You can now see the set list and reviews for the Columbia, MD concert. Tori's set include Little Earthquakes, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (solo), Virginia and Space Dog. If you were at this show and want to send The Dent a review, please email Mikewhy at mikewhy@iglou.com with your comments. You can also post about your concert experience at the Concert Reviews Forum. It would be nice to get as many different viewpoints about the show as possible.

More Details

Tori performed in Columbia, MD on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tori's special guest was Ben Folds and the show started at 7:00PM.

Set List

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


Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Little Earthquakes
Sweet Sangria
Bliss
Bells For Her
Concertina
God
Wednesday

Band Leaves

Cooling
Leather
Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Band returns

Your Cloud
Tombigbee
Virginia
Cornflake Girl
Take To The Sky
I Can't See New York
Precious Things

1st Encore

Siren
Past The Mission


2nd Encore

Space Dog
Amber Waves
Hey Jupiter

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 Matt Page:

Matt enjoyed the show. While there were no real surprises in terms of what songs were performed, the order they were done was a little different, which was nice. Tori again started the show really strong, and was really rocking during Bliss.

Before she performed Bliss and introduced the band, she said something like, "We love being here..some of you have been with us for a long time..." and then she sang an improv about family and friends.

Before Cooling, Tori motioned for Jon to come over and she told him something. Then she told the now familar story about the Northeast blackout and being in the Detroit hotel with Kiss and Aerosmith. This version of the story/improv seemed a little longer than usual.

After Cooling, Tori seemed to start playing something else and then began Leather. Tori had Cooling and Leather listed as the first two solo songs on her written set list, so Matt does not know why she did that.

Tori seemed happy with her performance, but there were a few sound problems tonight.

During the piano intro to Amber Waves, Tori mentioned something like "We had to do something for Mars", which seemed to be a comment on the earlier song, Space Dog. (In case you do not know, Mars right now is the closest it has been to the Earth in 60,000 years!)

During the end of Past The Mission, Tori clearly sang "Mama".

Tori deviated from her written set list in the encores. Her written set list had Siren and Rattlesnakes for the first encore, and Space Dog and Hey Jupiter for the second encore. Therefore Tori replaced Rattlesnakes with Past The Mission, and added Amber Waves to the second encore.


From Lorraine Eakin:

The show was good but pretty much as I expected.DC/Baltimore = Family = lots o' Little Earthquakes. It also always seems to rain - it rained the last time she came to Merriweather, but fortunately, the seats were all pavilion this time around, so we got to stay a bit drier than the poor fans from the Venus tour. Ben Folds started his set with "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" which was very appropriate and very cute! I loved his set, he'sthe best opener Tori's ever had.

The show was pretty straightforward - she didn't talk to the audience much, and did only one improv, which was similar to previous improvs aboutKiss and Steven Tylerand the blackout. The highlights for me were Bells for Her, Cooling, Siren, Tombigbee, and Space Dog. Bliss was a killer too - the intro Matt and Jon did for it waseerie and raucous and very cool. Take to the Sky was also excellent; she said something during the "I Feel the Earth Move" outro about how they feel the earth shake "in the White House"; she said "my earth" instead of "the earth" - I like how she turns this old song into a Scarlet's Walk-esque ode to the land. Siren was slow and haunting, not as jamming as the last time I saw it with the band (Nov. '98) but just as good. Space Dog was the best, though - I had never seen it before and it was very high energy, very cool - the audience was really into it too and that always helps.

This audience was very clappy - I'm sure it would have driven Mikewhy crazy! They clapped during Leather, during Space Dog, and of course during Take to the Sky. The audience also stood for all the encores. I was really pleased with the folks around me - they were obvious fans who were intoit but they didn't sing along or do anything disruptive and silly - best kind of audience you can ask for. Apparently my girlfriends were sitting behind some rude and drunkenguy who was really distracting - but they got the last laugh when they poured water on his chair while he was standing and bothering other people! When he sat down he got a lesson - all over the back of his pants. Not that I'm encouraging such behavior... ;-). It was a good night, and I can't wait for Virginia Beach.



