5 1/2 Weeks Tour
Irvine/Los Angeles, CA
September 26, 1999

Updated November 10, 1999

Check Out The Reviews And Set Lists Page

Tori performed in Irvine/Los Angeles, CA on September 26, 1999 at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater during the Tori & Alanis Morissette 5 1/2 Weeks Tour. This was Tori & Alanis' second night in a row at this venue.

Set List

God
Juarez
Cornflake Girl
Spring Haze
Blood Roses
Black-Dove (January)
Marianne (solo)
Cooling (solo)
Suede
Cruel
Hotel
Waitress

Encore:
Precious Things

Reviews

From Richard Handal

September 27, 1999 - Richard was at the show and as usual he called me after Tori left the stage. This was the longest show of the 5 1/2 Weeks tour at 1 hour and 25 minutes, although she did the same number of songs. Tori was on stage from 7:55 until 9:20PM. This was the first time that she did Marianne on the tour.

This show had a restful, even peaceful sensibility. Richard had a sense that we are about to turn a corner and he wondered how much the musical floodgates are going to open at the Dallas show, which is the first Tori-only show this year.

Marianne was very long and steadied. It was highly rearranged from the album version. It was fairly stacatto and percussive. There was a special sung introduction. Cruel was quite intense this evening, but still retained the easy-going sense of the show overall.

All Reviews Below Were Originally Posted On The Dent Forum

Special thanks to Laurie Daniels for her invaluable assitance in getting the reviews transferred to the Dent!

I won free tickets from the guest service booth the day before, lucky as I am. One thing that I am cursed with is always having to sit in front of fat headed drunk people who wont shut up. !!! Both nights it happened. I was really going to explode. I mean why pay good money to see an artist and then talk throught the whole damn thing? doesn't make any sense. I can do that in my living room I mean jeez...besides that it was really great. There was a nice swirly orange and yellow light effect on the stage during cornflake girl. She wasn't as bouncy today as she was yesterday though. God is was really stunning live today. I loved it. That's really all I have to say. One small request to all those concert people out there...PLEASE show some respect to people around you and dont talk , loudly, throught entire lengths of concerts. It's really not fair. thanks

Just got back from the show. She wore a blue gauzy dress/shroud like thing over a black shirt. Her shoes looked gray and had some kind of strap. The stage was set to look somewhat psychadelic. There were several lava lamps on stage. No, Alanis and Tori did NOT do a duet or even appear on stage together, which was a little surprising, but probably for the best. Tori made another allusion to pregnancy during one song by making a cradling motion under her stomach. She gave Caton a cute look during Cruel. After Cornflake Girl she talked to us a bit. She said that she used to always sit out on the lawn, and something about it being a good place to make out. She said she probably looks like a size 4 to all of us from out there.. Spring Haze was beautiful! The intro to Mariane included the words "See you 2:15 running up the stairs" but i cant remember any more. No rude alanis fans to night. Alanis was pretty good..the crowd was really into her..she did thank u, you oughta know, so pure, uninvited, and some others i ddint recognize..ok im really tired so thats all for now

I saw tori and alanis last night and really liked tori. I had seen her twice at the Greek in L.A., and Irvine was a much nicer place. I have to just put something out there and if anyone feels this way or doesn't, I would love to know: Why is tori's piano so buried in the mix? Maybe it was our seats, Stageleft, but the bass was booming and the drums and you could hardly hear the piano part and not atall sometimes. My husband and I felt the same way for the plugged to tour. I havn't heard anyone else say anything about it. It is just frustrating because I so want to hear the piano parts along with all the other instruments. I think her band is unbelievable - the are animals with thier instruments! And that is so cool, but I want to hear the piano too, Tori is so unique inwhat she does with arrangements and her playing style - it's what maked her music sound different, and i've really missed it inthese shows. As great as her band is, I wish her piano and vocals were featured more, I feel that she is buried in the mix, and upstaged by her band alot of the time. Maybe that's what she wants - and I respect that, I just miss hearing that awe-inspiring keyboard work. If anyone feels the same, or not, I'd love to hear from you!
P.S. Marianne was beautiful.

