European Plugged '98 Tour
Den Haag, The Netherlands
June 10, 1998
Updated June 15, 1998
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European Plugged '98 Tour
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Check Out The Reviews And Set Lists Page Tori performed in Den Haag, The Netherlands on June 10, 1998 at the Congresgebouw during the European leg of her Plugged '98 tour.  Set ListGeert-Jan , Michel "BIG MIKE" Kempes & Erik De Bruyne, Dennis Snelders and Bastiaan were the first to email me this set list. Black-Dove (January) 1st Encore: Space Dog 2nd Encore: God ReviewsFrom Jan HofmanJune 15, 1998 - Went to see Tori in Den Haag last Wednesday and YES! it was GREAT! But... if I'm really honest and look deep into my heart... I can't help remembering the concert she did on the DDI tour in Amsterdam, March '96. The two concerts are so different that you really can't compare them but it's the same artist so... In Amsterdam, we saw an unbelievable concert, so intimate that you forgot to breath. In Den Haag, we saw a great concert of an *excellent* rockband in good shape. So it's up to the audience to decide which one they prefer. Me myself, I will never forget the Amsterdam concert, just Tori and Steve on stage, they don't need anybody else, but that's just my humble opinion and don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wanna have missed Den Haag for the life of me. There were some people at the entrance offering six times the price for a ticket. I felt sorry for them but hey, I'm not selling :) During the concert it struck me again how nice the EWF are. We all applauded for The Devlins, you could feel that no one came to see them but people were really supportive, and you could feel the band appreciated that. But then... the great moment... at first the other members of the band came on stage and started playing but then... Tori came on, doing her little energy dance, bending over to the people in the front seats... great sight. Black Dove is an excellent opener, it holds all the ingredients for the rest of the evening, like this one very much. Then she played the 'Jools Holland version' of Cruel, YES! one of the highlights of the show, I especially like the part to the end of the song where she goes back to the Kurzweil and sings 'I can be cruel darling, don't know why...' Beautiful !! Crucify seemed to be less powerfull with the band, Iieee was just great. Then she introduced the band, when she started talking she said "hi, this is Tori..." For some reason I can't get that simple statement out of my head, don't know why. After the bandintroduction they played Cornflake Girl, ehm... never really liked this one... Then the second highlight came... Doughnut Song! Real nice with the full band, and a great guitar solo by Steve... Excellent! After Liquid Diamonds came secret time. It certainly reminded me why I liked the Amsterdam concert so much... this is certainly my favourite part of the show... China was great, as always, then came a little suprise: Upside Down! Beautiful... The next two songs were also great, Jackie's Strength (one of my favourites on FTCH) and Precious Things (Yeah! Now that I'm writing things down I begin to see there were a lot of highlights on the show :). Spark was not very inspiring, though it was funny at the beginning: there was some problem with Tori's Kurzweil and the band already started the song and she sang 'la la la la la.... Keep going'. The Waitress was just... very LOUD! First encore: Space Dog and Horses. Interesting to hear the new version everyone is talking about, though I like the bfp version better. Then the second encore... it was just great, everyone rushed to the stage and started dancing and partying...a whole new experience, to Tori's music, but I had a blast, especially when they played Raspberry Swirl, it was GRREAT! So overall... we had a really great time but I wouldn't mind if she just brings the piano on stage the next time she's here. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a looong time for that to happen... Wish you all a good time with the Tori concerts to come in the States. From Pieter B. DijkstraJune 12, 1998 - Here is my review of Toris concert in The Hague. So the big questions... 