North American Club Tour; Ticket Buying Experiences

Updated April 20, 1998

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Several people have shared their club tour ticket buying experiences from Saturday, April 4th with me. Some people are happy and had a great time in line, others are glad they have tickets but are unhappy about what they had to go through to get them, and others are devastated because they were unable to get tickets. Some of these accounts are wonderful, while others are incredibly sad and horrible. The biggest horror stories come from Los Angeles and New York. On the other hand, the situation in Toronto was nearly perfect.I will continue to update this page a few times daily for a few days, so feel free to send me your own experience. My own concert buying experience is below.

The opinions here are only reflective of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Dent.

• Ft. Lauderdale
• Atlanta
• Washington D.C.
• New York
• Boston
• Philadelphia
• Toronto
• Detroit
• Chicago
• Seattle
• San Francisco
• Los Angeles

From MaidnChina

April 12, 1998 - I have a specific purpose for sending this-- (I love purposes!) Anyway... for anyone who was at Sunrise that day (I got there at about 4, but me and my friend were actually later than we hoped) I was the gal on the lawn screaming in pain. I had killer cramps and I can honestly say that I've never been in as much pain in my entire life. I have a disorder that gives 'em to me real bad. My whole point is-- I was all alone on the lawn, crying and even vomiting from the pain... and not a single person that I didn't know came up to me to ask if i was okay. I wasn't expecting mad sympathy, but I know that if I saw a teenage girl in my position I would have seen if I could help in any way. Most people wouldn't, I realize. But if you were there, you know how many people were there, and NOT A SINGLE ONE checked up on me. NO ONE. If someone had just made a call to my mother, or even 911, I would have been much better much sooner. So, thanks. Thanks a lot.

From Andre

April 5, 1998 - this is just a short note on how the sat. morning voucher sale went in ft. laudredale.

well I am happy to say that my buddy and i are genuine voucher holders, which by the way i felt when we arived at sunrise musical theater box office was a big relief.

I've waited on many lines for tickets before, but this experience was kind of frightening. I had a great feeling of dread that we werent going to get tickets, when i say the huge crowed that was there when we arrived at 9:15 am. Apparently thy started numbering people untill they got to 450 people. After that the said to fend for you self. We arrived long after they stopped giving out numbers. So I thought we were out of luck, because apparently, they started giving out numbers the night before, and people were camping out. I honestly didnt know that there were that many people who like her, but of course shes tori so it really isnt a surprise. Honestly it felt like it was a graduation ceremony, with people holding there vouchers and cheering like it was a diploma. this really was a strange experience but i am extatic that i have tickets for this show, she was amazing during the dew drop inn tour, and i expect a religios experience ounce again. (please forgive my horrible spelling)

From Tammy

April 5, 1998 - I also thought that the hand number idea (in Ft. Lauderdale) was a good idea because you didn't have to worry about vehemently keeping your place before the box office opened and the people that got there first (fairly) got their vouchers first.

The problem I had with it is me and my friend got there about 6am and we stood in the line. We heard people saying that they had numbers so we ran up to one of the fans "in charge" (he had some sort of list) to ask if we needed to get a number. He just said to get in the back of the line and not to worry about it. Needless to say, 30 mins later our hands were numbered but about 75 people that came there later than us had gotten a number before ours because only certain parts of the lines were told that they needed a number.

My hint to others that are going to use this idea: Announce the fact that everyone needs a number over and over to the WHOLE LINE (use a big sign or have the number giver standing where everyone comes in/sees them). Don't just pass the list around (have it pre-numbered or something also so the numbers don't get screwed-up--as they did multiple times =) And number the hands of people as they get a number so the number writer doesn't have to trip over everyone to write the numbers.

I'm not complaining, just constructive criticism to help the next bunch of people who try this. All and all it was a a good system, just needed a more efficent dissemination of information about what was happening to the WHOLE LINE instead of random parts of it.

From Jason Childs

April 5, 1998 - This is Spinnyboy (Jason Childs) reporting from South Florida once more. Today, tickets went on sale at 10am at the Sunrise Musical Theater.... Unfortunately, I got lost and didn't get there until 10:10am and the line was unbelievable. From what I gathered, people started arrving at the theater FRIDAY morning at 8am!! Isn't that something?! Anyways, there must have been about 800 people in line. Rumors flew that only 400 vouchers were being distributed (here is S. Florida you purchase a voucher for $55 which is redeemable for two tickets at the Chili Pepper).... but obviously that wasn't true since we made it in just fine...

The excitement is beginning!!! I though you'd like to hear a little bit on the Florida front. People as far away as Georgia were here... I'm excited to say I'll be in that room when she comes out for the first time in quite a while... =o)

From VersusMoll (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - well, here in fort lauderdale, tix went on sale at 10am today and i think the earliest people had been hanging out at the box office was since 5 pm yesterday. my sister and i got there around 2 am last nite but there really wasn't a line, people were just hanging out, it was casual. some cool tori fans started up a list on a sheet of paper so people could secure their place in a line when it was formed. around 6am we started forming a line (these weren't box office people, just tori fans that wanted to make sure everything was organized) and people went around matching the number on the sheet with a number on your hand. i'd be curious to hear how it happened in other cities, it was cool how (most) everyone cooperated, all in the tori spirit.

> i think that the people buying tickets later might want to know how
> it goes for people buying tickets tomorrow... please share your
> ticket-buying experiences so we know what to expect and how early to get
> there. (is it really necessary to stand on line for over 24 hours to get
> vouchers!?!?!)

no it's not necessary, there were plenty of tix being sold and people that got there around 8 and 9 am i think also got tix so i don't think you have to be there super early. the system seems pretty cool, my sister and i were # 118 and 119 and we got our vouchers and were out of there by 10:17am, the line went really fast. so that was cool. if anyone has any other specific questions feel free to privately email me.

From Gina Reinert

April 5, 1998 - I just got back from Ft. Lauderdale after staying up all night to get tickets for the Chili Pepper. We arrived about 9:00 p.m. on Friday and there were others already lined up . Some of which had been there since 11:00 Friday morning. I was somewhere in the first 50 people to get my voucher after 13 hours(Yeah) The Sunrise was telling us that we needed to buy two tickets per voucher, but I don't think they enforced this. I wasen't even sure for the reason in doing so. Oh Well, It is 18 and up of course. The voucher was $27.50. There was a list of names going all night to keep track of who came up first, because there was no sort of line going anywhere. They stopped counting after 450. I also heard that there may have been only 900 tickets sold? This I don't know.

From Jenny (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - we got there around 3: 30 pm :) But there were some people who had been there since 10 am. April 3rd so...That was such an amazing surreal experience. Wow. I think the people that worked at Sunrise Musical Theater were really impressed by how organized we were. We all signed a list when we came in, so that we could keep track of who came when. Then around 6 in the morning we lined up and this girl put numbers on our hands. (keep in mind this was all done by fans...it was no one's job) Then someone made a line with string and a few people were picking up trash. It was really nice.

From Maggie

April 20, 1998 - My night in Atlanta was an experience I will never forget. My friend, Alicia, and I arrived at about 7:00p.m. Friday night and luckily we were the first ones there. But not for long! People arrived in no time and a line began weaving itself around the building and into the alleyway. Tori fans came from all over the South in hopes of recieving a voucher for the concert. I was happy that my sleeping parteners were friendly( Thanks MAQ with a Q for being such a great pillow).I can't wait till the 20th so we can reunite with The ROYAL FAMILY(top ten people in line). I'll see everyone there( Elizabeth, MAQ, teddy, Shannon, Andrew, Liz and everyone that I forgot)!!!!

From Jim Weitz

April 16, 1998 - About two months ago, my daughter, Karen, told me about Tori's Plugged Tour. Being the devoted Tori fan that she is, she really wanted to be at one of these concerts. I said I'd do what I could, if she'd keep me up to date, which she did. Then we heard about the tickets going on sale in several cities. One of them was Atlanta. Since I work for Delta, getting to Atlanta from Cincinnati was no big deal. Until the thunderstorms hit. I checked the Atlanta weather before leaving for the airport, and saw the weather was kinda nasty...but didnt think it was going to be a problem. Well, that wasn't exactly the case. When I got to the Airport at Cincy, I saw the two previous flights to Atlanta had been delayed...still not a major concern. We left Cincy about 45 minutes late, about 11:40pm, and landed in Atlanta about 12:50am...the captain told us we would be several...minutes...before we got to the gate...what he really meant was..it would be HOURS. It turns out Hartsfield was shut down for about FOUR HOURS and delayed all the arrivals and departures. After two and a half hours on the taxiway, we arrived at the gate at 3:20am. I caught a couple hours sleep at the airport, and then climbed aboard MARTA, headed for the Roxy Theatre. I was quite surprised, well a little surprised anyway, at the line. It snaked through the parking lot, and somehow ended up on the sidewalk behind the theatre. Those in line around me said the security people had said it didnt look too good for us there at the end. This was about 7:00am, three hours before the tickets actually went on sale. The line kept growing, more and more Tori Fans. I wasn't at the end anymore. The sun was out when I got there, but didnt last long. It turned cloudy, chilly and windy. It may have chilled my bones, but it didnt chill the spirit of all the Tori fans that had been there, some since I was sitting on the runway. And, it didn't discourage me. Just thinking what this would mean to Karen, made it all worthwhile. When the security people, (can't really call them guards, there was nothing to guard..it was a GREAT crowd) passed out the numbers I was #468, which meant I had been successful. After standing in line from 7:00am, I finally had the tickets in my hand at 11:15am. Everybody affiliated with the Roxy, and all the people in line were GREAT. After getting the tickets, I walked across the street to Starbucks, and drank something HOT...and my phone rang, and it was Karen. After a couple questions, she knew I had the tickets in my billfold...and she was ecstatic to say the least. Knowing the trip home was going to be delayed as well, I had lunch at Hard Rock, and headed back to the airport, to find all the flights to Cincy full. But found a route home via Nashville. I arrived home about 24 hours after I left, Tori tickets in hand. And next Sunday morning, I will be headed back to Atlanta to see a very Talented Tori Amos, with my very lovely daughter, Karen. It was well worth the trip.

From Alicia

April 16, 1998 - i recently got a voucher for the april 20th tori show at the roxy. my friend maggie and i arrived in atlanta at about 7pm fri night(on apr. 3)before the tickets went on sale sat. morning at 10am.- we were the first ones there! we kept our places in line throughout the night and met some great people! during the night(or the next morining-i dont remember),the security handed out "E's"(those of you there know what i mean!) so we could use the bathroom inside the roxy. throughout the 14 hrs., not one person walked by without saying, "oh my god, what time did you guys get here?" so eventually we made a sign answering all their ?'s. anyway- being first in line,we got our voucher and left around 9:45am sat. it turned out to be a good night and i cant wait till the 20th!

From Christopher Scott

April 12, 1998 - Two friends of mine and I left our college to get in line around 8PM. When we arrived, there were only sixteen people in line. (We were 17-20) Everyone was just sitting around underneath the marquee shooting the bull. As it turns out, all those already there got incredilby lucky for the marquee, because around 11:30 a serious thunderstorm blew right over us, soaking everything not underneath. Fortunately, everybody there stayed dry. After that, however, it gradually became colder and colder... I was lucky enough to have aquilt. Some people had sleeping bags, but many only had their clothes and jackets.

The experience was great. We met some really cool people from Savannah and Macon. The ages there were also impressive, from high school to those pushing forty, all waiting in line with us. Around eleven, they moved us all out from the doors, where we had wrapped like an amusement park ride line up back, and out, to one straight line from the door, down the street, and into an alley, behind there eventually into a parking lot, where they again formed weird designs with their lines. At midnight, another friend from school joined us in line.

There was plenty to do while in line. Most people were really friendly as well. Many went for walks, as coolers, chairs, sleeping bags, and other people held the places in line. There was Johnny Rockets behind us, Starbucks down the street, and and IHOP across a courtyard. Plus, people had cards, walkmans, anything you could think of. I happily fell asleep in my chair with the quilt over my head to stay warm.

Around dawn, they handed out flyers detailing most of the information that had already been posted here, RDT, and elsewhere. Then later, they handed out placeholder business cards to reserve the place in line. My friend who came late had brought along a friend who didn't even buy a ticket - he just stood in line! He sold his place about twenty minutes before the doors opened. All told, we waited fourteen hours to be done in five minutes.

I can't wait until the concert. It will be my first Tori experience, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I can't wait to see the other people that I met in line, for we met some really awesome people. It was kind of ironic in a way, though. My sister lives in Philadelphia, and got tickets for the show there as well. However, instead of waiting as long as I did. She arrived at 9:45, found a friend in line, and was let in. All told, she waited for forty-five minutes. Just doesn't seem the same. It's not that important - either way, I got the better experience out of it.

From Jessica Branum

April 10, 1998 - My husband and I got there at about 9:30 and we're plesantly suprised to see there were only about 30 people there. we got setteled in and started waiting. We made some great friends, some who even shared food with us (thanks for the corn, Liz!). Most of the time we talked ot a girl from Athens (Hi kelly!). We had the best time. Sometime in the middle of the night the security guards came out and made us all move down cause we were piled in front of the doors cause it was covered there and we were blocking the way. That caused a LOT of confusion among people. Still, we moved and got setteled in AGAIN. Everyone was REALLY nice. We'd hold our places in line for each other and all sorts of things. People would drive by and ask who we were getting tickets for and in unison everyone would yell "SPICEGIRLS!" and they'd give us dirty looks :). Finially around 6:30 or 7 the one guy working there with the megaphone(Dave i think his name was) handed out some flyers and told us how things would work. at about 9:15 they handed out yellow buisness cards with numbers on them so your place in line would be assured. My hubby and I were numbers 34 and 35 (YAY!). the line started moving and within 15 minutes we had our tickets and were on our way home to get some much needed rest. :) I can't wait for the 20th to get here so I can see some of the people we met again, and, of course, see Tori :).

From cristina

April 7, 1998 - I have to agree with the other Atlanta toriphiles who expressed great pleasure in the behavior of everyone in line. Everyone behaved themselves and were extremely nice. I certainly hope this behavior carries over to the night of the show. Anyway, my experience was very positive and upon reading the harassment of toriphiles in other cities, I consider myself lucky to be holding a voucher. My friend Jon and I left Friday night from Nashville (almost 4 hours away) around 7 pm. We arrived in Atlanta around 12 am eastern time. After 3 tries, we finally got a hotel room near Marietta. At about 7:30 am we left the hotel, got coffee, and proceeded to the venue. By 8:30 am we had a spot in line. I seriously had lost hope for a ticket. There were a TON of people there and the line behind us was enormous. It was FREEZING cold, the wind was something awful, but at least it wasn't raining. The staff of the Roxy were very nice and informative. Around 9 am, they started passing out flyers with info on it and one worker got on a megaphone and informed the crowd of how the whole thing would work. They passed out yellow pieces of paper with numbers on them and then opened the doors at 10 am. Jon and I got numbers 515 and 516. I think they were only passing out 750. The line moved VERY slowly and snaked around the parking lot very strangely. By 11:30 we had our vouchers and the David Poe sampler in hand. I consider myself fortunate that we had it so easy. I am truly sorry to all the other toriphiles that had to endure such horrific atrocities just to get (or not get) at ticket. I hope that the NY and LA venues (although I sincerely doubt it) learned a lesson from the hardships of potential customers.

From Megan Dougherty

April 7, 1998 - Saturday 4-4-98 Tix went on sale for Tori's concert in Atlanta GA at the ROxy theatre. I've never seen her in concert before so I really wanted to go o this! Well I got up at about 7 and was at the venue at 8 and tix go on sale at 10! So when my dad and I got there there was already about 150 ppl lined up and sleeping (they slept out there!) and it rained the night before and was extremely cold.. Look how much these ppl LOVE Tori!!! So we lined up and the line was going around the building, thru the parking lot, and around the other side of the building.. The venue only holds about 1500 people and so not everyone got in, and they handed out numbers.. so everyone had to stay in line and not move (out of line) if u wanted a ticket.. I was #526! The wind was VERY cold and it had just rained the nite before which made it EVEN COLDER! Finally after about 2 and a half hours of waiting and standing and freezing.. they finally let me in to buy tix.. Too bad the seats are on a first come first serve basis.. haha, people there at the venue were also giving out DAvid Poe's little like demo cd after u signed up for the tickets.. =)

From Jennifer Whittle

April 6, 1998 - I just want to thank everyone for being so cool down at the Roxy on Friday night. I arrived about 11pm and had a great time trying to stay awake all night. The owner of the Roxy was simply the nicest guy ever, opening up the theater to let us use the restrooms and pay phone. But most of all, the fans were just great. Eveyone behaved themselves, except for the drunk guys in the alleyway who must have had three cases of beer (those in the alleyway, you KNOW what I'm talking about!) I sat with a few wonderful Toriphiles and I want to say HI to Brendan who I had a great time sitting next to for 11 hours! See you guys at the show!

From Nadyne Mielke (Precious Things Post)

April 5, 1998 - My husband, two friends, and I arrived at the Roxy around midnight. We had thought that there wouldn't be anyone there, but we were wrong. We got in line, and we ended up being 95, 96, 97, and 98.

I have to say that the folks at the Roxy in Atlanta were very cool. A guy came around with sheets of information about how it was going to be handled. He answered any questions that came up {and even went to great lengths to answer the question I asked him about one of the people that will be coming with me, a wheelchair-bound woman}. Around 1am, they opened up the venue and let folks in to use the bathroom and such. There were no problems that I saw with all of us that ended up camping out.

I think that anyone who arrived at the Roxy after 7am or so, though, didn't stand a chance of getting tickets. Even though the Roxy holds about 1400 or so, the line just exploded between 5am and 6am.

Around 9am, the security guys started handing out little yellow tickets with a number on them. They announced that if anyone was caught selling their ticket or swapping or anything like that, they'd be taken out of line. At one point, two people closer to the front of the line were kicked out. {One 'cause he cut in, the other who had let him in.} There was cheering as the security folks did that.

Overnight, though, line-cutting wasn't really an issue. Everyone who'd been there for awhile knew where they were in line, and had probably started talking to the folks in front of and behind them. I made sure that the three guys behind us kept their place in line when they ran out to get coffee and doughnuts at one point, they did the same for us my husband and a friend ran to our apartment to pick up some blankets and such.

Overall, I could've lived without the camping out, but I do think that it was handled pretty well. The folks at the venue were good, the security guards weren't assholes, and the people in line were all very good. Assuming that their behavior in line is indictive of their behavior at the show, I don't think we'll have to deal with any screamers {thank god!}.

For whoever's keeping score, tickets were $28.50 each.

From elizabeth

April 5, 1998 - getting tickets in atlanta turned out to be really cool. i drove up there the night before and got to the roxy around 7:30. there were already a few die-hards there(including maggie and alicia, two 16 yr. olds who had driven from macon with their moms)but i ended up being number four in line. we spent a crazy night on the streets of atlanta with only a few obnoxious security guards. most of the staff from the roxy were very helpful though and let us in to pee around 1:00. around 6:00 am people started crawling out of the cracks and the line stretched down the alley into the back parking lot. they passed out numbers around 9:00 and the first ones of us had gotten our tickets by 9:45. it was a good night...i met lots of great people - the top ten - you know who you are. anyway, i can't wait....2 weeks to go...

From Michael Wiggam

April 5, 1998 - I have my tickets and hope other Toriphiles will be in attendance. When I went to the Roxy, I expected a line around the block, but I was plesently suprised to see approxiametly 13 people at 12:30. There were a few tickets left and it looked like more people were coming with money grasped in hand. The ticket has the picture you had of Tori lying on the floor. I will send you a review when it the concert comes and a setlist if you want. Keep up the good work.

From Ronald Pineda Casison

April 16, 1998 - Well, Thank God I'm going to see Tori next week at the 9:30 club. I had been anticipating this sneak preview tour for some time now. Calling the venue and WHFS everyday for the past couple of weeks, even going to the 9:30 club last month asking about news of Tori coming to their club for her club tour. I had been anticipating her 9:30 date ever since you first mentioned rumours of her sneak preview tour on your fabulous page. I must say it has to be the best musician web page on the net and very deserving of a mention by Johnny Riggs on WHFS. Speaking of Johnny Riggs live interview on WHFS with Tori at 5:00 that Friday,I knew tickets were going on sell very soon because Really Deep Thoughts mailing list had already began posting the warnings of the club dates that had already gone on sale.Atfirst they gave misinformation about it believing the tickets would go on Sat, at 10 in the HFS parking lot, and I tried getting directions to the station thinkng I may have to camp out. You couldn't get a word out of anyone about it. Then RDT mailing list hearing the news of Riggs expectant live interview with Tori on Friday at posted the warnings indicated to keep Friday afternoon open just in case.It was already Friday morning at this point of the ticket anticipation reaching its height knowing they would be on sale and trying not to imagine the possibility of missing out, but ofcourse taking comfort that she would return on her major tour, but I had anticipated this club tour for too long to entertain such doubts and I was going to do every thing in my power to try to be in the right position at moment they would go on sale.

Since everything was hush hush right up till the time Riggs announced it, the anxiety was killing me. After I read the RDT e-mail warning, I raced ran full speed to my car having gone to my morning class and went straight to the 9:30 club putting two and two together from the knowledge that they should go on sale at the venue from the dent, the being thrown off momentarily by the misinformation of them going on sale at the HFS parking lot, then learning that when and where would be announced on the radio during a live interview with Tori. I arrived at the 9:30 club at around 1:30 in the afternoon prepared to camp out if I had to, a saw anotherfan and her pal around 3:30 looked like possible Tori Amos fans but couldn't be certain, I walked to the fron t of the club and I asked one of the workers if Tori AMos tickets were going sale that afternoon the same person I had asked one month earlier and all she said was you have to listen to HFS at 5:00, a couple of more fans lined up near the booth about 8 or ten people I choose to remain in my car in order to hear the announcement and Tori on the radio. I was literally praying for them to go on sale there, still not totally certain they would , but knowing must likely they should for all I know those people could've been there for the concert there that night. I even asked one guy if he knew as he walked by and all he said you'll have to listen to the radio. Well, my anxiety was lessened when I saw the HFS van parked outside the venue around 4:10 but I still was absolutely certain because they could have been there because they were sponsoring a performer that night or something, later they starting putting HFS posters on the wall. Well, 5:00 had finally arrived and they played Silent All these Years and Spark right before it turned 5:00 , and I was still praying when Tori finally came on it was cool and kinda surreal in my mind knowing she'd be performing at the club in a week and a half, well after some small talk they finally announced that they indeed were going on sale at the 9:30 club at 6:00 with Tori telling everyone to make sure they drove safely to the club.Once I heard and Tori gave her goodbyes I jumped out of my car and went straight to small line in fornt of the club there was about 10 people who like me made sure to situate themselves with most likelihood they would indeed go on sale that afternoon. It was cool hearing Tori live just then on the radio and then waiting there in line.Thankful. -Ron

From Brett Cunningham

April 16, 1998 - Me, my friend Jimmy, and my friend James were all ready to be at the WHFS parking lot Friday night, after Tori was on Letterman, around 2am. (We had even taken a test drive to Landover --- just so we wouldn't get lost in case of a rush) Needless to say we were all very angry when HFS announced that tickets would go on sale in 40 minutes, at the 930 Club. None of us knew how to get there, and I had never even driven to DC before (I was the designated driver.) Well, me and Jimmy picked up James, and we went at extreme speeds, bitching and moaning all the way...We were all quite frazzled.

We finally got to a metro station, and the stupid metro guy said that instead of taking the subway, we would have to take a bus (even though we had already gotten farecards.) The busride was awful. It stopped every five minutes, and ended up taking about 40 to get down a very short length of road. (We later found out that if we had taken the subway, we could have made it in 15 minutes!)

Anyway, we got to 930, and were quite pleased when the security woman said that we were 'very in the clear.' So, we were gonna get tickets! the line advanced very fast, and HFS was playing the new record on big speakers, so it was very fun waiting in line. We all bought our vouchers, and then were escorted to the exit, which was downstairs through the bar area.

In the bar, they had Under the Pink playing, and they had people from RAINN. No one else has ever mentioned anything about this, so I'm assuming it was exclusive to the DC ticket buyers. They were 'selling' memberships to RAINN, through contributions of all different monetary values. I donated $100 (I had just gotten paid) and I received:

• Official RAINN membership
• One white XL "Unlock the Silence" CK T-shirts
• 3 Limited Lithographs
• 1 promotional lyric book for ..from the choirgirl hotel..
• And one *SIGNED* promo lyric book will be sent to me along with the RAINN newsletter...

I thought all of this was so neat! And for such a wonderful cause! Anyway, the Lyric booklet is really neat, because they leave a lot of room for whatever you want to add to it. It's kind of like a scrapbook. It's printed on very high quality paper, which has a beautiful rose/grey color.

From Erik and Michele

April 12, 1998 - We were at the 9:30 Club yesterday for a Mono concert, and while we were going to get our tickets someone called the box office. We could tell from the conversation that they were talking about Tori tickets and the woman in the box office said that the tickets were "sold out in about an hour."

WHFS's website www.whfs.com also stated early this morning that tickets were sold out.

We got tickets though, sometime in that hour that they were on sale! :)

We planned out our trip to Landover well. We took a sleeping bag, some junk food, 17 hours of Tori music to get us through the evening, a copy of the new Spin magazine, still fresh in its wrapper... and of course, a radio, to Metro Center and sat above the metro station, waiting for Tori's announcement. (We can't hear WHFS at the dorm here in American University, and we wanted to get close to the 9:30 Club and Landover, just in case.) We were hoping we weren't going to have to wait all night for tickets, and at 5:22pm, Tori and Johnny made their announcement. The 9:30 Club, in about 40 minutes. So, they started playing Raspberry Swirl, and Michele seemed to want to stay to tape it, but I started running down the steps to the metro. We got to the 9:30 Club around 5:55 pm, and there were already around 100 people in line ahead of us. WHFS had a van set up, playing the new album, while hundreds of fans scrambled to the line.

The voucher system went pretty smoothly, the only thing that scares us is that Michele happened to get voucher number 666. They weren't handed out in any particular order, because many people were filling out vouchers at once.

There was a lot of RAINN promotional stuff handed out, and some WHFS keychains and magnets.

It was a quick, efficient ticket distribution, which didn't make us wait for many hours on a street corner, which made us both very happy!

From L B

April 12, 1998 - I am really aggravated and annoyed at the ticket sales in Washington D.C. I am Jewish and I was at home celebrating a very important holiday, Passover. There would be no possible way for me to be able to get tickets, nor anyone else who was celebrating the holiday. i really feel like this was a discrimination against Jews, even if not intended. Also, with 40 minutes notice, it is extremely difficult for anyone who is not relatively near D.C. to get tickets. I feel that WHFS and Tori were wrong to announce the time and place with such short notice. I am extremely angry that something like this could happen. And I don't believe that this voucher system is an accurate way of getting tori fans together for her concerts. WHFS was risking people's lives getting down there as well as making sure that no Jewish person was able to get tickets...and I am mad.

From Annie Lizik

April 11, 1998 - so, I know that you've gotten several emails about the whole ticket buying experience that people had at the 9:30 club yesterday... but well, mine... just well... flat out sucked... and there's really no other way to put it. Mostly, I (and the two people I was with) are really just angry with HFS... come on... they announced at 5:20 that the tickets would be going on sale at 6... now you tell me... logically... does this make sense? The people at HFS know full well that over half of their listeners live 2 hours from the 9:30 club... basically, what I'm getting at is that I didn't get tickets. My friends and I hauled ass to the 9:30 club... it took us longer to get there than it should have (partly because we got in an accident... the things we do for Tori!!) The thing is... Tori has said that this club tour is for the REAL fans... and well... I've loved Tori since I was 12, and I'm 19 now... so you do the math. And to make matters worse, later that night, I run into this girl that I know... she got tickets for the show... and you know I don't know this girl very well, so I'm not going to make any judgements or anything like that... but I do know that she hasn't liked Tori for nearly as long as I have (and even the people who have... I doubt many of them were 12 years old when they were stealing their brothers cd's to listen to someone, who at that time your "friends" thought was extremely "uncool", whatever that is) anyway... I really do have a point, I swear... my point is... Tori's idea about having this concert be for the real fans, didn't work... it just didn't. I blame a lot of this on HFS for announcing the time of the ticket sales so late... I really hope that Tori doesn't do this again... but even if she does, my friends and I would probably still drop everything, drive for 2 hours, get lost twice, have our car hit (while we are sitting still) all over again just to see her...

From Joey

April 11, 1998 - I just wanted to share my ticket buying expierience for the Tori show in D.C. I live, work, and breath in Richmond, Virginia, which is about an hour and a half from D.C., hoping to find out when tickets went on sale so that i could spend the day in dc to purchase them, i was calling the 9:30 club and Protix ( the ticket company that was said to be handling the show), everyday! And everyday i got the same remark, we dont 'have any information on that show as of now, check back later. I thought this ridiculous, here it was less than two weeks away from the show and they won't even admit to confirmation yet!!!!!!!! I was starting to get nervous and actually scared that the show would not go on after all. Then yesterday, on my daily routine of calling, i find that not only have the tickets already gone on sale, but they're were fucking sold out! I was furious, i don't 'mind Tori's way of selling tickets, but they could have least let the public know that they would only be on sale by surprise. So now for the first time since Pele, there is a show in my region, i won't be attending. It's quite pathetic actcually, i'm so depressed!!!!! But since i took the day off, i'm going to DC that day anyway in hopes of getting in somehow, by the will of god!!!!!!!!!!!! if nothing else, i'll get to talk to Tori for the first time since oct. 96. I have some things for her and maybe with a few puppy dog faes and my pathetic story, she'll slip me two tickets!!!!!!!!! IF ANYONE OUT THERE HAS DC TIX AND IS WILLING TO SELL! EMAIL ME!

jEoy@aol.com

From Chaijean

April 11, 1998 - I know you have a lot of experiences being reported to you, but I thought I'd just add my input. We listened to the radio for what seemed liked hours Friday evening waiting for the announcement, and finally, after teasing us endlessly (at one point Johnny Riggs played a tape of Tori saying "Hi Johnny" and then said that Tori hadn't really called yet and we should keep listenening!) Tori did call. Even when she called, they decided to talk for five minutes before they made the announcement. But then they said they'd be on sale at six o'clock Friday night and we should get to the 9:30 club asap. About ten minutes later, we were in the car and headed to D.C. from Baltimore. Ruch hour traffic was not the most wonderful experience ever, but we finally got to the club at about 7:20. At this point, the line outside the club was about one and a half blocks long (not bad at all). I ran and got in line while my mom parked the car. The people in line were all pretty calm, except for some excited squeals of "Tori!" When you got to the front of the line, you had to show id and then you were directed to one of three places to buy tickets. We were told to go inside, where there were about ten people selling tickets. We filled out vouchers and were out of the club by 8:00. I got tickets and only had to wait a half hour! Unbelievable!