Oh Tori. This show was so very. God and Juarez were wonderful, but Cornflake Girl really started the show for me, nasty girrrls. Spring Haze was light and gorgeous, too bad I could hear more from the people behind me, hoochie and frat types, on leave from the zoo and LOVING beer. Does anyone want to talk about Blood Roses? OUCH, my god, she almost killed me. It was so out there, and so fierce, my penis shriveled and I don't even have one. Oh YEAH. Black Dove was fantastic but was marred for me by the extremely bright spotlight that goes on and off during the song. My eyeballs are strained. Then, she did Marianne. On the way there my friend and I were just hoping. Tori said she was shy, but this version was so powerful and sad I am surprised that last night was the first time she came out. Cooling. Lets go for a ride. Tori was so warm during this one. Sniff. I like Suede so much more after this show. Cruel was pounding and strong, and Hotel was especially riveting. She did it at the Vegas show but this Hotel was magic. During the last part of the song, " King Solomons mines, exit 75, I'm still alive, I'm still alive, I'm still alive....", Tori was clinging to the mike and I could barely breathe. Hang ten, honey, I'm gonna go where she goes. The Waitress. Not even the most belligerent Alanis brut could deny this. Whoa. Precious, as always, was, well you know. I haven't been to a million shows this tour but I'm sure last night was one of the best. I may have to rob a bank and go where she goes. Honey.

ok so I had a much better time the night before...I had the opposite experience of Michelle (nghias girl) cause I liked Saturday's show better...
my sister and I had seats together last night - which weren't bad by any stretch of means,(about 10 rows behind the pit) but I was getting spoiled by being so close the past couple of nights. My sister was too chicken to try to move up so we kinda stayed put...I was very happy to hear spring haze - it's one of my favorites from venus and it kicked ass with the band..there was also a small improv before cornflake - so glad we got some improvs! I was very surprised to hear black-dove...it was about this time too that I started having a very shitty time...my sister and I had moved up one row since it was practically empty (the pit was jam-packed and everyone was moving up to the front) and during cornflake girl this couple came and stood right behind us (I have no idea if these were their seats or not - they didn't ask us to move) and began to have a conversation...I was annoyed so I moved up a row during the end of the song since the couple wouldn't shut up...then my sister made the mistake of telling me she was going back to our original seats at which time the guy next to me, whose row I was now in got pissy with me for talking...ugh. I was very upset and just having a bad day all around (maybe pms, i don't know) but I was practically in tears for black-dove and when she started doing Marianne I was completely bawling...it pissed me off more because this guy was, um, you know (trying to be respectful to Mikewhy's wishes here) and that's why he was pissed at me for talking, even though I was trying to get others to quiet down (how fucking ironic can you get without like puking)...I don't think he was a real Tori fan...plus during suede this whole sitting/standing debate got going full force between the people on the other side of me and the people in front of them...it was not a happy time It was Tori though and she cheered me up a bit and I was happy to have cruel and hotel - so much choirgirl in one night! I was sad that it was my last show and it had to go like that....

ok for the need not to repeat others, I will not relay the set list. Secret time was beautiful with "Cooling" and "Marianne" ( who made her debut for this tour). It was interesting that Tori did "Cooling" in Florida the first night I believe and then closed this section of the tour with "Cooling" again, this time on the west coast. The concert itself was wonderful Highlights of course were as follows: Secret time-
Cooling- the most beautiful version i have heard live. I have heard it twice before and this was the most powerful!!! Marriane- during the song a balloon floated onto the stage which was very cute!!!!!
Black Dove ( January)- beautiful as usual Spring Haze- i cried.. sounds excellent live Hotel- enjoyed this version .. for it seemed I never cared for it that much during the Plugged '98 tour.
I was sitting on the lawn and found myself slowly migrating to the left of the field due to talkative people, and deliquent parents who decided to bring their toddlers to a concert!!! During the start of Cooling I was screaming and the section around me looked at me like they had no idea what song this was oh well call me crazy.
I do want to say HELLO to Friplette (EWF) from San Diego, who was very cute!!!! You made the line we waited on a lot more tolerable. Could I ever have a date??????
The show was over before I knew it and then Tori was gone in the darkness as Joel led her away.
The M&G was a nightmare.. over 300 people were there and basically charged the tour bus when it pulled up, totally neglecting what Steve was ordering the fans to do. This was more of a mess than the SAturday M&G. Until the next tour........

Once again, Tori did not disappoint.
My seats were not as good last night (Loge 7) as they were Saturday night. Thank God I had really mega powerful binoculars.