1.Can Tori Play Festivals and large crowds...? Answer Yes... 2. Is she better when playing a theater sized venue... ? Way Yes.... First things first... One big hand for Kelly McDonald. I have been to several (and I do mean several) concerts... but I've never seen someone selling Merchandise as handy as miss McDonald... and she managed on her own.. So after the Devlins... (whose set was Imho OK, but way to long) The light wents down for the second time and Tori arrived... The crowd went nuts.. As on Pinkpop she started her gig with "Black Dove (january)" . Every time I hear this song it gets more and more impressive and very slowly it has become my favorite of FTCGH. It was sung and played beautifully by both her band and Tori herself. >From the start it became clear that the band was in much better shape than on Pinkpop. Her second song was "Cruel" and yesss she played it in the same way as she had played it on "Later with Jools Holland" ... This version is imho awesome..... After Cruel the show continued..with Crucified.... Although some may disagree I truly loved this " band" version compared to the way she usually plays it live.. On to Iieee.., Disliked it on FTCGH, even began to hate it but then came pinkpop and The Hague... And now I love this song... It's a very clever song but one which you have to learn to appreciate. Next was Cornflake Girl.... well yes ... mmmh ... I don't dislike the song, but it's not one of my favorites... More importantly IMHO this is a song which sounded much better on the " Dew Drop in Tour" when she played it just with Steve accompanying her. Next was Doughnut Song: YES!!!!. One word Great !!!... (although I'm a bit prejudiced since it's one of my alltime favorite Tori songs..) I loved this version... Next came a song which after hours and hours of having FTCGH stuck in my stereo... I still don't like namely Liquid Diamonds..... Her excellent live version of the song didn't change that.. Next she waved goodbye to the band... and played two songs on her own.... if it was the band or simply Tori ... I don't know ... But for me the songs she played on her own were the absolute highlights of the evening.... especially Upside Down which followed her solo performance of China... Then the band returned and they played Jacky's Strength... A great song which sounds great live.... Next came Precious things which is great but it was played in the exact manner as on Pinkpop... For the very first time we were able to see that Tori can make mistakes... (though on its own it was kind of nice to observe) ... she missed the start of spark.... then she signalled the band by humming the intro, and urged them to play on and voila an otherwise flawless version of the song.. The final song on her regular set was The Waitress... played in the same way as it was on Pinkpop but somehow it made a bigger impression on me then. This is defenitively a song which she "has" to play on festivals.... if only for the excellent light show..(as with Iieee btw) Unfortunately I missed the encores, Usually I would stick around but I had to catch a train... :-/ From Dennis SneldersJune 12, 1998 - At 5:32 pm, I took the train to Den Haag. Ruud van Melick, his brother and I agreed to meet in the train where we got to know each other better and chatted about Tori, the Internet and our Tori sites. It was really nice to meet them. At 6:42 we arrived in Den Haag and took the tram to the Congrescentrum. Most of the passengers on the tram were Toriphiles who were going to Tori's concert. Meeting all those Tori fans got me really excited because I began to realise that finally I was going to see Tori! This was my first Tori concert so I was really excited. At 7:15 we arrived at the Congrescentrum and while we entered, people begged for tickets and tried to buy some for three or more times their original value, but of course we didn't sell our tickets!! It immediately struck me that the audience was much older than I expected: I'm pretty sure that only 3 or maybe 4 people in the whole audience were younger than me. (I'm 16) The concert was scheduled to start at 8:15, so we had plenty of time to buy some merchandise! They had for sale a grey long sleeve T-shirt, a grey shirt with the cover of the FtCGH album on it, a black T-shirt with Tori's back on the front and the cities from the European Tour so far printed on the back, and I believe 2 other shirts which I can't remember. They also had the tour program and of course the famous Raspberry Swirl Girl Necklace. I bought the black shirt and the tour program, which has really awesome pictures and even some cute wedding pictures of Tori getting dressed. The Devlins hit the stage at 8:20 and played 5 songs unitl 8:50. I really enjoyed them, but of course I couldn't wait until Tori was going to perform. Tori hit the stage at 9:20 pm and as usual she opened with Black-Dove. When Tori ran onto the stage, she waved to us and started playing. Black-Dove was outstanding. I especially loved the part were she plays the piano with one hand and plays the synthesizer with the other. After that she performed Cruel. A very powerful performance, very similar to the version she did at Later with Jools Holland. The third song was Crucify to my surprise, it sounded really cool with the band. At the end of i i e e e she played an additional verse that started out with only the piano, but then the band came in again. I really loved that version, I hope someone taped the show. Another surprise: she played a beautiful of Doughnut Song that made me shiver. Then she played a really loud version of Liquid Diamonds, at some points I expected my ears to explode. The part that I enjoyed most by far was the solo part. I've come to the conclusion