You can now see the set list and reviews for the San Francisco, CA concert at Davies Symphony Hall. Tori set list included Goodbye Pisces, Seaside, Marys of the Sea, Purple People and the covers Father Figure (George Michael) and Moonshadow (Cat Stevens) 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. It would be nice to get as many different viewpoints about this show as possible!

More Details

Tori performed in San Francisco, CA on Sunday, April 24, 2005 at Davies Symphony 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
Little Amsterdam
China
Goodbye Pisces
Space Dog
Seaside
Icicle

Father Figure (George Michael cover)
Moonshadow (Cat Stevens cover)

Marys of the Sea
Marianne
Mother Revolution
Mother
Bells For Her
The Beekeeper

1st Encore

Sweet The Sting
Purple People

2nd Encore

Cool On Your Island
Leather

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:

Tonight's show in San Francisco was fantastic. Tori sounded great and hit all the high notes, and her playing tonight was astouding and beautiful. She really seems to be stepping up the level of musicianship during this show, which was again at a beautiful venue.

Tori did a little improv before China which was one of the prettiest things Matt has heard Tori play. Her choice of covering George Michael's Father Figure was perfect for San Francisco and well done. Purple People was the big debut song tonight and was gorgeous.

Tori's written set list has her ending the show with Leather and Martha's Foolish Ginger, but she did Cool On Your Island and Leather instead for the second encore. Martha's Foolish Ginger would have been a debut, so maybe this will be performed in LA?

Tori spoke a few times to the audience. She mentioned that she was touring in Australia soon. Tori was wearing harem pants tonight and mentioned that she did not want to get caught "down under" again. Tori seems to be incredibly excited about her upcoming trip to Australia to perform!

Matt also mentioned that Tori seemed to be playing something different before Space Dog, something that is beautiful and has a middle eastern influence.


From Charlene M.:

I have to agree with Matt's assessment of the show in San Francisco. Amazing. She stepped it up a notch from the Seattle show in my opinion not to mention the crowd was so much more receptive and animated than Seattle. I brought my 7 1/2 month pregnant sister to the show which was her first ever. She loved it. She really has never been a Tori follower but was floored by her live performance.

Father Figure was great. I am hard pressed as to what cover I liked best, Heart's Magic Man or Father Figure. Tori hit her notes amazingly well.

Big hopes for the Los Angeles show. I am hoping for 'Do it Again' but we shall see.

The meet and greet was quick. Tori came out a hour I think before we all were expecting her. She looked great.


From Jason:

tonights show was awesome...i sat next to a girl and we talked about our past Tori experiences, and i told her i hoped to hear space dog & mother tonight....and we got 'em! Near the beginning of Little amsterdam, tori licked her tongue at the audience and really worked the song over...after the song she talked about seeing herself on a magazine cover that said "Tori's going down under"...then she kicked her heel up on the piano and showed off her baggy pants she was wearing under her dress. i cant really remember what the pants were called lol.

china was real good..she was bouncing all over the piano bench during Goodbye Pisces she was very into it. It was cool to see her sing Father Figure, she said "ive never done this one before", then she said "what a place for a virgin huh?".,,it was pretty funny.

Five M's in a row...moonshadow, marys of the sea, marianne, mother revolution, and mother...during moonshadow when she sang "if i ever lose my hands", she held them up and kinda laughed..."if i ever lose my hands, i wouldnt have to play." kinda funny...

mother was SOOO good. it reminded me of the first time i ever heard Mother in my room and i was goin thru all those thoughts etc...blah blah after the beekeeper i went to the front of the stage and was dead center in front of her...someone forgot to turn the faucet off during Sweet the Sting, the drool literally flowed down her chin during the entire song. loved hearing Purple People...

Cool On your Island was the best moment for me because she was totally singing it from her heart...then at the VERY end when she went.."cool on your island...is it...."

someone from the top yells "I FUCKING LOVE YOU TORI!!!!!!!!"

and she sort of made a smirk..it was during the last silent moment of the song....and everyone was just laughing cuz it sounded pretty weird during the quiet moment. i thought it was funny but also lame at the same time...and im curious to know if thats why she ended the show with Leather lol. i wanna know what the setlist said...

overall,,GREAT show, great venue, great crowd, tori was in a real happy mood, but wtf is it with SF people screamin shit during the quiet moment?! it happened w/ gold dust, happened w/ coyi.