Out of the two incredible shows, I found Saturday night to be more enjoyable. Maybe because last night there were two Alanis fans behind me who would not shut up -- even during Marianne and Cooling! I wanted to kill.

Juarez and Suede were awesome. She had one leg up on the piano bench as she stood and played the synth. I also loved Blood Roses.

Waitress kicked ass!! Even my Alanis loving friend had to admit that the song rocked!

Between sets and during Alanis, I went out by the concessions and talked to some really great Tori fans. It seemed that everyone I said "hi" to was a Tori fan.

Also, I got to meet Caton. He was standing outside the door to get backstage. He was really sweet. I complimented him on his playing and asked when they would be back in the LA area. He told me that after the solo gigs, they go to Europe for a bit and maybe they'd be back next year. We can only hope and pray!

someone posted about a part of the marianne improv. since i taped the show i thought i'd transcribe the intro exactly: i feel you close here
running through the grass
marianne
see you
2:15 running up the stairs
running up to class
you
you

Sunday's show was absolutely amazing!!! I think that god is an incredible way to open up the show! All of my faves from venus came out to play. Juarez, Suede, Spring Haze. Secret time with Marianne and Cooling. Hearing Blood Roses for the first time live. My only wish is to have people be more respectful at shows. I'm not the biggest alanis fan but at least i politely sat though her set, and didn't talk! But this topic has been beat to death around here so i will stop my ramblings. The m&g was cool even though i was stuck back in the no chance in hell section. I still had fun. Overall another incredible tori show. To all the ewf's going to the solo shows. Have fun and i'm jealous. Bye for now.
~SpringHaze~

Well my journey is done and I figured that for my first big post, I would relay my experiences. I went to the show in Las Vegas as well as the two shows in Irvine and the meet and greet on Sunday (tall guy, dark hair who ended up in front crushed and my girlfriend Susan has long reddish brown hair). I have been an avid reader of the Dent for many months now and I figured this was a good time for me to do the psycho Tori thing so I packed up and flew to Las Vegas. As most of you know, they taped that show and I thought it was great in my opinion. Silent All These Years was especially good. After her set, we wanted to leave because we arenÕt big Alanis fans so we found two big Alanis fans with really bad seats and gave them our seats (which were pretty damn good). They were pretty excited and I hope they enjoyed the rest of the show. The next day, we flew home to L.A. only to jump right in the car for Irvine. We just made the beginning of God because of the stupid people at the venue who could not organize a line to save their lives. This show was good as well because of Father Lucifer, Crucify, and most of all Smells Like Teen SPirit. After Tori's set, I met Richard Handal, who most of you know calls the Dent with reviews after most concerts, and talked to him for a while. He helped us find a motel in the area (Thanks!) and told us to go to the meet and greet early, which luckily we did. It was a mad house. Most of the people who were there were really cool (you know who you are) though a lot of late comers were real a**holes (you know who you are too). When the guy who runs these things comes out, I guess his name is Steve, he proceeded to talk to us like we were idiots and was generally abusive to everybody. I wonder if Tori know how he talks to her fans. Any way, this guy all but tells the crowd to rush the barricades and by luck I get crushed right up in front which I did not mind because I met her and I talked to her! She told me that secret time for the 25th was supposed to be different and I said that Smells Like Teen Spirit was wonderful as well as the rest of the show. She was so beautiful and it was such an experience. I was able to get stuff signed for a couple of people behind me and get some pictures for others (I hope they came out).

Long story short (too late) we get something to eat and see the best concert of hers I have seen yet. She played Black Dove and I remembered that during the meet and greet, another girl and I told her we wanted to hear it and she said "you guys are Black Dove people huh". So cool that that happened even though I also begged her to play Winter (she wrote it on her hand) and she didn't play it but that is all right because she played Cooling. So to all you Ears with Feet who were so great, thank you very much for being so cool (especially those of you who tried to control the Meet and Greet and avoid the inevitable stampede as well as for sitting back to let the fans who have never met her get up there) and gracious and allowing us into you little world for a few days!

P.S. I am sorry that this is so long a reply, but it was a really long weekend.

Hi folks -
This is my first post here but I've been reading for a while and I did try and find the group at the Spectrum before the show Sunday, but I guess you all really did clear out of there before 5:30. Oh well.