From Jon Shank

April 11, 1998 - Okay, well, here is my experience for tori tickets. This takes place in not one, but two cities. First of all, i had seen the leaked info on the 930 club, so for about a month i was all pumped in ready to get tickets on the 11. I had summoned a ride from a dedicated toriphile(who i hadn't meant) and my best friend was also going along for the ride. Then tori(whom i love, but hated for some minutes on friday) decided to change all around. Now, we live about two hours from d.c., so when tickets were announce(and the delay didn't help)only 40 minutes before they went on sale, we knew we were screwed, but we tried anyway. I met our ride(who turned out to be one fo the most wonderful people i've ever met) along with my friend, and we took off, having no clue where in d.c. the 930 club was...we got to d.c. in record time, an hour, but stil didn't know where to head. i finallly got the adress through information, and we parked and hoped the metro. We asked a transite "authority" worker where the club was located, what metro to hop and he gave us wrong directions. we spent an 1 and 30 minutes changing directions and riding d.c. subway system. When we finalyl go to the club, totally out of breath and tired as hell, we felt a snece of truimph...tickets had been on sale for an 1 and a half, and the line was short, only about 12 people infront of us..about tow more went in and then they announced they were sold out..well we were pissed... we had already felt that they the whole thing had been handled was rude, wrong and jsut made things tough for the true die-hards such as ourselves..we were not happy campers...we moped for awhile, pissed(and we still are very displeased with how tori ad whfs handled these tickets..the noticfiation gave no time for people who had to drive and din't know the city...)but then i remebered that tickets were going on sale in philly so we decided to go there, which was a four hour trip, about the same distance d.c. was from ouroriginal starting point, only in the oposite deriction..so we got a bit e to eat, stopped back at our dorms(we are all washington college students) and then headed to phily) and of course when we were like one street away we got lost...we finally got to the electric factory at 2, and there where already a little over a 100 people there...and it got cold(personally i wasn't prepared and frose my ass off) everything from there went smoothly. The security staff couldn't have been nicer, and some radio stations were on hand with food and stuff. tickets went on sale at 10 and even though we were like 115 we got tickets in a little over a half an hour...but we were tired and dead...the person whpo was first in line, though had gotten there at 8am the day before...so we got tickets, and were happy in the end..we met cool people and ha fun freesing to death, but overall, we were very disappointed(as were a lot of other people) witht he way some things were handleed...so that is my story..sorry it is so long...

From AKatUVa

April 11, 1998 - It is nice to hear that so many true Tori fans got tickets to the D.C. shows and that the scalpers were kept away. Unfortunately, there were some casualties due to the way tickets were sold. I live in Charlottesville, VA, which is about one and a half hours away from D.C. and I was already to head there after work and camp out all Friday night for tickets. By the time I checked the Dent and the WHFS web sites for ticket info, the show was sold out. By giving such a short notice, anybody who lived more than an hour away was automatically out of luck. There are a lot of Tori fans who live in suburban areas or smaller cities, but unfortunately, if things continue the way they were in D.C. they are going to get completely shut out. I guess my bad ticket buying experience was that I didn't even have the chance to stand in line and wait...Well, I don't want to make this a bitch session :), but those of you who did get tickets, make sure you post those reviews in full detail!

From Mahdi Tehrani

April 11, 1998 - I was so there!!!

Well for the past 3 days my life has revolved around this Tori announcement in hopes that I could (and would) do anything to get tickets! So Come Friday I'm in the Dulles area at WORK and it's 5:00:

So I take My break and run out to the car and listen to Mr. Riggs and Tori in hopes that they weren't going to pull something cute like put the tickets on sale right then only in DC when I get off work at 10:00. Well, for the past 2 months nothing has gone my way, so why should this? Well, I do the only thing a Huge Tori fan could posibly do at a time like this: I quit work and went 128 MPH on RT.66 into DC and got down there in 35 Min. Well, As I sit in line realizing that my life sucks and I just Quit my job and how I really need to be in the presents of Tori and that I think going to her "Experience" would be the turning point in my life I get within 5 people of the ticket window and as #5 screams "YES", the gentalmen that was watching the line let us know that "That's it", no more tickets. Life truly sucks.

I have Never gone that fast.....in a VOLVO Station Wagon!!

From J. Hunter

April 11, 1998 - Thought I'd relay to you my ticket buying experience. First off, I'd like to thank you for this site because after reading all of the horror stories in other cities my theory of how they would sell the tickets proved to be correct. Since I don't listen to WHFS, I don't know what information was given before today, but when I saw an ad in the City Paper (a local Washington DC free paper) the day before mentioning that ticket details would be announced on WHFS at 5PM, I assumed that tickets would go on sale that evening shortly thereafter. My assumption was based on the fact that: 1. Metallica tickets were going on sale the next morning from the same ticket company and 2. No way was the 9:30 Club going to deal with people camping out when they're open for business. Just as I was finishing up work and getting ready to leave at 5:15 they made the announcement by having Tori call in to the station (bless you Tori for inadvertently delaying the announcement because of your photo shoot! At least I'm assuming since it was delayed that the call was live and not recorded). Luckily I work across the water in Alexandria, VA so after purging an ATM and doing 85 up the GW Parkway and dodging and weaving in DC I was there. Unfortunately, my regular parking spot was off limits as they kept all the lanes open for rush hour! With a little luck, I found a spot a few blocks away and started running. By the time I got there at 5:55 or so, the line was already around the block! I'm assuming that a lot of people had already showed up at the club before the announcement was made knowing that they would release vouchers soon afterwards as I had to have been behind around 400-500 people. At that point, I knew I'd get tickets (capacity is 1200 with a 2 ticket limit) but I figured I'd have to wait forever. What I didn't know until I got up to the front of the line (and much credit to the club for doing this) is that they had about 10 people taking money and selling vouchers in order to speed up the process. I know there will be a lot of unhappy stories as my vouchers were numbered in the low 900's and when I left the line was still around the block so I know a lot of people missed out. I know the club was trying to sell the tickets before they had to open up for business, but I think it would have been less stressful if they had done it on Saturday so that people wouldn't be at work and then have to deal with rush hour traffic to get to the venue (I certainly hope nobody got hurt on the mad dash there because I know I was driving like an idiot to get to the club).

Well there it is for what it's worth, again thanks for the site and I'm curious to see what other opinions fans had of the experience.

From Sara Mitchell

April 11, 1998 - Well, I got them... the Tori vouchers, that is, for her April 22 concert at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.!!! I am so excited, this is actually going to be the first live modern music performance I have ever attended, and it is going to be Tori!

Anyway, rumor had it that tickets would go on sale at WHFS in Landover, MD, on Sunday morning, so three friends and I (hi, Maggie, Kevin, and Alan) headed over around 4pm. There, we met a handful of other diligent Toriphiles, waiting around for the same reason, and chilled with the car radios on full volume to hear the official radio station announcement at 5pm. Five o' clock came and went, and all WHFS did was play two Tori songs ("Silent All These Years" and "Spark" - and this was the first time ever I wanted so badly for a Tori song to end, so I could hear the announcement!) and tell us that Tori wouldn't call immediately because she was in the middle of a photo shoot. We waited impatiently until 5:20 or so, when she finally was on the phone, and then chit-chatted with Johnny Riggs about her album and her marriage and The Dent (yay!). Finally, at 5:25, we had our info -- tickets were on sale in less than an hour at the 9:30 Club itself!!!

I have never gotten from Landover to D.C. so quickly. About 15 minutes later, we flew out of the still-moving car and got into line. We were maybe 200 people back and knew we'd get tickets since we knew it wouldn't be a lottery system in D.C. It was so surreal; I barely could believe I'd have my hands on Tori tickets! The line moved quite quickly, and by 6:30 we all had two vouchers apiece and huge smiles on our faces. We gloated past some people we knew in line and left. And we'd been prepared to camp 17 hours overnight if we had to!

Overall, it was a really fun experience. It was a little hectic, trying to get information and get tickets in less than 2 hours, but I was relieved to get tickets fast and not wait almost a day and then miss out. I'm ready for the 22nd.

From Michael J. Zwirn

April 11, 1998 - 7.00 pm EST, Washington

Well it has been an exhausting but very rewarding afternoon -- I left work around 2:30 and was in the parking lot of WHFS in Landover just before three o'clock. Only missed one exit, which is pretty good given my facility with directions. There were only about five people waiting when I got there, and around 15 were there until around 5:00, when after interminable hype, WHFS did get around to playing two Tori tracks and then getting her on the phone. The chat with Tori was nice enough - she talked about being surrounded by cameramen and WHFS spoke briefly and respectfully of her marriage - but we all were waiting for the announcement of ticket availability. At 5:20 or so, they let the information out - 9:30 Club, in Washington, at 6:00 pm.

So we scambled into our cars, hit Rt. 50 Westbound (well, MOST of us did!) and careened recklessly into downtown DC in the height of rush hour. Took about twenty minutes to get to the 9:30, and I parked half on the sidewalk, in front of a fire hydrant, to rush into line. At this time there wasn't much of a line at all, so with great relief the fellow HFS'ers and I saw that we wouldn't have any trouble getting vouchers. By 6:00 the line was fairly long, and by the time I got out of the 9:30 with my precious pieces of yellow paper it was around the block and getting longer.

I think HFS and the 9:30 arranged the whole thing quite well, and I am pleased that everything seems to have worked out. They clearly learned the lessons of previous ticket debacles.

To all the folks who were waiting with me -- sorry I ran off, but I was terrified of getting a ticket (parking, not Tori!). Hope to see you on the 22nd.

From Joe

April 12, 1998 - Hello everyone.

Grr, this is a sad story.

I went to Irving Plaza pretty early. I arrived there at around 6:30 and when I got there, there were people who had decided to camp out for tickets. The line of people camping out went on for about a block. Then there were other people on line for yet another block and at the turn of that block was the end of the line. Many many people arrived after me and for about an hour nothing happened. We just stood still. Suddenly we began to move and we moved almost a block up--it was very exciting (the entire Tori line went on for 4 blocks, so bad that the back of the line met up with front of the line). By 8:40 people came to announce there were no more vouchers. It seems that even though tickets went on sale at 10 a.m., they decided to hand out little blue tickets for the vouchers. If you had a blue ticket, you could go inside and get your vouchers. Well I spoke to the box office and then a worker and they said only 200 tickets for vouchers were given out. He said, assuming that each person buys 2 tickets, that's 400 tickets already sold out. But when I spoke to webmaster@irvingplaza.com I was told 850 tickets were being sold---so what I'd like to know is [1] why did they start selling BEFORE 10 am??? [2] Why was I told 850 tickets and then only approximately 400 tickets were sold??

This angers me. I understand the people who slept out deserve the tickets more than anyone, but I wasn't that far on the line and if they stuck to the original 850 tickets that I was told of, I would have *easily* been able to get my tickets for the show.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

In extreme anger and frustration,
Joe

PS I know many of you may think I'm just a jerk who can't accept not getting tickets. That's not how it is. I'm not like that whatsoever; I'm just upset that I was told of 850 tickets and then I was told right to my face only 400 vouchers could be purchased.

From Kate

April 10, 1998 - It's been almost a week since my disappointing ticket buying experience in New York City, but I just now read many other peoples comments. I can relate to a lot of what some people said, but some of the comments made me even angrier!!

I am a huge, extremely devoted Tori fan, but I also happen to be only 15 years old. Therefore, I was at a serious disadvantage. I cannot drive, and I do not have a driver's license. This presents a transportation problem, and it is only because I am leaving for London in a couple of days that I have any sort of ID which Irving Plaza would consider legit. I find it absolutely unfair that school IDs were not sufficient, and I am terribly sorry for anyone who ran into a problem because of this. Some may think that if I am a "real Tori fan" I will sleep on the streets of New York all night. Of course I'd be willing to, but I would have to run away from home to do so. I think it was extremely kind of my mother to offer to get up at 5 am Saturday morning and take me and 4 of my friends into the city. In fact, it was more than kind of my parents to even let me go. I feel that this whole system puts kids at a disadvantage. I don't know if it was designed like that in general...but since I am almost positive that other venues allowed school IDs, Irving Plaza is also responsible. They probably just don't want a lot of kids there. I'm sorry if I have mature musical tastes!!

Needless to say, I did not get tickets. That upset me enough, without having my hope strangled by the alleged Irving Plaza security. They were terribly rude. Personally, I think that they had to resort to cruelty because they were shocked by how few people actually got off the line after being screamed at. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to excuse their behavior--the screaming wasn't necessary.

I found this entire experience disappointing, for a number of reasons, but I thank you for giving me the chance to vent!!(even though I sound like a whiny teenager) Your site is the best!

From a.r.

April 10, 1998 - hi guys, i just wanted to let you know that i was one of many who had an awful experience at Irving Plaza on saturday. i was so upset after reading everyone else's accounts that i decided to write a letter to the management to tell them of my distress. well the manager called me back today and very politely apologized, explaining all the problems they had and expressing that he was upset that we felt we were treated badly. he was very verrry cool about it and went out of his way to make sure i got into the concert. with this i bury my hatchet, it was a grand gesture and i am so very thankful to them.

From Laura

April 8, 1998 - I have to say that I was not half as outraged by the ticket situation at Irving Plaza as I was by the accounts that I've read on this website. I was one of the many who showed up at 6:30. Though I walked away empty handed, I realized it was because I underestimated the integrity of the people who were trying to get tickets. The venue clearly stated that no one was to line up before 7, so I thought that people would abide by that rule, but I understood once I got there that there were certain ways of getting around it. I did not cry or yell, or stamp my feet when the show was sold out, I was just inwardly disappointed. Seeing her in a small venue again would have been an incredible experience.

But I am furious at the comment made by someone that every one who got tickets was a "hardcore" Tori Amos fan, especially after what I read about how they treated some of the other fans. I whole-heartily agree that the people in the front of the line were scoffing at those who thought they were following rules, or who have obligations other than sleeping on the streets all night. I don't consider my self "hardcore" anything, but I do consider myself a devoted fan, who happens to have a full time job and a young child. As I walked by, on my way to my place in line someone yelled out "Better luck next time, you should have gotten here yesterday like the rest of us." Hmm, was that person a hardcore fan, or an obsessive punk who thinks he has become the spokesperson for Tori fans around the world?

My heart goes out to the poor soul who was threatened and had things thrown at her because she was sitting across the street trying to get some studying in. Again, hard core fans, or kids with nothing better to do with their time? I would like one of these people to define the word "loyal" to me.

I enjoy the idea of someone who has never seen her before experiencing the intimacy of a show like this, getting the opportunity that some of us early fans had. They do not compare to the arena shows. Isn't it always nice for your favorite artist to touch someone new? These foolish possessive "fans" should be ashamed of themselves.

It's very disheartening to think that the biggest disappointment of the morning was not my inability to obtain tickets, but the lack of communion that I thought fans (of any artist) had. I don't claim to know what Tori Amos thinks or feels, but I can't imagine that anyone would smile down on this.

From Kerri L. Mason

April 7, 1998 - I just read everyone's Irving experience, and I must say that I'm quite surprised that they had any issues with the staff. I was actually quite impressed with the organized way in which everything was handled - especially the 7 am shift from the other side of the street, which I thought would erupt into absolute chaos! They were very honest about everything, and if they tried to discourage people from waiting I think it's because they honestly didn't think they'd be able to get tickets. But, this was just the way of things from my vantage point.

As with most Tori line-waiting experiences I've had (and there have been many over the past few years, I promise you) it was again the fans that disappointed me. I can understand being protective of your spot, etc., but this aura of absolute authority in terms of all things Tori, this idea that they (whoever they may be) are the only people worthy of getting tickets and that the rest of us are pathetic undedicated poseurs...well, that's just sad. I hate getting that up-and-down look of disapproval from a person who I should feel some sense of community with. People are, in the end, too obsessive. What fun this could have been if everyone could have just dropped their guards and had a good time!

Maybe things will be different at the concert, but at a general admission event, I can only imagine the elbowing, etc., that will inevitably ensue.

From BFett26 & Sean

April 7, 1998 - OK. My boyfriend and I got to Irving Plaza at 3pm Friday afternoon. There WERE already people there since 11am. NO there wasn't a line IN FRONT of Irving Plaza. We lined up ACROSS the street. That's what that big huge line of people was honey. We kept the line all night. There were no line cutters. Everyone got in back of the person before them. Read my boyfriend's story for more:

Dear EVERYONE,

I am sorry for those who did not but I GOT tickets today -- and don't you worry -- we paid for them aside from the 60 dollars.

Here is a short part of my story.....

WE arrived at Irving Plaza yesterday at 3pm -- planning to camp out all night -- tickets were to go on sale the next morning at 10 AM -- needless to say, there were already about 20 people there --- since 11 am that morning -- props to them.

That began our tireless effort to see Tori --- here are a few interesting happenings on the streets of New York all during the night.

--- By the time tickets went on sale there were so many people that the line went all the way around a city block and the end met the beginning. That is when Irving Plaza decided to hand out pre-voucher vouchers.

--- Ok there were many estimates on how many people were there --- the "all night" crowd numbered about 250ish -- they all got tickets -- when we asked the guy at Irving Plaza how many people were there -- he estimated anywhere from 1100 - 1800. Needless to say only about the first 400 people in line got tickets -- those who arrived any later than 4 am were in serious danger of leaving empty handed.

--- Mad props to the Irving Plaza staff -- incredibly organized and ran very smoothly. ALSO (check this out) an employee from Krispy Kreme donuts kept bringing everyone in line free hot bagels and donuts -- at the end we all banded together and bought him a ticket!

--- My girlfriend was possibly casted for a show coming up on MTV about Tori -- due to air the week before the new CD.

---- Atlantic Records was wandering here and there asking questions and filming "Questions for Tori"

FINALLY (this felt so good) . . .bear with me here

I PERSONALLY FOILED 2 SCALPERS !!!!

There were these 2 guys in line ahead of us -- and right after they purchased tickets -- I found out their intentions . . to scalp They asked me how they could sell the tickets with their info on them -- I first told them that it is not going to work (they did not believe me) -- but then I decided that they should just send photocopies of their ID to Irving Plaza with note stating their "situation" . . . I am presently alerting the Irving Plaza box office of the matter -- and hopefully Justice will be served.

Thank you everyone for letting me vent - - congrats so some ... condolences to others

From Tim Petrochko

April 7, 1998 - I can't express to you in a letter the anger and outrage I am feeling right now. I waited on line for almost 4 hours and was only around the 400th person. it didn't make sense that they were sold out. my gut feeling was that we were being lied to, but I let my brain get the best of me once again. I could have had tickets to see Tori, but because of the piece-of-shit pecker-head scalpers at irving plaza and the poor security there, I'm shit out of luck. when they came to us in the line and told us, we just stood there in disbelief. After 20 minutes of them telling us that, my friend and I left. I can't believe that people could be so heartless. Those bastards need to be shot. I hope they get arrested like the poor sons-of-bitches they really are. I plan to write irving plaza and tell them/complain about this. I'm so amazed that people could do such a thing. There was one good thing that came out of this is that i met three really cool people. One girl (I believe her name was Mandy and her friend was Joanne i think) had seen Tori 14 times and met her 6 times! There was this really cool guy who was waiting next to us who's name i didn't catch. If any of you are reading this, email me. If anyone would like to share stories about their good or bad experiences email me at banana_king@hotmail.com

Well I hope others have better stories than i do.

From Erick Battaglia

April 7, 1998 - i just have to make a small comment.

okay, a few small comments.

#1 someone noted that the security people helped us across the street, eliminating the chance of line cutters... this was unfortunately untrue. three girls cut in front of my three friends and i and i was pissed! at first i wasn't sure whether to say something or not. then i finally decided to just cut them back. we all walked in front of them to the people we had been speaking to before in line. the three girls really didn't have much to say, which left me satisfied knowing that they at least knew what they did was wrong. i couldn't help feeling horrible, however for the last three people in line that now cold not purchase vouchers because of these three girls.

#2 i met some very interesting people in line. i went with three female friends of mine from school and we got there at about 4:45. at first we were going to go at 7, but i had this strange feeling that we should get there ASAP. so we didn't even go to sleep when we got to her house in Queens. we just hopped on the subway with our blankets and pillows and resolved to get our sleep in the line--which we did. but first we met two nice girls from long island and a guy from california who now lives in the city. on the line for the macdonald's bathroom i met the girl who sent the spin info to the Dent! she was really nice... and there was a guy who was a film student at NYU. even the people behind us were nice. well, before the line cutters got there. a reporter person came around and asked us about experiences we may have had with tori...

#3 i told the reporter that i almost touched tori at a concert at the state theater in new brunswick last year. i guess the reporter wasn't that interested... but the girl behind me was... i told her how after the concert, tori had a secret getaway behind the theater that only thrity or so people, including myself and friends had discovered. unfortunately it was about ten people too much... and i was ony able to get within six feet of her. but i told her that i loved her and i'm sure she heard me.

anyway... just thought i'd relate those little anecdotes... about my trip to the city on Saturday. oh yeah, and i got the voucher... which i will be sharing with my sister...Jodie732@aol.com. the fact that i got my voucher that day made it a very happy birthday...

From jaymi

April 6, 1998 - just wanted to add my thoughts to this. the girl in front of me did not get tickets because irving plaza (nyc) would not accept her school i.d. why, i don't know....but there were a few others that i know of that didn't get voucehers because of this. my advice? call ahead of time. i'm sure every venue is handling this differently (as far as what they will/will not accept). good luck getting tickets!

From Dana Dunn

April 5, 1998 - I decided to email you about the Irving Plaza ticket sale that went on this morning. By the time I got there around 5:35, there were hundreds of Tori fans waiting on line before I got there, and even some of them slept there overnight. To my surprise, I managed to get tickets JUST before it was sold out. I waited on the long line for over five hours, stressed out about whether or not I was going to get a ticket. This was the first time I've ever waited on line "the old fashioned way", because I always got my tickets through ticketmaster - I was definately not used to this sort of thing. Way more than half the line, which was behind me, stood even more Tori fans who were literally kicked off the line, because of the head count by the venue people. I felt so bad for them. Some of them were in tears, pissed off, and some even started arguments. The venue people tried to scare everyone by saying that there was only about 500 ticket available, which made every one even more stressed. Actually, there was a little over 700 tickets available. I couldn't believe how mean these venue people could be, but hey, I guess it's just their job. Well, I guess I will make this email short, because I know that you probably have many things to do. I just thought you would have liked this little piece of information to add to your records. I guess going through this tiresome experience will definitely be worth it! I can't wait for the show!

From Alex (rec.music.tori-amos)

April 5, 1998 - OK, having been there this morning, I can tell you that, yes, it was handled horrifically. The IP security guys were completely obnoxious, and several people filed complaints with the manager after the tix were sold.

I got there shortly after 7 after oversleeping (ugh) and landed somewhere in the 400-450 range of people. I was not surprised at all that the 7 AM line up time had not been enforced.

Around 8:00, these slimy obnoxious lamers started going up and down the line announcing the show was sold out, and that the vouchers were already handed out. We knew it was bullshit, and a lot of people just ignored them. For 2 hours, we didn't know who the hell they were! We thought they were obnoxious scalpers trying to get people off the line. When I found out they were IP security, I was fucking outraged.

The IP assholes completely misinformed the crowd about the blue tickets, and that really upsets me. The blue tickets WERE handed out to the first 300 people or so, but they did not equal the actual number of tix that were eventually sold. It should not have been a big deal. The fact the security pricks decided to inform us every 5 minutes that the show was sold out and "You're wasting your time! Go home!" when the show was not even on sale yet is deplorable.

Fact is, the show did not sell out until around noon. Many people waited on line despite the assholes physically blocking us from the line and telling us we're wasting our time. I finally got my voucher at 11:30, and there were only about 20 vouchers left at that point. I feel horrible for the good chunk of people who actually believed the show was sold out at 10:20 and left.

It was a surreal morning. While I'm happy I got my voucher, I feel terrible for those of you who could not get in due to the ineptness of the IP staff.

Even though the morning was extremely stressful, and the IP staff horribly, unacceptably rude, the best thing that came out of it was that every single person who got a voucher was a hardcore Toriphile. Despite the mess, it was extremely worth it in the end, and I feel incredibly lucky that I will get to see Tori again. I know this is the last time she'll play venues this intimate (after 'choirgirl' comes out, you KNOW she'll end up playing arenas in the future). It's going to be a very special show, and hopefully there will be some sort of meet and greet at soundcheck where I can finally talk to her and thank her for, well, everything.

From Jen

April 5, 1998 - Dear Mike, This is unbelievably weird. Irving Plaza has the capacity of 850 yet i was informed by my friend who was trying to get us tickets that only 150 were sold...i'm sort of hoping i'm wrong because that's terribly unfair and defeats Tori's intention of keeping the "poachers" away...but then again, on a selfish note (which i'm sorry to admit) it may mean that other tickets are out there and i may actually have a chance. If you have any info. please let me know. Beyond disappointment i'm upset that they would partake in something so blatantly illegal but i guess that's just my naivete speaking. Again, it's possible that i'm wrong. talk to you later.

From kRiS** (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - the irving plaza ticket lineup was somewhat insane. :P

the line was supposed to start at 7am, but it was a given that people would get there WAY before then. so me and my friends got there at 12am and we were about 70th in line. :-o we *DID* get tix though...thank god! :o) the people who were at the front of the line, i heard, had been there since 11am the previous morning!

irving plaza apparently only had 300-350 tickets to give out, so only the first 150 or so were guaranteed tix if everyone bought 2, which i am sure they didn't. ;o) i felt bad for the people who showed up at 6, thinking that they were showing up early for the lineup at 7. they waited til 10, only to be turned away for tix as far as i understand. there were news cameras/reporters and MTV news was there as well, asking everyone to add their names and phone numbers to this sign-up sheet. they are apparently having a segment on tori and would like to talk with several "die- hard" tori fans (as he put it) for it.

i would say for the most part, everyone was pretty nice about staying in line and everything. there was, however, one point when everyone dashed across the street (we were waiting ACROSS the street from the box office since we weren't supposed to line up there until 7am) and started lining up by the box office, and people just started cutting in line and everything. grrrrrrrrr. but it was a false alarm and everyone went back to where they had been before. when 7am finally came along, a guy from irving plaza came out and directed all of us, 10 by 10, to cross the street in single file which was VERY good...totally eliminating the chances of people cutting in line. :)

From Julie (Precious Things post)

April 5, 1998 - What a terrible day that was! I woke up at five thirty am and my boyfriend was supposed to pick me up at six am. He came two hours late. We arrived there, and I'm not sure if everyone here realizes how long a NY city block is - it's pretty big. And the line was ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BLOCK. I saw sleeping bags - people camped out! It was kind of pathetic in a way, they looked like they were homeless or something. And there are people who really have to live like that.... ANYWAY - I was on line for about two minutes when someone from the Irving Plaza came out and said, "We have enough people to fill this place three times over...even if you wait until noon, you still won't be able to get tickets. I'm only telling you this b/c I don't want you to waste your time." I already figured this out as soon as I got there, so I just stepped off the line and left. And there were people who still continued to stay! Now that was dumb, b/c anyone could see that in order for you to get the tickets, you had to have been waiting since like, two am or something. I thought it was a little unfair, considering we were told that line up started at seven am. But I wasn't as upset as I thought I'd be - I mean, she's coming back in the summer. Also, my math final is that Friday, so I guess it's good that I get to stay home and study. :p I'd rather see Tori, though.

From Mac456789 (Precious Things post, responding to Julie above.)

April 5, 1998 - Oh no...you shouldn't have listened to those men! They were scalpers! We asked them details about the shows and they had no idea!

I was amongst those that stayed; I later saw those same men online laughing buying tickets. Although I can't imagine how they are going to scalp the vouchers, it seems pretty strict..

From Peter (Precious Things post)

April 5, 1998 - Well, I had a pack of 5 friends get to Irving Plaza @ 3:30am...they were first...but were moved so they weren't in front of Irving Plaza...7 am came around and everyone ran right in front of a line that was already made....the people of the original line started screaming....You'd think people could be courteous to people who camped out.....but I got there w/ 4 other people @ 7am and I truly thought we were going to get tickets since Irving Plaza is a not a small nor big venue....I've been there before it is 2 floors....but we waited till 11:00am and we left although I got my friend in the front of the line to get me a ticket....I AM SO HAPPY I AM GOING! WOO! so yeah....Luckily I have a friend who is an obsessive Tori fan....

P.S. I couldn't tell you if they were scalpers or not...but first I thought they were but then I kept changing my mind.....who knows....they were at the end of the line of the "blue ticket holders" 220 of them were handed out....I'm not sure if they were buying tickets

From Sean Hooks (rec.music.tori-amos)

April 5, 1998 - In my opinion, Tori definitely does care about her fans. That's why these venues are so small and there is no bullshit lottery like Ticketmaster that rewards nothing except randomness. When you use the lottery system, the fan who barely knows who Tori is who gets there a minute before the box office has the same chances of getting tickets as the hardcore fan that knows every Tori song and has been there since the previous night. Having this tour done non-Ticketmaster on the voucher system(at least that's how it was done at Irving Plaza)virtually eliminates large scale scalping and rewards the fans that get there the earliest. Now, at Irving Plaza there were a few screw-ups and their system could use some reworking but still, the fans who get there at 9:30 thirty minutes before the box office had no chance while those who had slept over since the previous night all pretty much got vouchers. Now, there was a mess-up in the line that let some people who were arriving at 7 and 7:30 to skip ahead of some of those people and lets be realistically, it always sucks to be one of those people right after the cutoff, in this case the cutoff for the blue tickets of which they gave out about 400(which means a max of 800 tickets). This assumes everybody in line is buying the max 2 tickets. And though I disagree with the security's original treatment of the crowd after originally dispersing the blue tickets and all the BS about how unless you had a blue ticket you weren't getting tickets, in the end they made everyone without one get out of the line and form a parallel line. Then, when it became clear that the blue ticket having people's line was almost at its end, they filed in those who had waited around in optimism behind them. And as I left it looked like at least 10-20 of those who got shafted out of blue tickets for whatever reason were definitely gonna get in(which is just common mathematicl sense considering that it's virtually impossible that every person holding a blue ticket was going to by the max 2 tickets, also you knew there were gonna be a couple of mishaps where peopel didn't have ID or the right amount of money and that would let a few more sneak in).