From Jason Schlemer:

Tonight was AMAZING!!! It was the best I've seen out of the 6 I've been to on Scarlet's Walk. Tori was in a very very good mood tonight smiling and dancing more than I have seen her do in a long time. It seems now that she has become pretty big compared to when I first started listening to her and this tour I have thought to be too formal and cold at times, but tonight she seemed a little more like her old self.

It was more better than the Camden show with a set being just as rockin' as it was emotional. There definitely was a sentimental feeling in the air for her I think. I was very happy to hear Little Earthquakes again, because I haven't heard it in a long time live as well as Bells For Her which has become a recent favorite. Also, I was so happy to hear Cooling because it is my most favorite song of her's (other than Gold Dust). It was a very strong and emotional performance.

The roadside cafe sign was not up tonight. Instead it was sitting on a platform unlit all night. I believe Tash was behind it with Mark at the sound boards because Tori kept giving cute mother faces and pointing behindto someonelike how a mother would to her child. It was really nice to see Tori in that "mode". I could also see the shadows of Tori talking to Tash while backstage while Matt was playing the opening of A Sorta Fairytale. Was something cool and interesting to see.

The "Blackout/Aerosmith" improv was rather long and comedic. She did a Gene Simmons KISS expression near the end and the crowd laughed hysterically. I don't know if she has been previously doing that, but it was a good laugh.

I don't even care for Take to the Sky that much anymore, but tonight it was hands down the best most rocking version ever and the crowd(including myself)was way more ecstatic then usual.

Overall this wasthe most excellent high energy show I have seen thus far. It was just as much warm and emotional as it was rockin'. It seems that Tori has really been able to carry the emotional aspects of the songs with the band much better than the start of the tour and I found Your Cloud and all of the encores to be very poignant as well as musically polished.

I was very surprised there was no Gold Dust tonight. I thought that it might the first encore song since this is a homecoming pretty much and her family was there. I thought she might sing it to her mother and Tash. I really really wanted to hear it, but oh well, what can you do.


From LupaPuella:

While buying T-shirts I overheard someone say something about going back stage. I turned around and met Tori's piano teacher when she was 13... how much cooler to find she was sitting behind me during the show! The sky turned this ugly green color and a torrential downpour started as Ben Folds came on. His first song "Raindrops keep falling on my head" had the audience in fits. It was my first time seeing him and I really liked him. Totally different style from Tori, but he is so much fun and chats a great deal to the audience. I loved his explanation of how major chords are happy and sad chords are sad. If you know that, you can write songs for screenplays he said.

Wampum was perfect ... which while that makes a lot of people think it's taped, I still hold out that she sings it backstage. This is my third show from Scarlet (and I'll be at the VA beach show) plus having a lot of bootlegs from this tour ... it just seems to be her and not a tape....

LE was great. While it's never been one of my drop dead fav's I love hearing it. Sweet Sangria, was fabulous. So powerful with lots of looks to the audience.

Bliss put me over the edge. One of my all time favorites and something I love hearing live. She really belted this one out.

Bells for Her had me crying. It was so beautiful with these wistful looks on Tori's face. I could have gone home happy right then.

Concertina had me dancing in my chair. I love this song and never get tired of hearing it. God was incredible. My parents were with me and this is a song my Mom really liked hearing live.

Wednesday had everyone bee-bopping around. Always a fun and lively song.

Matt and Jon left the stage and Tori did this long improv about the blackout and being in Detroit, quite a few of her lyrics included "these precious ladies"/"these beautiful girls" with lots of hand gestures to the audience. She also did this great Gene Simmons tongue impression and a lyric about "the hotel is dark... and he (Steven Tyler) said 'I know T'". Cooling was beautiful, methodical and sad. Just lovely.

I loved hearing Leather while watching my dad's reactions ... he said afterward that that is "one sexy lady." Although I was irritated that a man in the back of the audience screamed "leather" while she was drawing out the line...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow had all three of us just slack jawed and so impressed. It was my first show seeing her play that and I was just stunned at how perfect her rendition is. Your Cloud had the audience swaying in their seats. Perfect follow up to Rainbow and I got the feeling the theme was the atmosphere/air.

Tombigbee was a huge surprise. She came out of the gate ripping this one up. Plus she sang the line "you raised me twenty, I raised you five hundred..." She has sometimes skipped this line, so I was so excited to hear it. The song totally rocked the house and was such a great treat to hear a b-side.

