songs. She did pause very briefly at the stage door just off-stage to sign autographs for a few fans, but she didn't say anything to anyone. Oh and Duran Duran were incredible too, and Barenaked Ladies were funny and put on a great show, so even though I didn't sit through every act (*cough*Train*cough*) I did feel like I got my money's worth. But the best part was hanging out with Tori fans - I got to see people that I haven't seen since March or earlier, and that was fantastic.

Oh, by the way, at the end of Michelle Branch's set, she mentioned that she was most excited to see Tori. And during Tori's set, Michelle did in fact come out and stand in the VIP area and watch intently. And then some of *Michelle's* fans noticed and started yelling to Michelle (loudly), which was just surreal. But it was nice to see someone on the artist side appreciating Tori.


From Rabbit:

I just wanted to give you my take on Tori's performance last night at Mixfest X. Tori did look absolutely stunning - as usual - and her stage presence was as powerful as ever. As a "hard core" Tori fan - I could completely appreciate her unusual set list - every serious Tori fan loves Tori's covers. House of the Rising Sun was intense and chilling - fantastic. I'm on Fire was beautiful. I personally loved every song she performed last night......but I have to say that most of the pop music "sheep" around me did not. I kept wishing she would play one song that someone who has only heard Tori on the radio would recognize...Cornflake Girl, or Silent All These Years...something to grab the attention of the general audience and shut them up! The chatter around me during Tori's set only got worse and worse as her set went on, because it seemed that most people had no idea who she was - by Smells Like Teen Spirit, I was straining to hear her over the talking crowd around me. Mind you, this was a Michelle Branch, Barenaked Ladies, etc. crowd for the most part. And I was saddened by the fact that her talent went so wasted on this crowd. After her set, out by the refreshment stands, I could hear a lot of "Who was she?" and "That Tori Amos, she is way too intense for me." That made me very disheartened...Tori's immense talent and beauty were totally lost on the crowd. It was really a Toriphile's dream performance - but not right for a pop music festival crowd like the one that listens to Mix 98.5.


From Jen Schnorbus:

I just had to respond to the comment about Tori's appeasing the crowd, because I really felt the opposite. I was a little skeptical about her decision to play at MixFest, just because it is sort of a pop rock crowd pleasing event. But Tori seemed to me to have such an attitude last night that my skepticism was totally overturned. She knew she wasn't playing for her crowd and she wasn't about to play the only songs they might have heard on Mix 98.5 (like Fairytale or Taxi Ride). Instead she played songs that I took to be a spit in the face of the whole event. Maybe it was my imagination, but when she sang Leather, the "Why am I here?" sounded more poignant than usual, as did the "Here we are now entertain us" of Smells Like Teen Spirit. And when she sang The Needle and the Damage Done, she peered down at the crowd with "I know that some of you don't understand." Every gesture she made was so controlled and verging on disdainful, and although I don't think most of the audiendce understood, it seemed to me like her performance was a kind of practical joke. It was an amazingly beautiful joke, but a joke nonetheless. I almost didn't go to this performance, because I was thought I would just hear five or six of her most popular songs. I don't know how I thought she'd ever do anything that mundane, and I'm so relieved I didn't miss out on such a unique performance.


From neverseenblu (Deb):

A beauty dressed in black, and her hair so long, straight and tossing as she pounded the keys tonight in Boston. She amazed me at the set of mostly covers, some I'd never seen performed live, so what a thrill! I wish she had done the full song, Needle and Damage Done as thats a favorite. It was cute, cause she said something to the affect of "I dont get to do this that often, so....." and I'm certain she meant that while touring everyone expects to here her own songs, so she was happy to be playing those covers. I loved her comment during "I Feel The Earth Move", about taking it to the White House. That brought cheers!

I sat in wonderful seats, great view and duds! for people surrounding me. When they announced Tori, I was the only one on my feet and though they clapped polietly after each performance, there was none of that Tori-energy I always feel at every show. I had to listen to a mom-daughter talk behind me sayingthat Tori looks pretty good for just turning 45! Ugh!
And then came the drool..... Tori at one point wiped a lilfrom her chin, and later had a nice long drool from her lip, to her chin and it dropped to the piano keys during Smells Like Teen Spirit. Well all around me were pointing, laughing, making remarks and I just cheered her on, drool and all. She was fantastic, gorgeous and gave me enough to sustain me until the cd release in November.


From Dana~ torinymph02:

I was pleasantly surprised by tonight's show.

When Tori cane out she said something like~ I'm gonna be doing a few songs you guys all know. She was absolutely stunning black pants/shirt button up. Her hair was blown straight, half up half down.

It was a bit strange seeing her in a mixed audience (meaning not all Tori fans) just because she's usually so communicative w/ us ~ there's more of an exchange.

I had shitty balcony seats, but there was a large screen which captured close up shots ~ & lots of yummy Tori drool :*)

It was a slow yet powerful start with house of the rising sun. I was so happy to see that she ended w/ smells like teen spirit~ it wasn't as powerful as Orlando's show, but nonetheless it was wonderful. A perfect ending.


From JoshGroban21:

I was at the mix fest x to see Tori Amos, and I thought her short appearance was just awesome, and she looked really beautiful in her black out fit. The sad thing though was alot of the people I had observed were mostly into the main stream acts that were there last night. And Tori was the best act out of all of them. They are good in their own right, but they are mainstream, and I kinda felt for Tori that there were alot there for the other bands. All in all it was a wonderful thing to be able to see this. It was very important and meaningful to me.


From J.P.:

I was just over at the Dent, reading people's comments about Mixfest. A part of me thought that her song choices, and attitude reflected the news of Courtney Love's near overdose that was reported earlier that day. I could be completely wrong, but the Rising Sun/New Orleans, Needle...and the Nirvana cover seemed to all point in that direction.



Read a review of this concert from the Boston Metro


Read a review of this concert from the Boston Globe


From Kathryn Masci:

I loved the show and thought tori sounded great. i was able to talk to the sound engineer before tori went on and he told me to look forward to a set with some covers "i might not expect" that alone made me so pumped for tori to come on. I was on the floor and everyone around me was very attentative throughout tori's set along with the other performers. I was able to get the offical set list from the sound crew. Leather was written as 4th and crossed out and moved down to 5. I thought it was powerful set and i was glad to hear these songs rather than the songs that could be considered most "radio friendly".


From Toodles Kitty:

The MiXfest (10th) 2003 was eventful:

Let see, according to my friend, Ivy (butterfliesforrainn), she heard boos when a dj wasintroducing Duran Duran andcame to Tori's name. He was recapping the artists who had performed thus far. I was too busy cheering but I thought I heard boos. Ivy confirmed I had indeed heard booing.

Toriwas political -- during her song "Take to the Sky" she did the usual slide into "I feel MY earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down... " but then she sang, "I feel the earth move right under THE WHITE HOUSE..."

And Tori's set was sexually charged from the moment she straddled the piano seat wearing her sexy, shimmery black tight rocker outfit, from "House of the Rising Sun" to "I'm on Fire" to "Leather"... You know the set list.

I heard a little girl say, "She's scary..." lol

There were kids in the audience but as I said later to Ivy, I'd like to think that I'M NOT A PRUDE and I'd like to think if my children had been there, they would have been able to take it all in stride and not feel ooogy or scared.

This was my 11th time seeing Tori in concert. She was phenominal as usual. We love the boys, but dammit, she rocks when she's solo!


Read a review of this concert from MTV.com.