As far as I'm concerned it was a trying experience and even though I got there before 7 when the line formed and I was still just behind the end of the blue ticket people and even though I had to deal with the security guards and managers yelling at people to get out of line becasue they had no chance of getting tickets even though anyone with half a brain knew they did, I thought it was a good experience. Standing in line for 5 hours surrounded by fellow fans all with the same goal in mind is a bonding experience in a way. It was cold but not that bad and thank God it didn't rain or snow. I met some interesting Tori fans, all very dedicated. And I knew that if for some reason I didn't get tickets(I did) then at least I was losing out to fellow fans and not just somebody who showed up at the last minute who doesn't even know Tori's music. After finally getting my voucher I was elated, exuberant, triumphant. I had t weather a lot of shit to get it and that made it that much more satisfying when I did. I mean people were literally jumping with joy when they had those yellow slips of paper in their hand, and everyone was a hardcore Tori fan. And again, though their system was extremely flawed and a lot of people were unhappy for long periods of time, it's still a hell of a lot better than a random chance lottery, or worse the Ticketmaster bracelet system. It was how concerts should be, long lines of people at obscene hours of the morning, first come first serve(pretty much), all "real fans" bonding over their love of the artist or band performing, and best of all a really show venue, the way a show should be not at some arena or other such multi-thousand people venue where Tori is nothing more than a speck of red hair in the distance and the people to your left are talking about their businesseses and comparing suits and the people to your right think that Tori "is the one who sings that Cowboys gone song right?". So all in all not perfect, but a throwback to the pre-Ticketmaster-controlled days where people just had to get there as early as possible and hope. Congrats to all those who are gonna be there for what I'm sure is gonna be an intense show.

From Jennifer S.

April 5, 1998 - Hi. Congratulations on securing tickets...your experience sounded a lot better than my own, and even though I was one of the lucky few to get tickets, I've decided (unfortunately) that this concert will probably be my last Tori concert. I live in New York because I am a student here, and my apartment is roughly four blocks from Irving Plaza, so again, I was lucky. Yet, when I arrived on the scene, I came across the MOST DISRESPECTFUL and obnoxious Tori fans I think I've ever encountered. I've been to four of her shows (2 in '94 and 2 in '96) and never have I had to put up with a ticket securing experience as disheartening as what I went through on saturday. Since I was told by an official employee at Irving Plaza that line up time was not until 7 am, and that any one who arrived earlier would have to wait across the building in some sort of informal congregation, I didn't arrive until around 5 am to the venue. And instead of joining everyone else that had congregated across the building, I sat in the diagonal corner so I could hopefully get some studying done, so the waiting would at least be a tad productive. My friend who was waiting with me told me that the ticket hopefuls diagonal to us were giving us angry evil stares, which were only enhanced by one of them walking over to us and threatening our lives if we expected to get in front of them when 7 am rolled around...we got fruit thrown at us and angry screams and hateful words projected at us, although, in my mind and in the mind of the Irving Plaza, we had done nothing wrong.

This girl proceeded to tell me that I wasn't a loyal fan (or else I would have been waiting all day previously) and that I should, in effect, just run away because I "looked like a middle-class white girl who didn't know karate." Can you believe this???? I wasn't planning on creating any kind of violent mob and I also wasn't planning on cutting in line because THERE WASN'T A LINE YET. I felt I had no need to justify my credentials to this obnoxious girl and I told her that Tori would disapprove of her violent manner towards me. Mike, is this the state of Tori fans in 1998?? When I was thirteen years old (six years ago) and listening to Little Earthquakes on my walkman riding on the bus to middle school, I had no idea that Tori's popularity would grow and create such militant fans. I am thoroughly disappointed and I plan on writing a letter to Tori, expressing my disbelief. After that rather hurtful experience, and fearful for my safety, I walked around the block to reach the end of the informal congregation and waited there until 7 am, when everyone was moved to the front of Irving Plaza and around the corner. Sometime during 7 and 10 am, the employees passed out blue tickets which semi-guarenteed a voucher. People who didn't receive a blue ticket were harassed and told to go home...Tori fans reacted spitefully and many yelled back at the employees claiming that they had every right to wait for a ticket...at this point, accusations were made concerning people who had cut in line and whatnot. It was a circus. Regardless, I was one of the last people to receive a voucher after a most-eventful morning.

Mike, I hope that other cities were gentler than New York...this is ridiculous.

There is a line between idolizing and admiring. And I never want to go through an experience such as this again to see someone whose music I admire and whose personality I adore, but do not idolize like some sort of god. This is not right. Tori does not preach violence and hate..."girls, girls, what have we done, what have we done to ourselves?"

Sorry to make this so long...but I had to share this with someone. Let's just hope that the actual concert doesn't turn into some sort of riot, with people kicking and screaming to get close to the stage.

From Katherine Agurcia

April 20, 1998 - Haven't quite gotten over the excitement of actually holding a Tori Concert voucher in my hand...

After reading all of the horror stories (my heart goes out to the fans in L.A.) I was scared about missing out on tickets for the Boston show. I wanted to go there since Thursday night, but my roommate (thankfully) kept me at home. I got there at 10 pm on Friday, and thanks to Brian Nash's great number system, I was #51.

The entire line was great. There was a feeling of cameraderie between everyone... some awesome girls in front of us in line offered to let us hang out in their car... the couple behind us was pretty cool about lending us a blanket... The number system allowed us to chill out and take off for little breaks... which were pretty necessary.

It was INCREDIBLY COLD. I tried to sleep on the floor and failed. After thawing out my feet, a friend and I took off for a little tour of Chinatown and South Station (which are really cool at night). After coming back I and two others engaged in a fierce game of hopscotch (which I won :-) )... and to those who want to thank the guy with the great chalk idea (writing your numbers on the pavement to keep your place) his name's Stephan.

I want to thank Brian for his great system and keeping everyone cool, the Orpheum people for bringing us in from the cold, and everyone at the line who made the experience so much better! I cannot describe the feeling of actually holding a voucher in my hand. I am from Central America, and through all my years of Tori-loving, I never thought that I'd ever make it to one of her concerts. Now, with the concert only 2 weeks away, one of my greatest dreams will come true. Brad, Thea, and Stephan... exhilira-SHON... :-) WE'RE GOING TO SEE TORI!!!!!!!! :-)

P.S.---> G., this one's for you! :-)

From Brian

April 16, 1998 - I'm the "guy named Brian" who helped to organize the Boston line. I just wanted to thank everyone on the line for being so incredibly wonderful. It made life very easy and exciting fro a mere 13 hours. I can't wait to see everyone at the show, especially as I have all your names! :)= Forgive me if I refer to you by number. Many many thanks to the Orpheum staff for being so helpful and letting us in from the cold! You guys were great, and judging from the other reports, we were just the happiest darn Tori-line in the world!

From Chris Wyman

April 16, 1998 - I thought I'd quickly share my experience from the morning of 4/11/98 purchasing Tori tickets at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston.

First, to set the record straight, tickets were sold to more than 600 people, as my friend and I were numbers 613 and 614. We figured they let in at least 40 more people after us, so I'd guess the total number of people who were allowed to buy tickets was around 650-675 (a lot of people bought only one voucher).

Anyway, I guess we were a little lucky since we got there at around 8:00 and were still able to get vouchers. Everyone was kind of worried about some Jim Jones kind of thing since everyone was being herded into the Orpheum but no one was telling us why, but it was nice of them to let us in to keep warm. They began selling around 9:30, and were organized enough to sell in the order that people were in line. We finally got our vouchers around 1:00, but it was well worth it.

My friend and I have had this luck before. Last year, we were on a trip to California and decided to camp at the Grand Canyon. We arrived at the South Rim just in time to see the sunset (which was awesome), but then needed to find a campsite (of course we didn't have a reservation). We got in line for the nearest campsite and were the last car allowed in for the evening - they must have turned 20 other cars away. I think we need to play the lottery together.

Thanks for the site - we'd never have been able to get tickets without it. Since we were the ones who got up early (for us) and waited, we figure our girlfriends owe us dinner before the show!

From Silly Pooka

April 16, 1998 - Hello, I was just reading about the Boston Tori Ticket buying experience at the Orpheum, I noticed that all these people were within the first 550, I'd just like to say that me and my boyfriend were within the last 10 people to be let in to the theater. It's strange to think that, if we (me and my boyfriend) could have almost missed getting a tickets just by sitting and eating a nice warm breakfast!! Now that Ilook back I am VERY glad that we did not. It was one bizzare experience, I have never been to a club concert before in my life, and i am glad that my first one will be with the group of people that I sat with at the Orpheum Theater!

From rana siegel

April 12, 1998 - A very quick responce to my experience at boston. First, I would like to tkank a man named Brain who wonderfully and spontaneously help organize the line. He made it possible for all of us to relax, take walks. . . I was and still am very gratful. You did a great job!!! Thanks to the staff at the orpheum for letting everyone in so we can get out of the cold. When I read some of the responces (boston, detroit. . .) I could not imagine how early people arrived. I myself arrived at 4:00 and compared to others that wasn't very early. It was amazing to see all of the dedication.

Before I come to an end there are two things that I must share with everyone. First (and this leads in to the second thought), while waiting this man in the middle of the night walks by everyone waiting on line. Curious, he asks what this was all for. People replied that it was for tori amos. Uninformed, he asked if that was a band. "No" someone answered and said that it was a one women band. In responce, the man said "she must be a hell of a women". I myself was not there when this man said this, but people soon after told me. Of course the man was astonished that everyone was there for one women, one indivisual. It is amazing to know that one person can attract so mant other peoples' heart and love. I started to think about that idea. In all cities combined, thousands of people gathering hours and hours to see one women, her words, her thoughts, her music. The power of one. It is hard to put in words the feeling I get when I think of so many prople's hearts going towards one direction. It touches my heart. This situation gets me to think about how in a worlds where people seem so apart, think that they are alone, and are so different in many ways, share such a strong bond, share and are united with the same affection and love the same person. What a waonderful think and a wonderful person. (if someone wants to responce rs3810@rwu.edu)

From jessie rauch

April 12, 1998 - i just finished 5 hours of intense napping after buying tickets for the Boston show this morning.. (yup, thanks to Super-Brian, i've got a faded number 23 on my hand.) i showed up to the Orpheum around 6pm Friday night, and was greeted with "hey! welcome to the line! you've got to meet everybody!" - which pretty much set the tone for the whole experience.

When there were still only 50-60 people on line, we set up my portable CD player with these little tinny speakers on the sidewalk, and popped in a copy of the Spark promo... dead silence... everyone quietly gathered around the little set-up, and for the duration of the CD, no one hardly said a word, and we all just sat there and listened. (To a CD... on really crummy speakers... it wasn't even that loud.) It was pretty cool way to get my first taste of the new Tori album, and i think a lot of other people felt the same way.

Later on, some of the gang at the front of the line put together a photo - a bunch of us laid down on the ground to spell "TORI" - Brian was the photographer, but he had a couple of cameras - i'd love a copy of that (* please * get in touch with me if you have that photo).... i was dotting the "i."

Quite a few of us were bummed out by not being able to catch Tori's Letterman performance, but then someone showed up with yes, a portable TV. ("We'll yell when she's on!") But by that point i had made friends with someone from the line who was sooo cool that she invited a couple of us to her apartment (just a 15 minute walk from the theater) to wash up, have a glass of water, and sit in her living room to watch Spark on Letterman and a compilation of Under the Pink videos. (Thank you #21 & #21A!)

And the thing was, the line was so respectful and cool that people could leave for an hour or more at a time to walk down through the Common or even just to meet the other kids camped out down the street.... Brian's number system was honored the whole night, right through the final line up as we filed through to get our vouchers. As more people began to show up, especially after midnight-1am, the line wrapped up and back through the alley (the people I met up at the top of the outside corner of the alley were about #200 or so...) by morning the line was out down the block and around the corner.

Once we finally got inside... the applause was thunderous when #550 came through the door (the so-called cut off point as Avalon seats 1100) and more people kept coming in. The cheering was even louder when we thanked Brian Nash for his organization (his "spot" wasn't too far back from mine - he was #33, and i don't think i saw him sit down once after he got there...) And #1 got a loud cheer as well when she finally bought her tickets (she had been there since 9am Friday morning!!) My friends and i got back outside right around 10am, and people were still being turned away in packs (Sorry to those who got shut out!)... when we picked up a copy of the Boston Phoenix, there was a full page ad for the show on the inside cover.

anyway, be sure to send me email if you are one of the many i promised to make a copy of the Spark promo for... i'm glad i got a chance to share it with so many people on line last night... (yup, i'm the girl with the crappy speakers and the golden CD)... see you all again on the 25th!

yrs,
jessie
jrauch@cs.smith.edu

PS also, i was sitting in line near two members of the band Misconception (thanks again for the CD, Steve & Vince)... they're from the New Haven area, but they play through New England and New York.... (they're sort of guitary and Dream-Theater-ish... and half the band camped out all night for Tori tickets)... if anyone wants to hear a copy of their CD, let me know.

From Mike Thomas

April 12, 1998 - first, I love your site so much. If it weren't for you I probably would have missed out on the plugged tour. But I happend to find out just in time and spent last night camped outside the Orpheum Theater in Boston and now I have tickets for the show. The camp out went really smoothly and was a lot of fun. There was this guy Brian there who was a huge help and gave everybody numbers and kept a record of who was buying what tickets, etc. And he impressed the hell out of me because I talked to him for maybe a minute when I got the number, but three hours later when I was coming back from a pizza hunt he approavhed me and told me there were some friends waiting for me. I don't know how he remembered, but it was cool. And the people at the Orpheum were great, they brought us in from the cold around 8 which made things a lot nicer, even though the staff talked to us like we were high schoolers in an auditorium. But overall it was a great experience and I am so psyched for the show.

From kristen byrne

April 11, 1998 - well, here's an account of my ticket-buying experience....not much frills, but hey, that's ok. simplicity sometimes is best thing. well my friend and i tried our best to wake up early, but we weren't able to leave the hotel until after 5:30 pm. so we got to the orpheum about 6 am to see people who have camped out the night before. i was paranoid that we would miss buying tickets, but brian (i believe that's what his name was) kindly directed us to the end of the line at the moment, which went around the block...i breathed a sigh of relief that i was #391. (brian had assigned us numbers as we joined the line.) from accounts from other people, about 550 people were allowed to buy tickets...the capacity being 1000 tickets. anyway, it was freezing cold, but i was amazed of the whole process. everyone was so nice to each other and so calm......it was so orderly and "processed"--it was incredible. there were no riots...just cold EWF's waiting in line. orpheum allowed us to enter the theatre about 8 am i believe. so we could all warm up...and wait another hour...but they did sell tickets early...about 9:30 i think since everyone who was able to buy tickets were seated already (of course all in order). so, i have my voucher for 2 tickets. and now i have to figure out how to get my friend in who is only 17...shhh! TO THOSE WHO WERE IN LINE: it was worth it wasn't it? i just couldn't believe i was actually there. just a little criticism...it wasn't too bad, but i noticed the litter around. orpheum was nice enough to let us wait around...some of us till the night before, so i was a little embarrassed of the condition the street was in. some of you may have seen a korean girl and another girl in black picking up leftovers...i was the korean girl. *smile* let's try to keep what's ours to ourselves ok? and not leave a mess for others to pick up? ok...i'll come down from my soap box now. anyway, i'm looking forward to the show. i wish i could celebrate, but i'm exhausted and feel sick. and i'll see you all at the show! i'll probably be the one with a crate or stool in one hand cause the show is standing only i think and i'm so damn short!

kristen byrne (whoever is in CT...come to the RAINN benefit april 29th!)

From Carrie-Ellen Batcheller (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - I am very tired from waiting in line for tickets in Boston since 9pm last night (: . But hey, I'm a happy kind of tired because I got vouchers!(: . I was #38 in a line which turned out to have almost 600 people in it by 10am! The Orpheum staff was nice enough to let us into the place about two hours before tickets went on sale so that we could keep warm. It was a long cold night in Boston, but all the Tori fans were nice and it was fun getting to know some of the people there. There seemed to be a group spirit there (:

One of the reasons for this message is to thank someone who took it upon himself to organize a line of 600 people, I hope he is on the list so that I can thank him. His name was Ryan (or Brian?) Nash, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for your high energy, enthusiasm and great leadership! Without you, things would have been quite chaotic (:

I hope all of the people on the list who waited in line got tix (:

From Lynne

April 11, 1998 - First of all Mike, You have a wonderful web page as a tribute to Tori and her fans. I want to thank you very much for your work!! I love it! Ok, onto my ticket buying experience.... I have never had the opportunity to see Tori live yet, and I truly believed that I would be shut out once again for this tour. Last night I was so anxious about the thought of having a bad experience in line waiting to get tix, that I actually told my husband, Jeff, that we should just forget about trying. He didn't have to try hard to convince me that I'd regret that choice forever. So, of course, we journeyed into the city to attempt to get those precious things. We arrived at the Orpheum Box Office around 5:30am (believe me I was kicking myself that we didn't get ourselves there earlier!!). The line of Toriphiles in sleeping bags seemed endless...I was so excited though...I had such a stupid grin plastered on my face!! The sweetest guy approached Jeff & I and explained that he was helping to keep the line in order by having everyone sign their names in a note book, which had a number designated to each hopeful customer. He then marked the back of our hands with OUR number. WOW, we were #359. Jeff & I thanked him, and then quickly began to calculate how many tix would be sold ahead of us....358x2....Yippie!!! OH my God, we knew at that point that we would in fact get our moment to experience Tori live!!! Since we were all being respectful to each other & acknowledged the list to be "set in stone" people didn't have to worry about someone moving ahead of them if they left their space for a short period of time. As the hours passed, our co-liners were able to come and go as needed, to relieve themselves from the cold...get a bite to eat...etc. :-) This helped to make the experience enjoyable....and I personally didn't see anyone abuse this freedom. The line was filled with polite, considerate, sweet people that were all (COLD &) EXCITED to reap their reward. One woman, who was in line near us, actually passed out mini-donuts to all of us (at least the hundred or so people who were located on this particular street)!! Yes, the line did wrap around a couple street coners!! Around 8:00am, the kind Orpheum staff allowed us all (well, around 500+ ??? of us) to enter the theater and take a seat in the order we had formed the line. Unfortunately there were another couple hundred people left outside without the hopes of getting a ticket. :( We were all thrilled by this turn of events...wow, we could thaw out! It was quite nice to be sitting indoors with the exact crowd we would see the show with. People exchanged email addys, etc, to swap Tori rarities or just to help each other fill in the gaps of their collections. We waited another hour or so (I believe it was before 10am, not sure tho??) before they began the process of selling the vouchers. As people were allowed up onto the stage, about 10 at a time, others cheered them on!! Especially the sweet guy who had started the list, He received a huge applause. Which of course he deserved. After all, his help in organizing us made the experience safer & more pleasant! Jeff & I received our vouchers at about 10:45am!!! I was elated!!! To finally have Tori Tix....after all my doubt and anxiety!! Needless to say, this was a fabulous experience and Toriphiles are the best!!!!!!!! Thank you all for the shared experience!!! I will be floating two inches off the ground until the show...and I'm sure I'll be even higher (believe me without any substances!! :) than that during & after the show. One other quick note: As a life-long MA resident...It was such a treat to be able to actually stand on the Orpheum Stage!!!! This is a very historical theater in Boston....unbelievable performances have taken place there....including my sweethearts, U2, who actually recorded live material on that stage. This was just an added bonus for me!! Thanks for letting me share this with you.

From Lisa Street

April 11, 1998 - I must begin by giving a big shout out to Brian Nash. he took on the job of counting, numbering, and watching over everyone in line. we got there around 1am, i was number 165. Overall it was a good night, everyone was friendly, my bladder made it through, and i even took a little cat nap. oh, and we played the game of UNO from Hell! (lasted over and hour and half, but it killed a lot waiting time). Around 8am the people from the theatre let us in and they even started selling vouchers early (about 9:30). That's the word from one tired girl in Boston.

From Andrea Cleaver

April 11, 1998 - 550 lucky people have earned the opportunity to see Tori at the avalon in boston on april 25th!!

what a long, amazing, incredible night. the first person arrived at 9:00 a.m. yesterday morning, the majority arrived between 6 p.m. - 6 a.m., even though more people came when they were letting us into the orpheum.

major appreciation goes to brian, a toriphile who had that handy marker and notebook, gave everyone in line a number (my # 21 will always be a great memory) and kept their name in a notebook. he did this all night long, as people continued to arrived. when he reached 550 earlier this morning, his work was done. thanks for doing such a fantastic job.

everything went smoothly, luckily the night wasn't too cold, around 35 degrees. the orpheum folks let us in around 7:45 and we sat in their auditorium. they let us start purchasing the vouchers about 9:45, after the alloted 550 people had been let in.

yes, this show was 18+ and id must be shown to get into the avalon. one mother had driven her 16 year old daughter to boston yesterday all the way from rochester, ny. they were a couple people ahead of my fiance and i when we arrived around 6 p.m. we let them call the avalon just to verify that everyone had to be 18. the daughter was pretty upset, but we promised we'd keep her up to date with later tour info.

i met so many wonderful people and am really looking forward to seeing you all again in 2 weeks.

From LadyDragon Heather

April 11, 1998 - Since you seemed shocked by the rudeness of some venues....I decided that I should write to you and let you know how GREAT the Boston line was. The first group of dedicated wanderers appeared outside the club at 9am Friday morning! By 2 pm Friday they were up to number 32 and an amazing fan named Brain hadorganized a complete notebook and marked everyones hand with a number. ( He kept at the numbering until 9 am!!)

My boyfriend and I arrived around 11 pm ( number 73&74) and from there it was pure fun. EVERYONE in line was polite, helpful and easy going. We all shared snacks and games, blankets and pillows.... IT was one huge party of toriphiles!

At 7 am we all lined up in 4 rows near the door and some brilliant peron handed out chalk so that we could mark our numbers on the ground under our feet. At 8 ish the club owners opened the doors and allowed us all to sit in the theater so that we wouldn't be cold. As the first person on line and our savior organizer went onto the stage to get their vouchers everyone cheered and screamed "We love you guys!"

It was great. I've never had such an intense bonding experience. Everyone got their tickets in order....and everything was fair. Even the coffee shop down the street where we all went to the bathroom was filled with helpful friendly people. They even let us wander up there to get warm after they closed!

I'm going to put up a page sometime tomorrow night with photos of everything :)

From Benjamin Spear

April 11, 1998 - Dear DENT,

Let me start by saying that I LOVE your site, top quality, everything. But, OK, now to the point.

I waited for Tori Amos Vouchers in Boston this morning. I have to say, it was a positive experience. It was a little cold, but the people were great. I'd like to thank "Brian" the whoever-you-are man who organized all the numbering, and organized most lining up and crowd-control. He made it easier. Also, the Orpheum people made things much smoother- they let us inside around 8am, at which point we REALLY needed to be warmer. I was number 159 in line and I was walking out with my vouchers at around10:30, it was great. I'm SO EXCITED!

From Dominic Marullo (precious-things post)

April 11, 1998 - i just got back from getting my voucher and i want to tell you what it was like. at 5pm there were only 13 people at the orpheum...i left. i came back at 11pm and i was number 79. there was a brilliant person there named brian who had a notebook and numbered everyone. the orpheum guys went by his numbers and we lined up accordingly at 6am by writing our number in our spot with chalk. they let tons of people in but had to turn away many. that is the brifest possible account i can give of my 11 hours in line.

From Keith Williams

April 11, 1998 - Whooooooooooooo! my wife and I drove about 125 miles to get to the Orpheum in Boston. My warmest Thanks and congradulations go out to a Man named Brian for unnofficially organising us (sorry bout spelling ,just got home) . We got tickets,I was #300A, my wife was #300. It wasn't bad other than the ticket from the Boston Police Dept. but they were just doing their job. Thanks again to Brian#33

From April

April 16, 1998 - My boyfriend and I got in line at 1:30 am, and were 110 and 111 in line- right behind Audrey and Christine, Lynn, Mark, and Carl (the guy with the new sampler!) We had driven up from Virginia (Charlottesville) the same night and were not looking forward to a night on the streets. But like Audrey said, the experience was well worth braving the cold and the wind. There was constant entertainment from the fans and random people on the street- the funniest had to be the "Tupac and Elvis" concert (I guess they could sound alike if you're completely wasted!) Thanks to everyone in line for an experience we will never forget, and thanks to number 111 to waited with me on the streets of Philly. See you at the concert AK and JVL!!

From Audrey

April 12, 1998 - I showed up at the Electric Factory Concert Hall around 1 am Saturday morning. My best friend, Christine, and I were number 105 and 106 in line. We heard that the first people in line had been there since either 5:30 am or 8:30 am on Friday, April 10th. The next person in line got there about 6 hours later. The line started at the gate to the parking lot more than 100 feet from the door of the EF. That is because they were having a concert going on that night and didn't want people blocking cars and concert goers and such.

I never met such a bunch of friendly people as I did that night. To the right and left of us were introductions, sharing of info, and playing of tori amos music, including myself. This fellow behind us, Carl, worked at a music store and probably was the only person in the whole line with the 4 song sampler which we eventually did play for a small crowd. Anyway, news travelled fast, and he was a celebrity by the end of the day.

Throughout the night, Tori fans walked up and down the line of fans sleeping, singing, eating, talking friendily to everyone. giving information about where the nearest bathroom was: turned out to be a diner about five or six blocks away. This diner was constantly packed but an excellent place for hot dogs (peachy keen ones) and hot chocolate. AND I had to be taken to a secret back bathroom, through a club setting, that was wallpapered with pictures of asians doing kamasutra like things. gisha-girls with with hairy cunts and japanese men with gi-hugic penises - crazy stuff!

after the concert of that night was over, the employees of the EF let the line come closer to the actual door of the building. This, i thought, was mighty nice of them.

By morning, there were pretzel men walking up and down the block. a MAX 95.7 radio station van came out with orange juice, oreo cookies, and, of course, their bumper stickers, to give out for free to us Tori fans! whee! Next, Y100.3 van came out to give us free diet pepsi and y100 keychains, stickers, bumper stickers, and magnets. how useful of them. by this time, 7am, the line went all the way down 7th street, and up spring garden st. there were probably about 500-700 people in line.

even before 10am, the line started moving! the EF were letting in 8 people at a time. the tickets were $27.50 eash, $55 for two. photo id was required and people were only allowed to buy two tickets each. except that THEY WEREN'T THE ACTUAL TICKETS!!! Oh NO! They give you a VOUCHER, that you must bring at 3pm on April 26th to trade in for the actual ticket. There are no seats at the EF, so first one through the door, the best spot you get. It is a very very small establishment with a stage, floor, and upper level on the right (facing the stage) for the over-21 crowd. But as a 22 yr old, I would rather be at the stage with the youngins if to be right in front of tori herself.

So, I've got to go through this all over again on the 26th. it'll be worth it. and being that this was my first camp out for tickets...it's an experience. I thought it would be horrible, but I've had all-nighters that were, and this was fun, informative, and heartwarming. however, I have a newfound knowledge about what it's like to have to sleep on the streets of philadelphia. and that, I don't recommend alone, it's scary. and it was cold. only with hundreds of tori fans did I feel safe and sound. people driving by in cars would ask us without fail, "who are you waiting for tickets for?" "Tori Amos!" "WHO?" "Tori AMOS!" "He's a pussy!!!" "She's a SHE! and YES she's got a pussy!". Even a cop stopped by and asked and even heard of her. but he went on to say that his fav was frank sinatra. oh well. a couple of black guys came around to talk with us and yelled that this must be the line for the tupac and elvis concert. shrug.

From Zach Blas

April 12, 1998 - OK, I obtained 2 tickets for the Tori concert at Electric Factory this Saturday! Here's my story: I got up at 5:00 in the morning to get ready for the long trip to Philadelphia. I was ready to leave at 6, but my friend Jessica didn't get woken up and wasn't ready until 7. My dad drove, and Jessica and I rode in the back. It took us about eight hours to get into Philadelphia. When we got to the Electric Factory there were 4 people there. They had been in line since 8:00 AM in the morning!!!! So we told them we'd be camping out with them also and went to get something to eat. When we got back around 5, there was about 5 more people. The people who were there first were soooo nice. They kept this chart that everybody in line signed so there wouldn't be any problem about line order. (I was 4th!) So, we waited for 17 hours....during the night I think it dropped below 30 and the wind was unbearable. Security was very friendly....they had someone watching us just about the whole night, and they were very good about not letting people cut line. So, in the morning the line was stretching on forever and ever. A local radio station also came and brought everyone breakfast. So, I got my ticket right at 10 and came back home. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I met so many awesome Tori fans! Jennifer, Melissa, Jason, and Christine....if you're reading this--you guys are the best!!!!!!

From Kim1231695

April 12, 1998 - I'M GOING TO SEE TORI!!!!!!!!!! my ticket buying experience in philly was interesting. we arrived a little after 7am, and waited in line for about 6 hours. we also barely got tickets-there were about 480 people in front of us! it was freezing cold, i felt bad for people w/out blankets. there were no horror stories like NYC, but there was this accident we saw where this truck ran into a car, flipped it over, and it landed on and crushed some guy underneath. police, firepeople and ambulances came, it was entertaining. the people seemed friendly, there really wasn't any probs. anyway, meghann is a goddess! for letting me come with her and her bf since none of my friends would come with me. we were nervous about not getting the tickets, but i would have killed if i didn't. some advice for buying tickets in philly- beware of pretzel vendors! ;) I'M GOING TO SEE TORI IN 2 WEEKS! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!