Virginia was beautiful and a little bit of a surprise... I was half expecting to not hear it as I'm guessing she'll play it tomorrow in Virginia.

Cornflake was another house rocker. The beginning was a little different from I've heard before.. and she really pulled out the tongue rolling near the end.

Take To the Sky had the "I feel the earth move.." Line in it, but she sang it a couple of times more than I have heard from other concerts. It was incredible and I could barely stay in my seat (I hate when people stand so it was really hard at this concert to keep my rear in the seat).

I can't See New York was, as always, such a sad song. I couldn't help but cry as I usually do.

Precious Things was phenomenal, she really pounded the piano and practically howled during parts of it.

I love Siren so I was so pleased to have heard it. It was such a relief to finally stand up and do some dancing and this song has so many great grooves to it.

Past the Mission was another treat as I hadn't seen it in concert. Always had a soft spot for that song and it almost sounded like a paradox ... upbeat and sad and prayerful.

Space Dog was fabulous!! I can't say it enough how much I love hearing this song live. Lots of great looks to the audience and that charming drool (I think Tori is seriously the only person who can drool and look charming doing it).

Right before Amber Waves she said "we still haven't done anything for Mars"... which really threw me off when she started Amber. It is the perfect ending song I think. So I was scratching my head wondering how this connects to Mars.... but then she started Hey Jupiter, which was haunting. Her eyes were focused upwards for a majority of the song and it seemed she really was playing it for Mars.

The audience was great, lots of fun people and dancing, very respectful... even the delightfully drunk people behind us. Despite the wafts of beer from around, there was a lot of love in the air.

Also there was an adorable little girl who stood up on her mom's shoulder holding a sign to Tori. I tried to see what it was, but never did... don't suppose anyone else caught it?

I can't wait for tomorrow!!


From Jeff:

...the sign that the little girl was holding up at the Columbia show said "Mr. Zebra".


From Pele the Siren:

It was really a wonderful night, despite the downpour of rain. Ben Folds was very good, I was not familiar with his music beforehand but he is obviously talented and extremely energetic. He is quite the story teller and made the evening into a music lesson, acknowledging that many people in the crowd were either music instructors or performers, which launched into of his story of the major and minor keys reflecting mood. The very last song, he made a reference to Tori hanging upside down and had the audience harmonizing, and by the very end he had jumped on top and into his piano.

That afternoon, Tori soundchecked Tombigbee and Cooling and both were performed. I thought that this was one of my favorite shows of any tour, however, I found it odd that a great number of these songs were on To Venus and Back live, it must have been a strange coincidence (Little Earthquakes, Cornflake Girl, Bells for Her, Cooling, and Space Dog.) It seemed to be a night with alot of focus on Under the Pink, but nothing from Choirgirl. But it was beautiful, many of them I had not heard live aside from the live disc. Before Tori played Leather, she applied her Stila lipglaze. When she did her improv about "The Hotel" she also made a reference to "running around without hose" and something about she had the best girls in the hotel.It was a rather long improv with a jazzy swing to it. During Take to the Sky, she sang the line "take it, take it" for quite along time before moving into the "i feel the earth move." She was also really jamming when she walked out for Space Dog, she danced around for so long it made me wonder if she wanted to sing and play at all:) Before playing Amber Waves, she made mention of playing something for mars, and everyone was pretty puzzled by her reference to mars and then her launch into Amber Waves.

As a side note, I am very upset with the employees of Merriweather. My sister and I had seats in row A, which is 5 seats behind the orchestra section. There was a man who worked for merriweather who stood beside our end of row seats checking tickets/guiding. He is excellent at what he does, however, when the lights went down and Tori went on stage, he wsa like a hawk looking for people using thier cameras. Numerous times through the night, he walked past us or stood in front of us looking for people at the opposite end of our row. It was very distracting..there were employees from Merriweather on the other side of the row, why was he doing the back and forthing? Also, he had sat a chair down in front of the orchestra and was constantly moving and scraping it. He was quite a distraction, more so than the people who were getting up for beers or the bathroom. He does his job well, but we didn't pay to see him move around all night.It has prompted me to write a letter.He made us very anxious because he was moving around so much during the night.

