I have more accounts of the signing and a few more photos!

More Details

Tori did a siging at Borders on Oxford Street in central London U.K. on Wednesday, November 19, 2003. She began signing around 6:40PM UK time and signed one item per person, which was mostly the new album. People were led in goups of 10 to where Tori was signing. You can see below a photo of Lucy meeting Tori at the Borders signing. After that I have some detailed accounts of the signing, and some of them include photos as well.

Here is come commentary on the signing:

From becki:

We got told that it was only one item per person and most people did only get one item signed but tori was more than happy to sign what ever people wanted, we also got told that it was only tales that we were allowed to get signed.. but again this was not up to tori and she didnt mind what people wanted to get signed..i would say there were around 250 people there who were able to meet her and get stuff signed, i was told that people also got turned away. im not quite sure how long she was there as i left after i had met her, but considering she was talking to people for a good length of time i should think later than normal signings. i expected her to be behind a table sitting down but instead she was stood up the whole time with a table just to the right side of her with some flowers and a bottle of water on it and pens etc.. i really like that it was set up that way because it just felt really nice to be able to stand there infront of her and talk..She really was so comforting and warm, i mean i was shaking when it was my turn and i could hardly speak.. she asked questions and was just so beautiful, she said some lovely words to me that i wont forget either. and i over heard her giving people advise too which was lovely. the past two days have been so amazing! seeing her at the shaw theatre was just a wonderful experience and i feel lucky to have got tickets!


From Daniel:

Just wanted to send some details about the signing at Borders. I have to start by saying what an amazing and giving artist Tori is and how she really cares about her fans and gives so much of herself to us. At the Shaw Theater even though many seats went to industry, the best seats went to the fans....

Things were very relaxed and there was a great vibe. Some sweet woman even bought chocolate cookies and passed them around to the group. I was towards the front of the line, but everyone was just chilling and really looking forward to seeing Tori.

As already posted Tori took the time to talk to each person who did meet her, and although we were told at the last minute that she would only sign Tales of a Librarian and that alone, Tori signed whatever you brought her and signed two things for several people who gave them to her. Tori spoke with each person, gave them a hug and took the time to hear what they had to say.

Her manager (I think?) was there and asked people to: 1. Not take pictures up close of Tori; 2. Not give here more than one item to sign; 3. Not take the time to pose with pictures with Tori as it would take up too much time and he said "Many people here are already going to be dissapointed."

My friend Tony asked Tori when she would next tour in the UK and she said in 2005.

My friend Burak told her how great her performance of "Take to the Sky" was at the Shaw Theater the night before and she said "It was very special, wasn't it?"


From Farouk:

I was one of the unlucky people who didn't get to see Tori. Basically we all had to queue up on the second floor, and the first 175 people were let up onto the third floor where Tori did the signing (I was No 177!!). The rest of us were told that there's no guarantee that Tori would have time to see
us, so we could either go home or wait. The Borders staff said she would probably sign maybe 200 people or for 2 hours (I guess depending which came first), so I decided to wait just in case. The queue of the people who couldn't get in was quite long, maybe 100 people and took up almost the
whole floor. But at 7.15pm they told us that Tori would not be signing any more people apart from those already upstairs so they told us to just go home.


From Melissa Hook:

I arrived at around 4:45pm, we were told to que on the floor below the signing as there were already too many people upstairs. The staff at Borders were really kind and helpful. We finally made it up to the next floor at 5:30pm, and there were easily 250/300 people there. Tori came out to sign at 6:45pm, she looked amazing, Purple long sleeved top with a slit to expose a little fleh, and a black skirt with sexy tights and an incredible pair of killer heels...soo sexy! In total we waited for 3hrs and 45 mins, but were finally seen. Tori spent time with everyone and no one was rushed along. She spoke very softly and asked questions, she hugged many people and posed for photo's . We were told that she would only sign ONE item and only the new CD, but many people got other items signed. I was in the last 20 to see Tori which was really nice as she was spending quite a bit of time with people, even though she was so tired! I think they must have easily turned away 100 people and many people left as they couldn't wait any longer, let's face it most of us would stay all night for the chance to meet her.My heart goes out to the ones that didn't get a chance xx

I've been a fan since I was thirteen and seen Tori play 11 times , but I've never met her. I've always found the thought of meeting her, overwhelming and so have never gone to a meet and greet. Tori was so open and warm last night , she looked incredible and had this intense light around her, her presence was thick and perfumed the air, a feeling and a thought I will carry with me for the rest of my life. So thank you Tori xx.


From Eric:

Hi, just thought Id send you a couple of the pictures i took of Tori at the signing at Borders yesterday and tell you that she is just so lovely! She hugged me! And as a side note, she smelt SOOOO nice! I told her I as learning to play the piano and she said, "She will never betray you!" Now THAT is a great Tori quote! I queued for 5 hours but it was well worth it!