that I like Tori better without the band and I really feel sorry that I haven't attended any of her earlier concerts. After China and Upside Down, she played Jackies Strength in a really soft and beautiful way. The band played with her but only stayed on the background in this song. That was different in Precious Things, which was done awesome but had a remarkably short ėgirrrrrrrrrrrrrl' groan. Then the band started playing Spark and Tori joined them with the synthesizer, but it had been installed all wrong! I think she forgot to change its settings after the last time she used it, because she played the notes for Spark but the sound was all different. Anyway, she smiled to us and made a gesture to the band that they had to go on playing while she would fix it. It was really cute! After that she played an incredibly loud The Waitress and left the stage. She returned to play Space Dog, which is one of my favourite songs, except when done live. I don't know what it is, but it seems to lose it when she plays it live. The new version of Horses sounded really cool but I like the older version much better. Then she left again and returned for the second encore. God was good, but Raspberry Swirl was outstanding. It kicked ass! I love this song *so* much better when done live, it was great. A lot of people walked towards the stage and started dancing during this song. When Raspberry Swirl was over, I deep inside hoped for a third encore, even though I know she wouldn't come back anymore. When the lights went on, I knew it would take another 2 years until I would see her again. _snif_ I can only hope for an extra concert in the Netherlands but I don't think that'll happen. Overall, it was a delightful performance and I really enjoyed it, although I was a bit disappointed that she didn't play Northern Lad, which is my favourite. I also had a little hope for Hotel, which I think would sound awesome if she played it live. From Marcel Rijs (Precious Things mailing list)June 12, 1998 - Well, after my little report from yesterday many wonderful things happened. Tori performed her only Dutch concert in Den Haag yesterday evening and there aren't that many words that can describe the event. Overwhelming? Definitely! Sensory overload? Probably! The concert started somewhere around 20.15, when the Devlins arrived onstage. They had a nice set of six songs, and with the exception of one song, I found them pretty good. The singer reminded me of Dream Academy and Scritti Politti, both very nice groups of the '80s, and while they played pretty standard rock tracks, I thought their lyrics were pretty touching and musically it was just entertaining enough to keep listening attentively. Of course, our 'main course' for today was Tori, and I got the feeling that the audience (the concert was sold-out, BTW) wanted to see her as quickly as possible. We had to wait for a long while, though. When she started it was around 21.30. For those who have seen many concerts of this (European) tour, this must have been a pretty standard one. A few of the songs I've heard on radio and TV from her performance at the Pinkpop festival, and the way they were played here was pretty much the same (including Tori's imitation of a seal at the end of 'The Waitress'). The set list was as follows (written down during the concert, so this is an accurate one!): Black Dove (January)
Encore 1:
Encore 2: So you see, our request to play Donut song was rewarded tonight! I've never seen a better version of the song, too. Caton did a spinechilling guitar solo and he seemed to enjoy every second of that song, too. During the intro of Spark she seemed to have some problem with her keyboards, and the band was already playing. She motioned to the band, saying, "Nononono, keep going!" - which earned her an applause from the audience :) . Upside down was a surprise, and having never seen Precious Things in the new version I was A-M-A-Z-E-D. During the last tour I was so tired of this song & she played it so painfully slow, that I hoped never to hear it again. But now, with the band: it was like the song had been reconstructed from the ground up. It was so unbelievably powerful live, I almost drowned in it! After the first encore, people from the back rows (I was in row 5, myself) started flooding in and they came standing near to the stage. This had never happened before at Dutch Tori concerts as far as I know, and what followed was pretty amazing too: as they played God and Raspberry Swirl people started dancing, clapping and generally losing their minds. I've never actually seen Dutch crowds being so orderly and so exuberant all at the same time! This was just pure fun, and I enjoyed every minute of it! The setlist which someone grabbed from the stage, revealed that 'Swirl' was planned for the first encore, and that 'Flying Dutchman' would be the one & only song in the second encore. So we got an extra song, too. It's just a pity we didn't get Dutchman this year, it's kindof