From Danny Quevedo:

Again, Tori outdid herself! The venue was beautiful, facing the illuminated, beautiful, City Hall. The set list was beautiful. It was my friend's, AC, first Tori show ever and he enjoyed it very much.

Hearing Icicle was really something else. I thought she would debut Martha's Foolish Ginger, since she made reference to finishing that song here in San Francisco, but she didn't, we will just wait and see what awaits for us in LA.

When I met her after the Ryan Seacrest show, I mentioned to her Mother has been helping me a lot emotionally, so it was great to here her perform that song. I was in tears!!!

Well, it is very late and I have a flight to catch (again), I will report tomorrow's show to all of you. Once again, Tori looked beautiful and sounded amazing!!!


From Laurie:

So I wanted to contribute my thoughts on the SF show.

First, her outfit. She looked totally cute in a flowy, sleeveless dress, that was sort of muticolored peachy pinks. She also had on white harem pants underneath the dress and a wide white belt with pink accents. And a really cute sparkly cuff bracelet. Finally, the shoes were gold stacked heels, sling back, peep toe, with bows or some sort of accent on top--totally cute.

The set list was good. You've already seen that she favored certain albums, and ignored others. The highlights were Father Figure and Purple People. I have hoped to hear Purple People for 13 shows, and I finally heard it. I nearly burst into tears. It was beautiful.

In terms of the encores, people were really great about waiting until The Beekeeper was finished before rushing forward. Even though it was cramped, people were nice about trying not to crush the front people too hard. Lots of drool on Sweet the Sting :lol:

During Cool On Your Island, right before the last notes, a guy SCREAMED "I fucking love you Tori!!!". She smiled and nodded and finished, "If you don't treat me better, If you don't treat me better". She seemed to be directing these lines to the person who had just interrupted her. I would have liked Martha's Foolish Ginger, but the setlist (which I got) said the end was supposed to be Leather and then Martha's. So she didn't replace Martha's with Leather; she replaced it with Cool On Your Island. So she always intended to do Leather.

As far as the crowd, it was generally great. There was very little screaming during the songs (save for the very end), and at some points you could almost hear a pin drop it was so quiet--at least that is how I heard everything, and I was in the front.

My *only* complaint is that people were singing, and at some points I could hear others singing more than Tori, especially during Leather and the other encores (of course that could be because I was smushed up against people during the encores).

Overall, a fabulous show. Though she was not talkative, she did tell a cute story before Father Figure. She said it was her first time doing it, and what a city San Francisco was to be a virgin in! She also told her story about not wearing underwear and having a picture taken with the caption "Tori down under", and how the harem pants would prevent that this time. These comments were her only ones to the audience, but she seemed to be in great spirits and really enjoyed it.

It was so great. I can't wait until the summer tour!


From Jeff Soohoo:

last night's concert in San Francisco left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, tori looked great and was in really fine form. she played an interesting set list and seemed to really be enjoying herself. her tempo was a bit off though - songs like sweet the sting have the opportunity to really alter the mood and the sound but tori basically kept the same rhythm and tone all night, which didnt really showcase her real talent.

that being said, i was appalled by the sound in the symphony hall. davies hall is a gorgeous acoustic space, and it was RUINED by the complete overamplification of tori and all her keyboards. i was so disheartened to be seeing her solo again, and for there to be some gorgeous ballads (icicle, marianne, etc) and for the sound to be that keyed up. there was so much reverb and distortion at the high end that it was distracting.

i had this problem the last show I saw tori but attributed it to the band - this time, there is no excuse. i would expect tori's sound folk to be able to realize that they almost don't even need mics in a space like that. i got to hear some of soundcheck (mother, marianne, purple people, marys of the sea, little amsterdam, seaside, bells for her) and could tell right away that it was going to be loud, even with the addition of 3000 people.

overall, the crowd was pretty good, although as others have mentioned some felt they could scream out during the quietest moments. some highlights: cool on your island, moonshadow, and purple people.

i also thought it was a bit odd for her to end the show with leather, but perhaps that is just because i was hoping for a little tear in your hand...