From michelle mendonca:

hi, me and my friend went to meet tori at the borders signing this week but i was late so had to queue on the second floor, after ages of waiting we were told we would not even be allowed up to tori as there were too many people. i was gutted but i thought i'd try one more thing. i copied the stamp onto my hand with my red pen and blagged it upstairs! we waited a while and finally got to tori who looked great with a cool purple top and amazing shoes! She asked us what were our names and signed our bits (we didnt bring TOAL) and she talked to us for ages about our friend that introduced us to her music who died this year, we said hello from him and she looked really sad. She asked us if we were persevering with our art because the world needs more inspired artists! We finally got a group hug and left as some of the borders staff were obviously getting pissed off with the amount of time Tori was giving each person. She is so genuine and nice, it made up for not getting into the shaw theatre the night before.


From Steve (aka amelio747):

I got to Borders in Oxford Street London yesterday at about 2:30 PM and people were queuing already! I was with my Sister (who likes some Tori songs) and she wanted to look in the shops so we came back at about 4:15 and the queue was much bigger. I think we waited until about 8PM. Wow all the people waiting seemed really nice, I guess they'd have to be right! Anyway I figured by the time I got to meet Tori I'd be too tired to be nervous, wrong! I was all sweaty and shaking. Oh and btw she's much shorter than I thought she was! So...anyway Tori was really nice! She's such a calm and collective person (this confused my sister cos' I made her watch the _Live In NY_ video), very warm and interested as well as interesting. Anyway I wall goofy and a bit starstruck. She asked me what was happening with me and I said "Umm ummm....um oh I guess same old, same old thing...yeah nuthin' much really". Well lucky for me Tori is quite a patient person. I then told her I've listened to TOAL (also the played most of it about 3 times which was cool but seeing as they sell CD's and all they could have rotated her other albums aswell like... BFP so needed to go on) and I thought it was amazing whats she's done with it and used "Cornflake Girl" as an example with the guitar being heard a lot better. She said that it's all got to do with this digital compressor (I forgot the name even though Tori told me not to forget it, I think it was Swiss or something but I will have to look it up) that has allowed her to do things that she couldn't a few years a go. Anyway I thought I'd be a bit cheeky and I said "Oh no harpsichord songs though Tori" in my sweetest voice possible and Tori was like "Ah no, no...I thought about it....and well I though about it and that was it" and then I said something dumb like "and that was it". I went to shake Tori's hand and she hugged me which was so nice. I swear I was gonna cry! I then said good luck and was on my way. My sister was next and she got Tori to sign a CD for someone in the queue who's friend couldn't be there. My sister said that Tori was like "That's so sweet let me sign one for you too". I took a photo of the 2 of them. Tori then suggested that I took a photo of them hugging. I have this really old camera so I had to wait for the light to go on after the last picture. I felt like such a dork and everyone was waiting for me. I think Tori must have though that I was def! More so because my sister said later that I was shouting at Tori and ours was the only conversation anyone could here. OMG I think I need to see the doctors really.

I remember telling Tori that I play the guitar and after I had met her I looked at the CD and it said "To Steve + your guitar Tori Amos"!


From whatifimamermaid:

I was fortunate enough at a connection to just jump in a leaving train; literally, had the doors been closing any more when I went in, I would not have made it. At this time I was a wreck and talking to the other people around me like a hyper maniac; as mentioned, there was a cut-off point and I managed to make it by about eleven, so was very thankful that I wasn't a second later with the train!

You know that someone has a profound influence on you when you look at their musical biography spanning the thirteen years and realise that although you were three when the first was released, apart from the new songs, you know the words to every single one.

Tori arrived quite soon after 6:30pm and everyone was crowding around to see as she stepped out of the lift; she looked gorgeous in a dark purple shirt and had fantastic shoes, as always! Everyone was even more excited now and for me and the people with whom I was, at least, it seemed rather surreal.

The queueing actually wasn't that bad; I was rather nervous as time passed that I might not manage to see her. But gradually we curved around and when we got to the straight line section of the queue I was getting so fluttery in my stomach!

But it came to my turn and I didn't know what to say first, so I gave her a card I made and tried not to sound too nervous. She was very sweet and made sure she knew how to spell my name right (most people don't do that and I end up with it mispelt!). But the main reason that I'd queued wasn't to get signed - that was the icing on the cake, really. My main reason was that I really, really just wanted to thank Tori for the impact her music has had on my life the past few years.

Unfortunately, a song that reminded me of certain experiences was playing on the sound system at the time, so I was crying as I said this (feeling rather uncomfortable doing this); she reached out and gave me a long hug and said a few things that I will always treasure now.

It was all very, very surreal and a lot of people walked off shaking their heads in awe, unsure as to whether it had just happened. I instead just looked stupid, grinning through tears, clutching my album tightly. The DVD and the CD straight after I got home just made the experience more magical; to watch and listen to a person you've just met and shared an amazing moment with.. just wow.

I'm so, so grateful to have just made that train, because otherwise I would have missed out all of this. I would not queue for three and a half hours, four hours for anyone else. Not only that, but even if someone would get something signed for me, I would still go myself to see Tori and this is not the case for anyone else in the world.

An amazing evening. Well worth the wait and more!