You can now see the set list and reviews for the Rochester Hills (Detroit), MI concert. The set included Father Lucifer, Sweet Dreams, Suede, Liquid Diamonds, I'm On Fire (solo), Agent Orange (solo) and Black Swan (solo). If you were at this show I would love to see your review on the Dent. I am on the road seeing Tori now, so please post your reviews in the Concert Reviews Forum if you can. You can still email me with reviews as well, but it may take me a little longer to post them.

More Details

Tori performed in Rochester Hills (Detroit), MI on Monday, August 18, 2003 at the Meadow Brook Music Festival . Tori's special guest was Ben Folds and the show started at 7:00PM. This show was originally scheduled for Friday, August 15, but was postponed because of the huge blackout that hit the Northeast U.S. at the same time.

Set List

The following set list comes from Mikewhy, who phoned in from the show to Carolyn who kindly posted it on the Dent.

Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Bliss
Father Lucifer
Cornflake Girl
Rattlesnakes
Sweet Dreams
Suede
Wednesday

Band Leaves

I'm on Fire
Cooling
Agent Orange
Black Swan

Band returns

Bells for Her
Professional Widow
Liquid Diamonds
Concertina
Take to the sky
I Can't See New York
Precious Things

1st Encore

God
Tear in Your Hand

2nd Encore

Sweet Sangria
Siren
Amber Waves

Reviews

The latest reviews are at the bottom of this page, and I am adding reviews all the time. 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 Concert Reviews Forum and post about your experiences as well, or read additional reviews.



From Mikewhy:

Tori gave the Detroit area a very strong show. Musically, I think it was the most interesting of the 3 shows I saw this weekend (the other two being Cleveland and Rochester NY). Black Swan and I'm On Fire were real treats during secret time/the Roadside Cafe. I of course was thrilled to hear both Suede and Liquid Diamonds in the same show. Tori's piano playing, and the way it complements the drums and wraps around them is so entrancing during Liquid Diamonds.

Tori gave us a long show, with 4 songs during her solo part of the show (counting the short Agent Orange) and then 3 songs for the final encore.

Tori did an improv after Father Lucifer, where like the two previous nights she talked/sang about the blackout and being in a dark hotel room with Steven Tyler and Gene Simmons of Kiss. This was the most polished of the 3 improvs on this subject performed in Cleveland, Rochester and here. The band was with her the entire time, and it was really a lot of fun.

Here are some of the lyrics that my girlfriend Amanda remembered from the improv:

"we were supposed to play...Friday...Friday...I came to Detroit...no that was Thursday...tried to come for a party...no lights on at my party...but two boys in the lobby...oh my god...they had no power...one was Steven...by buddy Steven...the other was (then Tori flickered her tongue)...keep your daughters away...no lights...he will find them cause he's got his own party...had to call my bus...come save my ass...no air in my hotel...don't need no fuckin' water...I got my man."

The only thing that prevent me from completely enjoying this show were some of the members of the audience. Usually I can filter out people who are rude or causing a commotion in the audience, but tonight I found that to be difficult. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say there are some very rude people who seem so bored with the show they have to spend the entire night talking loudly with those around them. They were highly distracting.

But the show itself was excellent, and we were all grateful that Tori still came back and did a Detroit gig after all the power problems half a week ago...


From Andy:

The show was just amazing.....I mean, I've only seen Tori live 3 times, but the energy of the whole crowd was great, especially when she was doing 'Take To The Sky' and broke into "I Feel The Earth Move Under My Feet" and like 1/2 the crowd (including myself) was up and dancing... and the improv before 'Cornflake Girl' talking of the blackout and 2 guys in Tori's hotel ;) 'twas very funny.... it was great hearing God, Sweet Dreams, Bliss, and Concertina, but my personal favourite was Professional Widow.... never seen it done live and I was just "blown" away (HAHA! I know...I'm funny)... great show, and Tori is just one amazing woman, musician, all around human... *on my kness in honor*


From Corey Morris:

Meadowbrook Music Theatre is a lovely outdoor venue on the campus of Oakland University, (my school!) set in a very hilly wooded area. Shortly after Tori took the stage, it began to get dark and the sky was clear and full of stars--very fitting for an evening with Tori and her piano. Ben Folds was an excellent opener who really knew how to work the crowd--he was hilarious and vocal and played the piano as if he was beating the hell out of it--but it was brilliant. Sometime between 8:45 and 9:00 PM Tori took the stage, following Jon Evans and Matt Chamberlain, beginning with "Wampum Prayer" and going into "A Sorta Fairytale" as has been her habit this tour. Everyone stood to welcome her as she came out and did her cute little wave thing and bowed in respect and greeting to the audience, and once she sat down to play, mostly everyone in the crowd followed suit.