From Skye238831

April 12, 1998 - Hey Mike--I definately agree that the actual line was completely orderly, but the people there were a completely different story.

I arrived at the EFC at around 6am, and I nearly cried when I saw that line. It was totally unbelieveable. That's right, I didn't camp out. Some would say that I'm not a devoted fan, and they can think that if they want to. But the fact is, I'm only 16, and there was absolutely no way my parents were going to let me sleep on a street in Philadelphia. And when it comes down to it, I'm not going to toatally defy my parents so I can be considered a 'devoted' fan.

I don't understand why we're all competing with each other to see who likes Tori the best. Music is something to be shared, and right now many Toriphiles have the sharing skills of a two year old. While I did meet some people that were totally nice (Including a toriphile who continually let me use her lighter and even offered me food), I have to say theat I encountered far more obnoxious, rude, and nasty people. Check it out--people from the front of the line walked to where my friend and I were standing and shouted "I'm glad all the devoted fans are up front." Come on. That's just stupid and uncalled for. Almost directly in front of me were about four toriphiles in their 20's, and I doubt anyone has ever annoyed me so much. They were bitching and moaning about "All the little high school kids", and one was running around with a y100 sticker on his crotch, while another had stickers all over her ass. If beingmature means that you act like that, let me never be mature.

When I finally did get my tickets, I actually cried. The seven hour wait had paid off, and it was well worth it. It just makes me sad that people are willing to hurt (and bother the shit out of) anyone they can to get their hands on tickets. To those who did get tickets, congrats. My heart goes out to those who didn't, I know you guys love Tori just as much as those who did get tickets.

From Elizabeth Perry

April 11, 1998 - Just wanted to tell you about my ticket buying experience at the Electric Factory last night and this morning. I got there at 11pm last night, and there were already about 30 people ahead of me. I was not very surprised to find that most of the people there were friendly, and there weren't too many problems keeping my space in the line. Anyway, I tried to fall asleep but it was way too cold, and somebody was blasting Marilyn Manson, so basically I stayed up the whole night waiting, and waiting for 10am to roll around. Around 5am, I would say there were about 300 people in line, and around 8am, the line had grown to be huge, around 1000 people. It was crazy, and I was glad that I was near the front. Well, the vouchers were handed out starting at around 9:55am, and I got mine around 10:15. The whole process went pretty smoothly, and I was very happy with my experience. Needless to say, the line of people behind me was IMMENSE. I hope everybody there got their vouchers. Sleeping on the concrete in front of the Electric Factory was not the best experience of my life, but I think that the process was fair, and those who showed up early enough got their vouchers quickly and efficiently.

From James Brant

April 11, 1998 - Hey I just got home from getting tori tickets in philly. I arrived at 6am and there were already 350 people in line! The first people in line got there at 8am on Friday morning. The deal was if you didn't get there by 7-7:30 then you had no chance of getting tickets, they completely sold out a little after one. The voucher system was a very slow process and the line creeped along moving about ten feet once every five minutes. From what I observed there was a lot of line cutting which wasn't a cool thing at all so some of the people that had been waiting in line for hours upon hours did not get Tori Tix because of these people. All in all I had a good time, I met some really great and interesting people in line, and I can't wait to see Tori in two weeks!

From Ziggie22

April 11, 1998 - wow, is all I can say....wow. I got to the Electric Factory box office at about 3 a.m. Saturday morning, and there were about 150 people ahead of me in line. It was so great...yet cold. I met some really cool Tori people, and some loud babbling idiot (sorry to that guy if he should read this) named Mike, who seemed to have connections all over the place....well, he babbled loudly all night, not allowing anyone to sleep, but made up for it but pulling a few strings and getting a friend of his to let us inside the venue to use the bathrooms. =) This was a good thing. All night long cars drove by, "who are you here for?" what did we say? "Prince" One woman actually believed us and made her husband stop and wait with her at the very end of the line, she must have been disapointed not to get tickets (being at the end of the line) and realizing that it wasn't for Prince. Last night/this morning was freezing cold. Luckily my good friend, (I just met her) in front of me in line let me borrow her gloves...how nice :) Some people are so kind. Anyway, I feel bad for those people who decided to come to the box office at 9:00, considering the tickets went on sale at 10:00...there was no hope for them getting tickets. In the very front of the line were the most dedicated Tori fans I had ever met, they had been there since Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. keep in mind tickets didn't go onsale until Saturday 10:00 a.m. All and all this was a really good experience for me, I met a lot of really cool people, and I would do it again, because in the end I know all my waiting in line will pay off, when I get to see Tori.

From Jason Horst (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - Yeah, baby! Thirteenth in line. Vouchers in my pocket now. I'm flipping! Camping was great. Met TONS of awesome people and we all froze our asses off together. The first people there showed up at 8:00am on Friday... That's dedication, folks. Can't wait to see you all there! I'M GOING TO SEE TORI!

From Christine (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - Like Jason, I was there in Philly camped out...just got back home to Jersey...was THIRD in line and got there at 4 pm Fri......a lot of amazing people were there and even though I was lying on the filthy concrete it was all worth it... I came outta the Electric Factory screaming!!!!! So happy I don't have to stress anymore...

From Syzzy

April 16, 1998 - I was reading about the Toronto adventures in ticket sales for the Phoneix Club by Mr. Chris Cates, that you posted. I was the "unpleasant" woman driving around in the car. If you have Chris' email please advise him that he is totally off base with his comments. I NEVER called them losers, I was only trying to tell them that tickets were not going to be put on sale directly from the club. He must be overly sensitive , because in fact I was willing to help him and his friends if I found out where the tickets were before he did. The radio station told me to be downtown and mobile at 10 a.m. Sat.

It's unfortunate the he is soo unconfident with his sexuality , that a 35 year old sure of herself dyke can make him so hostile! As any excited ears with feet , I was only pointing out to him that he should be prepared to leave the club and go where the tickets were really going on sale fast! At least he took that advice (and put his ego aside) from me. I did manage to purchase 2 tickets at the Skydome, gave two 17 year olds ( that i picked up outside the Edge 102.1 radio station} a ride down to the Dome with me. They didn't mind my advice. A huge Tori fanatic from Belguim that I met on the web is flying in to attend the show with me.

From Anonymous Toriphile

April 16, 1998 - Hey Mike, I'm from Toronto and I got my tickets on Saturday at the final sale at CFMY. I've never waited in line to buy tickets before and I was really excited. Though I did end up getting my tickets I have to say I was rather disappointed with the whole thing. I'd always read about the comrodery between Tori fans, and I have to say that the people in this line were anything but friendly companions. I attempted to get the line up to bond and enjoy the fact that we were all there waiting to get Tori tickets. I started by trying to get the line to do the wave, an event which about half the line participated in, the other half though were way un cool about it. I never expected to be mocked by fellow Tori fans and it is sad because it was then that I realised that Tori has taken a bad step in her new popularity she's (well not her, more her fans) have become elitist (sorry my spelling sucks). I made a few friends in the line, it was like a sene from the Brekfast Club, we were all so different and varried in our personalities and that's how Tori fans should be. We were all of different worlds and yet if you were just passing by you would have thought we were the closest friends in the world. And though these friends made the ticket buying experience fun, the me titled "too cool for life, snobs" made me so angry in the way they refused to speak to those outside their group in little more than mocking and cruelty. It reminds me of the days of Kurt Cobain, when you had the original fans and then the newbies (post suicide fans). It was the newbies who looked down their noses at the old fans, acting as if they were the only ones ever worthy of praising Kurt Cobain. It's sad to see in Tori's new popularity a crowd which doesn't respect the socialness that the old fans have felt for years.

From Lil'_Brown-Eyed Glitter_Girl

April 12, 1998 - I have mixed feelings on the whole voucher system. I think that it is great that it's controlling scalpers... (they can be mean snatching the one ticket of bliss from unlucky Ears With Feet), but on the other hand, there were some people like me who couldn't get tickets.

I had been waiting almost two years to see Tori again (I'd seen her once before at her Dew Drop Inn Tour at Massey Hall on May 28th, 1996), and when I heard the news that she was coming to Toronto for a new tour, I nearly fainted! Heheh. So, the instructions were to listen to CFNY at 10 a.m. I did, and I had a feeling that the tickets were going to be on sale that day... which unfortunately they were. I had to start work at 1 pm and that is when the tickets were going on sale at the Skydome. I asked my friend to go but she had a drama exam that Monday so she had to study. I was so sad... this meant I couldn't see Tori... there was no way my parents would let me skip work...

At one point, I wanted to write Tori and suggest the Phoenix as a place for her next concert. I never did, but that's what made it worse... she was playing at the spot I wanted to see her at... and I couldn't go. I was the moping queen for that week... until...

Last Thursday I was working my (_|_) bum off finishing off my assignments to hand in that day, when my best friend walked down the hall. She had her one hand over her glowing smile, and her eyes were as wide as an owl's. I thought that maybe she saw her evil ex boyfriend with a compass jabbed in his ear or something, but instead she told me that she couldn't go home until she told me the news. I asked her what it was and she sighed calmly, then shrieked... ***"WE ARE GOING TO TORI!!! AND WE HAVE V.I.P TICKETS!!!"*** This was/is a dream come true!!!! And we are getting them for free!!! I ended up acting silly and ripping the pant leg of my black pinstriped pants in excitement and then I had to go driving and it was awful because I didn't know if I could (I was shaking so hard), and when she told me I almost cried. We were stopping people at our school who we didn't even know, to tell them! Hehehh.

Anyway, I am lucky to have gotten them.... VERY lucky, but my point is, not many people have been sharing that luck unfortunately. Many people had to work as I did and were not able to get tickets. I think the ticket situation should be controlled (against scalpers), but maybe in a different way. Whoever was in my situation, my heart goes out to you ):

From Trent, the ice cream assassin (Torinews post)

April 11, 1998 - Well, I just got back from my 4 hour drive to get tori tix in Toronto. We got there at about 8am and were 30thish in line....we actually ended up buying tickets (!) 65 and 66--so in Toronto they are selling the actual tickets!!

They checked two forms of ID and you have to bring BOTH FORMS OF ID to the show with your ticket to get in.

So, this is different than the voucher thing going on in other places, in Canada you get actual tickets.

It seems there was a better turn-out today than last week (although I'm not exactly sure since last week I was sleeping in an alley in Detroit for tix) but from what I was told there was a better turn-out. My approx count was 200 people so....

SUCCESS!! toronto on the 28th and detroit on the 29th--"whoo hoo the time is getting closer!!!"

From Chris Cates

April 7, 1998 - The skydome security counted off the number of people and tickets that they were to buy and then they told the people at the end of the line that it was unlikely they would get tickets. Myself I was 20th in line so I didn't really care (They were nice enough to do it well in advance of 1:00pm so that people didn't wait hours in the cold only to find that there were no tickets).

(NOTE FROM MIKEWHY: Turns out they did not sell all the tickets that day. More tickets are to be sold the following Saturday!)

Myself, not having the benefit of the insider information (telling us it was skydome), I have to say that the experience was exciting. All the other venues (as I understand) sold the tickets at the venue itself. I was waiting at the Phoenix at 9:00am just in case and roughly a dozen other people were there with me. One very unpleasant lady was driving around every 15 minutes or so telling us that we were at the wrong place and that we were all losers... (She bothered me!) Anyhoo, the caretaker at the Phoenix tipped us off that the tickets were going to be sold elsewhere, likely skydome. Several of us split a cab to get there and were at the front of the line just after 10am. I felt terrible for several people (one family in particular) who had come from Ohio and thought that the tickets would be sold at the Phoenix and then had to scramble to find Skydome (Which is harder than it may sound if you're not from Toronto). I did not find them in line. Anyway, the promotion was kept very hush-hush as to the location of the sales. I am in the legal profession and I phones associates at the Metro Toronto Police Force and they could not tell me where the likely location was (although they had to be notified). The ticket buying experience was for me a rush of adrenaline between 9:00am and 10:15am and waiting between 10:15am and 12:45pm and absolute happiness after having the tickets in my hands. (Although all the anti-scalper stuff was a bit of a hassle, I'm glad that the fans get to go at a reasonable price.) I'd do it all again in a second. (And I Have FINAL exams next week!!!)

From BJ (BARB)

April 7, 1998 - in toronto (it might be different elsewhere) they asked for TWO pieces of ID and there were NO exceptions. one had to be government issued (passort, drivers licence etc.) and the other could be basically anything...i used my debit card. my friend had some trouble with her student card, but they did accept it. they were very strict on this...

From Trent Vanegas

April 20, 1998 - Okay, I neglected to mention this earlier but when the first 100 people in line in Detroit purchased tix they also got a "backstage pass" laminate that had the cord and everything--the picture was the same picture as the cover of the spark single.

the front (with the picture) has the 105.1 the edge logo and says

the edge @ 105.1 welcomes Tori Amos April 29th, 1998 @ St. Andrew's Hall

the back (has edge logo again on top) and reads

pandora
pandora's aquarium
she dives for shells
with her nautical nuns
and thoughts you thought
you'd never tell

We were told that if we wore these laminates the night of the show we would recieve "special surprises"

From dki, the smiley one

April 10, 1998 - dki, the smiley one tells me that the Wed, April 8, 1998 edition of The Metro Times in Detroit reported on the people standing in line for club tour tickets at St. Andrews during the weekend of April 4th. The report was in the "fly on the wall" section by Casey Coston. Read it in my Articles Section or online at the Metro Times Detroit web site.

From steve griffes

April 8, 1998 - I just wanted to say that i'm sorry to all the people from LA and NY who didn't get tickets. That was really messed up. However, i just want to say that Detroit was not "screwy" and any other negative things that people have been saying are simply not true. It was a great experience, and anyone who showed up after 8am and noticed how long the line was was crazy for even waiting! You may think we are crazy for camping out, but ask anyone who did -- im willing to bet they all say they had a KICKASS TIME.

As for the edge getting tickets, the security guard told me 950 tickets were going on sale. but that doesnt mean that 50 tickets mysteriously disappeared. st andrews people=good. they arent out to get us, my friends.

Again, most sincere apolologies to those who had to endure the crappy experience of the LA nad NY scandals, and who walked away empty handed. Any detroiters who are bitching that they did not get tickets, think about those who had to go through that crap, and then think twice about saying the detroit lines were screwy just because YOU had to wait 5 hours or whatever. I will not get over the comment made by someone about doubting if there were any "winners" even if people got vouchers, implying we were losers for waiting overnight. I had a great time, and i dont feel like a winner or a loser, all i know is im seeing tori at st andy's on april 29th, and damn it i had a great experience getting them!

From TAMMI + KRISTINE

April 8, 1998 - We waited out for tickets In DETROIT at St. Andrew's Hall. The experience was great except for the cold. And luckily we got tickets! :-)

But what I am writing to say is that 105.1 was the radio station that was there all night and the station that is putting on the show- BUT another local radio station (96.3)has tickets they are going to be giving away to random listners who call in and win - and I think that IS TERRIBLE because so many people waited in line for these tickets and now they are going to be available to who ever wins the contest that hour - while other peole waited out for hours in the cold for nothing.

From Louise C Allen

April 8, 1998 - I was one of the fortunate ones from Detriot to get tickets. I would like to appologize to all of those that waited in line and did not get tickets to have people who did flaunt them. I was upset that the radio stations started all the hype.i go to school at MSU and Me and my boyfriend who were waiting for freinds kept hearing reports and so we hurried down half ditching those friends who ended up getting tickets anyway. when we arrived at 1am we were at the end of the alley next to st andys,People kept walking by to count us. I started to feel like an object at an auction. The staff was incredibly cool this one guy was out there almost all night. Sorry to those who left the workers probably thought you had no chance if they told you that, In the alley there were about 200 people I think they counted on everyone buying two I know some people in line didnt even get tickets what nice guys they were there with their girlfriends so that they wouldn't have to be alone> YEAH GUYS!! Jill I'll see you there. I would like to remind all of those who got tickets to thank thier lucky stars. Also Hi girls, in the front of the line, who thought " Lets laugh at those who dont get tickets cause thats a nice thing to do". Not everyone could spend a week in line some of us do have lives other than our Tori obsessions. Who would have thought people who arrived at 5am would not get tickets. Though I got tickets I would not do it again, I was out of it for ~48hrs. Does anyone else not want to give thier tickets to someone who did'nt have to go thru such night? Somehow I feel that they wont appreciate the show as much. Oh well I will keep my word, My friends that were in a warm bed that night will get to stand along side me at the show.

From Paul Kingston

April 7, 1998 - A lot of people have been saying (both on the web and during the night before tickets were going on sale) that some radio station was getting about 100 of the tickets. Most people say they were going to 105.1... I don't know if this is true, or not, but I know one thing. The guy from 105.1 that a "dreamdate winner" (who calls in when they have the contest) gets to go with, was the next person in line behind me. He was actually quite worried about getting tickets (as I think they already announced the contest)... I'm sure they would have found a way to get tickets if he couldn't, but it makes me wonder if they actually secured 100. Why would they even bother sticking him out there all night? I highly doubt any other station in this town would have been given tickets.

From andrea stahl

April 7, 1998 - this is feedback about waiting in line for tori tickets. i live in a detriot suburb. i go to school at western michigan university, in kalamazoo michigan. i hitched a ride home, and my boyfriend and i went to detriot early saturday morning. my mom thought it would be rediculous to sleep in an alley in detriot when it was 30 degrees out. i agree, not that it is insane to sleep in an alley in detriot, but to sleep in an alley anywhere where it is 30 degrees out! and shoot me, but i have school, and a life, and things to do with my day. i have never been to a concert. tori amos is my biggest musical influence. i was hoping my life would be drastically changed. mike and i waited in line for 6 hours. we had to walk to trappers's alley to pee. we waited on line for 6 hours. i got sunburned. i got windburned. they ran out of tickets about 100 people in front of me. at this, a most inconvienent time, my brain decided to be ultra-feminine, and i cried in the alley. i cried the whole way home. i wanted those little peices of bleu paper that said "tori amos, st andrew's hall, detriot." i wanted to be drastically changed by going to my first concert. but i left. drastically unchanged.

i had the worst weekend of my life. not even a lucky cigarette made things better. thank you for finding the time to read all of these e-mails from people around the country.

From eej

April 7, 1998 - The situation in Detroit was a little screwy. We got there at 10. I wish I had gotten there earlier!! I would've camped out on Thursday & Friday night!! I couldn't though. :-( We did have fun the 5 hours we waited in line though. I talked about Tori with a few of the people that stood behind me. We were annoyed that some of the people who got vouchers drove by & waved them in our faces. The staff of St. Andrews were kinda nice, but they really upset the people near the middle & end of the line by not telling us anything that was happening. It's like they had fun watching us suffer. The wors part was that it was really cold!! At least the people who camped out had blankets, but we had nothing!!

My dad acted as a conduit for ticket info. He went into St. Andrews a few times & asked the staff how many vouchers were left. I'm kinda thankful for that, because I know that Tori's not his favorite & that he really didn't want to wait in line.

The tickets sold out when we were just about to the place where the line doubled up. The guy came out with a big smile on his face & told us that they had sold out. Then, I was extremely sad & crying so I couldn't drave home & my dad had to drive. That's all I could think about this whole weekend. I even got really close to crying right before I got out of the car to go to school!! Now, I'm just hoping that I didn't flunk my math test becasue I was so out of it.

From Asmat Noori (rec.music.tori-amos post)

April 6, 1998 - I got there at 5:00 pm on friday night. Yes, it was cold and windy and miserable, but it was also fun. I got to see people I haven't seen since the New York RAINN show and made a lot of new friends. The guys from St Andrews were really cool. They took orders and got food for us, kept coming around with Hot Chocolate and coffee, and had one bathroom inside reserved for us. They also did let people inside breifly to warm up if they wanted. As for the Radio, there was one guy there who said he worked for the Edge. he said they were not getting any tickets so they sent him out to camp out to buy some. Don't know if that's true or not, but if so that's pretty cool.

From Karen Hagglund

April 5, 1998 - You know, I have been studying these posts, and it seems that in every city where tickets were sold, toriphiles had an easier time of it than they did in Detroit. I am reading posts where people showed up at noon and got vouchers!

In Detroit, the person at the front of the line had been there since Wednesday. A friend of mine who got there at 7:30 pm Friday night was 50th in line. At 10 pm there were 250 in line, according to the radio station broadcasting live there. By 5 am, an announcement came on the radio that if you weren't in line, you were out of luck. Another friend of mine arrived at 5 am, was told by security that he had no chance (that a sellout would occur 120 people in front of him). Actually, when the sold out call came at 3:10 pm on Saturday, we found the person who got the last voucher, and this person came at 6 am! So my friend arriving at 5, if he had stayed, would have gotten one!

So you had hundreds of campers, lying sleeping bag to sleeping bag in a dirty alley in downtown Detroit, in cold temps (low 30s) and windy conditions. They looked so awful, and had to endure so much, that I wonder if anyone was a winner here, even if they got a voucher.

The ticket selling process took forever, over 3 hours. I heard that 4 forms had to be filled out, and a pass laminated.

No one counted the crowd, gave out wristbands or slips of paper, which would have prevented a lot of people waiting at least 5 hours unnecessarily. No one allowed these people into St. Andrew's early to get out of the cold.

And finally, the capacity for St. Andrew's is 1000. Only 834 tickets were sold. Who knows where the rest go? I hear the radio station The Edge get the rest, but who knows where they'll end up.

This system is not preventing the possibility of corruption like Tori wanted. I was told that one of the last people who got a voucher just happened to be the security guard's girlfriend, who had not stood in line. And I am sure that the extra 166 tickets still out there will NOT be handled fairly either.

The bottom line is that if I had spent my 5 1/2 hours standing in line in another city, I would probably have a voucher today.

From carolyn

April 5, 1998 - hey my first time writing and keep in mind i'm running on very little sleep.
so please bear with.
just camped out 20 hours for tori tickets at st andrew's hall
in scenic downtown detroit.
everyone was phenomenally cool
the guys at st andy's brought us coffee and pop
and ordered food for us
and they let us use the potty.
they rule.
105.1 the edge
brought us coffee and donuts in the morning
and much cool free stuff thru out the night.
and here's an interesting tidbit.
a camera crew and comentator guy came thru to film footage for
some kind of nat'l promo on rainn.
they interveiwed many of us.
okay just trying to keep folks updated.
also the very complicated ticket procedure went very smoothly.
they handled it well.
carolyn

oh yeah,
over 800 people showed up.
they didn't all get tickets

From kate thomas

April 5, 1998 - Well, I got the tickets. I'm from the metro-Detroit area and I just returned from my 14 hour journey. I spent the night in a freezing cold alley in downtown Detroit to get these tickets. I am running on a half hour of sleep and only a small amount of food. I feel dirty and smelly and tired and hungry and I still haven't quite thawed out, but I am so incredibly ecstatic. The last I heard, there were over 700 people down there and they are only selling 900 tickets. I was about number 175. The experience really was quite amazing. To be around this huge group of totally dedicated fans for a whole night, listening to her music, talking about how she has influenced us, getting to know each other...it was awesome. I just wanted to let you know that without your website, I doubt I would have ever gotten these tickets. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.

From sara doyon

April 5, 1998 - Wow i just read the dent and I have to hand it to you that is what i call dedication!. I too did just about what you did I didn't have to drive that far. I was at the detroit one St.Andrews and i was one of the lucky few that got them! i waited 18 hours in line for those vouchers. My friend at the last minute couldn't go with me so I went by myself. I was lucky I met some fabouls Tori fans there and they took care of me. St. Andrews hall had the niceest staff they sold us coffe and hot choclate all night long they left open the building so that we could go in and use the restrooms and the staff made sure none took cuts and made sure we were safe all night long they were amazing!!! There were people there that waited since 2 on thursday. the line by 12pm was so long there had to have been 900 people there.and they did sell out but i don't know at what time. just thought you might like to know this info.

From Paul Kingston

April 5, 1998 - I arrived at 7:30 pm on Friday... I was the 85th or so person in line. They did not open the doors until 12:00 pm on Saturday to start selling tickets... they did, however, keep the bathrooms accessible inside St. Andrews Hall all night. In the morning, 105.1 brought Starbucks coffee and bagels for everyone (there wasn't nearly enough to go around, but came closer than the couple of dozen donuts 96.3 tried to offer... We consider them a very commercially pretentious station in this area, and were soon to drive them off with disinterest.) The line went down the side of St. Andrews Hall... across the alley (the size of a normal street) that is on the side of the Hall, back up the side of the building across the alley... back to the middle of the alley... back down the alley... then across the alley that is behind St. Andrews Hall... down a block... around a large building that is on the other side of this alley from St. Andrews up the street that is in front of this building... to the street that St. Andrews is on... and up to the front door of St. Andrews. How depressing that must have been... to be the last person in line, and be right in front of the door. I guessed just by looking at the line, as I was leaving that there had to be between 1000-1500 people easy. The line pretty much looked like that by 6am.

From lynn makrianis

April 5, 1998 - mike, i just wanted to say congratulations on getting tori tickets1 i am so proud of anyone who got them...it was definitely a tough thing to do! im from michigan and i waited in the freezing cold for 18 hours in detroit. When i got there, there were already 50-60 people in line and this was at 6:30 PM. some of them had been there since thursday night! despite the cold weather and the lack of sleep i endured, i know the waiting will be well worth it when i see the show. i feel terrible for those who dont get to see the show but am so proud of those who waited in line and truly showed their dedication. in addition, the people at st. andrews were extremely nice to us. they had the bathrooms open all night, served us hot chocolate and coffee and had security guards walking around throughout our wait, talking to us and making sure there were no line jumpers. i think they were truly baffled by how many people there were and figured we must be something special (which we are). just wanted to share that with you.

From Trent Vanegas (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - I have to announce that the staff at St. Andrew's Hall were just amazing to the Tori fans who camped out for tix. The venue had staff members spend the night with us offering us food (for which they would drive to a resturant and get orders for people), coffee, pop, hot chocolate. They also had undercover cops busting asshole who were trying to bother people. They opened the venue for bathroom breaks (very nice at 2am and you really gotta go). I hope other venues were just as considerate to their patrons as well. To all the Detroiters who got tix--I'll see you on the 29!!!!!

From Steve Hnatow aka Sven

April 8, 1998 - all right... i'm tired of hearing all these people bitching! let me just say that me and a group of my friends got in line at the park west at 1:00am. i don't care if park west says not until 7am... no one is going to listen to that. so we got in line and i have to say that i had probably the best time of my life. I MADE THE BEST OF THE SITUATION!! i brought my boom box and park my little butt just around the corner. we sat and joked around and kept each other entertained and met all these great people ( mikewhy, kristen evans, amber, etc )... and sang all night to tori... to the point where i still don't have my voice. but even if i lost my voice that still didn't stop me from having fun. we brought blankets, and mountain dew, and doritos. and to cheer everyone up i even went down the line and offered my doritos to everyone... ya need a well balanced breakfast. so to all those people who are whinning... i waited so long... it was so cold... blah blah blah... i love tori and i had a blast doing this. and yeah, i lapsed into a 22 hour coma afterwards but that's a different story. the moral of this story... bring a bottle of whorsky and don't whine... it's belittling.

ps- and as for carl... the biker security dude... he rules!!! oh yeah and i almost forgot... i had so much fun will all my friends that we were in such a good mood that we were the ones that got most of that money for that guy ( lost his wallet ) to buy his ticket!!!

From Arielle Caron

April 7, 1998 - i didn't know you were inside the park west- i was there too! i got tix! :) i left milwaukee at about 4:40 am and arrived around 6:00, and got in line (after paying $16 for parking, rip off huh? they're making money on people who are going to spend MORE money buying tickets..). it was cold, but oh well. i agree that the smoking inside was not too cool, considering the ventilation was bad. i stunk to high heaven after i left. from the horror stories on your page it appears that park west wasn't too bad. the horrible old man (with the nipple rings he so proudly displayed) with long hair & the disgusting biker jacket was very annoying, wasn't he? he kept walking around, picking up girls and if he was pleased with their treatment of him, he sent them to the voucher line. gross and disgusting old fart. were you still around when he started offering a place in line if one humiliated him/herself? i was in the group that played the harmonica. (thank you so much, harmonica people.) i know that if i had just sat in the corner i would have been there another 2 hours..

yeah.. the tix were for diehard fans, but not even all the diehards could get tix. i think 2 nights at a venue might have been good, with mailorder or something like that so they could keep track of who was buying what.

From D. Eric Billingsley

April 7, 1998 - I HAVE TICKETS!!!!

Everyone was wrapped up tightly against the cold air, and I only knew what a couple of you look like from your online photos - so I apologize for not introducing myself. However, I was one of five guys that were just on the other side of the alleyway around the corner from the club (several of us have goatees). We arrived around 4:30, and found about 75-100 people already there. At about 7:30, some Park West guys came out and took a count of the people in line. Even at 7:30, it became painfully clear that not everyone in line would get tickets (we saw a bunch of dejected-looking folks trudging away from the back of the immense line). Then, everyone was told to pack up their belongings and get them off of the street, as we would soon be moved into the club for ticket-dispersement. I have to say that even though the procedure of "vouchering" took forever and a day, the Park West staff was very patient and polite - not to mention downright considerate. After all, they didn't HAVE to let us inside the club at 8:00 on a Saturday morning (although this probably had more to do with not pissing off their residential neighbors than it did with keeping us Toriphiles warm). It was - indeed - a long morning of waiting, but our friend Jason was among us; and he managed to keep us quite entertained. You see - Jason is about the most sarcastic smart-ass on the planet. Get him started on something he doesn't like, and he'll go on for an hour spouting barbed epithets that keep us all in stitches. As shocking as is may sound, our friend Jason is not a Tori fan. As a matter of fact, he has always enjoyed ribbing his Toriphile friends (for example, I once made the mistake of mentioning that I read in an interview that Tori is interested in Viking mythology and history, which produced a string of Tori/Viking jokes that continues to this day. Anyhoo - Jason just started dating a girl who is a big fan of Tori's; so guess what? Jason was in line before even me! We all derived great pleasure from reminding Jason that he was freezing to death at 4:30am so that he could spend $60 on Tori Amos tickets. Just wind him up, and watch him go!

