The set list this evening included Another Girl's Paradise, Girl, Boys In The Trees (solo), Purple People, Northern Lad, Siren and 1000 Oceans. If you were at the San Luis Obispo, CA show, please email me with your reviews and/or set list or post your review or comments in the Dent's Concert Reviews forum. (You can post under any name without registering, so it is quick!)

More Details

Tori performed in San Luis Obispo, CA on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 at the Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo (Christopher Cohan Center) . The opening act was Rhett Miller.

Set List

Many thanks to Matt Page who phoned me with the set list after the show.

Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Past The Mission
Pancake
Cornflake Girl
Honey
Another Girl's Paradise
Girl
Wednesday

Band Leaves

Boys In The Trees
Silent All These Years
Merman

Band returns

Purple People
Sweet Sangria
Northern Lad
In The Springtime Of His Voodoo
Spring Haze
I Can't See New York
Iieee

1st Encore

Bliss
Amber Waves

2nd Encore

Siren
1000 Oceans

Reviews

The latest reviews are at the bottom of this page. For more reviews, please check out the Dent's Tour Reviews Forum. Please post your own review if you were at this show!


From Matt Page and Richard Galbraith:

Matt and Richard really enjoyed the show. The set list was rather interesting in terms of when certain songs were played. Tori sounded excellent this evening, and the venue was very beautiful. Tori did an improv before Boys In The Trees, which included the words, "We're alone now, let me tell you what is happening in my life..." She then talked about how she wanted to take Tash to the ocean and how Tash said no because she was watching Harry Potter.

Tori also messed up the beginning of Purple People, doing it in thge wrong key. She added a little improv after messing up, saying something about having "frog on the brain" or something like that.


From Cori M.:

I woke up the morning of the 15th very excited, for today was my first Tori concert. I have been a fan for seven years, but had never been able to see her live before. I went to class from 9-11, then went to get money for a t-shirt later. I then went to where I thought the meet and greet would be, and met up with a friend of mine from the Tori chat room, we chatted and hung out with some other ewf, then round about noon I went to get lunch and get my things together for a class I had at one. After class I raced back to my dorm, got my ticket, camera, cd booklet (just in case) and headed back over to the PAC at about 2. By then, a few more people had shown up, but according to my friends, it was very small compared to others they'd been to. We must have waited about 2 and a half hours for her to show up, but when she did it was such a thrill... She arrived on a blue and white tour bus, at about 3 and then dashed inside as she waved to us, to do the sound check. Then at about 5 she came out again. She was all smiles as she approached and looked awesome... she came over to my side of the barricade first and I snapped a few pictures. Then I was just able to reach out my present for her and then I was able to speak with her and stretch over to get my cd booklet signed. She asked me what my name was and I said Cori, c-o-r-i, just like yours Except with a C, *giggle*and she smiled and signed it "To Cori, with Love, Tori Amos". I was soo ecstatic... and took some more shots, then helped some people behind me pass some things forward to get signed. After she had moved on I moved over to the other side to try and finish the roll and then went back up the stairs to show my friends my autograph. Then we hung out for a bit, talked to some other fans, and then headed out to get some of the pictures developed and get dinner. We got back to the PAC we skipped the opening act...) and I got to my seat and ended up sitting next to this girl who who was also extremely happy, cause it was the 40th show she'd been to and just loved the set list. So, at about 8:35, the lights went down and we could hear the first song "wampum prayer" over the speakers. Then she came out in a white, red and green patchwork dress with jeans and lacy looking boots with heels, and proceeded to blow the audience away...

The Set list:
Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Past The Mission
Pancake
Cornflake Girl
Honey
Another Girl's Paradise
Girl
Wednesday- at some point either Tori or someone in the audience made an eagle sound when she got to the lyric, "even so the eagle has to land" She grinned and kept playing.

(Roadside Cafe) Band Leaves- then she went into a cute improv about being at the Cliffs and wanting to take Tash down to the beach, but Tash said she wanted to stay and watch Harry Potter, and Tori asked her where she got it, and how she could watch it, she was only two and a half, and she said its magic...

Boys In The Trees- she did an interesting thing, where she slid her middle finger on the front of the Bose at this point, and she did it during a few other songs as well

Silent All These Years- I was so happy to hear this song because it was the first tori song that I'd ever heard, seven years ago..

Merman
Band returns

Improv about being in the wrong key... it was soo funny! It was very similar to the "sometimes I forget my keys improv" leading into Purple People from Milwaukee. Here are some of the lyrics I jotted down:
- "Sometimes I forget my keys, Jon told me before that I was going to forget, guess I'm having a brain fart." (Someone in the audience yells that she rocks) , then she whispers "I think I have rocks in my head... " and gives us a devilish little grin. I almost yelled out b flat, but I also couldn't remember if that was the key or not... hee hee...

Purple People

Sweet Sangria-at the end of the song she crossed her arms over her chest, with her hands in fists and bowed her head til the lights went down.

Northern Lad
In The Springtime Of His Voodoo
Spring Haze

I Can't See New York- the lighting throughout the show was phenomenal, but I think it was the most dramatic during this song. At the beginning the stage was bathed in deep red light, then would alternate beween cloud looking images and what looked like gray fractals. It was just gorgeous and very moving.