a tradition that she plays it during every tour in Holland. Hey, this concert was fantastic! The only negative point I can think of is the lack of spontaneity working with a band has proved to offer. Tori can't go off improvising, which she doesn't do anymore as a result, and that makes for a pretty 'standard' show. I also felt that the evening went by too fast. Playing 17 songs in some 90 minutes _is_ pretty fast, it would have taken her more time during earlier tours. But it doesn't tip the scale in favour of the negative points: the concert was energetic, lively, and I felt that both Tori and the band were enjoying this performance to no end. After the concert there was the usual waiting-for-Tori-to-leave-the-building. The concert ended at 23.00, and Tori left eventually at 00.00. we soon heard that she had to drive to Hamburg tonight, and that we wouldn't have to wait too long. The organization of the crowd was less well done than yesterday afternoon: there were some 50 people behind the fences spanning some 10 meters. We waited for Tori, and I must say it was again a very nice affair: Torifans are generally very polite and easygoing folk, there was quite a bit of talking amongst ourselves while we were waiting. When Tori appeared, many people wanted autographs and take pictures, but she couldn't do all of us this time around. Joel looked pretty stressed and said they had a long drive ahead of them, and directed the fans to one end in order for them to get any autograph Tori would give. I didn't ask for any myself (after all, I'd already gotten two this afternoon) but did manage to make a few photographs again, some from above and a few right in her face from behind some EWF. After some five minutes Tori was escorted by Joel into the bus and they drove off. A few EWF were pretty disappointed of course, but some others were overjoyed. An American guy went totally out of his mind because Tori had apparently said "I love you" to him. The poor guy believed that this was the beginning of a truly wonderful lovestory between the two of them. Some people don't know reality from dreamworld I guess. Well, it was a great night - pity that this should already be the end for us Dutch people. I hope you will enjoy the Tori shows wherever you are, and when meeting her backstage, please, try to be 'normal'. I think Tori and those around her appreciate that more than blind idolizing and wild screaming. (My $0.10.) From Koert Lagendijk (Posted to rec.music.tori-amos)June 11, 1998 - Well, yesterday was definetly something of a special day. It's a long post, and I think I'm writing everything down more for myself than for others, but feel free to read anyway... Tori gave a show in Den Haag, conveniently located a 15 minute train ride from home... :) First of all, I decided to try and meet Tori at the artist's entrance of the Congress Centre. I arrived there at 3pm, and there were already a number of fans there. I had my inlay of Butterflies & Killer B's (Ken's charity bootleg CD-R) with me for her to show, explain and sign. Some friendly local security guys set up some fences and we helped them a bit. "All the pigs are all lined up" :) When the band arrived there were approx. 30 fans altogether and, after reading some of the US stories, I was very happy about how smooth, relaxed, quiet, friendly and harmless it all went. People were patient, casual, no screaming etc, even the fences didn't bother anyone. I met with Steve who seemed to be an utterly friendly and relaxed guy. When Tori arrived I was surprised as to how calm I was. It was just a tiny little woman, and there was hardly anything 'special' about her, except that she was friendly to everyone, shook hands, kissed and hugged, gave autographs and chatted with everybody. Seeing and meeting her didn't feel like meeting a celebrity at all. Joel seemed to urge Tori inside since they were a bit late for the soundcheck, but she still had time for everybody. I shook hands with her, showed the CD, explained the story behind it in brief, and she appreciated the initiative. I also gave her copies of the email correspondence Ken and I had about the CD, and a list of people who own one and to what chaity they contributed to get it. And she signed the back of the CD-inlay... :D Someone took pictues and I've got his adress. I think I'll get in touch with him very soon. ;) The show itself... well... to be honest... IT WAS A BLAST !! :D It was the best show I'd ever seen, et even beat the 4 U2-shows I went to, and everything else, including Tori's show in Amsterdam 2 years back. Fuck-a-duck, I'm still not recovered from it... Whew. :) The setlist: With band: Black Dove - Cruel - Crucify - iieee - Cornflake Girl - Doughnut Song - Liquid Diamonds Girl and piano: China - Upside Down Band again: Jackie's Strength - Precious Things - Spark - The Waitress First encore: Space Dog - Horses Second encore: God - Raspberry Swirl It started out relaxed. The songs were good, the band was great, but