From Toriless:

Natashya was VERY cute and hamming it up from the black Ford Yukon they seem to be using these days. You can certainly tell she's Tori Amos's kid and loves attention just like her mom. They had one of the windows partially down and she was playing Peek-a-boo and waving almost constantly so I suspect the little story about her requesting for Tori to play her song for us is probably true. Thus, she played a nice rendition of Ribbons Undone.

As usual, for Seattle, the M&G wasn't until well after 5 PM and was the usual short 5-10 minutes (probably about 10 minutes this time since she took several photographs as well) not the huge 20-30 minutes those luck bastards at Denver got. She hasn't done any M&G longer than 10 minutes in Seattle since 1996 so quit you whining about a damned 20-30 minute M&G. That's HUGE for any one I've been to. She also had many delays. Even after getting back from the radio station it took over an hour for her to appear even though Smitty originally said it'd be 5 minutes when he ran her in directly from the Yukon and didn't have her stop by on the way in as was planned at first. Also, he originally had us line up and she was going to briefly meet with everyone there but because of the extra hours of delays they dropped that plan as the crowd tripled in size and they had the usual old crummy 1 barrier worth of access but Smitty allows people to gently shift so she met with about a dozen people before leaving. Most were just and autographs while answering a question from them and others. She did state that she was hoping to be coming back on a larger tour later in the year but I guess she hadn't heard from Matt yet. I'm not sure what that means. I guess only Tori knows and even she is probably going to wait until she's more certain on her options.

Well, it was a pretty good performance from Tori but the SOUND STUNK!!! I've heard dozens of performances in this hall and this was by far the MOST HORRIFIC sound I've ever heard at this venue. Mark must have worked his ass off to make this place sound so F%#$(g bad!! It was even worse than that $#1+H0!e Paramount Theatre but somehow not as bad as the Moore's tunnel or the dung-like Coliseum. Again, the sound was terribly over amplified and sounded like MUDDY GARBAGE. I couldn't even make out some of the lyrics even when I had heard listened to the song, on a decent recording, several times before. Normally, you can heard an non-amplified piano from 300 feet in this venue but it sounded more like it was being played in the Holland Tunnel due to the CRAPPY SOUND QUALITY of the HEAVILY DISTORTED and OVER AMPLIFIED piano and organs. The performance was easily down at the VERY BOTTOM of all of the dozens of performances I've seen here, including several piano performance which used NO AMPLIFICATION, an acoustic Bosendorfer sounds beautiful in the Benaroya Hall. When I heard one in the Benaroya Hall before it sounded wonderful and I was probably 150 feet away that time. I single Cello can FILL the entire auditorium with NO amplification, I heard it, and sound perfect but the Tori Amos performance was cr@p. Even Bill Cosby had better sound then this $h!t! It was truly awful which is a surprise given that Tori has some of the best engineered albums ever made unlike most junk which is amazingly distorted, e.g. Big Hits by Aerosmith was mastered by Sterling Sound in NYC and sounds like junk. The new Snow Patrol album is crap too. It mastered at very high volumes and most songs have heavy Transient Intermodular Distortion but I'm probably getting to technical for most readers. I've had audio engineering training so I sometimes just have to use a proper term. To put it more simply, the sounds are "clipped" which causes a distortion in the shape of the sound which results in a distortion most people would describe as sharp or brittle. It's less noticeable with music that uses heavy flanging or with heavy dynamics such as drums but even a "casual" listener can hear how unpleasant a cymbal gets when it's distorted that way and vocals are excruciating to almost all humans when subjected to clipping.

As far as Tori performance goes there were some pleasant surprises that were really not so unexpected and others I didn't expect such as her cover of Heart's 'Magic Man' and 'Eye Without A Face' which I had no idea she knew how to play them. She did a nice version of 'Cool On Your Island' which was probably prompted out by an alternate request from YKTR at the M&G and 'Putting The Damage On' which I may have had something to do with even though I didn't request in vocally. It's a long story and a bit personal so I'll skip it.

She also probably did 'Tear In Your Hand' because she's done it here before such as in 1992 (By request), during the 1998 preview tour, etc. and it's a sad song like 'Putting The Damage On' as well as being a classic closer because of the line about "time to wave goodbye now".