Tori didn't interact much with the audience, beyond saying "hey everybody, how's it going?" and introducing her band and then doing a little Detroit improv about the power outage and no water...which sounded vaguely familiar to the one described at the Rochester, NY show. She definitely seemed more passionate and wild at her piano than I think I'd ever seen her before, and breathed life and energy and FIRE into her music...perhaps this is why several songs from Boys for Pele were played...

What was very exciting to me about this show was the setlist. I think Choirgirl didn't get enough representation although she did play "Liquid Diamonds" which was haunting and beautiful. "Father Lucifer," "Agent Orange" and "Professional Widow" all made fantastic surprise appearances. "Cornflake Girl", "Precious Things" and "take to the sky/I feel the Earth move" absolutely ROCKED. She brought out a few surprising and enchanting B-sides with "Sweet Dreams," "Black Swan," played a very sexy cover of "I'm on Fire," and I told my boyfriend I can die happy now because I heard Tori play "Cooling" and "Siren" in the same show. She really covered the whole spectrum of her repertoire, I think, ranging from powerful/raging to seductive/enticing, from melodic/beautiful/melting to absolute rock star. She finished the show with two encores, the final song being "Amber Waves," and waved goodbye to all of us at the very end.

One thing that disappointed me somewhat about this show was the crowd. Although Tori did seem to have absolute "mood control" with her songs--the people in the front sections were about to start a mosh pit during "take to the sky" and then held in rapt, somber attention during "I Can't See New York" which immediately followed--people were getting up and moving around during her show, talking amongst themselves in a manner that was disrespectful to those sitting near them, and the whole crowd didn't seem to be as into and excited about the music and atmosphere as I've noticed at other shows. I'm not saying that getting up and getting a beverage or conversing with your friends or people around you is rude, but I truly got a sense of people not being respectful or considerate of those around them.

Other than that, the show was electric and well worth the delay, and for those of you lucky enough to be able to see her more than once on her tours--I envy you terribly!!


From Amanda Morris:

We barely made it to the Detroit/Rochester Hills show in time. We got to the venue and parked just as Ben Folds was starting his set. We had no tickets at all for this show and we were kind of nervous about that, but we knew we would get in even if we ended up sitting on the lawn. We went up to the box office and we got row K. That was not so bad at all.

This venue was decent, though their food selection was very much lacking and I was starving. But the seats in the venue were set up pretty decently. They were all on steps above the row in front of them, so that helped me out with being able to see. However, I could already tell that the audience was not going to be a good one. There were three people in front of us who only had two seats among them. I am sure they were disappointed when everyone sat down. One of them sat in the other's lap for a couple of songs before getting sore and bored and they left totally which was fine by me.

Bliss and Father Lucifer kicked off after A Sorta Fairytale and I did find right away that I was mostly able to block out most of the audience. Those who were sitting directly beside, in front of, and behind me were behaving very well and acted like they really were there to see Tori, so that was good.

Tori sang an improv about the blackout. She sang one of these blackout improvs at the last two shows as well, but this one was the most polished sounding of the three. The band joined in with her right away as she sang, "we were supposed to play...Friday...Friday...I came to Detroit...no that was Thursday...tried to come for a party...no lights on at my party...but two boys in the lobby...oh my god...they had no power...one was Steven...by buddy Steven...the other was (then Tori flickered her tongue)...keep your daughters away...no lights...he will find them cause he's got his own party...had to call my bus...come save my ass...no air in my hotel...don't need no fuckin' water...I got my man." This entire improv was sang with the band backing her.

Rattlesnakes, Sweet Dreams, and Suede was a really wonderful combination. These songs are so wonderful to hear live. I love the flow and sound of Rattlesnakes. Sweet Dreams is so much fun to watch and hear. Suede has such a smooth feel to it. It was an incredible combo and totally took my attention away from the worsening audience.

