You can now see the set list and reviews for the Hartford, CT concert at The Bushnell (William H. Mortensen Hall). Tori set list included Carbon, Strange, Mrs. Jesus, Spring Haze and the covers 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (Simon & Garfunkel) and Me And Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin). 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 post your review of the show on The Dent's Original Sinsuality Tour Forum. It would be nice to get as many different viewpoints about this show as possible!

More Details

Tori performed in Hartford, CT on Sunday, April 10, 2005 at The Bushnell (William H. Mortensen Hall). Tori's special guest was Matt Nathanson and the show started at 8:00PM.

Set List

Special thanks to Matt Page for calling me with the set list after the show!

Original Sinsuality
Beauty Queen
Horses
Carbon
Parasol
Leather
Jackie's Strength
Strange

59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) - (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
Me And Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin cover)

Mrs. Jesus
Marys Of The Sea
Silent All These Years
Ribbons Undone
Spring Haze
The Beekeeper

1st Encore

Merman
Cloud On My Tongue

2nd Encore

Sweet The Sting
Twinkle

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 Matt Page:

Matt thought it was a really great set tonight, and that the show was better than the previous one in New York. There were no obvious flaws in her perfomance, and it was more concise, it flowed well, and was very emotional with songs like Ribbons Undone and Twinkle. Spring Haze was especially gorgeous.

Before performing the Simon & Garfunkel song 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), Tori talked about leaving New York and it being a beautiful day, and that as she was literally traveling over a bridge she was prompted to perform this cover at the next show.

She also told a story after Horses. She mentioned something about Tash having a doll with a tilted head named Lily, and how she told Tash that there were girls like that in L.A. Hopefully someone will have an exact transcript of what sounded like a cute little talk!

The official, written set list was quite different in terms of the encores. Tori had planned to perform Honey and Sweet The Sting for the first encore and Merman and Cloud On My Tongue for the second encore.


From Cliff:

Tori was strong tonight. Song selection was interesting yet fulfilling.

A few thoughts...

She took many liberties at different points in songs. This also goes hand in hand with the tempos, all of which (I thought), were one notch slower than normal.

The organ behind the piano had obvious glitches. There was a static-like noise with each song she played on the top keyboard. It still is quite amazing to see her handle both keyboard and organ at the same time. It's no easy feat.

She looked absolutely great! A dress from her 'current' collection. This one was the usual flowy one with shard-like pieces of white with green underneath it. She looked real comfortable.

'Spring Haze' was particularly strong. At one point she was about to swivel to the organ but decided against it at the last minute and did the entire ending (that was most likely intended for the organ) on the piano and really raised the volume a bit. It had muscle.

'Me and Bobby McGee' was just perfect. It flowed and really told the story that it is. Just beautiful.

'59th Street Bridge' was also a nice surprise. Both were performed like she had been playing them for many years. Great piano/vocal combination in this one.

'Strange' was beautiful and a bit dark on the Fender Rhodes. This was an incredible arrangement (for the Fender). Sadly, it's the only time she used it.

'Mrs. Jesus' was superb as well. Another really beautiful song and arrangement. If I remember correctly, she also divided up keyboards with piano and organ for this and it was almost too bad that the organ was a little sick. It really showed (very unfortunately) for 'Marys of the Sea' - one of my favorite songs on Beekeeper. Sounded great with the exception of that organ problem. I was first row in the mezzanine so maybe I'm the only one that heard this. Maybe it wasn't as audible in the orchestra.

The highlight, hands down (for me), was her piano take on 'Sweet The Sting'. This was an incredible solid arrangement handled in typical animated Tori-fashion (see 'Leather'). It really sounded like an entirely different song performed on the piano.

Overall, it was a very good show. A packed house. And most of all, the crowd was silent (like pin-drop silent) when they needed to be which was so nice for a change.

I also spotted a pretty sizeable meet and greet line aroumd 4:30pm on my way home (and in passing the Bushnell). Anyone know if she actually appeared?

** Oh - before I forget - Tori also mentioned very early on that she's on the road until mid-September **

Thanks for visiting Hartford Tori.


From DaBuzz1234:

Just got back from Hartford!

Positive notes: I've seen Tori so many times, its always refreshing to see her, no matter what the set list contains. Her voice was crisp, on top of her vocals all night. Marys of the Sea, what a wonderful rendition. Feelin groovy, leather, very theatrical. Sweet the sting is much more powerful live then on the record, love it.