From Olivia Darzell:

The above reviews are dead on. Tori was in particularly spectacular form last night. Of the 10 times I've had the privelege to see her in concert over the years, this was definitely in the top 3. A very sensual, emotional, political performance.

To add to the above reviews, she was wearing strappy gold lame heels that she called her "Midnight at the Oasis" shoes.

Before Spacedog, she riffed on the organ, with a sort of slow church psalm sound and sang (in part) "Savior, if you're out there, we could use you now".

All in all a spectacular show! One I'll never forget.


From Nicole:

I went to the concert with my best friend Yoli. (Don't cry over spilt wine.) This is something we've been doing for a while. I loved the show. The venue was beautiful. I was so happy to hear her play Cool on Your Island! I've heard her perform this song one other time, but it never gets old for me, I love this song! I have to comment that her shoes were absolutely fabulous! They were these cute sling back HIGH heels. Had to be 4" chromed heels, and they had little peach flowers on the toes. She always has such cute shoes on! At one point I saw Tori arranging these papers inside her piano and I couldn't figure out what she was doing, then she burst into George Michaels, Father Figure. I'm glad to see her play a song for the first time, that was awesome! Before she sang SpaceDog she gave a little improv and it sounded like she was calling on someone to be there sounded like she said "We need you tonight" but I could be wrong, SpaceDog was unexpected. The show was great! And to all the first timers there, I know you will be back!


From anna ham:

Just wanted to add my two cents in about last night's show. Tori sounded fantastic, and if she was indeed getting over a sore throat, it didn't show at all!

The mood of this show, I thought, was a bit down-tempo, and even though Tori seemed to be in great spirits, the songs she chose for tonight were a bit somber.

The highlights of the show for me were Little Amsterdam, Space Dog (which she did after a LOVELY improv--I think she did it on the organ or keyboard), and Father Figure, which was absolutely top-notch. I think Tori's done a fabulous job of selecting interesting covers for this tour--or from the fan-submitted suggestions, anyway. Icicle was also very strong, and the emotion in her voice during the "I could have flown over" was quite clear.

Marys of the Sea and Marianne were also great. Purple People rocked my socks off, and since I'd never heard it live, it was a real treat.

I know other people have mentioned the guy who screamed "I FUCKING LOVE YOU TORI!!" during Cool on Your Island. Personally, I thought it was kind of annoying, but that's just me. Someone yelled "WE LOVE YOU TORI!" earlier in the show (right before China, I think...although I could be wrong), and in my mind, there was no need to do that sort of thing again. All of my editorializing aside, though, it was a wonderful show!


From Rich Dagel:

Last nights show was fantastic. What a great venue to see her in. She looked amazing in her pink dress and harem pants.

Space dog was and nice surprise. I loved the Icicle and the "repeating" of the middle part. Father Figure was a great choice. Goodbye Pisces is even more beautiful live. I was SO happy to hear cool on your island. I was able to rush the stage at the end of the show and was looking directly at her while she sang it. AMAZING!!!!!!!!

They only down side to the show was the chatty security guards that talked threw the entire concert. I was sitting in the second row on the left side where 4 guards where standing and talking the entire time.


From MAS:

This was my seventh Tori concert over the span of 14 years of fandom. (Not nearly enough, I know!) I wanted to concur with what Matt Page wrote above about Tori's unbelievable musicianship. Her improvisations tonight on both piano and organ show that she truly is a virtuoso performer, not to mention the fact that her voice is a multi-faceted instrument in its own right.

Sure, it's always a crap shoot with the setlist, but that's the beauty of the Tori experience. Before the concert I thought, "San Francisco, Symphony Hall, full moon, Passover...who knows what we're going to get?!" Personally, I was dying to hear Toast, but you can't win 'em all. As others have mentioned, it's too bad that Martha's Foolish Ginger was bumped. I love that one and it has a connection to the Bay Area.