Anyhoo - once we were inside, a couple of us collapsed into a booth and fell immediately to sleep. One of the rest of our party, Greg, struck up a conversation with one of the Park West staff. Since there was no available alcohol in the closed bar, Greg offered to sneak in a bottle of Kaluha for the coffee that was being brewed for all. This made the Park West staff quite happy (needless to say, this all happened discreetly under the table); as evidence of their gratitude, our group was the next called to the ticketing line! On our way out of the club with vouchers in hand, two of the staff-members stopped to thank us, and added that we needn't worry about purchasing alcohol on the night of the show. Apparently, everyone in our party will be taken care of...

From Jane Borkowski

April 7, 1998 - I thought you would like to hear my attempt at getting tickets to Tori's show in Chicago. Friday, 4/3 I hear tickets are going to be on sale Saturday. I am from the Chicago area, but attend school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Being a true Tori fan, I jumped on a bus headed for home. It is about an hour to Park West from my home, so I woke up at three (I had gotten in at midnight) and headed down there. I secured my place in line and met some really nice people, so I thought. I really had to go the washroom so they said they would hold my place in line. Needless to say, they didn't and the counter guy had already gone past, not seeing me in line. I was so disappointed I almost started to cry. I waited outside for the guy who said he would save my place and he eventually came out with his voucher. He then apologized and said he would be more that happy to take me to the show, for 500 dollars. I am not a happy person right now.

From Laura Bliss

April 7, 1998 - i just wanted to say that after reading all of these experiences, i am really disappointed in what's going on. i mean, i know tori wanted this to be just for her fans, but it gets a little ridiculous when people are waiting outside the night before, and only 700 are being given away. I am 17 and was completely looking forward to seeing tori live; i never saw her before. i had to take an ACT test that saturday, though, and couldn't get tickets until 12:30. when i called, they were completely sold out. that doesn't really surprise me, since tori is really popular, but it's just my opinion that things weren' t handled very well. I don't think people should have been allowed to sleep right outside park west when they specifically said no one could be there before seven. And, just an opinion, I think 27.50 is way too much for a ticket. If Tori wanted these shows to be directed towards her fans, wouldn't she have made it a little easier on us?? Now, to see her, I am going to have to pay around 50 dollars per ticket which is 4 times what i should be paying. Geez, I hope things aren't like this when she tours again in the fall. I love tori, but things could be a little better!!

From Manda (Peters)

April 7, 1998 - Although I was unable to get away to Chicago (2 hours from where I live) to stand in line for tickets, I wanted to say a little something about the outrageousness in the whole idea.

The stories I read about fans who sat in lines of angry, mean, and down-right cruel "ears with feet" for 20+hrs scared me. I have never experienced anything like that at any of the concerts I've tried to get tickets for (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, etc.) that were also in very limited seating arenas.

Frankly, I don't know if I even want to attend any concerts that may come into my area as far as Tori is concerned. Although I am a devoted fan and would love to see her perform, it's just nonesense to go through the sleeplessness, cruelty, and heartache to try to see her. I refuse to be bullied by bullshit recording companies or publicity stunts during this tour. It's not fair, as far as I can see, to anyone. I'm all for the first come first serve thing, but where do we draw the line? Staying in line for two days? Ridiculous! Random wristbands and blue tickets and all that bull... I just can't believe that Tori's companies could let this, none the less PROMOTE this crap.

Sorry if I'm rambling. I'm just a little peeved, and I didn't even try to get tickets! I have never been to a Tori concert, and although I know the others before this were different, I'm going to be scared to try to get tickets to any concerts that will be done on larger venues around here.

So, I guess we, as avid ears with feet, have done an absolutely stellar job of promoting Tori and all of her wonderousness.... but look where it has gotten us. Did anyone foresee this? I never did.

I never would have dreamed that fellow fans/ears with feet were so rude and mean to each other. I have had the occasional fall-out with several Tori fans in town (ie - fighting over cds in a store, etc) but I never dreamed that any of the stories I read today could be true. I guess some of us (like myself) use the term "obsessed" very lightly. Obsessed doesn't begin to desribe the behaviors I read about. It's just sick that we can't all be nice to each other when we share such a powerful common bond... but I guess some people out there really are "die-hard" fans.

I will forever treasure Tori's gift of music. Her voice is beautiful, her lyrics are moving, and her skill at the piano is undescribable... and I will always promote everything that she stands for... but I guess, from what I see, Tori has sort of let her company overtake her... or maybe she doesn't care as much about her fans as we thought she did. I would hate to think that that was what was really going on here... but somehow, I keep coming to that bitter conclusion. I hope I will be proved wrong sometime...

April 5, 1998 - One thing became very clear this weekend about the North American club tour. In most cities, if you wanted to obtain tickets, you had to be somewhat insane! The mailing lists and newgroup are filled with stories of fans waiting in line for tickets. Some like myself were successful, while others were not. The main thing that led to success was to arrive at the venue at least 6 hours early (although there are some exceptions.)

Here is what I went through! I woke up Friday morning at 6:30AM. I went to work until 1:30PM. Then I ran a few errands, updated the Dent, and finally arrived at the Louisville airport at 8:00PM to rent a car. I picked up Toriphile Francesine nearby and we drove north. We arrived at Bloomington, Indiana at 10:45PM and picked up Ears With Feet Charlie Poole. We then journeyed to Chicago and arrived at the Park West at 2:00AM Chicago time (3:00AM our time.) At that point there were already about 35 people in line. It was quite cold and the wind showed us no mercy. After a few hours my lower body was in complete despair! By 6:00 there seemed to be about 250 people. Then between 6 and 7 people started arriving constantly and the line went down the block as far as I could see. Everyone was super nice and we helped each other figure out where to go to use the restroom and obtain food. No one tried to prevent us from waiting, and in fact the people in front had been there since Friday night at 8:00PM.

At 7:00AM they started counting people and around 8:00AM they let the first 375 or so into the Park West to warm up. It was cool to warm up inside, but they allowed people to smoke and with my asthma and sensitve eyes, I was not happy. They started the very slow process of giving out vouchers around 9:15AM or so. An hour or so later, I finally got mine and we left to have breakfast with some really nice Toriphiles. Unfortunately I was nearly a vegetable at that point because I had not slept in over 29 hours. If I seemed distant, that was why!

By the time I got home from my 7 hour drive back, I had gone 40 hours without sleep. I just emerged from my coma and hope to get caught up on the Tori news soon. I am still tired but happy about getting tickets and the trip, while insane, was fun! I congratulate others who were successful, but I also understand the frustration with those who were unable to go through the insane lengths I did to get tickets. Even in the markets where the show was not announced until a few hours before hand, there were problems, like an insane lottery system in Los Angeles that created a tremendous amount of stress. I will have more ticket buying reports soon!

From Lori Adams

April 5, 1998 - Hey there Mike! Just wanted to add my little story, that I am ecstatic about!!! My best friend and another friend traveled from Cincinnati to Chicago (about a 6 hour drive) to stand in line to try to get tickets for Tori in Chicago!! They got them!!! This is a dream come true! I could not make the trip with them, unfortunatley I had a tennis match in which I could not miss! I would have most certainly gone if I could've. I would have loved to stand in line in the midst of all this chaos, that is until I would've started to get hypothermia! I honestly did not think this would happen! Things like this just do not happen to me. I am a very unlucky person all in all. However, she went through hell trying to get these tickets! I'm hoping she'll write in and tell the story, that almost ended on a very very sad note. Let me say, it was amazing that she ended up getting the tickets! I actually dreamed that I went to the show in Chicago before I even knew when the date was or had any of the info. This is a dream came true! 25 more days to go! I hope to see you there Mike. Actually, my friend came up and said Hi to you she said. (Stacy) We're the ones who met you at the Sarah M. concert in Cincy Music Hall. Remember? WOW!!! Also, my friend bought me the ticket for my 21st b-day!!! This is by far the best present in my whole entire 21 years!! I am in total shock and just pure happiness right now. I can't explain it!! Now, to make this whole experience even more surreal....I truley hope that I can meet Tori for the first time, and say a few words. Of course, I think I'd be totally star struck and just cry...in fact I don't think, I know! However, I feel very sorry for the ones who were unsuccessful. Honestly, I thought I'd be one of those people too. It's unfair bigtime, for the ones who are "ears with feet" all the way and wait in line and don't get tickets. Hope to see ya' there Mike! And THANK YOU so very very much for sharing your dedication with the whole world, because without your consistency and dedication to the Dent, I would not be in Chicago on the 30th! Please keep it up, and hope to see you there!!!! Thanks again!

From Cynthia Glass (Precious Things)

April 5, 1998 - I did not get tickets this morning. Gee, guess why. YOU guessed it.

People were apparently lining up outside since 1AM this morning...and they just moved the line INSIDE at 7 AM (on an extraordinarily windy "windy city" day I might add.) Sick? Yes. Fucked up? Big time. I would have preferred to sleep in this morning, bog knows I needed the rest. but hey! Who's complaining, right? (God damned son of a bitch!) I mean, gee, too bad, and it's alright anyways since she's going to be on tour here after the summer and all...(was that the politically correct response?)

I'm sorry for the bitter indignant reaction to this, but shit, I have a right to be a little pissed eh? I mean, COME ON...

So I guess what I'm really trying to tell all of you that are fortunate enough to receive a warning or two or three or four, is that one cannot go about getting tickets for this PRACTICALLY. My suggestion is that you have to be a little more than just completely GONE and get in line while it's still dark and freezing and what have you. If you are not an insane fanatic, then don't bother.

And since I am merely insane, I suppose I just do not qualify for these tickets, cash in hand or not.

I love Tori, but I just can't see getting pneumonia over her, sorry, Tor...

Please don't flame me or get mad at me for the tone of this post, I'm just trying to provide a public service here and help those who do not realize what they're up against.

From Kim (Posted to Torinews)

April 8, 1998 - Well, My sister was kind enough to go up to seattle at 6:30 in the morning to get tickets. She took my two little brothers too. One was in line at the paramount, and the other and my sister waited at the moore. She said that there were very few people in line from overnight at the paramount, and no one at the moore.. Once the announcement was made about ticket sales over the radio, people were running down the street as fast as they could to get to the moore. My sister said the line ran down 2 blocks, over 2 blocks, and wrapped back around. Well, I am happy to say that we have #20, and #21. :) Not bad out of 1400 tickets, id say. OH, and the voucher thing, she has 2 vouchers with tori's pic on it. She had to show id, and they put her name on them. She has to be there by 6 the night of the show to pick up the tickets. I'm soooooo happy! If i wasn't stuck here in upstate new york, I'd been there all night!

From Kristov Jensen

April 7, 1998 - I was reading you news page today and I saw that you were posting people's experiences getting tickts over the weekend. I was among the masses in Seattle so I thought that I would send in my accounting as well.

A few days before the tickets went on sale I decided that it would prudent if I got up to the Paramount super early in order to get a good spot in line. So on Friday, 3 April, I went up to my aunties house and crashed there for the night. I got absolutly no sleep what so ever. All I could think about was Tori tickets. By the time 5 AM hit I couldn't stand it any longer. I got out of bed and paced back and forth until my cousin got up (which was about 6.30). By 6.35 we were in the car and heading for the Paramount.

As the car pulled up to the theatre my started getting shakey. Not too many were in line yet (it was now 6.55 in the AM). Only a few sleeping bags and blankets. I estimated that I was about #45 in line. So I sat down and just tried to shake of the chills that wanted to take over my body. Someone there had brought their radio and were playing Tori CDs. The one that they were playing when I arrived was made up of material that I hadn't heard yet (which is amazing-I think I have close to everything as far as b-sides go.) I got a glimpse of the cover but I have no idea what it was called or anything. (It's still sort of bugging me-I need to know.) Anyways, I thought the radio was a nice touch.

Bordom set in and conversation with my cousin wasn't pouring out as it had the night before...just empty silence as we all just stared off into space. About 7.00 my cousin went off in search of a coffee shop (which isn't too hard to find in Seattle!) So I started talking to this guy next to me who was a Matthew Sweet fan and heard me talking about my web site. At 7.05 Two girls went into the middle of the street and started doing cartwheels. It was the 7.00 dance. It was humourous-I dug it.

7.30 and the line was growing steadily. At 7.45 some guy in a light grey sweatshirt, blue jeans and nicely trimmed beard showed up and shouted "Is everyone here for the Tori Amos concert?" Then he was going on and on about how tickets weren't going to be sold at the Paramount at all today-they were going to be sold at the Moore Theatre instead. Everyone ignored him, really, casting him off as a loon and a liar. 45 minutes later he came back and started telling everyone that no tickets were being sold at the Paramount and that "no will even be at the Paramount until Monday morning." Now paranoia was flying all over as people didn't know whether or not they should believe him or not. It took all about 5 minutes for people to decide and half the crowd bolted to their cars, trying to be the first in line at the Moore. The other half of the line stayed behind, refusing to believe the stranger in the sweatshirt. I was one who stayed behind. Everyone left who had a cell phone used them at this point to find out what was going on.

My back was covered, though. The guy I was talking about Matthew Sweet with decided to go down to the Moore. This way if tickets really were at the Moore, he had established a good spot in line-where as if they were not, I still held the spot at the Paramount. By 9.30 I paranoia got the best of me and I walked the 8 blocks to the Moore and found my new best friend. I was now #50 in line (whereas everyone else was all the way down the street). To my surprise, the people who were in front of me at the Paramount (I believe their names were Nicole, Natalie and I'll be damned what her boyfriend's name was...) were now behind us. Ditto with the dancing girl (who was "a little bitter about the move"). That made me sad. :*(

So for an hour everyone chatted amongst themselves. The topic where I was, oddly enough, was Canadian currency. The things people talk about whilst standing in line for long hours....

9.45 rolls around and 107.7 (the worst radio station on the face of this planet!!) gives a tease about Tori ticket information. Everyone was mutely on edge, wondering if they had been suckered into giving up their spot or if they were sitting pretty. At 10 every walkman in line was tuned in and the second the dj (hang the dj, hang the dj....) said that the tickets were at the Moore everyone in line errupted into loud cheer. A very loud and startling happening for innocent passerbys who have no idea what was going on. :)

So only two more hours left to wait. No problem, right? Wrong. About 10.45 this event staff guy comes about and says that the line is backwards (?!?!) and we have to go around the corner and turn around completely. Have you ever seen like 200 people turn a line around?? Neither have I. People's first instinct was to bolt around the corner but the event staff guy chilled that thought in mid motion. Instead it was a single file line neatly making their way down 2nd (much like a caerpiller). It all worked out rather nicely, really. But now we were in the shade. The whole move made me feel like I was in high school again on some feel trip.

A little after 11, 11.30 the dancing girls went back out into the street and started doing more cartwheels. So wanker in his car honked at them. Then this yuppy BMW went driving by and the people behind me shouted "Your money can't save you now!!!!" as they saw the huuuuuuge line that had formed. (it was now around the block). :)

Finally 12.00 rolled around and the line slllloooowwwwllllyyy started to move. At 12.30 I was buying my tickets (or vouchers...) and filled out the form thingies. Then I left.

The back of the line was now meeting up with the front of the line-about three or more blocks long. There was easily over a thousand people there.

Now the countdown begins until Sunday, 3 May 1998.

From Timothy Burns

April 7, 1998 - Rita and I got tickets for the Seattle show. It seems pretty lucky considering how much they promoted it beforehand. We went to the Paramount around 9:30 Saturday morning, not knowing what to expect as far as a line. It wasn't that long at all, 50-100 people. We each had enough money for two tickets, so when the Paramount staffer mentioned the Moore, I ran over there and found 100 or so people waiting. Rita joined me after the announcement of sales at the Moore. The line grew long after the announcment. It was a pleasant morning and we were glad it wasn't raining. A few hours later we had our vouchers. I figured the floor would be general admission, so I didn't see any reason to camp out all night. We're pretty excited.

From Gayle Luchini

April 7, 1998 - OK, well first off, I have to say I'm from New Mexico. This is no where near any of the club tour sites. The closest is LA. But, I have tickets. Here is what I have to do to go to the concert. I have to pay for a plane ticket to fly me to Seattle and back that weekend (misssing school Monday-oh well--and work--need money!) when I'm graduating about a couple of weeks later, and am moving up there (need the money) but I love Tori, and I feel I can sacrifice a bit (besides, living in New Mexico there aren't a lot of chances to see her and so I've got a chance) My boyfriend lives about a half an hour away from Seattle now, and he camped out and got the tickets for me and him. But I am a little disappointed, it seems that from what he told me, when he called The Moore they told him to go to the Paramount and there is where he had been staying the whole night, then they changed it to the Moore (but he had made a friend and they worked it out so that wherever it was going to be they'd let each other get in line with the other one. (Nice toriphile) I think they should just let it be first come first serve like everybody says, then die-hards (like me--I was there in spirit)could get tickets). The real thing though is that my boyfriend says it's all general admission. This is a bummer after standing in line for so long and being about 15 in line I(my boyfriend) came so close to front row(which is my dream--someday). I will be there early though, and so hopefully I still have a chance. Suggestions for people? Don't forget binoculars just in case, I don't know how big these venues are excactly, but they sure come in handy in case you're too far away--you need to see her in detail, hands and all--and don't forget them at the regular tour too if you have tickets farther back. I was at the Albuquerque DDI tour and I was in the balcony and I think I would've died if I hadn't remembered to take them--and I saw a lot of people without them). Just my comments.

From Adia 509

April 6, 1998 - I was waiting three hours in line just to get a fucking ticket for the Seattle Moore Theatre, even worse I got the god-damn balcony! Well at least I got the tickets, and you wouldn't belive how many people were in line in front of me (almost a thousand) so that was probably the reason I got the seat. Next time she comes around for her "official" tour I plan on saving some money so I can get first or second row.

From Rebecca Merrill

April 6, 1998 - Anyway, buying tickets in Seattle was okay for me. I left my college home in Bellingham at 7 and got to the Paramount at 8:45. My friend and I stood in line there playing Go Fish and listening to 107.7 on my walkman trying to wait patiently for the announcement. And all the time I'm thinking, you know, just tell us where the tickets will be sold in the first place, because the die-hard fans will sit in line the night before and the people who really don't care will be out of luck. Keep the voucher system, but don't mess with the dedicated!

Anyway again, at 10 the DJ FINALLY announces that the tickets are at the Moore, not the Paramount. And over 100 people begin running in a northwesterly direction. The Moore is not THAT far away, but people were already lined up there, too. I had a car, but the one-way streets and road construction and general pain-in-the-ass traffic of downtown Seattle made me wish that I had been on foot, too.

So my friend and I get there, and I jump out of a still-moving car to run in line while he parks. And as I'm jogging down the sidewalk to the back of the line, a guy from the Paramount line (who was standing behind me there) who has already made it to the Moore line catches me before I jog by and says, "I'll let you back in front of me if you save my spot while I move my illegally parked van." Yes! Score! He did get a ticket, though. :(

But the moral of my story is that persistance prevails and people waiting in line for Tori tickets are really great people. Bill, the guy who let me in line, and his friends from Puyallup, WA were wonderful. And if anyone sees a guy on May 3rd at the Moore who looks like Silent Bob (we were calling him Silent Bill at one point), give him a hug from The Girl with the Plaid Coat.

And I'd like to say that I owe a lot of thanks to Mikewhy (yes, you!), for without him I would have never known about the concerts in the first place!

From Marie

April 5, 1998 - argh..i just got back from getting my tickets for here in seattle...here's what happened. alright, so, i got up around 6 and made it to the paramount around 8:30 about a half an hour a guy who is working on the show that was at the paramount at the present time came out and said 'i know you guys are waiting for tori amos tickets, but, no tori amos tickets will be sold here today. they will be sold at the moore'...so, some people left..some people thought he was bluffing..so, to make a rather long story short the radio announcement came on around 10ish and the tickets did indeed go on sale at the moore..thankfully i had split up with the people i had just met there and i did get two tickets..er, or vouchers..whatever..:) yay..i'm pumped..anyhoo..that's what happened...lots of chaos but no riots...

From meggie

April 5, 1998 - Because of your wonderful news page I was informed a week before the local announcement about Tori's promo concert. I bothered the radio station and the venue until I heard the first news: my radio station of choice (107.7 KNDD in Seattle) started playing 'Spark' and said the ticket info would be given at 10am Sat. April 4th... today. Of course I was listening promtly at that hour, and learned that the tickets were going on sale through the venue box office starting at noon, only 2 hours! Later, I took the bus downtown arriving around 12:30. The line went almost all the way around the block! I never expected it to be that crowded so soon. I waited in line for -==- hours, standing with 2 women I had never met before. We were thinking early on that there was no hope of getting the tickets before they sold out, but as we moved progressively closer we were almost certain that there were less than 1,000 people ahead of us. As I approached the box office I got more and more excited... all these Tori fans gathered, ready to snatch their places as fast as humanly possible. The 2 ladies I had met were both ahead of me in line, and as we got our money out the first of the two stepped up to the booth... and bought the very last ticket. I was so close... my only hope now is that the radio station will have some sort of contest, not unlike the one for the Sarah McLachlan tickets I never won.... :P well all's fair in love of Tori...

From Jeff Dorion

April 5, 1998 - Just wanted to let you know how the Seattle ticket sales went on sale on Saturday.

The radio station The End was to announce the time and place for ticket sales at 10 am. But the advance word was that they were being sold at the Paramount at 10 am or noon. So I arrived at the Paramount at 12:20 midnight where there were about 6-7 people in line. By the time 9 am hit there were about 100-200 people. Then a guy came out from the theater and said that tickets were not going ton sale at the Paramount but at the Moore instead. He told us earlier because he felt sorry for us. So we dashed to the Moore, about 9 blocks away, and wound up about 80th in line (damn it!). then The End announced the tickets would go on sale at noon at the Moore. Then the Moore staff made the line flip to the other side of the Theater, so people cut in line. Now I was about 140th in line. Tickets started selling a few minutes past noon. They were general admission, and I got a great main floor tickets, so it didn't matter that I lost my great place in line. Tickets sold out in 2 hours, and the line went around the block. Many didn't get tickets. Just thought you'd like the info.

From Kelly

April 5, 1998 - tori amos tickets were announced at 10:00am on Sat. and were on sale that day at 12:00. At 4 pm they were sold out and people (like me) didn't even have the smallest chance in getting them because it was such a last minute thing.

From Clara Latham

April 5, 1998 - Tickets were announced to be on sale at the Moore theatre at 10 am on Saturday, all the out of town people as well as the ones terrified of the thought of not getting a ticket camped out at the Paramount Friday night and rushed over at 9am when we heard about the change of address for ticket sales. Anyone trying to get tickets to the show now should know it's sold out and you have to have a voucher to get your tickets. I'm am almost positive there will be no scalpers so the only way to get a ticket will be to get someone with a voucher to sell you one of theirs.

From Neile Graham (Torinews)

April 5, 1998 - Well, the Atlantic website and some of the Moore people who said that the tickets were going to be on sale at the Paramount Theatre really faked people out here: the tickets were sold at the Moore box office, which is where the show is going to be.

I got to the Paramount Theatre about 9:30 and there weren't very many people there. Staff from the Paramount told us they weren't going to be sold there, and to listen to the radio station.

So the group split up--some went to the Moore Theatre to hold places in line there, and some stayed at the Paramount in case it was to be there after all.

At 10:00 we heard it was to be the Moore, so we walked over there. I found the people who were holding places in line for me there, so it was not a big deal, but the crowd at the Moore was much larger. I was probably 100th in line or so and there were people who had spent all night there, but it wasn't worth it, since the seats aren't assigned--you bought a $28 voucher for either a balcony or a mainfloor seat. *People need to bring the same photo ID for the show that they used to get their voucher to get their ticket.*

There will be frantic lineups at the show day trying to get a good seat, but I'm not going to worry about it--pretty much every seat is good and it's better than seeing her through binoculars.

When I left with my vouchers, though, the line was still well around two sides of the block. I'm pretty sure latecomers won't get vouchers.

The line was fun, though, I ran into friends and found a couple new ones.

And I did get a voucher so our esteemed listowner, John Stewart, can attend the show.

From Framed And Dried

April 20, 1998 - My friend and I, only 17 and with no car heard that there was going to be a Tori concert about the end of January at the Fillmore. I called the Fillmore, found out (after a few calls, they didnt have their info straight for a bit) that the tickets would be sold on 10am, Sunday and ever since then, my friend and I have gone through HELL for the vouchers. First of all, we're both 17 but don't have our drivers licenses, as in no "real" ID. So, we kept trying to contact the DMV to get one of those IDs that isn't a license, and finally when they gave us an appointment, it was the 21st.. too late! So, freaking out over that, my friend and I brought our birth certificates and social security cards and school IDs (which we thought would be of no use, but it was the only photo id we really had) with us. Then, we had to pretty much twist my fathers arm to drive us all the way to San Francisco, and he wouldn't let us go until we PROMISED we werent camping out Saturday night at the Fillmore since he thought it was too dangerous, so we stayed at our friends house in San Francisco who is 26. When we finally got to San Francisco, I kept whining about how I wanted to get up at 2 or 3 to stay in line, because I had read about all the other horrors, but the friend we stayed with said it was a bad neighborhood, and nobody would do something like that - it wasnt typical of the area. So, I finally relaxed and we woke up at 6 and got there at 7. We stood in the line when we got there, and were happy because we had a good position, when some guy was like "what number are you?".. we were confused and said "we dont have a number". It's immediate shocked response was "YOU DON'T HAVE A NUMBER!?!?" ... and that sent us into a panic, as the people around us knew exactly what he was talking about and rattled their numbers off for him. Anyways, I think everyone has mentioned the "sold out" trick they played, and the annoying guy who kept saying things like "if you dont have a number you have no business being here, GO HOME", so i wont mention that. we went through a lot of shit like everyone else who wasnt smart enough or COULDNT be there saturday... but in the end, we were lucky and got our voucher. perseverance was the ultimate key.. and though i felt like giving up about 89727857825 times, we couldnt just go home and so something kept me back. can't wait til may 5th now! :>

From Jason Kwejibo

April 20, 1998 - You have so many letters already so I'll try to keep it short. First let me say that it was said and printed that there would be no voucher / number system concerning the line. This is what nearly did me in. I live only a short drive from the Filmore and therefore did continual line checks to ensure that I would get tickets in the "first come first serve" system. So at 10 and then again at midnight Saturday night I made passes observing the line. It was modest and gave me no reason to panic. So I went home for a while. I then drove back buy a few hours later and thought to myself "Great the line still hasn't grown much". I decided I'd better not chance it anyway and started my "camp out" at around 5am. Little did I know that the reason the line hadn't grown was because they in fact did hand out numbered line stubs contrary to what they said. The grim truth started to dawn on me as the people with the 550 vouchers started to return. As it turns out it was a happy ending for me and the few friends I made that morning in line... The Filmore was able to sell just a few more tickets than what they had anticipated allowing an estimated 20 or so of us who did not have numbered line vouchers to still buy tickets. The manner in which the whole thing was handled was HORRIBLE. Several times a few rude arrogant man strolled up and down the line telling us that if we did not have a numbered line voucher we had no change and that we should go home. Obviously and thankfully this was not the case.

Bottom line... I'm just as tired of the high prices caused by Bass and Ticket Master but at least you know what to expect. If you leave it up to the club owners there is an endless array of problems that can and will occur.

Just as side note: before me and my new friends bought our tickets several employees of the Filmore announced to the whole line that "Tori Amos is sold out... Sorry but there are no more tickets left." Obviously we decided to stick around a while longer and about 15 mins. later someone came out and quietly ushered a few more of us in to buy the last few remaining tickets. Not exactly a fair system but I was one of the lucky ones.

From bloogirl

April 20, 1998 - well. after reading the ticket buying experiences of other venues on your website, I knew that I was really going to have to get there early. In fact, I started crying, reading about some really horrible experiences - like LA and DC and Seattle. I could only hope that the Fillmore in SF would be fair. Fortunately, they were very fair, and so very kind to us. They really did a lot to keep us safe and help us out. to those who complained, well. I know they are heartbroken, but I took the information I got on the Dent and used it wisely. I wasnt going to miss this opportunity, and I begged my friend to meet me there at 11:45pm, so that I wouldnt be alone, even tho he isnt a tori amos fan. I must say, that giving us numbers and letting us go home to sleep was the really most humane thing they could do. I am quite grateful for their work to make sure everything was safe and fair. and that i got to sleep! all the filmore guys I talked to Saturday night and Sunday were so kind and helpful, despite being quite exhausted.

Well, since I have an online journal, while waiting in line Sunday morning, I wrote my journal entry on paper, and put it online yesterday afternoon once I got home. Here's most of what I wrote. If you want to see the whole thing, it's at : http://www.vigilante.net/~bloogirl/masochist14.html bloogirl's world is at http://www.vigilante.net/~bloogirl

ok, here is some of it. feel free to edit it if you want to put it on your site. yes, it ends happily!!

April 19, 1998

"So you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts, what's so amazing about really deep thoughts?"

I am plopped down on the not-so-clean sidewalk, a view of a mini-park before me with small, rolling hills and trees kissed with early morning sun, scribbling in my paper journal, and over a thousand raving Tori Amos fanatics around me.

Tori herself calls us "Ears With Feet"-an attempt to give us a more dignified and appreciative name than the rather degrading, "fanatic."

"And if there is a way to find you, I will find you. But will you find me if Neil makes me a tree?"

Oh, we'll find you, alright, Tori. There are enough polite and dedicated fans waiting and waiting. Determined.

In fact, one just gave me a Now and Later candy. :)

Most arrived yesterday evening prepared to camp out the whole night. Lawn chairs, sleeping bags, journals, snack foods, and an occasional stereo playing something Tori. Fortunately for us, the venue (thank you to David Egan for being so nice) handed out numbers for the following morning, trying to discourage camping out, and yet making sure the die-hard fans got tickets and were safe. One sweet guy walked me all the way around the block so I wouldn't get lost or hurt all alone, and made sure I was with the right guy handing out numbers.

Why? What is it about Tori?

Someone just plugged in "Boys for Pele" and those fortunate enough to be gathered close have unabashedly been singing along.

"Nothing's gonna stop me from floating, Nothing's gonna stop me from floating..."