Anyway, I had my telephoto at the show and I've posted 14 pictures for you to see. They're my review, of sorts. My main Tori index, with 126 photos:

http://www.wafflelight.com/popshots/tori/

And for those who can't wait, go ahead and jump to page one (of three) of the stuff from Sunday:

http://www.wafflelight.com/popshots/tori/tori8.html

As always, I'm not selling or advertising anything (other than slowly, slowly working on doing pictures professionally) - just sharing with other fans. Drop me an email if you like the stuff, as my scanner got weird partway through and I might have more photos to post but I'm not sure yet.

BTW if anyone has photos from the breakfast the previous Friday I'd love to see them. I was there but couldn't take pictures.

Oh, one more thing, sorry - Does anyone have a really good scan of the KROQ Breakfast '98 photo in the current Spin? It seems I'm in it, taking a photo myself...

Otto

Wow!!!!! This was a GREAT set of Tori magic. Juarez, Spring Haze, and Cruel, which I've had problems with at other shows, were absolutely wonderful at this show. Not only that, but we got Cooling and Marianne for secretime! And Suede...and Blood Roses...and Black Dove, wow! Tori's voice was dynamite tonight. She seemed to be playing some things slightly differently on the piano, which was interesting. Oh, and Hotel, another wow! This set was too great for mere words to define. My only slight disappointment was that she didn't play Lust or Josephine - someone told me that she had sound-checked Josephine before the show and I was VERY excited to hear it, but alas, no.

Well, one word... AWESOME!!!
My seats were pretty bad - and booking them was a nightmare! An hour on the telephone to Ticketmaster at the exact time the tickets were released gave me loge 7 tickets - I was kind of annoyed at that, especially as I was calling from England! I find it hard to believe that ALL the tickets in front of that had been sold in the first 10 minutes - and Ticketmaster simply doesn't accept bookings from outside the US.

Still, it was worth every minute of the 13 hour journey to get there! I'd purposefully stayed away from all the review sites and so on - I wanted her to surprise me, as she usually does! As long as I heard Siren (having heard the incredible Knoxville Plugged '98 version) or Precious Things, I was happy! And - did she do "Precious things" or what?? LOL! WOW!

"Cruel" was superb, and "The Waitress" just blew me away! One young lady a few rows ahead of me managed to drive the entire loge nuts... she was a fairly large girl who thought it was acceptable that the rest of the loge had paid their money to watch her ass jiggling around and hear her chatting and squealing to her friends, but a swift, "Hoi! SIT DOWN!" did the trick (eventually)...

Alanis was an unexpected bonus - I wasn't all that bothered about seeing her, but figured as I'd come so far, I may as well stay till the end of the concert! Hair-getting-stuck-in-her-harmonica aside, I thought she was excellent and was surprised at the power in her voice. Still, she wasn't a patch on Tori!

Hi to all the wonderful people I met there! The atmosphere was amazing! The show was something else! Roll on London on the 29th!!!

Sarah
:*

hello all,
I was at both the Sat. & Sun. shows at Irvine Meadows. Not following the recommendation of Mikewhy, et al. I was four songs late to the first show!!! Traffic in LA is a pain! The show was good, but the lighting wasn't up yet , so the stage was dark and dreary. The second night was sooo much better, with Tori performing only three of the same songs and the lighting being perfect. Comments about the Alanis fans at this show are pretty bad. They were openly rude and dirrespectful to Tori and her fans (including me and the others in the Terrace section). This one teenager and his six little friends were openly mocking us and Tori. Pretty disgusting if you ask me. Also, this co-heading thing was a joke. 3/4 of the merchandise was Alanis' and 3/4 were probably her fans. A bunch of us left after Tori and I could overhear a lot of those people complaining about the short set and the lack of merchandise available compared to that of the other. There was definitely a concensus that Tori should never do this again and some of us were wondering why she did it in the first place. Obviously, the talent ratio between the two are not equivalent. As for the quality of Tori's performance, my friend and I thought that she was less animated and open than usual, with little interaction with the audience. Of course, she was great and beautiful, but the uuummfff wassn't there. Understandable. I'm sure that if I could feel it, she could as well. We were happy to see her and it was the highlight of my concert-goings this year, but the experience was a bit soured by Alanis' stupid fans and the imbalance of the promos.

Go Back To The Tour Schedule & Reviews Page

Please give me feedback, comments, or suggestions about my site. Email me (Michael Whitehead) at mikewhy@iglou.com