She began solo time with a piano piece that sounded exactly like Never Seen Blue. A talk with others after the show revealed that many others thoughts the same thing. But instead, it was I'm On Fire! I was so so happy to hear this song. It was easily the hightlight of my night so full of intense emotion. She also played Cooling and no matter how many times I hear Cooling live, I always love it. She also suprised us with Agent Orange and then again a suprise with another solo song: Black Swan! Black Swan is one of my favorite b-sides. I have only seen this one live once during the 2001 tour on an hour and a half of sleep, so it was really nice to get to hear this one again when I was much more awake. It was so incredible. One thing I found interesting during solo time was that the excessive drunken dancing people sat down and looked really bored during this part of the show.

Professional Widow was amazing and really rocking as usual. Liquid Diamonds was stunning. Take to the Sky was amazing as usual too. I was very happy to hear all three of these songs.

The first encore began with God, which is strange to me to be placed in the enocores. It was during this song, that I was a bit more distracted by the audience. Some of these dancers really don't know how goofy they look. Many of them looked like they were having a fight with the air they were punching it so hard, and the really drunk ones were loosing in their fight with air. Since no one directly in front of me was doing that and blocking my view, it was mildly amusing to watch.

We did get a longer second encore than usual with three songs. She ended the set with Amber Waves. I like this song, but if a different song was to close the night, I would certainly be okay with that.

Despite the much annoying crowd, I was able to block them out mostly and I really loved this show.


From Mark from Grayling:

I was lucky enough to go the show. I originally had 12th row seats for the Interlochen show, but sadly it was cancelled. My sister had tickets for the Detroit show and her boyfriend could not go, so she invited me. Yeah! I was impressed with the set. I have been following the postings of set lists for the tour, and was presently surprised to have a completely different show. I was excited to hear God and Suede for the first time, this being my 3rd tori show. I too was not impressed with the rude, I need to get a beer, walk around cause she is not playing her popular radio stuff, and look at me because i have 10th row, people whom I wanted to snag their tickets so a true fan could sit that close to the Goddess. The buzz in the parking lot afterwards was how obscure the set list was, but how impressed they were with the show. I thought it was wonderful to see her play such a wide range of songs from her career. I saw her in Detroit for Scarlets Walk, and was in awe of the way she played I Can't see New York on Monday night. It was incredible.


From Chloe Rebecca:

Of course I was extremely disappointed with the postponement of this show, plus the cancellation of Interlochen...but the way that this show ended up made everything worth it. This was quite possibly one of the best experiences of my life thus far -

We left Grand Rapids around 330, finally got to Meadowbrook around 640 (too many pit stops!) and I figured my "dream" of attempting to get a ticket upgrade was already gone. My friend Caitlin and I found our seats which weren't that horrendous, but definitely not great - 30something rows back, and all the way to the left. Ben Folds came on - he was pretty good, but I was too distracted staring at Joel down the aisle and wondering if I should go up to him, to really pay much attention to the stage. The second time I saw Joel standing down there, I remembered I had a letter for Tori, and I at least wanted to give that to him - so of course when I decided this, he went backstage. He came back about 10 minutes later and I said to Caitlin, "Okay, he's standing right there. What do I do??" and she just said "Let's go!!" (This was Cait's first Tori show by the way.) So we walked all the way down to where he was, I couldn't even get the letter out of my purse because I was shaking so much. I was absolutely terrified of what his reaction would be because I had read some less-than-flattering things about him online from other fans. So I walked up to him and said "Hi...um, could you give this to her?" And he was SO sweet - "Sure!! Of course I can honey!!" I decided it wasn't even worth it to ask for the tickets, so I thanked him and turned around to go back up and then thought...ya know what, fuck it, you're standing RIGHT HERE...so I did the little 1-2-3 thing in my head and said "Um, are you, can you do any ticket upgrades tonight?" He asked me where I was sitting and such and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of tickets - what seemed like forever later after he had been going through them for awhile, he handed me two tickets and smiled and said "There ya go honey." We must have said "Oh my god, thank you SO much" 50 times before we even looked at the tickets...so we turned around and looked at them - I don't think I've ever said "holy shit" that many times in my life. It took us a minute staring at the tickets, but we realized that Joel had just given us first row, dead center seats. We ran to the usher-people and then led us right down to our seats...I was in complete awe...all of the sudden, there I was sitting right up against the stage, 2 feet in front of Ben Folds. He finished his set and we sat in our fabulous new seats chatting with some other girls who had gotten their tickets from Joel too - so we just had one massive freakout party. :D What seemed like an eternity later, the lights went out and Wampum started. I was so ridiculously excited to the point that I was crying before she even came out, I was dizzy and shaking like mad. I saw Joel lift back the curtain and Tori walked out. My first thought (well, besides Holy shit! Holy shit!!!) was - she is SO TINY!!! I knew she was fairly short, but she just looks so incredibly petite from that close up. She did her little entrance-dance and walked up about a foot away from me...she sat down and the show began. Truthfully, the setlist wasn't that impressive - it was fun, and I was glad to hear the songs, but nothing too obscure or new....but sitting 5 feet away from her piano, she could have played This Old Man on the kazoo and I would have been thrilled. The highlights:

a sorta fairytale - i love this song so much...I never get tired of hearing it.