Not so Positives: Unfortunately (call me a spoiled CT toriphile) the setlist left much to be desired compared to her previous visits to CT. There were no "new" songs from beekeeper debuted tonight, I was hoping for witness or martha. Carbon, Horses, Cloud seemd like "fillers" to me tonight, no real emotion. It felt like people were getting antsy towards the front during the first half of the show. You could tell they were waiting for that big "surprise" song, but it never came. I've heard all of the songs live in previous concerts, so no surprises for me.

Big thumbs down to the crowd overall for rushing the stage like a bunch of animals half way through the beekeeper. I think the stage hand signaled too early, but really, act with some sense.

Overall I can't complain, anytime I see Tori I leave with a smile. Hopefully she will be back (at the Oakdale) and have some surprises for us! Thank you Tori.


From Annette:

The story about Lily was very cute. Lillyis a Barbie doll with a sparkly purple dress and we all got to meet her tonight. I have the story almost word for word.

So, uh Natashya has been sent off to bed but she wanted me to bring something for her tonight. I don't know why. She doesn't have any history in Hartford that I know of. I don't think she has had any play group love affairs here. Anyway, she wanted me to bring out Lily. (Brings out the doll from behind her back) Lily is here in honor of Tash tonight. Natashya says--I like Lily because she does this with her head. (Tori and Lily tilt their heads to the side in a bimboish pose) See, Natashya the thing is that women do that with their heads. Really Mommy? Yes, wait till you get to LA, right. She doesn't remember having been there. It is a concept in her mind. She doesn't know what they do out there. She doesn't know that we will be having these conversations. Are they real Mommy? That's going to be happening very soon and you are going to see this over in LA. So anyway, this is Lily. If she gets lost and if you see here anywhere just bring here to the show. She belongs to Natashya. Its wonderful being with you tonight and we are out until the middle of September. And I can't believe I'm playing with Lily. (She throws the doll back over her shoulder and everyone laughs.)


From Sheri:

I really enjoyed the set list.

The Tash story was cute. She asked 'mummy' to take her barbie, Lillian, to the show and hold her up to all the people. So she did. Tash said "mummy, I like Lillian because she can tilt her head like this (tilts head). Tori said she would see plenty of woman tilting their heads in LA, and would probably be having the "are they real conversation" in LA. She said that she wasn't sure if Tash had a play group love affair in Hartford, but she wasn't sure why Tash chose to show us her barbie. Then she said, " I can't believe I"m playing with Lillian" and threw her behind the stage! LOL!

The highlights for me were: Spring Haze, Sweet the Sting, Marys of the Sea....Feeling Groovy was adorable and Bobby McGee was great.

I thinkThe Beekeeper is wayyy to long and drawn out. I wasn't feeling that.

Orginal Sin was gorgeous.

Something was strange about this show. I felt like she was tired, or in a bad mood. Possbily both.

The problems with the Rhodes were probably frustrating for her. There was a static when she played the high notes and at one point she went to play it during MOTS ( I think ) and it didn't work....she went right back to the piano and finished....The techs were out there a few times fiddling with it...

Maybe it was just me, but when she sang "Yes I know what you think of me you never shut up", she looked directly at Mark ..... it was a look of death!

Anyway, it is a treat to see Tori, no matter what. I loved the show. I went with 5 friends, none of them are hard core fans but they were all blown away by the voice and talent that woman posseses.


From Jackie:

Tonight's show in Hartford was really beautiful. The venue had a much more intimate feel than NYC and the sound was clearer and lusher.

Surprises for me were Carbon, which was gorgeous, and the covers. Me and Bobby McGee was such a shock and sounded incredible.

Cloud on My Tongue and Jackie's Strength were especially emotional.

She sang "Take this message to Michael" during The Beekeeper.

And possibly my favorite moment...the Barbie story. Hilarious!


From court. magnet:

First of all, Matt Nathanson is adorable and lovely--what a hunk of an irresistible man he is! Every comment out of his mouth is sweet and hilarious, and then he's got these beautiful, heart-wide-open songs. She's always so genius with her opening boy acts; Howie Day was wonderful, and Matt is just so smart & funny & sexy & talented.