it felt a bit too choreographed to be truly enchanting to me. great lights, okay sound (could have been better) and playing with a band made a lot of songs a lot better. It really added to the entire thing. The magic came with Upside Down, when you could hear several excited gasps from the audience. Hardly a song you'd expect her to play. It was a surprise to hear it, and it was extremely wonderful. :) Precious Things created a thunderstorm! Woo-hoo! Steve was giving some wonderful guitar solo's and the 'grrrrrl' climax was devastating. (kaboom!) This song is so good with band, I couldn't believe it. Steve was rocking, it was good to see him doing his thing next to Tori. Spark began with Tori singing 'lalala' in her mike while adjusting the keyboard and urging the band to continue while she fixed things. She did a wonderful version of the song, very catchy and devoted. Waitress ended the first part and was extremely energetic. I'd never felt the urge, not even at her last DDI show to stand up for an ovation, but when the song ended and I saw a few people stand up I just couldn't resist. My hands were sore, but I kept applauding, something I never did before. When Space Dog (not one of my favouries from UtP) started the crowd went crazy, and I must say, it was absolutely fantastic to hear it live, I was baffled... Around this time people were leaving their seats and headed for the stage. Security made no problems. During Horses some people were still standing in their seats from the last ovation, and were dancing along to the tune. More people walked to the stage, ignoring the steady stream of drool cascading down the aisles... ;) Again a thundering applause and ovation, and Tori shook hands of people standing at the stage. She loved it.. :) When she came back, God triggered the complete craze. People were standing in their seats, and wouldn't sit down. They were dancing in front of the stage and their seats, and the band had a excellent time. It would have been the last song, but the applause that followed made her do one more song, even surprising the band who wasn't prepared for this. Raspberry Swirl blew the roof off. Everybody was standing, a lot of people were dancing and there was this incredible feel from the audience, and Tori and the band were responding to it. The stage was crammed, and it was one big party. I've never seen my fellow countrymen, who are usually calm, sober and down-to-earth go completely nuts at a show. I was amazed... I met up with some people I met that afternoon and we all staggered out of the hall, completely delirious and excited about the whole thing. We headed for the artist entrance once again, and waited with some hundred fans for Tori. What was even more surprising about this meet and greet was the fact that although people went nuts at the show, everybody was calm, cooperative and friendly to security. No-one shouted, screamed or got impatient, obnoxious or over-exited. People stayed behind the fences, and those that weren't behind a fence just calmly looked from a distance at Tori signing a few items and talking to fans, while Joel kept an eye out and gave some instructions to local security. She was just this cute little woman being friendly, hardly a celebrity, and made a very casual impression. She waved goodbye, got a little applause from her fans, got in the bus and dove off, while some fans followed the bus on their way out an waved some more. The crowds left the premises orderly, I said goodbye to some local security guys, who were very friendly and helpful. In the tram to Central Station we talked some more, and a guy who had been to all tours in the Netherlands said this show was second best of what he'd seen over the years. I now have a signed copy of Butterflies & Killer B's, I told Ken about it this morning, and I'm wearing the Plugged '98 shirt as I'm typing this. I've had a number of concert experiences but this one truly captured me. I'm still amazed about the entire thing... From Susanne TakJune 11, 1998 - I was at the Tori concert in the Congresgebouw lat night.. it was truly amazing.. it has left me speechless.. Anyway, here's the set list... Black Dove (January) Tori introduces band... Cornflake Girl Piano Only: With band again: 1st Encore: 2nd Encore: The crowd was really great.. during the songs no-one was shouting or screaming or anything.. And everyone stood up and danced during God and Raspberry Swirl! Horses was defenitely one of the highlights of the show.. Tori was obviously enjoying this one herself really much, too... It was a wonderful show, all the songs.. And it all went so fast! The show ended and we were like... now already? From Geert-JanJune 11, 1998 - These are just some remarks referring to the concert in Den Haag (The Hague) General remarks: - I really enjoyed the show. It rocked. Completely different from previous tour. It was aconcert that makes you feel good. - Sound was not always very good. - I don't consider it the one of the