Father Lucifer - one of my favorites from Pele, this was the first time I had heard it live and I absoltely loved it.

Somewhere in here she did the improv. about the blackout which was absolutely hysterical - I loved it! The tongue flicker was really, really funny...I had so much fun watching her facial expressions through this.

Cornflake Girl - fabulous as usual, I loooove the piano in this when she does it live.

Sweet Dreams - I was SO happy to hear this song!!! It's been one of my favorites since I was 12...I just love the fast tempo, and she looked like she was having so much fun with it.

Suede - truthfully, one of the 3 songs I was hoping she wouldn't play - it was actually very, very nice live. I was definitely pleasantly surprised, and now I have a new love for Suede! I couldn't stop listening to it when I got home. :)

I'm On Fire - absolutely stunning. This was the first time that I had ever heard it all the way through and I was just stunned, I don't know what other word to use. It was absolutely beautiful and now I've downloaded it and had it on repeat for like 5 hours.

Cooling - I cried hysterically all the way through this!!! This is one of my absolute favorite songs and this was the first time I had ever heard it live. I have the words "This is cooling faster than I can..." painted on a wall in my room and at one point when she sang that line she looked directly at me...it was absolutely amazing.

Professional Widow - This was so awesome! Talk about high energy! I had always heard people talking about the "tori drool" and such during songs, but I had never been closer than the 12th row, usually way farther back than that - so I had never seen it - but good lord, there was plenty of drooling during this song!!!

Take To The Sky - !!!!! I was hoping so much that she would play this, but I thought it was unlikely after she did Sweet Dreams...she did the "take two/ I feel the earth move" improv with it which I love more than anything...

Precious Things - When she started this, I think I might have died and risen...again, one of my top favorite songs...it was so beautiful, so amazing. Again - lot's of drool!

She came back out for the first encore and for the next five songs I got to stand right up against the stage and watch her.

Tear In Your Hand - absolutely gorgeous. Not one of my favorites, but it was really, really beautiful tonight. I love it when she does the "time to wave goodbye now.." :)

Sweet Sangria - very fun, very spunky! I think this was the song that she was looking at Matt during and smiling like mad...and then doing some funny head dancing thing with Jon.

Siren - I love this song!!! I wasn't expecting it at all, especially not near the end...but, mmm! Absolutely perfect!

Amber Waves - I didn't pay much attention to the song, I was just standing there staring at Tori in disbelief of where I was at that moment because I knew this was the last song, and my last show until 2005...but this is the song my friend Keith was desperate to hear, so I was quite happy for him. :)

I loved really being able to see her face finally - watching her smile and do all the quirky little expressions that she does - finally being able to see them instead of just hear about them!! Whenever you're at a show...even if you're 30 rows back, you feel like she's looking and singing directly at YOU...in the front row, she IS. Several times during the show, she was just singing and looking at me and when I'd grin or start to cry, she'd grin back and even winked a couple times. It's the most incredible feeling in the world to have someone who means SO much to you finally really see you. Of course I wanted SO much for her to touch my hand or something when she was coming or going...but she only did that with 2 girls on the other side of the aisle who had been sobbing the entire time. Of course I was jealous (heh) - but also SO excited for them, because you could tell how much it meant to them. I don't even know what else to say...words can't describe my utter elation...finally, after 7 shows and 5 years, I was able to be so close to her. I was telling Caitlin afterwards - THIS is what i've wanted since I was like 12, this is the thing that I felt would just make everything okay and worthwhile. And as my life goes on, and gradually things are becoming more and more okay, it happens...I'm just in complete awe.

The audience was eh...I could hear a constant buzzing of talking throughout the entire show which was annoying...and even in the f-ing front row, people were moving CONSTANTLY which was really distracting - especially the girl next to me, I think 4 different people had sat in that seat before the show was done. But I really can't do any true complaining because this night was just too perfect...absolutely amazing. Sorry this was so long. :) I love Tori and I love JOEL!!!