The highlights were the covers--59th st. bridge (it WAS a perfect "feeling groovy" sunday here in New York, the first supergorgeous day everyone was out and being luscious after a long, flu-ridden winter--we drove up to Hartford late in the afternoon to catch her show there, she's always better out of New York) and then Bobby McGee, especially the latter, had the most energy. Sweet the Sting was gorgeous as well. The rest of the show was amazing as she always is, but the organ issues are probably why it didn't seem to shoot us into the ether the way I hoped--it's like the reality of that grounded her in a way. The Beekeeper is kind of grating, live--it's not like when she would play Crucify on the organ the last few times around and the quiet moroseness led us into another world--the high, more grating tone on the Beekeeper feels like it shuts us out.

But I can't complain. Feeling completely groovy--it was still a beautiful show.


From pastorskid:

The show revived my appreciation for Tori's sheer talent, even when a new album is subpar. But I must heartily echo the from-on-high injunction to rush the stage politely -- if that's even possible, from the vantage point of us fans further back. Her version of "The Beekeeper" tonight was transfixing, and it was just building in intensity when all of a sudden, dozens of heads swarmed into view under the stage. It was disrespectful to the song, to Tori, and to the rest of the audience, especially after a whole show in which nobody selfishly shrieked like a fool.

Otherwise, the concert was strong. Pianos may not be guitars, but they sure sound like drums when Tori is her own rhythm section! She did seem to have slowed down and stuck closer to the album recordings than I remember in past concerts, but let's face it: how fair is it to expect a hardworking 41-year old mom, after decades of performing and touring, to keep hurling herself at the keyboard a la "Cornflake Girl"?


From Sherrie Lemire:

I have to disagree with the reviewer who said that Tori seemed a little tired last night. This was my kickoff show, so maybe I was projecting, but she seemed upbeat, cheerful and highly energetic, which I felt was reflected in her cover song choices (Feelin Groovy??? Bobby McGee??? Who could ask for better! A perfect compliment to a perfect spring day. What a treat!!). From the minute she walked onto the stage I felt a childlike energy radiating from her. And then there was her outfit - a short sleeved, pale green dress with a white pinafore-like piece over it, her hair in long ringlets (this is the balcony review mind you). My brother and I both immediately thought "Through the Looking Glass" and throughout the show I kept having moments were I felt we were being taken down the rabbit hole, returning to a childlike world where it was still possible to believe in rabbit holes and the surreal worlds that live inside them. Yet at the same time this fantasy world was clouded by the experiences of an adult, so there was no innocence to the childish fantasy. Her Tash story was perfect - one addition to the transcript on that, she said something to the effect of "If she gets lost and if you see her anywhere just bring her to the show. She belongs to Natashya. Not ME." As if to say "I know you would all love to get your hands on something of mine but do not be taking my daughter's toys away from her!"

There was definitely a sound problem going on with the organ - at one point someone came out to fix it in between songs but they never got the problem licked. I think she was going to play it during (I think) Spring Haze but she turned right back around again, which seemed odd. The stage rushing was TOO well orchestrated which leads me to believe people had planned this ahead of time - in which case just DON'T. Nothing wrong with a well organized stage rush but in the middle of a song??? Hope everyone gets to hear Sweet the Sting - sooo much better than the album version (which I find annoying - what is with those adult R&B sounding background vocals???). Beauty Queen/Horses was a treat; nice to hear Spring Haze without the band after the last tour. Noticeable shortage of Bee sides. Can't wait for the Orpheum - acoustics aren't as good but the venue is nice and small.

One last thought - last night I was looking around at all the composed and captivated fans thinking these venues must love having Tori fans. There's no chaos, no rampant drunkenness, everyone is considerate and organized and respectful (well, MOST of us are). I feel privileged to be a part of this group. We are the best fans out there :-)


From Edward Randazzo:

This was my 5th show and first one on this tour.

It's great that Tori is out sharing her music again. I love seeing her live.

The venue was perfect and intimate.

I thought Tori sounded incredible. Her music really comes through when she plays solo.

And you never really know what she'll do next.

Some highlights:

Beauty Queen/Horses - This was a real treat! My first time seeing this live.
Carbon - WOW! Also a new one to add to my concert experiences! So beautiful!
Parasol - My favorite track from the new record. Well done!
Jackie's Strength - Always a nice addition! Lovely!
Strange - This one had a dark tone to it tonight.. A lot from Scarlet showed up.