Wow, another kind Tori fan gave me food- a Mother's chocolate chip cookie. Nice. Yummy.

I shared some of my homemade oatmeal-raisin-almond cookies earlier.

And we're singing, "Got me some horses, to ride on, to ride on..." as if we were singing campfire songs, but with a solemn devotion, you can almost feel it in their quiet voices, as if the words mean so much that cannot be spoken.

The Grateful Dead guy was right. He, too, stands in line a few people ahead of me, he and I chatted a few minutes ago about our congregating here to get Tori tickets to her club tour.

"It's like church," he said. "It's modern religion."

I nodded, adding, "And like the Greek gods, they (the performers) are imperfect, and yet beautiful."

He agreed, complimenting my thought. I smiled, listening to the echo of the words I had just said.

Sometimes we can find thoughtful moments, despite a nearly sleepless night and the after-effects of vicodin.

It has been more than just Tori being a voice who expressed my pain for me, I think her courage to voice her experience has emboldened me to find my own voice, to claim my own pain, and to stop trying to hide from it in denial.

Her work goes deeper. Something in what she says tells me that she challenges herself, finds her own numbness, and expresses her deep sadnesses.

In a time when we feel pressured to be ever-cheerful and are blamed for our pain and struggles, it is rare to find one who will sing of sadness and express it for the sheer need of expression. One who uses her sadness and turns it into art.

I talked to countless fans (Kat- thank you especially :) about how we all came to really love Tori and think that she was worth a lot of effort to see. The songs had a deeper personal meaning. But seeing her perform live is what lit the fire in us.

Spiritual experiences and religion are very difficult to explain.

Kindness.

The girls I stood in line with this morning met my dear, devoted friend who waited for me in line the night before, unsure of where I was. He didn't find out what happened until he finally found me, at 2am, sitting on the sidewalk, so relieved to see him.

My car was missing Saturday night. Not there. I had to take the subway late at night, and walk over a mile to the venue that was selling the tickets. I was quite late, and didn't see him anywhere.

He had, meanwhile, stood in line for me, and told the girls that he was not a diehard fan, and he honestly didn't understand it, but he was there for a friend.

Sweet.

So, he found me at 2am, exhausted, and relieved to see him. I wanted to cry, but I had used my strength to get me that far, I was still doing ok, despite the worry over the car which has yet to fully sink in. But I certainly didn't want to spend the night on the sidewalk.

So he took me to his place, we crashed, and when it was time to wake up, he gave me a sweet backrub and talked softly to wake me up, and get me out of bed, despite my moaning and vicodin hangover. And he drove me to the venue to get in line again, this time to get the actual tickets, while he had other things to do for the day.

I owe him big.

But oh, sometimes it feels good to let someone take care of me for a few hours. A bit scary, though. I don't really have people take care of me. It just doesn't happen. One of those things about being solitary and independent.

So, I got the tickets.

YAY. When I was walking away from the cashier, I wanted to scream for joy and relief, I saw a guy who had stood in line with me, and he too was obviously pumped with adrenaline like me, and he said in a tired, yet exuberant voice, "It was worth it." I smiled, glowing, and said, "Yes. It really was."

From Charlotte Bobek

April 20, 1998 - Mike, I went early this morning to the Fillmore to buy tickets. The line was wrapped around two corners (long blocks) by 7am (when I arrived). I couldn't believe it! I have seen Tori six times and never had I experienced this. Of course, this was all to my disappointment. A couple employees from the Fillmore made their way down the line announcing that if we didn't receive a number last night, all hope of getting tickets was 0. I guess fans started lining up yesterday during the day, so in order to avoid a huge crowd of campers, they gave out numbers. I was just hoping that half the people in line were going to buy Big Bad Vodoo Daddee tickets which also went on sale today (yea, right). : (

I just have to relish the very first time I saw back in '93 ( I believe that's the year), when I saw her at Bimbo's in San Francisco. It is a very, very small venue; it resembles an old dinner dance club. The crowd was even different then compared to the crowd today.

So, all in all, there are a lot of disappointed fans in the San Francisco area.

From Minako Allen

April 20, 1998 - From reading the posts of many upset and disgruntled Toriphiles who attempted to get tickets for the San Francisco show, I thought it was time that I share my story.

My experience with getting tickets for the Fillmore show was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. My friends and I (rain and Spocks #1 and #2) showed up around eight p.m. on Saturday night and secured a place in line for tickets. At this point, the line was not very long. When a preliminary count was done our numbers in line ranged from 74 to 77. Around eleven p.m. or so (not nine p.m, as was stated earlier) someone from the Fillmore staff started handing out slips of paper which would guarantee a numbered ticket stub for a place in line. These were *not* the actual vouchers that the Fillmore was selling for the tickets, merely a placeholder for a numbered ticket stub. Behind the staffperson handing out the slips of paper was another guy handing out numbered ticket stubs and carrying a clipboard for people with the numbered ticket stubs to sign their name to futher guarantee a place in line to buy tickets. Once this was done, those with their stubs were told they could go home and come back to begin a line-up around seven a.m. At this point, my number was 82, and I was relieved to discover that my number in line was relatively low.

As it turns out, many of us who had traveled several hours to buy tickets for the Fillmore show stayed, and I have to say it was well worth it. I can't remember meeting a nicer group of people in my entire life, and the energy and camraderie surrounding the whole groups of people who decided to stay and hang out for the night had a sense of warmth and familiarity attached to it, almost like visiting old friends. One Toriphile from the Dent videotaped other Toriphiles in line (thanks to Cory-Renee and her crew), and one nice Toriphile (thank you Brent!) had received a promo copy of _Choirgirl..._ and an entire group of us stayed to listen to the new Tori material (thanks to Dorena for use of the radio and all the cool CD's). We talked, joked, shared stories (and food and blankets,etc, etc...), hosted mini bonfires with candles, and had a great time getting to know other fellow Toriphiles. I met several wonderful Toriphiles from the precious-things mailing list and the Dent Registry, and I can't wait to see them all at the show on the fifth.

My experience buying tickets for the Fillmore show went very smoothly, and I am proud to say I was interviewed by a rep from KQED radio regarding the whole line-up craze and ticket experience. I felt fortunate to be one to represent all you other Toriphiles out there who suffered through the long night in line to get these tickets. But, I must say that the mingling and socializing and over-all sense of warmth and friendliness that surrounded everyone that I met that night is what made the experience an unforgetable one...one that I will remember for the rest of my life.

To all the Toriphiles I met on Saturday night (Cory-Renee, Alden, Dorena, Nettie, Shirley, and a host of others who were huddled around the radio, and an extra special thanks to the guys from San Jose who provided the donuts at seven a.m.), you are the greatest! I can't wait to see you all again!

To all those Toriphiles who didn't get tickets to this show, please remember that Tori is doing this sneak-preview tour for "the kids who wait in line". So please, keep this is mind when you complain about how horrible some of the venues have handled their ticket sales.

From Sarah J Layman

April 20, 1998 - Ok, I don't want to come off sounding harsh to all the people that didn't get tix but this is what happened: it was indeed first come, first serve! The people who got there at 2:00 in the afternoon on Sat got to be first in line, and the line began growing from then on with the most rapid growth after 10:00pm Sat evening. I showed up there around 8:30 from Santa Cruz and was 93rd in line. Around 12:00am, some people from the Fillmore began going down the line assigning numbers (in order) to the people that were in the now 300something line. After the numbers were assigned, the people were told to go home and get some sleep and come back at 7:00am. The whole reason for this was that a.) Steve Miller was there with 4 large trucks that needed to be loaded that night and us dedicated Tori folks were in the way of that production and b.) it is illegal in SF to sleep on the streets. They gave out the numbers according to arrival because they wanted to be fair: the people who get there first get the tickets first. Because they had to kick us out, they wanted to ensure our places in line. Around 1:00am or so, they were down to number 650 and from then on they were telling people to go home and not even bother getting tickets because there would not be enough for them in the 1200 seat venue (remember: 2 tickets per voucher). I truly felt sorry for the people that showed up around 4:00 in the morning thinking that they were there plenty early to get a ticket but lets face it folks: if you are able to read this message, you have access to all the information possible - and because of the registry, you had a way of communicating with the Tori community to discuss what would have been the proper time of arrival. I know what it is like to walk away empty handed - I was at the Greek (but the circumstances were much different there). I knew that if I ever wanted to see Tori on the club tour, SF was my last chance. I took all the precautions to ensure that I would receive a voucher. I communicated with the people in the SF area and decided what would be a safe time to arrive to be confidant there was a ticket in store for me.

Enough explaining... I just want to say that everyone I meat in line were really all special and amazing people! Never before have I seen such a network of fans communicating and helping each other out. I drove up there with 2 people that I have never met before until yesterday (Mickey - you are so wonderful for driving!!! =). If it were not for the Registry, then I wouldn't even be writing this letter (much gratitude to you Mikewhy!!!).

So anyway... we slept in the car cause we didn't want to drive all the way back to Santa Cruz and then to SF and back again (or at least we attempted to sleep in the car). People began showing up again around 6:00 (the people that already had the numbers that is - cause they were there hours before) and other disappointed people were being turned away. The ticket sale itself went very smoothly. 10 min after they went on sale, I was up there handing them my money and getting my voucher. As soon as that was over with, I got into another line for the Bjork tickets (about only 20 people were there for that). So all in all, the last 30 hours have been very amazing. I am still in shock that I am going to see Tori at the Fillmore!!! After the nightmare at the Greek, I felt that things couldn't have gotten any worse than that and that is what kept my hope alive!!! See you all there!

From Sivanb

April 20, 1998 - I just wanted to share my San Francisco buying experience with everyone. We (my boyfriend and I) showed up early Sunday morning to find (as many of you did) that all 650 vouchers had been given out Saturday night, and that the Fillmore only seats 1100. We decided to ignore the odds, as well as the discouraging words from a certain prick Fillmore employee, and take our chances in a line of non-voucher holders. We stood in line for a good four or five hours (after the voucher-holders were lined up in order) without any word on a possibility of getting tickets without a voucher, besides the nasty Fillmore employee snickering at us to "go home!" because we were about "12 hours too late", even though the venue had claimed it would begin selling tickets at ten! Then, after four and a half hours in this line of fans who refused to give up without a "sold out" sign posted on the ticket window, the voucher-holders had finally all bought their tickets.

Now it was only us without vouchers in a line of about 200 people. We were lucky enough to be near the front of this line, when the staff announced that the show had sold out. Most of the line left, but us die hard fifty fans or so refused to believe it. We stayed strong, remaining in a line for tickets that supposedly didn't exist. Lucky for us, this was the Fillmore's way of testing our faith, for after those unbelievers left, the Fillmore staff directed our now short, die hard line to the box office. Five at a time, they let us into the box office, where we ecstatically purchased the remaining tickets. Sorry to those of you who listened to the discouraging lies of the Fillmore and didn't stick it out on a leap of faith. Next time I reccomend showing your Tori dedication and refusal to succomb to authority by waiting until the security guards drag you away, or, you get a golden ticket! :-)

From Alice D'Amore

April 20, 1998 - i wanted to let you know i was very disappointed by the mass of responses to the ticket sales (for the May 5th show at the Fillmore) and the sour thoughts that were spread through the crowd between the hours of 7am and 10am. it's entirely unfair for individuals to be angry at those that did wait in line (20 of us were in line at 1pm on Saturday), and to imply that we "don't have jobs" is ridiculous. before arriving at 1pm on saturday afternoon to wait in front of the Fillmore, i was well aware that this was a small venue only seating 900 people (with 8000 having called the Fillmore with questions concerning the show) and that the only way to insure seating would be to arrive early. throughout the long hours, we complied with all of the Fillmore's requests, actually creating a number/honour system and forming a line in the park across the street as to not disturb the Steve Miller Band Concert performed on Saturday night. so, to stand in line for 21 hours, and then to hear people complaining and cursing out the Fillmore employees (several of which worked a 24-hour shift and sat with us in order to insure our safety through the night) was a damper on the entire experience. pre-vouchers were not "sold" to us. they were passed out to insure fairness in seating and to get some of the people lined near the park on Steiner Street away from the area, which wasn't safe in the middle of the night. the Fillmore employees were entirely concerned for our safety, and someone was available throughout the entire night to address any problems which might have arisen. even if they hadn't passed out pre-vouchers, the people who arrived at 4am and beyond would not have received vouchers. to be bitter against those who did makes me very sad. the entire process was handled in a manner to insure our safety and to make certain that those that did wait the excrutiating hours did receive tickets.

From qtsmile =)

April 20, 1998 - I arrived at the Fillmore at around 1:30 am. I'm really glad 'cause I got a voucher !!! yayyy....I was number 524 ! The people at the Fillmore only gave out 650 numbered stubs...so I guess I was lucky. Basically, if anyone arrives around 4 am, there will be no chance for them to get vouchers...'cause they stopped giving out those numbered stubs around 3:50 am (when all 650 stubs are given away). Once they gave me my numbered stub, they told me to come back around 9 am to get in line (10 am is the time tickets go on sale). Therefore, I had the chance to get some sleep.. :) Thanks Greg and Gene (my San Francisco friends) for allowing me to sleep in their apartment ;) I'm not from SF..I live 55 miles away north...Anyway, I really like the way the Fillmore handled this thing =)

From helen

April 20, 1998 - Well, as some of the stories above have indicated, the line to buy tickets for the Show in San Francisco were either extremely fair or completely unfair. (depending of course, on whether or not you got a ticket) The following is my story:

I got up at about 3:45, got on my car, and headed into San Francisco from Berkeley. Ideally, it should be a 20-30 minute drive, but being that I got lost, It ended up being a one-hour plus escapade.

When I got to the concert venue, the line was already huge...plus, they started saying that since they'd already given out the 650 space holders, they couldn't guarantee that anyone without a voucher was going to get a ticket. (I don't know how many staff members were managing the line, but I have to say, at least two of them were very helpful and understanding, while one of them was just RUDE. )

To make a very long story (about 8 hrs long--yes, I stayed until they officially declared the show sold out...about 12pm) short, I didn't get a ticket. However, the story from the staff at the Fillmore (please note--it's still a rumor) was that Tori should be playing at The Shoreline in the summer--which holds 25,000...

From Jasmine Li

April 20, 1998 - I was all set to camp out Saturday night in front of the Fillmore for Tori Amos tickets, but I had a small problem...a lack of transportation. So, I didn't end up leaving Berkeley until 7:15 AM. We got lost driving through the city and drove all the way down Geary to the water when we realized that we were going the wrong way. So, we didn't get to the Fillmore until around 9 AM. There was a huge line that snaked down the block, around the corner, down another block, and around another corner. But, we weren't ready to give up.

Then, this really annoying Fillmore staff person came down the line telling everyone who didn't have a number to leave...he came down a couple times taunting us. "You guys came 12 hours too late, you'll just have to see her at the Shoreline with the other 30,000 people!" I think other people posted about the numbers, so I won't get into that. A lot of people left, including 2 people who'd come with me, but my friend & I decided to stay. Apparently, we weren't the only ones because the line behind us was unbelieveable. Every few minutes, they made everyone in line move back to let in more people with vouchers.

Finally, around 10 or 11, the line started to move forwards instead of backwards. We slowly made our way down. We passed KFC and were about half a block away from the box office when the line stopped again. The staff said there might be about 100 tickets left for people without vouchers. We stood there and waited and waited for them to count the number of tickets left (at least that's what they said they were doing). Then, the staff members came out again and told everyone that the show was "officially" sold out and to go home.

Many more people left, but a hundred-or-so of us stayed in line. Lots of the people made a new line to get tickets for Bjork or Sonic Youth or the Steve Miller Band. My friend got into the line and I started to walk towards her when the staff members told everyone to get into a single file line again. I quickly got into line with the guy who had been behind us. They counted off 5 people at a time and guess what...I got tickets!!! When I bought my tickets, they still had stacks of vouchers -- maybe 100 left.

I feel really bad for all the people who got discouraged by what the Fillmore staff people said. None of the staff knew what was going on, they just wanted everyone to go home so the neighbors wouldn't complain. I think SF is the last place to go on sale, but if Tori ever does anything like this again, remember to just wait cause there's always hope...even when the staff members tell you a concert is sold out. Well, I guess I'll see everyone at the concert.

From Rnpresk

April 20, 1998 - The San Francisco ticket-buying experience was depressing. Of course, everyone who got tickets is psyched, but who knew they would give out numbers for vouchers Saturday night?! I would have gladly gone there to pick one up and gotten into my cozy bed had I known it was possible. I got there at 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning only to find that 576 tickets had been given out and there was no chance that I and all the other people who showed up around that time would get tickets. I stuck around until 6:30 to see how it would pan out, but the Fillmore workers said over and over all the tickets were gone and we should go home. I went back at 9:30, just to see, and there was no chance. By then, all the people who had a line voucher were back and eagerly awaiting. The people who camped out since Friday deserve the tickets, but so do people who showed up very early. At least we could have had a chance to stand in line!

It just sucks that the venue could decide to hand out tickets before they were on sale. Many people were left disappointed -- especially after driving for hours in the middle of the night to ensure their chance of a ticket. I live just a mile away, and I am kicking myself that I didn't go by there Saturday night. After this, it makes the L.A. lottery system seem almost a better way because at least everyone had an equal chance to see her (but that should be announced beforehand!). The S.F. method leaves many true fans out just for going on faith that vouchers would be handed out Sunday. Now I'm trying to win tickets off the radio (someone has to win! :) I'm wondering if the Live 105 "secret show" is just the in-studio interview where Tori usually plays a few songs?

From Erasurfan

April 20, 1998 - Just wanted to write a quick note regarding the tixs experience in sanfran. I can say that I was one of the lucky ones who got tixs. I arrived at the Fillmore on Saturday night at 11 p.m. There were over 250+ already in line. I drove from Sacramento prepared to spend the night on the street sleeping with the other fans. At around midnight or so, a staff came out and distributed a ticket number which retains our place in line and enabled SOME to go home to sleep. Well, too far of a drive ( even though others came from Seattle) so I opted to sleep in the car.

I was going to the show alone, so my ticket stub allowed me to buy two tixs. A girl named, Emily, ( hi there ;0) ) needed a ticket to be bought. I would have wanted the samething if someone had the ability, so I decided to buy her a ticket. She arrived early in the morning and was denied a number. I was very glad to help her, because I know it can be a horrible feeling to FOLLOW rules of the ticket buying process from the facility box office, AND THEY CHANGE THE RULES.

My point I wanted to make, was that my heart goes out to all those who were unable to get there the night prior. Apparently, the Fillmore was terrified of getting fined by SF city police due to all the people camped out on the streets. SOOOOO, they passed out numbers in the middle of the night rather than Sunday morning. I had a feeling something like this would happen, I guess I am tainted. I was able to get there the night prior and camp out.

However, my tears go out to those who could not. There were many tears and broken hearts, when they realized the Fillmore did not follow the rules and those who could camp out, got the number to stand on line. This was truly another disasterous event for those who did not have the ability to camp out. Emily, if you are reading this, luck was on your side, when you met me. I was glad I could help.

Sorry for any grammar or spelling quirks, but barely slept all night and I am dead tired. Off to bed I go

From April King

April 20, 1998 - First of all Mike, I just want to let you know that I think that you are awesome. My friends and I wouldn't be the happy voucher holders that we are without the information and amazing network you have set up here. I am deeply in debt to you. Besides The Dent letting me know about the new album coming out and when, the registry helped me know when to get in line to buy tickets at the Fillmore (I arrived Saturday around 5:30 p.m., I was number 35), and even helped get someone that I didn't know until this weekend a ride to get tickets. After I signed up in the registry, I started getting a lot of e-mails from people giving helpful info. (I've never camped out for anything before). I got e-mails from people at my school (I go to UC Santa Cruz) who I didn't know before this weekend. One person was even nice enough to e-mail me asking if I needed a ride to get tickets. I already had my ride secured, but my roommate knew I was going and one of her friends needed a ride. She came up to my room, and I gave her the info. from the people that e-mailed me asking if I needed a ride, and it worked out that she went with them and they all got tickets. THe information you provide fans with is invaluable. I want you to know how much I appreciate what you've done. THANK YOU!!!

My camping-out experience was wonderful. After receiving the voucher to come back the next morning, my friends and I met some fans from Berkeley who were close to us in line. They were kind enough to invite us back to their dorm room to hang out until the morning. We all got along wonderfully, and will be hanging out again on the 5th, and possibly later. It was great to be surounded by people who share, in equal intensity, my love for Tori Amos. As the night and morning continued, we all kept finding that we had more and more in common.

From Mickey Sun

April 20, 1998 - I was there at the Fillmore and I would like to clear something up. Ticket vouchers were NOT handed out at 9pm and by god, they weren't sold on Saturday either. I arrived at the Fillmore at 8pm Friday, and I was #91 in line. The *rumors* that vouchers were sold at 9pm Saturday are just that... rumors. What they handed out last night consists two items: First, it was a voucher that had (in big bold letters) the word VOID written across it. This was handed out at around 10:45pm - 11:00pm. The voided voucher was given to the people in line as a visual guide as to how the voucher system works. The actual ticket vouchers were sold, as announced, at 10am Sunday. The second item was a ticket which was sequentially numbered in accordance to your current position in line. This was handed out to people in line about half an hour after the voucher tutorial. It was done because the first 30 or so people in line was unintentionally obstructing the back entrance to the Fillmore by camping there. The Steve Miller Band was headlining at the Fillmore last night. The show eventually came to an end and the Steve Miller crew needed this area to be cleared so they can load the sound equipment to the truck. The Fillmore crew gave out these numbers because:

a) they needed to clear the first 30 people out without others taking their spot later

b) the Fillmore is only selling something to the extent of around 400 vouchers to the public

c) there was more than 400 people there already

Again, let me reiterate the fact that ticket vouchers were not sold to the public at Saturday night. The Fillmore has stated several times that ticket voucher sales will not go by the means of a lottery. I have called them several times to verify the fact that the tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. This means that in any circumstance, only the first 400 or so people will have a chance to purchase tickets. I believe that everyone who received a number ticket were given the opportunity to buy tickets. A friend of mine who was one of the first people in line at the Greek in LA, was not able to buy a ticket because the Greek pulled the wristband bullshit. What the Fillmore did was both fair and logical at the time. As a side note, I would also like the comment on the enthusiasm and professionalism displayed by the Fillmore crew. In most cases, they were very helpful and receptive to those who where in line. I'm sorry to all those who were not able to buy tickets. Please keep in mind that in all likelihood, Tori will be back this later this summer or fall with an expanded tour in bigger venues.

From doink?

April 20, 1998 - Hey, Mr. Mike! I just got back from San Francisco, with voucher in hand! Me and my honey showed up at about 7:50pm on Saturday and were #75 and #76, respectively.

I was reading the accounts of the bitter ticketless souls that have written to you, and I have a few comments and clarifications.

First off, people did NOT line up on Friday. I talked to the girls that were first and second in line. Both had gotten in line at around 2pm on Saturday.

Second, there were NO VOUCHERS handed out on Saturday night. The numbered tickets that were handed out were strictly placeholders, which assigned us a place in line. These weren't handed out until about 11:30pm. (Not 8pm, as was reported.) We lined up again at 7am, in the exact same order we were in the night before.

Third, I may be biased, but the Fillmore was completely and utterly FAIR. The Fillmore management gave the first 650 vouchers to the first 650 people in line, PERIOD. They were COMPLETELY honest and patient with us.

The only reason you don't have a ticket is because you SHOWED UP TOO LATE. And I understand that some of you have jobs, or had to drive up from San Diego, or had a dinner date with Elvis; and I feel for you. I do. In a perfect world, everybody that showed up by 10am would get tickets. But there were only 650 vouchers, and over 1000 people showed up. So SOMEBODY is going home empty-handed. And that somebody was YOU, because you didn't get in line 14 hours early, like we did.

Distributing placeholders on Saturday night DID NOT somehow compromise your chance of buying a ticket. All 650 of us would have been out there ANYWAY, and you would have been BEHIND US IN LINE.

So, show up earlier next time! See you in line for the Plugged '98 shows!

From Elfego18

April 19, 1998 - Tori sold out this morning for the May 5 San Francisco performance, I'm not sure at what time because I recieved my tickets within the first ten minutes they went on sale! I was number 25 in line. I had to camp out along with the other dedicated fans from 4pm on Saturday till they went on sale at 10am this morning! I did this even though I could have slept at home and arrived early in the morning, but I didn't think it would be fair to those fans who drove from all over California (and everywhere else)for me to sleep in my bed (I live in SF) while they camped out. It was worth every second of torture. It is to my knowledge that this was the last tour date to go on sale, so I am not including a ticket buying experience. Needless to say I cannot describe the elated state I am in!!!!!!!!!!

From Isaac Reuben

April 19, 1998 - Here is an earlier report on the Fillmore tix:

Woo-hoo! I'm number 151, though I don't actually have my voucher yet. Read on...

Seems like things worked out great, so far. I showed up at 11pm and hung out until about 12:45 when a Fillmore employee (at least I *hope* he was) put my name on a list and gave me a numbered ticket. He said we could go home and sleep and stuff, but that we should be back by 8am so there would be plenty of time to get back in line and have it not too crazy. He seemed nice, but a little frustrated at having to answer the same questions 150 times. Some people were also harassing him about how this might be a trick to get us to go away, but generally everyone seemed pretty cool with it. It looked like there were at least 75-100 more people after me, at 12:45! With only about 400-something vouchers available, this is going to sell-out early...

Does anyone else find the idea of getting number tickets that we use to get back our places in a line for vouchers that can be exchanged for tickets, just a *little* bit silly? Man, the things we do for Tori... =)

Apparently the Fillmore staff did mess with some people who started waiting on Friday night. I met a girl named Jenny who had started waiting with a friend at 8pm on *Friday* night, and on Saturday morning someone from the Fillmore told them that they were wasting there time because it was going to be a lottery and that if they didn't leave they would be arrested for loitering. =( They came back on Sat night and ended up right behind me in line. Pretty uncool, but at least they will still get tickets.

From TorisBosey

April 19, 1998 - i've got an experience for you!.... my friends and i got up at three in the morning to go to the fillmore and buy tickets.we got there at about 4:30.when we arrived we were devastated to find out that the fillmore,fearing they could be cited by the city of sanfrancisco for all the loiterers that were sleeping around and all over the blocke,they illegally sold all the vouchers to the people who had broken the rules.this was on a friday..they were supposed to be sold on sunday at 10.so,rather than remove the people or whatever,they rewarded their bad behavior and gave them vouchers.what's up with that?

so we and a lot of other very disappointed fans were turned away and were very pissed off.at four in the morning we were standing around outside a concert hall not nowing what to do with ourselves and...worst of all...ticketless and without a chance of ever getting them. so much for the great system.....it only works if the hall will obey the rules.....

From Leigh-Ann Gerbec

April 19, 1998 - I am sure by now that you have heard that tickets for the San Francisco show were sold out by 8am... Some people from the Fillmore staff came out and told us all the leave if you didn't have a number. People were camped out since Thursday night and the Fillmore started giving them numbers then. So, people like me who got there at in the early early morning were out of luck because the numbers had already been given out! Anyway, local radio stations have been reporting that Tori has a surprise show set up in San Francisco. Have you heard anything? I am really having a tough time accepting that I couldn't get tickets and would love another chance of seeing her! Thanks!

From caryn

April 19, 1998 - mike. i don't know if you have any e-mail yet about obtaining vouchers for the san francisco show but i just got home, completely voucherless. what a hideous snafu. my cousin and i arrived at the fillmore at 4:00 a.m. we got screwed because people had been lined up since friday. FRIDAY!!!!! madness. don't you people have jobs? i live about 4 hours away from san francisco due to my schooling situation, so i wan't able to be there on friday...and who knew that people would be so insane? apparently we missed getting vouvhers by 10 minutes (which is even more aggrevating). they started handing them out and 9 pm on saturday night. by most of the other letters i read on your site, most of the vouchers were being handed out that morning...not the night before. it's so disappointing. we hung around for a while but it just seemed useless. i mean, i know other people have said that people were not showing up to claim their spot in line, but since people had been sleeping there since friday, i figured we were shit out of luck. to top off our sleepless evening, we almost hit a deer on the freeway, in the middle of the east bay...craziness. no tori tickets and we almost killed a deer. this sucks. i'm going to bed now because i havent slept in 24 hours and i have to drive back to school in 3 hours. i guess on may 5th i'll be listening to my tori records and being sad. i hope everyone else has a great time.

From Erin Ahern

April 19, 1998 - Hello, my ticket buying experience for the San Francisco show for Tori was a good one. My friends and I got to the Filmore at around 9pm Saturday night. We were planing on the staying the whole night, then at around Midnight a guy from the Filmore came around and gave you a ticket that secured your place in line. You had to sign on a piece of paper, and have the ticket with you the next morning. I was #117! I left at around 1am and got back there at around 7:30 am or so. There were lots of people there. They checked your ID when you went in to buy the tickets, and I got a voucher for 2 tickets!! YAY!! It was so very worth waiting in line in the city for hours. Many people stayed there the whole night. The best part were the cool Toriphiles that we met. Everyone was so nice, we all laughed and shared our food. It was very neat. I cant wait to see everyone at the concert. ALSO!!!!! Live 105, the local radio station, is saying that Tori is doing a "SECRET CONCERT" in San Fransico. Thats all they said. They are giving away a trip to see Tori in Chicago, LA (for the Jay Leno taping), the Filmore show on May 5th, and the "secret show" that they cant say anything about. I am very curious about that. Another cool thing is that someone formed an emailing list of Bay Area people from the DENT registry, so many people all new each other through the DENT!! We all helped each other out. It was a very good time!