I thought the crowd was wonderful, aside from the doofus who yelled out Tori during Bens set and the guy who yelled out Leather when Tori began to play it.Everyone stood during the opening, but quickly sat back down. During the encores, everyone stood and remained that way.

Obviously, lots of Toris family was there and you could see the resemblance. Her parents came out and sat among the crowd and they were so nice to everyone who came to speak with them. I saw a few children running around backstage, as well as a viking helmet on top of a box.


From Dan K:

I just wanted to add that in addition to all the great reviews already posted that I was lucky enough to be looking in the right place at the right time and got to see Tori, Tash and a couple others playing "Ring-Around-The-Posie" backstage just a few minutes before the show started. I figured it out when at the end of the song, "they all fell down." It was so cute to see them all playing this fun kids game with Tash.

Also in reply to Jeff (the girl with the Mr. Zebra sign). I saw that girl too and it looked like she was being held up by somebody that may have been with the show. The little girl was quite young maybe 2 or 3 and had dark brown hair that was tied into a little ponytail. I don't think that I have ever seen Tash so I'm not sure if it was her but all I could think was that it was her out there with some of the family. They all appeared to be in the same area. I was in Row P in the Center and they were all just a few rows ahead off to the right of me. I have seen Tori four times in this area in the last two years and everytime I happen to be seated close to her Parents and other family, so maybe it was her out in the audience. [Note from Mikewhy: I doubt if Tash would ever be out in the audience personally!]

Finally, I wasn't going to write this much because the other reviews are so wonderfull. I think that the show was well done and worth everything just to be there to have an evening with Tori. It's always such a fun and different journey at every show.


From Nicole Anderson:

After reading other people's reviews, I have to completely agree w/Pele the Siren about the security. I was in row3 of the orchestra pit all the way to the right and it was during I Can't See NY he and another guard were completely obnoxious while talking and inconsiderate. The song was almost over by the time I was annoyed enough to get up and say something. If they had continued carrying on I was going over there to ask them to quiet down. Definitely noticed him scoping for cameras...fortunately I was able to get pictures. I took 2 disposables and used each one ....one for Ben, other one for Tori.

Aside from that, short and sweet here.....Spacedog made my night b/c that is one of my all time faves and I adore that as a live song. Somewhere Over The Rainbow really good; magical I'd say. Bliss stong as previously noted by others. A lot of her smiling at Matt during Cornflake Girl and Siren. Cooling was emotional and powerful. Take to the Sky very fun, crowd into it w/dancing and moving around. Hey Jupiter (dakota) was really good but I prefer when she ends the show w/a diff. song than that. Last time I saw her (Camden, NJ last yr) she ended w/Tear in your Hand I'm pretty sure and that was nice. All in all, awesome as always..hope my pictures turn out!!


From nicole:

I was impressed as usual w/tonight's performance...I'm quite an admirer of Ben Folds and his energy was great as always...very appropriate that he started the show w/"raindrops keep fallin on my head" since right before he came on stage it started to pour and there was thunder as well which provided a nice tone.  It was nice to hear "Army" and a new tune from him as well as other great ones. 

As far as Tori goes, what else can I say but breathtaking?  She wore cutoff jeans, and a flowing sheath in green and red and green strappy heels.  I expected the Wampum Prayer and A Sorta Fairytale beginning but really did not know what else to expect cause she she mix it up pretty well as I have seen from past shows.  I was pleased to hear Somewhere Over The Rainbow live as I have not seen that before and it was magical, she seems to enjoy playing that one.  After Sweet Sangria she spoke a little and mentioned "it's good to be here..feels like home" then went into Bliss.  After Virginia, she put reapplied her lip gloss and I got a picture of that.  During Cornflake Girl and Siren I noticed a lot of her smiling at Matt.  Take To The Sky was great w/the "I feel the earth move..." attached, people got up and danced to that one. 

I was most pleased w/Spacedog since it's one of my favorites and weird how I was just mentioning on my way to Merriweather how I wanted badly to hear that and she played it on 2nd encore.  The only complaint I have is about 2 really obnoxious security men who were to my right and during I Can't See NY they were talking so loudly it was really disturbing.  I know it was not just me because other people around me were noticing them as well.  Overall, another awesome show from Tori and the gang, can't wait til 2005 when she tours again!! 

Posted by: Mikewhy