Me And Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin cover) - This song reminds me of my sister, so this was nice. I love the piano bar idea for this tour. Tori's playing some GREAT covers so far. Who knows what she'll do next!

Mrs. Jesus - My first time seeing this live as well!
Silent All These Years - CLASSIC! So glad I finally got this!
Ribbons Undone - After seeing the Beekeeper DVD and hearing the story behind it... I really connected to it. Definitely my favorite performance of the night!

Spring Haze - INTENSE! I loved the "Why... does...it - Always end up like this?" section!
The Beekeeper - Unbelievable live! I was a little distracted toward the end because of the stage rushing - it ruined the ending for me but OH WELL - tori was exceptional!

Merman & Cloud On My Tonguewere new for me too! Both sounded great together. The "Circles and..." part is so beautiful! I closed my eyes at this point and it felt like I was floating!

Sweet The Sting - What a great arrangement! Playful and fun!

*THANKS TO MARY ANN and LORI* for a great time - love you both!


From Juliet:

First of all, I agree with everyone about Matt Nathanson, he is absolutely adorable and tells the funniest stories in between songs. I would highly recommend picking up any of CD's and he even came out after the show to meet with fans and sign posters etc.

Although I know some people were disappointed with the show, I personally had an amazing time. The Bushnell is a great venue with great acoustics and it was really nice to see Tori in a smaller space than usual. I thought her vocals were pretty dead on tonight, and the story about Tash was really cute. Like everybody said, she looked absolutely radiant and I would have killed for her outfit! It's true she didn't talk much with the audience, but I did not get the vibe that she was unhappy or tired at all. Rather I found I discovered how much I love some of the old songs again when I got to hear them live and solo.

In terms of the songs, I'm not a big fan of Beekeeper, so I was hoping for a fair amount of b-sides and older stuff, which she did play. Spring Haze was the hands down favorite, it was absolutely amazing, flawless and haunting. Very different feel when she's not with the band, but I always like what she does with the piano when she doesn't have drums and guitar to work with. Cloud on Your Tongue was also great, as was Jackie's Strength, which I thought sounded a lot better than it has in the past. I didn't know any of the covers, but they sounded good and she seemed to get pretty into them.

All and all, it was an excellent show, but I do wish I had gotten to hear some of my favorites or lesser songs played. The audience up until the end was EXTREMELY respectful, it was literally silent the whole show. I'm looking forward to the second leg!


From Jim Semp:

Tori was right on tonite: her vocal, keys and emotional output in this Hartford CT show united to create a truly awe-inspiring performance! All laurels for the red-haired goddess! Thanks Tori, we love you!! Favs were Horses, Carbon, Feelin Groovy, Bobby Magee, Mrs. Jesus, Marys (although see below), Ribbons, Cloud, Sweet the Sting (which I had hoped for) and Twinkle was a perfect closer. It was clearly a Sunday performance for Tori, many references to family, daughter (Ribbons and Lilian monologue) and religious entities and themes.

The original sinsuality tour 2005 is showcasing Tori as a mature and seasoned musician-performer with a song repertoire and discography that is now so deep and wide-ranging that every concert is now going to be a complete mystery. No more obligatory Cornflake Girls or closer Jupiters for us. A Tori solo concert is, more so now than ever before, a very and completely esoteric thing: having evolved to a unique and completely unpredictable phenomena, thus completely mirroring the persona that she is: personally and musically.

However, darts for the sound crew...the sound crew needs to be faulted here (in Hartford, CT), for letting the organ crackling (which I have never in in all my Tori shows (11 years) experienced anything that pronounced and annoying) happen. Also, much too loud so that highs on vox and keys were distorted and muddled at times. Tori needs to reign in the sound crew on these issues.
So much of what Tori does is not about volume! Tori is all about contrast: light and dark, tempo changes and volume changes to reflect mood changes and her feelings in conveying the characters and story behind each song.

Unfortuntely, I don't think the crew spent the time and attention to detail they needed to get the sound "right" for this Hartford venue, and cut heavily into our enjoyment of the concert at times. The sound crew clearly undershot the high standards that Tori has for her sound.