From Melissa Maglione

April 19, 1998 - I'm not sure if this is where you send your comments, but I just wanted to add my view to the mix. Let's just say, the experience sucked and I didn't get tickets. They were supposed to start selling vouchers (two per person) on Sun, April 19 at 10:00 AM for the San Francisco show. I called the venue on Friday to see if they were giving out wristbands or numbers, but they said no, they were selling vouchers on a first come, first serve basis on Sunday morning. We got there at 6:00 AM, thinking we had a fair shot. But the venue (the Fillmore) had made different plans. On Saturday, the day before, people started lining up. So they made the last minute decision to start handing out numbers to people on Saturday. They handed out 500 numbers, and then these people (who could buy 2 tickets a piece) could line up in order on Sun morning. They ran out of numbers on Saturday, so we didn't even have a shot at getting tickets. People could swing by the Fillmore on Saturday, get a number, and then come back any time they wanted to before 10 AM on Sunday and get their place in line. But that makes it unfair for those willing to wait. It's just as if they started to sell tickets on Saturday, because if you don't have a number, you don't get tickets. I'm very upset about this because I was misinformed on Friday and I feel cheated out of a fair shot at buying tickets. I am a huge fan of Tori and this is the worst experience I've ever had trying to buy tickets for any show. How could the venue just decide to do this at the last minute and still see their system as fair? If they were going to start handing out numbers on Sat, they should have announced that they were doing so, which would have made it a lot more fair. I was pissed that they could just make a decision on a whim like that, and screw hundreds of people out of a chance to see Tori. Thanks for letting me air my opinion.

From Alden "ash in my crotch" Harbour Keith

April 19, 1998 - I just want to say, that after all the horrible things I heard about the LA wristband fiasco, I was pleasently surprised by the humane way that the staff of the Fillmore (wonderful Lads...they were there all night working and making sure everything went smooth). At around 12 pm, they came arround handing out a sample of the voucher, and a ticket with a number that was your placement number. After that, they said that you could go home, catch some sleep, and could come back at about 7am, and then they would arrange you in order. A large percentage of the kids hanging arround opted to go and get those Z's, but a few of us decided to stay ( or had no choice, being disgruntled LA veterens). I got there at 9:20, and was 118 out of I beleive 650..it was hard to tell, as they had skipped 100 numbers, which were most than likely reserved for radio station winners. It seems that Live 105, the modern whatever station was giving away a package that included tix for the chicago show, the LA show, and the San Francisco show, and also a special secret show that is supposed to be in San Francisco as well...hmmm...

Well, the die-hard fans, the one who drove hours, or the silly ones( like me. I live a whole 10 blocks from the venue) got a little treat arround 2:30. Someone popped out a promo copy of the entire "hotel" album, and we listened to it....after about three tracks, we had a little group of about 50 people enjoying the new tunes.

Arround 7am, people started showing up, and getting in their places. A few people showed up, not knowing what was going on, and tried to either stay in line without a number, or attempt to understand the whole, number-voucher- ticket scheme. At 10 the selling started at a brisk pace. There were 5 or 6 staff members, armed with cash boxes, credit card machines, and vouchers. All in all, I think it was perhaps the best system, and the most humane way of dealing with the tickets, and the fans. I was extremely pleased with the total experience.

Now, I have a little time to re-coup until the 5th( a big day indeed!). And then it's off to wait in line for the show, and the Album, and the new tori swag!

From Amy

April 19, 1998 - The San Francisco show is already sold out. Apparently people started showing up Friday night, and they gave the vouchers out at 9pm Saturday night. I didn't get vouchers, even though I showed up very early Sunday morning. I know that this tour is supposed to be strictly fan based, but I think this whole voucher system sucks. I drove all the way up here from Santa Barbara just to get tickets. A lot of good it did me. I'm not bitter towards Tori or other EWFs, but I am mad at the Fillmore for not sticking to word. How can you have a fan based concert if tons of her die-hard fans couldn't get in? I just wanted to inform you, so that maybe you can get a message out to others thinking of showing up later.

From john w

April 19, 1998 - hey there...just wanted to share my SF tori ticket buying experience with you all. in a word or two, the event overall was very pleasant.

after reading the horror stories (especially the LA show), i was worried about getting tickets at all... one of my friends said there was a law *requiring* california venues to hold a lottery if more than 40 people are lined up. another friend who has seen many shows at the fillmore said that they never did lotteries, however. so i and our gang of tori fans and well-wishers trucked down to fillmore street at around 1:30am sunday morning.

as we pull up, we see the line. doesn't look too bad, "as long as they don't hold a lottery, we're in," we thought.

we were led to a man down the street handing out red raffle-style tickets and taking signatures. wonderful... no lottery this morning! this also meant that we could go home if we wished, and come back at "around 9am," as the man suggested. we decided to go back home, and get a couple hours of sleep before coming back. (i got ticket 511, by the way... so if you were anyway near that in the line, i was the guy who looks like one of the Hanson brothers, singing beck and beastie boys songs :))

slept, got up, and got everyone back to the fillmore at around 8am. the line was a bit unorganized at first, but the fillmore staff quickly got everyone lined up in rough order. the crowd in the line was very friendly...no fights or arguments that i saw... even the local people who live around the fillmore waved to us as they left their homes.

suffice to say, all of our group got tickets, and we walked away, clutching our yellow voucher receipts and singing "i've got a golden ticket" from willy wonka.

again, kudos to the fillmore staff. they were friendly, helpful, and (despite most of them being exhausted) patient with all of us rabid fans. :)

also, to the tons of fans i saw still in line as i drove away, i hope you all got tickets. :)

From Verbal Kent

April 19, 1998 - Just got back from the Filmore in San Francisco where tickets went on sale at 10:00am sharp. Unfortunately, I am not one of the lucky persons to get a voucher. Got in the large line (around 200+) at about 8:00am. At arount 9:15am a representative from the Filmore, who was trying to get the line moving back, decided to inform us unlucky people in line that we probably would not get vouchers.

It seems that people who had camped out the night before, waiting for a place in line, had received vouchers so they would not stay over night. He stated the 650 vouchers were passed out Saturday night! The Filmore seats approx. 1100. I quickly did the math and even if half of the 650 were to only get vouchers for two....well, not way. Stayed in line anyway, but struck out.

So to those who their Saturday night, well you are the lucky few.

From Nick Schutz

April 20, 1998 - Hi I just thought I'd tell you my L.A. story. First off, some background stuff: I became a Tori fan through my girlfriend (ex now, but still a great friend) back in '96, maybe august or september. She really loves Tori and I promised I'd take her to see Tori the next time she was in L.A. I didn't count the '96 KROQ Acoustic X-Mas because that's not a Tori show, the place would be full of a bunch of drunk, high people who are only there because they happened to "be caller 20 when you hear 'Only Happy When it Rains' by Garbage." Besides I couldn't get tickets anyway. Well, her next L.A. appearance turned out to be on the club tour. As soon as I found out about it, I was like, "Jules (her name is Julie but I sometimes call her Jules, isn't that cute???), guess what, Tori's playing here May 5 (later changed to May 6)." We were so GOD DAMNED FUCKING EXCITED!!! I found out all the information as it happened (thanks to your site, it's really very good, by the way). I looked in the LA weekly April 2. God knows how many times I called the El Rey hoping to get a new employee who would accidently give out information that they shouldn't. Julie came down to visit for the weekend in case we had to stand in line overnight or something. That actually would have been fun I think. Anyway, On April 4th, I was scheduled to work from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. I was seriously counting the minutes from when I got there until 10 a.m. when KROQ was going to make the announcement. "2 minutes after the last time you asked me, Nick" - fellow employee. As soon as 10 rolled around and I heard the information, I immediately, IMMEDIATELY left work so Julie and I could get to the Greek Theatre in time. When we got there (about maybe 11:30), we saw the line and started to drive up the hill towards the observatory. We found a parking space maybe 3/4 of a mile (maybe, I'm not sure, I couldn't really tell. I can usually tell by how long it takes me to walk but it was downhill so...) up the hill, up near the observatory. Now that I think about it, it was probably an illegal parking space. Oh well. Well then we went down and waited. Eventually the wristband people came around and we got ours. If I'd have known how they did it, I would have left the line a got a wristband from one of the other passer-outers so we would have had more numbers covered but I'd never been to one of these before. (Is that how it was for the Cure back in October/November?? I don't know.) Okay so we went over and they announced the number and that the next 500 were also winners. After that, I was in shock. I was just like "umm.." After I came down or back or whatever, I suggested to Julie that we stick around. You know, just in case. We had numbers in the 58000. Then, this guy came around and said that after the initial 500, they were just going to keep going up. Then we started to leave. As we were walking out, we saw on the floor this wristband, still in tact, not ripped off with the number 60263, 7 numbers BEFORE the one that was picked. It was like a blessing or something that it was still in tact, that somebody just slipped it off their wrist. Well, Julie has small hands and was able to slip it on her wrist. So we went back and I found the guy and I tried to convince him to go DOWN below the winning number instead of up, I mean after the initial 500 was done. But it didn't work. So we left. Oh God. Later, when we were driving, and you had to listen to KROQ to win tickets and Tori's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" came on and that's when it hit me. We weren't going. That really really hurt. I actually felt like a failure. It was really weird. I can't even remember another time when I felt like that. Actually, inside, like a failure. It really sucked. Then, later, I realized that I didn't feel that way because I wasn't going to see Tori, it was because JULIE wasn't. I let her down. Now, she doesn't feel that way, but I just can't help feeling that way. It's just because of how emotional she gets with Tori's music. I jus...I don't know.

From nikki

April 20, 1998 - Here is my horror story-sad, but true:( It goes something like this...

On a cold rainy day, I set out, with my little sister in tow for the great "adventure" I had promised her, to the Greek at 6:30am. We got there, since my ride (boyfriend) and my sister I had bribed with McDonalds. There I was about the twentieth person to arrive in the cold. We all knew they would be sold at the Greek even though KROQ wasn't supposed to announce it until 10am since I got it off Atlantics website. We weren't sure either how they would sell them but we figured it would *somehow* be dependent on the order of who was there first so we were pretty confident. We didn't find out until 10am(four hours later), to our dismay, that they would be random wristbands *and* random numbers! We watched in horror as the line grew like some new age blob. Well after a lot of anxiety, rain, cold and worry, (and five hours) we all got wristbands and waited until they called a number.

When they called out a number that was more than 2,000 away from mine, I almost died, and practically cried. there were WAY too many people there and I had no hope if I wasn't at least within 600 of the number they called. I went home, crushed. Even my mother has called to ask if I was okay. I still hope by some act of God, I can go. But I doubt it. My personal peeve is that KROQ pretty much screwed everyone over by making it this big thing. They even got tix to give away that should have gone to the people in line. I waited FIVE hours and didn't get tickets. There were people who had driven some two hours and also didn't get tickets who were there really early also. I felt bad for them. I really feel that those who got there first *were* the hard core fans and deserved tickets. It seemed to me that the number that was called was mostly the people at the end of the line so everyone one who got there early was out of luck. Well that is my story. Thanks for listening. I am extremely sad and bitter. :(

From Katy (RDTRN mailing list post)

April 16, 1998 - I just wanted to add my two cents about the way in which tickets were sold for the club tour in LA. For me it really sucked....cuz I didn't get tickets, even though I tried my hardest!!! But I think that Tori did a good job of making sure it was all true fans that got tickets. I mean, there were litterally thousands of people there!!! Imagine if the tickets had been sold as they normally are...in the newspappers and everything....can you imagine all the people!!! And I'm sure out of the people who got tickets there would be many who weren't even as into her as we are :) I was so upset that I didn't get tickets but it was made up for by knowing that true fans got them and not some person who was just going because they didn't have anything to do that night (of course that would be a nice way of making new toriphiles :) Anyways, even though it sucked for me (ROYALLY) I'm glad that tori fans got them and I really hope that they enjoy it as much as I would have :) Thank for listening if you did :)

Now maybe I'm just being naive as to who really got the tickets but I can tell you (because I was there and I saw it) that those who got tickets were ecstatic and didn't seem of the now-I-have-something-to- do-that-night variety :) I think Tori did a good job...but I agree with you about the whole Kevin and Bean thing...they're not in it for her, they're in it for themselves. I hardly ever listen to KROQ and they had me listening for 12 straight hours to try and win tickets. They know how strong her following is and they used it to their (not Tori's) advantage.

By the way, this letter was not meant to be taken in offence. I just wanted to let you know how I felt about the whole ordeal since I was there :)

From olivia chavez

April 11, 1998 - I've never been so depressed. It was my Spring break and I was In Mexico, I was suppossed to leave late on Sunday night but I shortened my trip for the love I have for Tori ( 8 years in love) and well dissappointment soon filled my heart. I had no chance my number was below the original number called and the 6200 so it was truely about chance and not about "true fans" and apparently I'm unlucky. If anyone bought two and is willing to go with me (I'll pay anything) contact me, I'd love you forever.

-Maybe You got lost in Mexico rosey@ucla.edu

From ~Jason

April 10, 1998 - The extravaganza started Wednesday night/Thursday morning at 1am when Dorothy and David picked me up in San Diego from LA. On the way back the DJ on KROQ said that Tori would be appearing "in studio" in the morning, so as soon as we got to Dor's place we called, and the DJ said that she assumed then that Tori would be at KROQ personally, so knwoing there might be a chance of meeting Tori, we decided we would go to KROQ and try to meet her, so we picked up Kati around 6am and we were off to KROQ. We had a portable radio/tape player/recorder with us so we could listen to/tape the interview also. It was a phone interview after all and we taped it as best we could considering we had to contort our bodies every 5 seconds in order to get a good reception, heh. a few other people showed up there at KROQ...Maria, and some girls with faerie wings and glitter. Well, we were expecting KROQ to announce that tickets were going to go onsale at the Greek Theatre, but all they said was "listen Saturday at 10 for details" even thought we already knew through the Atlantic leak. So since KROQ didnt announce it we decided not to camp out at the Greek like we were going to friday morning, and instead go in the evening.

around 9pm, we headed on over to the Greek where the Isley Bros. were performing and Dorothy asked the box office if Tori tickets went onsale here tomorrow, and they said yes, and that it would be *random wristbands*, which was not good news to us. So instead of going all the way back to Dorothy's we decided to stay up all night and camp out early anyways just to meet other tori people that would show up. So we met up with Nick and Val at Denny's where they did their interpretation of "She's Your Cocaine" (lol) and the guy next to us looked like Kyle MacLachlan, im not kidding you, it was all so random. And then someone at the Rite-Aid store had an epileptic seizure. So around 2am the people at Denny's were getting annoyed with us, so we decided to go to this coffeehouse in Hollywood, we went and it wasnt open yet so me and Dor napped in the car while the others waited for it to open, and around 3 when it looked like it wasnt going to open they woke us up and we drove to another coffeehouse, this time Dor went in and i just sort of layed in the car, i couldnt really sleep because my stomach wasnt feeling good, which all came up eventually....the onions didnt really agree with my stomach too much.

So then around 4:30 we went over to the Greek and we're just going to wait in the car and the lady near the gates said we couldnt wait anywhere near the gates, so we parked a little further down the hill and napped a bit some more until they opened the gates at 5:30 and i went up to the box office where the same security lady said we couldnt form any lines near the box office, or be anywhere near there, so we sort of had a little picnic on the tables, and played Trivial Pursuit and thought about crank calling KROQ, funstuff :) So we could tell more and more people were showing up, and they were just sort of hanging around the benches across from the box office, so we moved up there to maybe meet and talk to some people, we met Adam, and i saw Maria again, and then this guy Chris was a friend of Sary's (who couldnt show up, so he did). There were about 40 people there around 9am, and then it started sprinkling so people took cover under the box office, which pretty much formed a line, and before 10 there was probably about 50 people there. Security then told us wristbands would be handed out at 12, a number drawn at 12:45, and that lining up would begin with that number and then go up from there, and when the last highest number was called they would start at the lowest, and tickets onsale at 1. Right at 10am, KROQ played an announcement that tickets were going onsale at the Greek, and that it was wristbands handed out at 12 and a 2 ticket limit.

So people were starting to show up about 10 minutes later, a few people here, a few people there, and around 10:30 is when the line was probably at 100, and then by 11 it was probably 600, and by noon the line had gone up over the hill (and some say to the observatory) and security told me they had handed out 1500 wristbands. Well, i dont know how *random* these wristbands were, but pretty much everyone i was around had one starting with 62---, except Christ who had 601--. I also say some that were 58---. So a little after 12:45 they had Jen (or was it Jenny?) pick a number in a bag (by this time the rain had started comming down)....and the number was 60270. Event Staff then added 500 to that said anything not inbetween 60270 and 60770 might as well go home, which about 3/4s of the people did. I have never seen so many dissapointed people, so many were crying, others angry, it was pretty sad...but most of us that had been there in the morning decided to wait until we heard they were sold out. And in this time someone had given one of our friends a wristband with a winning number, so we tried to get it on someones hand and it wouldnt fit, but then it fit on someone elses, so they were able to get tickets. And then around 2:30 the line had stopped forming at number 60500, and security realized there were no other numbers above 60500, so they decided to start at the 62000's!!, and of course most people had left so there were huge chunks of numbers no there, my number was 62189, and i was maybe 30th in line after they had started at 62000, so pretty much everyone we were with in the begining got tickets! We thought maybe it was planned that way....the *true* fans that had waited in the morning had ended up getting tickets after all...now i still think wristbands in general are an awful idea, but it seemed as if this one had been planned (Tori did say on KROQ that they had a plan, and i dont think they meant just the vouchers). So all in all it was a rather interesting weekend...had some fun, got sick, met some new people (hi adam), and have Jackie's Strength on tape :D

From buttercup (sara)

April 8, 1998 - This whole method of selling tickets makes the distribution PURE CHANCE. I understand that not all of us are math buffs, but I really like that idea - kinda like drawings straws, flipping coins, tarot, i ching, etc. That way, no one can blame anyone else - or so I THOUGHT! FINALLY, those people who claim to be "HARD CORE" and rush to be first in line won't be the ONLY ones rewarded. I feel that the true way to welcome Tori into your lives is *gently*...why not simply rely on chance/fate?

From Tina (Kitty)

April 8, 1998 - Christ, darling, how can you be so insensitive? It's extra cool you and all your beaus got tix, but lord, read these heart-wrenching accounts, and know how lucky you are, and do not devalue the sadness in here. And you're right, Christ, the vouchers were supposed to weed out the non-die hards, but the wristbands did just the opposite. And hun, the wristbands didn't get rid of ANYone that I saw, only kept them coming, because it gave in the passer by's saying "What's this line for?" a chance to get in. And you're damn right I consider those of us spending hours and hours in the rain, through the night and morning, a "special group"- we got a chance to bond with each other and held out hope all the way. And you dogging ppl who left "too early"- dear god, our hearts were broken, I for one was in tears, should we truly be expected to let the torture continue? And what's more, be VIDEOTAPED in our most vulnerable states? I would have bolted to my car in defeat had I not spied a co-worker in the midst. In any event, I saw FAR too many non-chalant ticket buyers, and far too many broken hearted die-hards, and tori's wishes simply did not prevail.

We understand the Greek did the wristband thing, not KROQ, but KROQ teased us for a week about Tori info, KROQ screwed with our heads about all the Tori details, and KROQ is just in general a nasty, commercial, BS station. I'm not blaming them for the whole shabang, it's just my opinion. And anyway, I'm in tears here reading all of the terribly sad accounts, and Mike, I'm wondering if we could use this arena for posting info on anyone who might have an extra tick they can't use? Like, my darling new friend Debbie, she deserves a spot and then some, and in case ANYone can't use the second ticket on their voucher, here would be a good place to find the right soul for it.

And please, no matter what, let's remember how much this means to all of us, how we're on the same side. It's hard enough getting a virtual stranger to empathize, but fellow Tori fans bashing the crew? Eeek, let's not go there.

From Zuezette

April 8, 1998 - It seems that everyone this oppertunity to voice their oppinion....So i will as well...

First off...The L.A. experience....Is is me or did tori say" This tour is for the fans, the die hard fans....The one's that will wait in line...." Which obviously seems to me to be a first come first serve sort of approach...and the fact that the people in charge at L.A. make a mochary of the situation..."Hey let's tell em' at 10 so that they'll come running....wrecks will occur...and people will get hurt...just to find out that someone who woke up at 12 noon, and thought..."hmmm... tori....she sings that new song...what is it ...spurk?...Sure i'll go see her in conert" had the same chance of someone who has waited in line to meet tori 5 times....waitied in antisipation for 5 weeks....Fare???? HELL NO!!!! this is not for the fans.....

From Phoebus

April 8, 1998 - I am 15 years and I have no car I told my dad if he could take me to El Rey we found out where it was and at around 8 in the moning o'clock we left. At around 10 AM I tuned to KROQ and got the information. I was dissapointed, I had no idea where the Greek Theatre was and I knew the place was going to be filled and the worst parts WRISTBANDS!!!!!!!

Now, I am not angry it was all well done, I mean one has to be prepared, KROQ has used WRISTBANDS before for other concerts but I always find a way to outsmart them, I take my family and friends and we get into different parts of the line so we always get tickets, however this time I had no idea that wristbands would be involved, I blame myself I should have organized it better.

Overall the wristbands are fair, I mean they are random and all is left to LUCK and this people complaining what makes them better than the people that got the tickets?????? How do these people know that the lucky people are not "hard-core" fans, I am satisfied luck is to blame not KROQ and the GREEK they should have planned better, i know I should have....

From Sarah (Posted to rec.music.tori-amos)

April 8, 1998 - I had planned on Tori's show at the El Rey (in Los Angeles) on May 6th to be my first ever experience seeing her perform live. Tickets went on sale yesterday, and I'm quite disappointed and angered at the way it was handled.

I've read much lately about how Tori wanted this to be a fan based tour and to be exclusively in smaller venues. That seems reasonable enough, no? Don't we all want to see her perform in the most intimate of venues with our fellow Toriphiles? Isn't that what she wanted, too?

So, why was the concert (one night only, as I believe goes for all the other US dates) heavily promoted on one of the largest radio stations in KROQ? And why was the way the tickets were to be sold misrepresented?

The promotion of KROQ began about a week ago. Plenty of ads teasing, "Listen on Saturday morning at ten o'clock to find out all the Tori concert info!" I listened on Saturday morning, not until about 10:30 (I slept late.) "Vouchers are being handed out at the Greek Theatre box office and tickets sold after the vouchers are handed out." I ran to the bank, figured out which bus to take to the Greek, and I got to the box office around 1:30 in the afternoon. A Greek Theatre employee informs me that all the *wristbands* have been handed out and it's not worth it for me to hang around.

I stand away from the crowd and bawl, as this is an entirely appropriate ending to my terrible week.

I find out later that people were lining up the night before to get vouchers/wristbands, but that tickets ended up only being sold to a group of five hundred people who had higher numbers.

My complaints:

Stupid me! I slept late!

Oops, it doesn't matter that I slept late, because the people who lined up earliest could not get tickets because of the wristband system.

Doesn't voucher usually imply that you get something in exchange for it? I've never heard the term in conjunction with LA-area concerts. Usually it's "wristband-lottery at ticketmaster" and announced a day in advance.

I think an LA city show covers a large area extending from the central coast to orange and riverside counties. What about the Tori fans who have to drive from those outlying areas? What about those kids who aren't allowed to ride the bus but could not get their parents to drive them on such short notice? (I knew a lot of these types when I was in high school.)

Why wasn't it announced a day in advance to give fans a chance to get their money/transportation arranged? What if I had just paid for rent and groceries and was broke until Monday?

I realize that not all fans can be accommodated, but it seems that if *no* fans were accommodated.

I know that complaining on a newsgroup won't change my ticketless status. I just hope that everyone else takes it as a warning to be prepared. Good luck!

From Adam (Posted to rec.music.tori-amos)

April 8, 1998 - So, since everyone else wanted to share their disgust with the whole LA thing, I'm gonna share mine.

I found out where the tickets were gonna go on sale by the Greek theatre the evening before, so I planned to get there early the next morning.

I arrived at the Greek saturday morning about 8:30 am. There were about 30-40 people already waiting. No big deal, I was gonna get tickets. I meet up with Dor (hi dor) and a few others...chatted with tori fans, had a semi- good time in the dreary rain, etc. etc. So. About 9:30 we find out it's gonna be a wristband operation, where they give out wristbands with random numbers on them, then they pull out a number from a bag, and people line up from there. I never dealt with this before, so I didn't really understand the magnitude of the situation. At 10 am, the announcement was made...that's when all hell broke loose. By the time they *passed out* the wristbands, there were WELL over 5000 people there...for 500 tickets. Utterly utterly insane. And when they called out the number, NONE of us fans who were there waiting got tickets. So tori's hardcore fans (hell, my name is on the frigging FAQ. I've been a staunch follower since '92!) in LA all missed out because of KROQ shitty promotion. A couple points that REALLY pissed me off:

Dor talked to Jed the Fish that morning with a kroq dj 'on the scene'. Anyway, Jed later proclaimed on the radio that 'having someone email you where the concert tickets are going on sale gives you an unfair advantage over everyone else.' Well...Atlantic Records posting the date on their website does NOT make it an unfair advantage. And as tori and all her hardcore fans know, we all maintain communication with each other via the internet (I doubt there are many hardcore tori fans who AREN'T on the 'net.)

I called KROQ and told Jed that it was not an unfair advantage, and that KROQ almost created (yet another...remember Depeche Mode and Cure) riot in that area. They REPEATEDLY announced where the tickets would go on sale, and I figure if they say they'll announce at 10 am where the tickets go on sale, the hardcore fans will listen. There was NO NEED to announce it every 20 minutes. Also, *anybody* could have gotten tickets. None of the hardcore fans waiting there before 10 am got a chance. I thought these concert dates were for *us*??? Leave it to KROQ to fuck everything up.

I'm livid. There were those of us fans from the 'net crying there, there were those (like myself) who were actually LIVID with anger, and those of us shocked. So. Tori's not gonna be seeing us at her show...she's gonna have these teeny bopper jerks who've been screaming and raising hell in her last tour there I suppose. It's all fucked up.

If anyone has more to share go ahead and email me. Maybe we should have a tori party that night to help with the situation somewhat.

Also, I'd like to know who I get in contact with to complain about all this. I think tori would be a bit angry herself. Nowhere else did they arrange such a STUPID way of passing out tickets.

And on top of it all, after they told us all to leave, they had a bunch of tickets left over to sell to those who stood around. I couldn't stay (I had to work), and thought there was no chance of getting tickets anyway.

So thus begins a really depressing week.

From Adam Mullet

April 7, 1998 - After reading so many depressing stories about everyone's hellish L.A. experiences, I thought it was time to post something positive.

Like so many discouraged people, I left the Greek before I should have. When I got home and read that had I stayed, I would have gotten tickets, I was completely devastated. Luckily, the Tori spirit prevailed. I met some very cool EWF in line, and Saturday night when I just started to realize what had happened to me (when you get up at 3:00 am, it takes a little longer for things to sink in), Dorothy, my new friend from waiting in line, called me and said that they might have a ticket for me! I just got another call this afternoon, and found out that they do indeed have extra tickets for myself and my friend that had already bought a plane ticket from Kansas just to see Tori!

So I'd like to use The Dent to publicly thank my "blanket friends" - Dorothy, Katie, Niky, Jason and...that other guy...the one with the green blanket (you know who you are). THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU! It's been said that Toriphiles are only nice to each other until it comes to Tori - then it's everyone for themselves. You all are proof that there are still some great fans out there. May the fairies bless you all (just kidding!)

From Audra

April 7, 1998 - I was reading the experiences people had in Los Angeles, and while I wasn't able to get tickets here either, I knew damn well that if I did get tickets it would be a very fortunate things. The whole thing is a sneak preview - they are forgetting that she didn't *have* to even do this. Some of her fans are out of control to get all pissed at her and KROQ because all 4000 fans didn't get tickets to a 1200 seat venue. Duh, do the math.

From Christ

April 7, 1998 - i am writing in response to ALL the complaints about the l.a. show.

first of all, it was NOT kroq's fault. so people who says "jerks at kroq", get over yourselves. you're not that special that kroq went out of their way to ruin your day. they don't care that much. the point of the vouchers was to get rid of the "untrue" fans, so the amount of adveritsing should have nothing to do with it.

second of all, the wristbands were random. i was in the 60,000 range, while my friends were 62,000. they got there at well, the night before, but were kicked out (btw, i love my friends, but i thought this was stupid on their part, youll see why later), i got there at ten thirty. even at ten thirty, i was a decent time, i could've gotten tcikets, wristband or not. i would've been lower than the hundreth in line.

third of all, people KNEW it would be at the greek, and that there would be wristbands. even i knew it would be at the greek, the reason i was so lote is because of the rain and my ride. atlantic even had it at their site for a little while, and people posted on the rmta AND the mmc boards, and as well as other places. which is why i think it was stupid to try and sleep there, including the fact that the park does close.

fourth, wristbands SERVED a purpose. it got rid of all the "fans" not willing to wait and see if they still have a chance. if it hadn't of done that, my friends would've never been able to all get tickets. and don't tell me it was impossible, all EIGHT of us were able to get tickets and then some to cover people who couldn't come, but knew to plan to have someone cover them. people don't realise: you don't have to be within the first 100 to get a ticket. they get all dissapointed if they're not in that first special little group, they go home complaining. if you waited in the rain and in the cold, and even if you had a 58,000 wirstband (and people who were there will know it seemed as if they were screwed) got tickets. the number called, they only went three hundred above it before they ran out of 60,000 numbers. there were only THREE people between 60,500 and 62,000. so guess what! anyone inbetween there, with a little more patience, you would've had tickets! tough luck, because you didn't wait.

fifth of all, the people who complained TWO hours was not enough time to get to the greek? um, that's enough time from even san diego! everyone knew it would be at the greek, and if they didn't, they knew the sale would be that weekend, they should've been prepared with money, and i.d. (or did they not notice the ticket price EVERYWHERE was the exact same?).

I am sick and tired of people saying "i want to tell tori about this, i want to tell off kroq". I am not a personal fan of wristbands, but I feel in this instance they served a great purpose. They got rid of the people who only showed up because "that one new song, yeah, that's great! tori in a club, yeah, that's great!" or people with the mentality "i want to be first, or i don't want to stay at all" "i don't want to wait in the rain" or "i don't have a chance, oh well, time to go home!". i can't help but feeel if you really wanted and deserved tickets, you would have waited. and anyone who got them after being told they wouldn't can testify to that working.

From Jerome Gonzales

April 7, 1998 - Here's my two cents on LA. (What better place for such a disaster?)