Iieee- I think this was my favorite song of the evening.she was just rocking out so much and had so much energy. It was so much fun watching her facial expressions as she danced around on the piano bench...

1st Encore- people had stayed in their seats, except for a standing ovation after either a sorta fairy tale or Cornflake girl. Then after iieee the first three rows rushed the stage and I did too, since most people were standing by then. I was able to get right up front and made eye contact with her quite a few times...

Bliss
Amber Waves

2nd Encore

Siren
1000 Oceans- I was so glad she played this song too, as it was another favorite of mine... and I was just melting as we made eye contact again...

I don't think I could have asked for a better show for my first live Tori experience. The people I met before and during the concert were so wonderful and made it such a positive experience. Last nights show was just awesome and I wish I could thank Tori again for such a wonderful show. I'll never forget how wonderful it all was.


From David Demers:

It was in San Luis Obispo, while attending Cal Poly, SLO where I first discovered Tori Amos. Someone in an IRC chat had quoted one of her lyrics and I was intrigued at the intelligence of the line. Boys For Pele had just been released and the CD was on sale at The Wherehouse on Madonna Road. As it played, I had this distinct feeling of listening to a unique voice. By the third listening, I was hooked. I bought every CD with Tori Amos on it I could find. After graduation I found myself in the working world. As Little Earthquakes played in the car during the first commute to this new job Tori sang, "And I drive to work every morning, wondering why" No one who is not a fan can imagine the intensity of seeing her sing those very words on April 15, 2003 as I sat in a seat only fifteen feet from the stage. Tori Amos through her music has been an indispensable repository of inspiration but she is also namesake to two of the most precious, most wonderful creatures I have ever known. My two mini dachshunds named Tori and Scarlet. Tori was the first dog I ever owned, while playing Talula, the puppy jumped up and down and began chasing her tail. It was obvious this puppy loved the music, I named her Tori right then and there. Two years pass and I bring another puppy into our lives. When I got the AKC papers, this puppy was born on the same day I saw Tori Amos perform. Since my puppy was a red dachshund, her name became Scarlet.

The long and the short of it is: Tori Amos is the greatest artist of contemporary times and ranks among my famous artists such as Michalengelo, Beethoven, Hayao Miyazaki, Steve Jobs, and Joni Mitchell.


From benkamm:

I grew up in San Luis Obispo, and though i moved to N. CA nearly 10 years ago the place has incredible resonance for me. The geography of the area is quite distinct(a valley surrounded by high hills with a string of volcanic mountains running down the valley into the ocean) and i have always experienced it as a reflection of my own inner geography. So, i very much connect with the subjects of place, body maps, etc. explored in Scarlet's Walk. SLO seemed the ideal place to see Tori, kinda like having her play a personal concert inside of me...kinda strange. One other coincidence is that the only time i'd ever been in the Cohen Center was last September when i came down for my grandfather's memorial held there.... My partners and i went to the meet & greet, our first time, an interesting experience. I put my 4 year old son on my shoulders and he got to say hi to Tori and show her his new haircut, which completely satisfied him (we took him to a show in late '01 and he was VERY disappointed he didn't get to talk to her...) The show itself was beyond expectation, simply incredible. We had been to the San Jose show on the 12th and the energy was completley different. There seemed to be a certain tension or angst that night, perhaps mirroring the city. Tori and the boys this night seemed refreshed (she mentioned that they had the lucky experience of having the day before off) and were more in sync than ever. It was also one of the most psychedelic shows i've been to. HallucinoTORI. The songs and they way she chose to play them reflected how i know San Luis to be in so many ways it blew my mind. From the land to the area's history to the current social atmosphere complete with dark underbelly, it was all there. I'm not quite sure how she does it, totally amazing. A true sorceress. Ecstatic. Like the best Tori shows i've been to, i left feeling cleansed and very clear within myself, a real gift. Outside the theater was a startlingly full moon...giving me the impression that it had somehow been magically conjured by what had unfolded inside the theater....


From Brian K Tanaka:

Rating: Second-category: Just another wonderful Tori show

This was a mixed experience for me.

The setting was gorgeous: a beautiful, sunny, coastal California day in the rolling foothills that cradle the Cal Poly campus. (It was easy to spot people who had been at the SLO meet & greet at later shows by their sunburns.) Anticipation was running high since the venue was reportedly so great and, for a number of reasons, people were expecting an amazing setlist. (Can you really blame people for expecting Seaside in SLO or Santa Barbara?)

But, despite all this, the show was unremarkable overall, in my opinion. It was a Tori show, and thus a thing to be cherished, but not an astounding one. Of course, they can't all be. And, if it weren't for shows like this, the brilliant ones wouldn't shine as bright. Tori, Jon, and Matt seemed to be having a good time, but weren't pushing hard.

That said, there were great songs. It was hard to walk away too disappointed after hearing Honey, Boys in the Trees, Merman, Purple People, Siren, 1000 Oceans, and so on even if they weren't stupendous renditions.

I guess I was a little more disappointed than I might have been otherwise in part because it was my sister's first show of this leg and I was hoping she'd get a spectacular one right off the bat.

Amusing moment from the meet & greet: Jon Evans was spotted making a beeline from the venue to the campus tennis courts with a racket in hand.