PLEEZ! PLEEZ!! PLEEZ!!! fix this for the rest of the tour!!!!!!! Turn down the volume a click... your power IS NOT in your CLUB SANDWICH!! (Waitress, UTP, Tori, 1994)


From Kate P.

I travelled to Hartford from NY state. Ihad seatsin Section D of the Mezz. The view was great, especially with my fantabulous binoculars. Matthew Nathanson was awesome. I knew his name before the show, and that was about it. I became an immediate fan because he was so funny and cute with an amazing voice and incredible guitar playing. People around me kept asking me who he was. People were definitely impressed by him. He told us all to give genitals a round of applause. Haha. Yay for genitals. Wicked funny guy. ::sigh::

The curtain went up and there she was. Tori was wearing shades of green and cream, looking all dreamy and flowy. I was very excited to see her perform without the band. During the first three songs, the piano sounded muffled, but that was fixed when she stopped to talk. The first three songs were great nonetheless. I was really surprised to hear Beauty Queen and Horses. Then the doll came out. I was watching through my binoculars and saw her pick it up. When she was talking about the doll she threw her head back pretending to be some sort of ditzy valley girl from L.A.- after that little bit, she threw the doll behind her rather maliciously. It was goofy.

So Tori sang "Leather" and so did some girl behind me. That girl was alright... her excitement was somewhat welcomed. However, her drunk acid tripping loud rude friend, was not. During the "oh god" part, the girl yelled "OH GOD! OH GOD!" and I could hear her friends whisper "just shut up just shut up". She also kept saying "aww this sucks this sucks" and she sang "and i'm crazy!" during the simon & garfunkel song whenever tori sang "feelin groovy" grrrrr The blood was boiling in my veins. I turned around and told her something nasty involving the F word. I didn't want to feel rage atthe show of an artist who has brought so much peace into my inner chaos.

I sensed the discomfort of everyone around this bitch, and finally got up in the middle of "Tori's Piano Bar" (Which I didn't mind doingsince it didn't impress me...)and told the ushers how disruptivethe girl was being. I got that girl and her friends kicked out... (ELATED!) So, if anyone heard faint, excited clapping during "Bobby McGee" it was cause that girl was leaving. I think about 30 people were affected by her awful behavior. One small note, the girl kept saying she was gonna slap me and some guy behind her was having verbal warfare with her.

So the show continued and I kept remembering the rest of the time how glad I was that girl was gone, because it was uber quiet... no whispering voices, no shout outs to Tori- It was just the kind of crowd any fanatic could dream of. So thanks to those in Mezz D who endured The Twit and you are welcome to those who thanked me! Muah*

I really think that some people's ideas about Tori having issues with husband might be true... Look at the song choices carefully and think about the lyrics... Through my binoculars I found Tori's expressions to be strained and she seemed stressed at points (her organ was crackling like rice krispies in milk- i felt bad for her). Her voice was strong, her playing spectacular, however- her raw emotion was concealed. I think we all have those days at work... functioning well despite personal turmoil.

The Beekeeper hurt my ears with those tight chords screaming at each other. Not sure why it must be played that way.

The encores were definitely the highlight of my night. Merman. OH MY. I am in love with that song. I felt like I didn't enjoy it enough cause I was so excited- kinda bouncing around in my seat. Hehe. And Cloud on my Tongue was heavenly. Then, Sweet the Sting. That was an amazing stripped down version, Tori and the Piano. The song took on a whole new meaning for me, the way she emphasized certain words and played so hard. Twinkle felt kind of like a lullabye, and was a soothing ending.

All in all, it was a good show, despite the distractions. Can't wait for the summer tour!!!


Read a press review of this show from the Hartford Courant.


From Rik:

Preamble; My wife got us tickets for my birthday - the concert in Hartford was on my birthday! We drove 8 1/2 hours from Canada to see her. Gotta say that it was sure worth the drive!

It was my first time seeing her in concert and she blew me away, but I have to say that I expected she would. She's got a great voice that was even better in concert than I expected.

I had no idea exactly how talented she is. When she started playing the organ and the piano at the same time I almost fell off my chair.

The quiet stage-rush was just plain weird. I thought for a moment we were in for a flash mob.

Kudos to security for kicking the drunk guy in the second row out - during Matt's set (he was AWESOME too!).

Thanks to Tori and a bunch of respectful fans it will be a show I remember for a very very long time.