My friends and I waited outside of the El Rey (LA, CA) for the announcement on KROQ at 10:00am PST. This is problem number one: very few other cities to my knowledge had to wait for a "special announcement." And WHFS (D.C.-one of the two other cities) and KROQ (L.A.) are owned by the same company. Has some sort of deal been struck? KROQ hasn't played Tori regularly since "Under The Pink." Fishy to me...

Unlike most other cities, LA tix were not sold through the venue and WRISTBANDS were handed out, therefore eliminating a first-come, first serve basis policy and alienating people who were among the first 200 people or so at the box office.

Furthermore, when Tori called KROQ on Friday, she had said decidedly no giveaway tix (i.e. no celebrities, etc. would be in the audience) and that this was for fans only. However KROQ takes care of its own and their DJs WILL be in the audience. Of course, what's left of those tickets are being given away on the air. The El Rey seats 1200, and KROQ gets 100 pairs? How fair is that?

And to whoever said to stop whining got tickets: It's great to claim you'd be OK if you had gotten through this ordeal empty-handed but frankly, you didn't. Please don't make our bad experience worse by bashing those of us who are extremely disappointed. I must say this, though: I will not balme Tori directly for what happened, BUT if you're going to conduct a small tour intended for hard-core fans, it would be more responsible to get more involved in the process and make things fair-something this weekend's ticket sales didn't do.

From Danny Segura

April 7, 1998 - I am one of the many who didn't get tickets and quite frankly-I'm very hurt. My story:I Listened to KROQ constantly,and logged on constantly.I got up early on Saturday had my friend drive us to a parking lot, sat and waited. We were in a place in L.A. that was sort of in the middle of everything so when they announced we could have easy access.

At 10:OO they announced and because of my good instinct it was about 2 miles away! We raced there and in 10 minutes we were at the Greek.There were already about 100 people there and about 1,000 tickets. I've never been so excited in my life! I was going to get tickets. It starts to rain and I didn't care, it could have been snowing for all I cared.Half an hour later they tell us there are going to be ristbands. An hour and a half later there are about four to five thousand and then we realize that it doesn't look good. They then draw the number and me and my friend don't get in. I't was very dissapointing and altough she is coming back it would have been awesome.The good thing is it's good to know that there are so many Tori followers.I'm glad you got in and wish they would have done it the way they did it with you.Congrats to the winners. I still love Tori very much and can't wait till the greek!

From James Beaux Taylor

April 6, 1998 - Okay, so, the story starts at about seven o'clock, which is about what time my two friends and I arrived at the Greek Theater. Somehow, we ended up being the first people in the soon to be 4000person line that would stop growing at about 12:30. Now, that's a good five and a half hours of standing outside, in the cold, in the rain, in the presence of random people walking up to me and asking how I got to the front of the line. At noon, they handed out their "random" wristbands (i don't understand how they can say random when me and my friends got consecutive numbers) and an excrushiatingly long hour later, they announced the winning number. I, unfortuneately, did not have a number even close to it, and, in turn, ended up ticketless. I was first in line. I have no ticket. I am a die hard pair of ears with feet, and I have no ticket to go see Tori. I also have strep throat now, most likely due to the six hours i spent outside in the rain. I also do not understand why KROQ would make such a big deal about announcing the secret location (which I and about fifty others seemed to have found out beforehand anyway) if they were going to make it a "random" thing anyway. I could go on to complain for about fifty more pages about how idiotic the whole thing was, and how one of my friends wasted much money travelling to HelL.A so she could get tickets, and how...okay, I need to stop now or I am liable to do bad things to somebody (hopefully associated with KROQ or the Greek (I was first in friggin' line)). Anyway, that is my experience. Post it, laugh at it, show it to your friends.

From Joyful Boy 7

April 6, 1998 - I am as big a Tori fan as the next person who visits this site but I had the sense and the patience to realize that the whole thing would probably involve wristbands. That's how things work here in LA. We could go into humongous argument about the "morality" and fairness of such a system but I won't. The system has its merits and its faults and that's all I will say.

Probably the only reason I'm able to say that is because I did get tickets. The main point about wristbands is that it is RANDOM. Stress the word RANDOM! I got there about an hour or so before they started handing out the wristbands. My sister and I talked about it and figured it out that if I went to end of the line while she stayed closer up front, we would fatten our chances of coming out with the proper number. Lo and behold, they start giving wristbands out not just at the front of the linebut at the very end as well. They also cut the end of the line off about three people after I got to it.

The official number (trust me on this, I'll remember it for a long time) was 60270. My number was 60289. Only 19 numbers past the number they chose. My sister had been something like 58,000's or something. The enire time I had been sick with anticipation. When I heard the results I could barely hold in my excitement, I was shaking and people noticed it.

I had been thinking along the same lines as everyone else that it would be fairest for the true fans if the set up had been "first come, first serve" but I just had the biggest spark of intuition that they would be using wristbands and that the announcement would be only a couple of hours before the actual sale. People should stop crying their hearts out and cursing the names of KROQ and Atlantic and learn from this whole fucking experience rather than just cry over sour grapes.

People should also take into consideration that Tori more or less endorsed this method of distribution. Take a look at the transcript. (Paraphrasing) "I think we outsmarted them [the scalpers] this time."

I am a diehard Tori-phile, ears with feet, whatever the fuck you want to call me but I would never have reacted the way some of you are reacting had I not been so lucky. I would have been extremely disappointed but even the most die-hard fans are not always going to get tickets.

And to Regina (Kitty), I think I knew exactly who you were that day. I saw someone sobbing there heart out. My heart went out to you at that point and for everyone who felt just the same. Here I am a lucky ass Tori-phile almost hopping up and down with excitement. It brought me down to earth and made me thank my lucky stars to have been so fortunate but having just read the letters you people wrote makes me worry. I had assumed that Ears with Feet were enlightened, fair and open-minded people. I hope you take this experience and learn from it. Become a better person. The people who got tickets weren't just some half assed semi-fans and I am living proof.

Some poor, misinformed soul thinks that only 500 tickets were sold for this event. Sorry dear. It was 500 VOUCHERS. Each voucher guarantees, at most, two tickets.

From Kim H.

April 6, 1998 - I agree with my fellow Angelenos that the lineup experience for the El Rey show was pure hell.

I actually had heard where and when before it was announced but in the interest of fairness (and tiredness, being too nervous about waking up on time, to sleep the nite before) i didn't start there til the announcement was made...

It was freezing and rainy and the line was longer than i'd imagined. Parking was nonexistent and most people parked in no parking zones, risking fines from the ever-vigilant L.A. parking nazis...

The people i was in line next to were fine, except maybe for the man behind me who brought all his kids and was trying to figure every angle.. saying aloud they could all sell their tickets, and when someone told them it was vouchers only, trying to think his way around that.. since they gave the wristbands out in sequences i'm pretty sure they didn't get tickets tho, cos our section was 62 something...

I felt really sorry for the people in the front of the line, who must have been there for hours. I was there at least three hours before they finally called the winning number, and i didn't get there that early. Many had blankets and umbrellas, and looked like they'd been there a while. They must have been freezing. Whose idea was this, anyway ?????

To top it all off, CAMERA CREWS were there, sadistically zooming in on people shivering and later, crying. That's when i looked at the mile long line and it occured to me; oh, nice publicity stunt, Atlantic. Let's see how die-hard her fan base really is by putting them thru boot camp for a ticket, and filming it for proof.

It was in Griffith Park (that's where the Greek is); not a bathroom or food vendor within walking distance that would be safe to try.

The actual handing out of the wristbands was extremely poorly organized. It was done by men in security jackets, sloooowwww as molasses. We guessed they must be checking IDs, they spent so long on each person. They began at the BACK of the line ! We concluded that must be to establish the cutoff point... but later on, when they were finally about to reach us, they sent ANOTHER guy to the NEW back of the line instead ! People who didn't get there til the announcement was to supposedly have been made, were getting bands, while tons of people still waited for theirs. Meanwhile, several men walked by several times with handsful of wristbands, only to walk past again without stopping. We never did figure that one out.

Then another guy came up (the one who reached me had one band left, but turned around and left ! I guess he figured i'd get one soon enough ?) and began about 20 people down from me ! I said, i got skipped over ! He exhibited the same warm, caring attitude the rest of the staff had, saying, "you'll get one". (The men going back and forth by our section, earlier, didn't even make eye contact, altho there was no logical reason they weren't actually handing those bands out !).

After the last bands had been handed out, some people went to their cars, (like i did) for coats, that had been forgotten in the race after finally parking, to get in line; others hung out by the box office. After ANOTHER huge delay, they began shouting at everyone to get off the sidewalk. When they were satisfied, they began a long rambling speech before finally (once the camera crew was in position) a little girl chose the winning number out of a bag.

A lot of people have commented on the numerical order. I noticed that too. They didn't hand out bands in order of line, but went to odd places in line and handed them out after looking at each one ! In other artists' ticket lineups, people got to pick their own band out of a bag, in which *all* the bands were mixed. There seemed to be some calculation in this one. That would explain the way parts of the line got passed by over and over by guys with tons of bands in their hands (and no we were being perfectly quiet !). And why whole sections got the same number sequence. (beginning with 58 or 60 or 62, as opposed to a truly random mix).

Cos, the bag the little girl drew from, couldn't possibly have held *all* the numbers in it. Just a thought. I won't come out and say that I think it was all a scam.

There was one saving grace; a really nice British lady with red hair and a black and white animal print coat, and her boyfriend, were standing by me and we'd been chatting, when the number was announced. She asked my number and then told me she really felt bad i didn't win (the Greek staff announced that only that number and the next 500 would be allowed to buy a voucher). She offered me her extra ticket ! She said they'd both won and only needed two tickets.

I was so thrilled ! I wouldn't have asked her for a ticket, she volunteered one ! (but wait, it all turns to monkey grease later).

Another person overheard and asked for the fourth ticket (i'll refer to her as four). That was fine with me cos i didn't wanna deny anyone else, altho of course i'd have loved to bring a friend. Cos it wasn't mine to decide.

But then something bad happened. I'd suggested exchanging wristbands with one of the couple, cos it would be so much easier and less risky of something unforeseen going wrong, than trying for us all four to meet there, etc. But the British lady just said that wasn't necessary; i didn't mean it like she wouldn't show up but that's how she thought i'd meant it i think, and well, it didn't really matter HOW i got to go, just that i was gonna get to go ! And i was very very grateful, so i just dropped it.

But then later when we were hanging around waiting to line up for vouchers, i didn't wanna crowd them so i was off to one side, a coupla feet away, out of earshot, and somehow 'four' *L* talked them out of the wristband ! She was suddenly wearing it ! The British lady was very sweet and trusting and probably didn't figure on what would happen.

To wrap up a long story, there went my ticket. Soon as she had the band, 'four' totally changed, and got very bossy... and definitely not chatty or friendly at all. I got a first name and a pager number and began to have this sinking feeling that i would not hear from her again. I had to give her my home number cos otherwise her machine would call my machine, if u know what i mean.

Then she told the guard, "I'm the one with the wristband !" and told me, "you may as well go home !" only not in such polite terms.

I was so angry and confused at her sneaking the band onto her own wrist (if it had been me, i KNOW i woulda given her her ticket) and then telling me to go home (!) that i was speechless. At that point, if i'd then hung around, she might have thought i was some kind of lurker, so i very confusedly headed to my car.

Only after i got stuck in horrible traffic did it sink in that my ticket had been stolen from under my nose, and she sent me home to make SURE i didn't get a ticket ! Cos i'd intended before i even went, to hang around til the end to make sure there might not be an extra somehow at the box office. Reading here that some people got tickets that way, only added to my horrible feeling later on (for me not for them ! i'm glad for them !).

By then, i figured whatever extras were there, were gone now. And i couldn't figure out why she would tell me, go home now. In a very authoritative tone. I mean, why not say, oh you don't have to wait with me (i'd been trying to be polite, not leave her to stand in line alone !) or, you don't have to wait if you don't want to, i'll call you tomorrow with details. No, just "go home", and i was so speechless i did, even tho i had planned to stick it out.

So now i have nothing to show for all that stress. I did call her pager but haven't heard back (huge surprise, huh ?).

I'd like to really thank the British lady and her boyfriend tho if they read this. Your incredible niceness is the only thing making me feel better about that day !

I don't think most people there were real Tori fans. Most people didn't even recognize the concert shirt i was wearing !! Nothing is to stop scalpers from sending people to stand in line, paying them a bit and telling them they can attend the show and sell the extra ticket for an outrageous price.

No place will ever have first come first serve in L.A., this city is too afraid of lawsuits (from overnite lineups in such a dangerous city and the lawsuit happy nature of Californians) and violence to allow it. But, if there must be a lottery again, Tori and Spivak Management and Atlantic Records, why not take a cue from Springsteen and have a mail lottery ? I know, scalpers have stamps, but, the odds are against them winning tons of them. There IS no foolproof way to stop them getting SOME tickets. And at least most people's odds would be the same, but there wouldn't be this boot camp torture to go thru first. And people who aren't healthy enuf to endure it, or who had to work, etc., would have a shot also. You could hire a reputable firm to draw random entries, to avoid a stacked deck. Photo IDs could be presented at the door to match the name on the winning entry.

One last thing: KROQ needs to check its attitude. Calling Tori fans "out of their minds" ? We didn't come up with this idea, or promote it. Do they really expect to promote something so heavily and ask people to wait in line for hours in the freezing rain and not think people might be a little keyed up ?? Or frustrated ? Do they expect to have a heavily promoted call-in contest and not have tons of people respond ?? If that bothers them, DON'T DO IT. No one is begging KROQ to host these contests and announcements ! They make tons of ad dollars off of it tho. Also, they lied to that caller (whose letter is posted on this page), the number wasn't drawn til at least 1:30 PM.

Congratulations to everyone who had a better time or outcome but, as most of us didn't, to whom it may concern: this may have sounded good on paper but PLEASE don't ever do this to us again !! A mail lottery is the most fair option i think. And no more camera crews, please ?

OK... i'm done now ;o)

ewf_la@hotmail.com

From erin dolll

April 6, 1998 - I'd like to comment on the whole ticket fiasco. Now, i was not in attendance for the ticket sales (due to being extremley sick) but all of my friends where there..almost 24 hours. I heard about how horrible it was. And i read everyones horror stories..however..i am here to be in defense of KROQ. Everyone said "i hate kroq" "ill never listen to KROQ again"

Now, i do admit, kROQ was overhyping the show..but they do that with every big act...but as far as the wristbands? Dont blame KROQ. Blame the damn greek. When i heard the tickets were going on sale at the greek i told all my friends before they left "the greek ALWAYS has wristbands...ALWAYS". That's just a greek policy. So stop bitching at kroq. They're a good station.

From Tina (Kitty)

April 5, 1998 - Mike, oh please post what HELL the LA fans had to go through, and help me get folks to join in on boycotting the jerks at KROQ and whomever else had a hand in the nightmare. Yes, though some fans were in line for 9 hours or more, the dedicated ones in MANY respects did NOT get Tori tickets, even though this was precisely her intent- to let her tried and true fans get this succulent small venue treat. The Greek Theater and KROQ decided to do wristband distribution, and therefore it was a complete lottery- with many non-diehard fans cashing in. It was a NIGHTMARE- I almost didn't get tickets, and was at one point in a mob of people in the rain- sobbing. The purpose and meaning behind the whole tour was lost thanks to some money hungry muckity mucks, and even those of us lucky enough to walk away victorious went through a freaking horror filled day.

Whoever was truly responsible for this BS gets a huge kick out or torturing people. KROQ especially, taunting us for over a week with the info, and totally disrespecting our loyalty. Atlantic Records had a video crew exploiting us as well- interviewing folks who had been there forEVER, and zooming in on the chaos that insued when the numbers were called- people crying, etc. I was so disgusted. But lucky. Very VERY lucky. And the ONLY thing that made the whole day so bearable were Tori fans like Debbie, John, Mike, Dave, Lynn, Stephanie and many others that were so supportive of a complete stranger on a mission. Blessings to you guys.

From Zach Patalingjug

April 5, 1998 - I just wanted to vent my frustration about the insane lottery wristband system that was in place for Tori's El Rey show here in LA. LA toriphiles were told to listen to KROQ at 10AM Saturday April 4, for news on how to get tix. Like any intelligent being, I was in my car at 10AM when the announcement was made on the radio, so that I could dash to the venue selling the tix. I got to the Greek Theatre box office by 10:15 and was probably 100th in line. I figured I'd get tickets. But there was that insane wristband system that KROQ insisted upon using and my number ended up being 2000 numbers behind the starting number drawn. I was pissed. I was hurt. I can only imagine that people who only mildly like Tori got to buy tix, while those of us Angelenos with brains driving around central Hollywood waiting for the announcement for the selling venue to be announced on our CAR radios got screwed over. WHATEVER!!

Incidentally, I saw all five of Tori's southern California shows during her Dew Drop Inn Tour. I really wanted to see this Sneak Preview "plugged '98" show at the EL REY. I think that first-come, first-served should have been the method used in LA. Those of us who care most for Tori, and got there first should have been able to obtain tickets. I know that Tori would be upset if she saw what we had to go through, and not even get tickets. Did I mention it was cold AND raining? There were an insane amount of people trying to get tickets. I could not believe how far the line stretched. I know that not everyone who showed up could have gone, but the first people in line should have been given the benefit of the doubt and should have been able to buy tickets. I am mad at the wristband system. I could not sleep well the night before the tickets went on sale. I was excited, and among the first in line. I am a die-hard Tori fan. I wanted those tickets badly!!! I am going to contact Tori's management, because this was ridiculous.

From Christopher Shaun Caldwell

April 5, 1998 - I am SO very bitter about the whole KROQ lottery thing. Not only did they hype the Hell out of the concert for a VERY small venue, they announced the location at the very last minute.. and instead of doing a first come, first serve thing.. the people who were allowed to buy tickets were random! I was very close to the front of the line, and after hacing stood in the pouring rain for a few hours, VERY grumpy....the 500 people who ended up being able to but the tickets were about a quarter mile or so in line behind me.. and I had my suspicion that not all of them were even really Tori Fans. They gave us this stupid line about only wanting real fans to be able to get the tickets, well how about announcing the location where the tickets are going to be sold enough time in advance that the real fans can camp out and wait for hours, and show the dedication they have by waiting in horrible weather?

I don't know whose bright idea these nightmarish publicity stunt was, but I will never listen to KROQ again.

From Angie (Post To ToriNews mailing list)

April 5, 1998 - I understand this mailing list is not to swap disgruntled stories (or happy ones) or offer opinions about Tori's music; however, I do want to offer a brief description of my experience at the Greek, today (and advice, therein):

For those of us who knew the Greek would be selling the tickets, it mattered not, although it was fun to think we secured special and secretive information. I arrived at about 10:30 (earliest I could get there) and was approximately the 100th person in line. It was rainy, cold, and miserable, but Tori fans seem to be one of kind: the atmosphere was lively and friendly. At noon, wristbands were distributed--COMPELTELY RANDOMLY--to the few thousand people there. Thus, person #1 in line had no assurrance of his/her walking away with a ticket. At 1 p.m. we all gathered again, like a herd of cows, to hear the ever lucky number drawn. If I recall correctly, it was 60,2** (can't remember the last two numbers). This meant that the person with that number and the 500 after her or him were the lucky bunch, the "true Tori fans". Alas, my wristband was 62, 488. Many dejected fans left, and many stayed, hoping for a miracle. And God Almighty, I would have stayed all night if I could have; but, (and now I'm cringing, in light of recent updates) I had to be at work at 4 p.m.

Someone posted that so many people left that, quite miraculously, those who stuck around were sold tickets since there were extra. (That's why I'm cringing.)

I'm really happy for those who secured tickets (got vouchers) and those who stuck around, challenging fate. From my perspective, all present seemed like "true Tori fans". And that's what Tori wanted.

But the experience is a little disheartening to me. I was there hoping to get two tickets for my lover and myself, for her birthday. I truly feel making the announcement on the air at 10 a.m. was a terrific, fair idea. But since most people had the same chance of arriving at the theatre and getting tickets, I believe a fairer way to distribute the vouchers would have been numerically, from person #1 in line to person #500, or whatever, and no wristbands. Maybe the Tori reps can consider this, for next time, if there is a next time. (How do we transmit such suggestions?)

From Matt H.

April 5, 1998 - Well, you are deffinitely right about the chaos and stress involved with the on-sale in Los Angeles. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have checked out the limitted leak from Atlantic Records Site on the Internet were there rather early. Since there was a possibility of the place of sale being changed, I woke up at 08:30 and went to the bank and got coffee. Then got to the Greek by 09:35. That then gave me enough time to kind of wake up. So I beat all the traffic. I stayed in the parking lot waiting to see if the On-Sale site was still the Greek since it had been leaked. About 56-85 people were already there before 09:30. At 10:00 KROQ said to get to the Greek. I then went to stand in line. It started to rain. It was an exceptionally long wait. At 12:15 we finally got the NOT so random numbered wrist bands. I was really in dismay as I DID NOT get tickets. I should have won. I had the information early, I was fair about not lining up until 10:00 exactly and am really disappointed that I took a unpaid day off to do this and came out empty handed. It seemed that only a single group at the end of the line had the same sequencing of bands. I was with 5 friends and we all had the same sequential number. Not even a chance unless you showed up rather late. KROQ did this great hype and then 2000+ people were there. I don't think that this was the Hard Core Fan Base. They only had sold 500 tickets and the place holds 1,200. I feel cheated. But hey, I had to go to at least have that -10% chance to have gotten 2 of 500 vouchers to be given.

Hopefully at the venue they may have extras the night of? There may be people with vouchers that only need 1 ticket and I may be able to get in?

Anyways, that was my ticket experience.

From Jenny (Gober)

April 5, 1998 - Buying tori tickets was pure hell. Being insaine, KROQ announced at 10:00am that in 2 hours they would be handing out wristbands at the Greek theater and would begin selling tickets at one o'clock. It was raining, and cold but I grabbed my wallet, picked up three of my friends and drove for 50 minutes on the most crowded freeway in the world and got to the greek. When we got there, at eleven fifteen, the line was 1/4 of a mile long!!!! So we sat on the sidewalk and thought warm thoughts as 60 yearold grandma tori fans lit their cigarettes. (my asthma almost killed me) at 12:30 they started handing out wrist bands and people began to huddle in bunches under large oak trees to keep from getting wet. AT 1:00 they said they would announce the winning wristband number that would start the line (people would line up behind that person numerically) and we all started moving like cattle to the man with the megaphone as people began sarcastically mooing. We'll, the winning number was 60thousand something, and out of the four of us, two had 58thousand something and thow had 62thousand something. We were at least two thousand away. Two wanted to go home, but my friend Ali and I wouldn't leave. Well, the most amazing thing happened.... over a thousand people left in two hours after the number was announced!!! And low and behold, the same weather that had numbed our feet and swelled our fingers had caused half the people to leave, and after 5 1/2 hours of waiting in the pouring rain, we got four tickets for the show!!!! I was so shocked, it was amazing.

I felt so badly though because we met this really nice guy in line who drove from san diego at four in the morning just to buy tickets for his girlfriend, and they sold out before he could get any.... he was going to ask her to marry him after the show!! (how romantic) So I'm on a campaign to get him tickets... (but first I have to find him) If anyone knows who I'm talking about.... please Email me (Tatianna13@aol.com). Also, if anyone is willing to sell one or two tickets for the Los Angeles show, I'll buy them for double price so I can give them to him (I'm also trying to win them off of KROQ) Help me be nice!!

From Ryan Agee

April 5, 1998 - I'm in Los Angeles, where KROQ made everyone wait in suspense until 2 hours before the tickets went on sale. Within 45 minutes of the announcement, 1500 Toriphiles were at the theater the tickets were sold at! It was so beautiful. We met some great people in line, and even though everyone wanted tickets, everyone helped out their fellow Ears with Feet by sharing food, umbrellas (it was outside and pouring rain) and blankets. A TV crew even showed up to interview fans. When the wristbands were given out and that fateful number was drawn, some screamed in happiness and others cried because they weren't going to get tickets. About a thousand people left after waiting in the rain for three hours, but my friend and I stuck around even though the staff told us to go home because we had no chance. After a wet and freezing five hours, they still had a few more tickets left and began calling off numbers one by one, starting from 62001. My number was 62460. However, many people had already given up and left, and I managed to get in line. Many people cheered for other Ears as they got called to get in line, even when they themselves weren't getting tickets. I got my tickets about a minute and a half before they sold out. It was such a wonderful experience.

From TREVIN (to the rec.music.tori-amos newsgroup)

April 5, 1998 - at least you didn't have to deal with wrist-bands. for you and it seems like most, it was first-come, first-serve, which is the way it should be. these shows are "for the fans" after all aren't they?

the way the greek staff handled the wrist-band thing was horribly unfair. they didn't mix them up before handing them out so it worked out that every one in any given part of the line received similar numbers. all of us at the front of the line got 62000s for example (i know because i looked at the numbers in the guy's hand that was handing them out and they were all 62000s) and the number that was picked was 60000-something and those were handed out in the middle of the line it seemed. so no one at the front of the line got tickets. they probably even pulled the 60000-something number out of a bunch of 60000s. this was a KROQ event. a station that only plays tori when they can promote themselves by associating themselves with her being in town. this was a huge KROQ probe up the ass to Tori and all her fans.

the wrist-band thing isn't too terrible a way to do this but i think that at least SOME of us that figured out where it was going to be and camped out in the rain should have had a CHANCE of getting tickets.

From MrsMalkav

April 5, 1998 - They gave out not so random wristbands, missing about 10 people in the far back since they ran out. They didn't give wristbands (I believe) to the first 500 or so people that were there since they weren't supposed to know about the secret location (but they did and they were there since 9pm the night before). The wristbands, which were numbered, did not guarantee tickets, and they randomly chose a number and said, "okay from #60270, the next 500 get in line, the rest can go home"... since my number was 62371 I was really losing hope. Some of the promoter people said, "Well, some people are leaving or can't get tickets for various reasons, so you have about a 50-50 chance to get a ticket if you stay around." Well, we stayed around anyway, and it turned out, about 2 hours later, when most of the people had wimped out and left, they started adding on more people to the end of the line since there were no numbers between 60499 and 60999. So after 4 hours standing in the rain, they finally reached me, so I got tickets. They sold out about 10 people after me. Wow...

From kellie (post to RDTRN and ToriNews mailing lists)

April 5, 1998 - Everyone has has not bought tiskets here is my advice. In LA there was mass confusion. The venue of ticket sales was not announced until 10 am sat and wrist bands were handed out at 12 the same day. For everyone else that is, other than the people on the net who told us. But at 10 50 people were already there by 12 there had to have been over a 1000. We were given random wrist bands and then they picked a number at random to start with. This meant that the 50 or so people who were on line since 5am and after were nowhere near the front of the line. But for those of you who left after they announced the numbers many more tickets were sold. So many people left that they had extra tickets. At that point they relined up the remaining people and i'm not sure but i think everyone got tickets. I got my voucher at about 230 and the lady at the window still had a huge stack of tickets. So i am very sorry to all of you from LA who left before then. I wish the rest of you luck in your cities. But remember even when it looks like there is no way to get the tickets wait around and make sure.

Yes the tickets were sold at the Greek, but we were given random wrist bands. So people who camped out did not get preference. They told everyone except 200 or 300 people to go home. And then after most people had left they announced that there were more tickets and anyone waiting around could get them. So many many people who were ahead of me according to the number on there wristband did not get tickets and i did. So my advice for anyone buying tickets in the upcoming days is to wait until the bitter end and make sure they are truly sold out. I don't want others to miss out.

From tony costantino

April 5, 1998 - Hi. I just returned from my failed attempt to get tickets. It was the worst idea tori has had in her entire career. Here's why: Lots of real fans were lined up at the greek theater way before the announcement time of 10 am. We found out through various other ways. It was a cold rainy morning. We were really freezing our butts off. Tori decides to keep this a "fan-driven" tour by announcing the sale location on the most commercial piece of crap radio station in Los Angeles at 10 am. What a swell idea. At approximately 10:15, as the few hundred or so fans who figured out the sale location by other means, a river of kroq listeners blitz the place. The crowd soon grew to maybe 3,000 people. The staff hands out lottery bracelets, and when the numbers were called, only the winners get to buy tickets, no matter how long you waited in line. This is the worst strategy for selling tickets. You do not reward true fans at all. I don't mean to rain on the winners parade, but I think tori sucks. I won't buy her album. As we were leaving, I saw so many depressed and crying people it was sickening. Some guy was sitting down staring at the ground for a half hour. Girls were crying on the way to their cars. This was the most depressing day of my tori career. Maybe 1,000 people get to see tori, totally random ones. Being a die-hard fan is not rewarded at all. I read the transcript of her interview on kroq, and I don't know if she's justifying kissing ass to the industry, but industry people get their tickets no matter what. They don't have to wait in line for them. If there's too many people, they just refuse ticket-holders at the door. So her reason for doing this lottery thing is totally whacked out to me. She should've done this through ticketmaster. If you want to avoid scalpers and give it to true fans, you do it on a first come first serve basis, not a lottery. Only a person who waits a day in line is gonna get a ticket, not someone who shows up 5 minutes before wristband time. I'm not that upset, but something smells really fishy. This was a stupid idea. Screw tori.

From Stray

April 5, 1998 - just to tell you the latest on ticket sales.. it went on sale today the 4th, at one. KROQ announced around 10 in the morning that tickets will be on sale at the Greek Theater box office.. a lot of people were standing in there in the cold and the rain.. the random wristband thing was so badly organized that most people stood in line for hours to find out that they weren't able to get any tickets.. and i'm one of them. I really really feel so sad and frustated about this, but i guess i'll have to wait until she comes back for the US tour hopefully in the fall.. just to let you know

From RaysinGyrl

April 5, 1998 - KROQ announced today 4/4 at 10am that tickets would be made available at the Greek theater and wristbands would be passed out at 12 noon 4/4.

Unfortunately I slept thru not only the announcement but also the sale. I called KROQ at noon to find out that wristbands had just been passed out. I spoke to an intern who said "you're out of luck, these tori fans are pretty scary, I mean I totally respect her for her music, but some of these fans are out of their minds."

So my only hope now for some small Tori sighting is when I attend the Jay Leno Show taping on May 12th. My pal Jackie has arranged VIP tickets for me and a pal, so we'll be right up in front..

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