Even though Tori played lots of songs I've heard live several times before (Icicle, Marianne, Mother, Bells for Her...these girls are always welcome at my party), I've found that there is always something new to discover. Some examples from tonight's performance:

--the organ gave Little Amsterdam a funkier feel.
--the beautiful introduction to China that Matt mentioned above.
--the spellbinding improv before Space Dog. It was like a mystical incantation, with the message being something like, "Hey, if you're really out there, now would be a really good time to give us a sign." I was on the edge of my seat! Did anyone get the full lyrics?
--the haunting repetition of "Mother, the car is here" over and over at the end of Mother.

Father Figure was awesome, as you've been reading in the reviews posted above. It had my friends Jeff and Milton and I feeling all warm and fuzzy. I don't know what happened anywhere else in Symphony Hall, but things definitely got cuddly in Row F of First Tier J! Tori messed up the bridge somewhat but covered pretty well. I noticed only because for me it's the best part of the song, the climax in terms of music and lyrics.

Random notes to finish this up:

I guess Moonshadow was an appropriate choice due to the full moon. I thought it was cute, Jeff thought it was cutesy, and now I think I agree with Jeff.

When Tori made reference to her harem pants, she played and sang the first line from Midnight at the Oasis, a 70's classic sung by Maria Muldaur. You see, we old folks can still contribute something to the dialogue!

A big THANK YOU to the person who alerted the usher to the two loudmouths disrupting the concert in the first row of First Tier, Section J. They were a short, dark-haired woman and a big guy with a shaved head. What the hell was wrong with them?! What happened, when were they pulled out, and when did they come back? The guy was still cursing under his breath even after the concert was over. Behave!


From Kyrsten Bean:

Hi! I just wanted to add to that setlist. There was an improv she did between Goodbye Pisces and Spacedog that had a bunch of us confused. We were trying to figure out what song it was but it seems it was just something she made up on the spot. Just wanted to add to the setlist with that. :)


From rock libra:

I certainly appreciate the comments from the regulars who travel to every show and can observe that this song on this date was not as good as that version at a different venue, however, this was my first time seeing Tori, so I thought I would offer an alternate perspective

I'm not in on all the 'inside info' but you know, I don't really care about all that during the concert' I for one, want to listen and experience the show, unlike many of the drones all over the place meticulously documenting the setlist song by song and entering the information into their cell phones and blackberries, or scribbling little notes on paper in the dark hey' Tori's performing folks, care to pay attention and shut the f*ck up. That'd be great, thanks.

My thoughts on the show (from a former Tori virgin) are as follows:

* Earlier comments about the horrid sound were right on (during the first two songs). Personally, Little Amsterdam is not one of my favorite songs' I don't really get the people who go fanatic over it, but that's just me (and everyone has a right to their own likes and dislikes, I'm just expressing mine here).

* China (one of my favorite songs) was breathtakingly beautiful and incredibly moving. Taken together with Goodbye Pisces, this was the most emotional part of the show and matched the venue (which felt cathedral), perfectly. I include in this part, the crescendo, which was the little'improvisation' or intro to Space Dog. I don't know what that was' but, for me, that was a truly spiritual and transcendent moment. I'm so glad I was paying attention.

[Aside: I'm am annoyed by people who comment that song x was the'highlight' of the show, and then say the same thing two songs later' I will try to refrain from such, but I understand now where you are coming from :-) ]

* Tori's rendition of Father Figure was impassioned, and definitely gave the entire audience (including those who've seen her more than once) something they had never heard before. I thought her version was stunning and amazing.

* I have to say, my regard for The Beekeeper, was greatly elevated by her performance last night; the primary set closing on another very reverent note.

* I also, was hoping for a little Tear at the end, but I see that Seattle got that, so I was ecstatic that Cool on Your Island was in the 2nd encore. See previous reviews about the screaming idiot; nevertheless, I was blown away. The way Tori sang'I want you more than the stars and the sun' made me feel every pang of desire and need that I've suffered through since I entered this world. (P.S. don't worry, I'm much better now)

I was very happy that my first (and yes, I will go again, and again, and) show was a solo performance. It was intimate and special. I liked that. And thank you SO MUCH to the folks who maintain this website, and to the fans who go to every show. You are all awesome (truly I mean that)' but I won't agree with you all every time. Thanks again for providing a place where we can share our experience of Tori (and rant and rave a little).


Read a review of this show from the San Francisco Chronicle.