best concerts I've seen. It was of course very good, but I wasn't shocked or something. - Although I have to make an exception for RASPBERRY SWIRL!! - AND it was already an unforgettable day, because I met her at the sound check. I feared there would be a lot of people as she is getting more and more popular in Holland. But apparently a lot of EwF doesn't seem to know of this possibility to meet her. At one hand, I felt sorry for those who tried to touch her at the beginning and end of the encores... But on the other hand I hope it stays this way, because it so special that she is so accessible. It really striked me that she REALLY took time for every person. (yeah I read it a million times, but to experience it is quite different). She talked, posed for pictures, kissed and hugged, accepted gifts, signed whatever you wanted to sign her... -During the Concert, Tori said almost nothing, she introduced the band, and said something like that she felt sorry that this was the LAST CONCERT in Holland during this world tour; she regret this because everything was so nice and good here. Ok now chronological: Tori came on stage and did this energy 'dance' They started with a loud Black-Dove, followed up by a 'tearing' Cruel. Crucify, ok Iieee, this had a really nice light show, during 'with your Es' all lights stood still, shining into the audience (every time another color) Cornflake Girl Doughnut Song: was requested at sound check. REALLY beautiful! Liquid Diamonds China (alone): like record, just VERY beautiful, I feel special to have heard it finally LIVE :) Upside Down (alone): highlight, this was girl and piano thing again Jackie's Strength: nice, with live double bass! Precious Things: ooohh, how fast she played... Spark: the intro went wrong (she was app. not ready with keyboard, so she sang Tralalala and made some sign that the band had to go on with intro. She made a beautiful version of SPARK! The Waitress: As we now it of PINKPOP. :) Encore 1 Space Dog Horses: Beautiful rhythm, played like Pinkpop People came forward; first to give her presents and to see her better, but more and more people went to front. You could see Caton thinking, what is happening? Encore 2 God: Now the amount of people who went forward was really getting absurd. Everybody stayed and went dancing. After this song, Tori looked to her band like if she was asking 'Shall we'. Then we heard the sticks of the drummer and than the beat... THIS WAS THE HIGHLIGHT: you can put on your main news page: DUTCH WENT NUTS ON RASPBERRY SWIRL! From Michel "BIG MIKE" Kempes and Erik De BruyneJune 11, 1998 - Great show tonight as Tori played (on request) Doughnut Song for us. after the show when we met, we asked if she had fun this night, and with a BIG smile she replied YEEESSSSS !!!!!! From Marcel RijsJune 11, 1998 - When you are reading this the concert may already have ended - but I will write more about that tomorrow. This afternoon, Tori arrived at the Congresgebouw (now called CongresCentrum) in Den Haag at 16.15 . Near the artists' entrance many fans - sorry, Ears With Feet (!) - (some 20-30) were waiting for her to come, hoping for autographs, many photographs and generally meeting her. Also present was a Belgian camera crew. The "Canvas" channel (BRTN 2) of Belgium will broadcast these images at July 1st, 23.20 . They filmed the things that happened when Tori arrived. As has become usual, Tori was very friendly towards all the people there and talked to everyone individually. There were quite a few people there who had a present for her and many of us wanted to have a picture taken of themselves with Tori. Despite the fact that security had put little fences between her and the EWF, it didn't really matter much. She still made a great contact with everyone. Nearest to the door where she was supposed to go in, were some foreign fans, I think from England and/or America. Although I was happy that they were there (after all, Tori stayed outside longer, which meant a great photo opportunity) I was a bit bewildered by the amount of fanatism they displayed. I've heard some stories about things that happened in the US, and I am pretty glad that things are a bit more relaxed here. Joel seemed a bit stressed, as always ;), and said a few times that they were supposed to be fast, because they had a soundcheck to do, but Tori didn't listen to him much, which I found pretty funny. A few of us asked both Steve Caton and Tori to play "Doughnut song" tonight, because of the great guitar solo in that song. Steve said we had to ask Tori, Tori didn't say much if she would play that song. We'll wait and see! I think the whole thing took some 15 minutes, then she went inside. I'm off to eat something and then go back to the CongresCentrum, will check back with you A.S.A.P. P.S. if you're wondering: I got 2 autographs and a photo of myself with Tori today! Yahoo... Kind regards, Marcel Rijs - "Conan the Librarian" |
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