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Tori performed in Chicago, IL on Friday, November 29, 2002 at the Chicago Theatre. The show began at 8:00PM and Howie Day was the opening act.
Set List
Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Little Earthquakes
Sweet Sangria
Cornflake Girl
Strange
Space Dog
Northern Lad
Wednesday
Band leaves
Winter
Cooling
Tiny Dancer
Band returns
Mrs. Jesus
Taxi Ride
Girl
Horses
Precious Things
I Can't See New York
Spring Haze
1st Encore
Pancake
Sugar
Scarlet's Walk
2nd Encore
In The Springtime Of His Voodoo
Etienne (WITH band)
Playboy Mommy
Reviews
For more reviews, please check out the Dent's Tour Reviews Forum. Please post your own review if you were there! The latest reviews are at the bottom of the page.
From Mikewhy:
There are so many things I would like to say about this amazing show, but I am drop dead tired as I type this. So the length of this review will not do this show justice. Hopefully when I am more awake, I can add more details. This was easily my favorite show so far this year. One could begin with the incredible tour debuts we had this time: Tiny Dancer, Girl, and Etienne.
Tiny Dancer was one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen Tori perform. It may become one of my favorites if not my #1 favorite cover. It was achingly gorgeous, to the point where I had chills over and over again. The beautiful piano chords combined with Tori's voice and the way she sang it made this one of the most incredible tour moments I have experienced. There were lots of huge smiles from Tori during this one!
Etienne and Northern Lad were also beautiful and quite powerful. It was simply the best Northern Lad I have seen, and Tori hit all the right high notes. Etienne was with the band, and it sounded really terrific and cohesive. Tori really seemed into this show. Chicago obviously inspires her, and she even did three songs during the second encore, as if to say, "I love it here."
The sound from where Amanda and I were sitting was the best I h ave experienced this tour. Tori's voice was crystal clear and her piano was loud and rich. There were many moments during the show when Tori would perform long, flowing intros at the piano, and they sounded so gorgeous from our seat, which was in the second row of the Loge, or lower balcony.
After Sweet Sangria, Tori said, "I met a lot of you already. I love Chicago, " or something like that. Tori was refering to the Borders book signing she did earlier that day. Then she started singing an improv, with lyrics that went something like, "We like it here, our favorite place along the trail. Sometimes we don't want to go, but still, there's always something called next year...next year..." Then Tori began Cornflake Girl.
As Tori began Northern Lad, someone yelled out a request for Sugar. Tori replied, "In a minute..." to that person.
With the exceptional sound, I really paid close attention to the incredible piano work during Winter. I never realized how beautiful it sounded before. It is an incredible show when you are able to view an older song in a new light, especially when you thought you already heard that song enough to know it well.
Before Cooling, Tori did a fantastic improv. I can not recall most of the words, but it included something about "You're not on this earth now, but I feel you on my shoulder..." It was amazing and if anyone remembers more about it, please email me. This added even more magic to the evening.
Girl was a huge surprise. At times Tori would play both the Bosey and the Rhodes at the same time during this song. At other times, she would whip around really fast from one instrument to another.
The introduction to Horses blew me away as well. I am not sure if I did not hear this during previous shows, or if it was extra special tonight.
There were not many changes to Tori's written set list. She added Voodoo to the second encore, and played Playboy Mommy instead of Hey Jupiter. The show ended at 11:21PM and consisted of 25 songs. I am not sure what time it started, but it was after 9:00PM.
Tori was very energetic and into the show, and it brought out some of her best performances of the tour. As she emerged for the second encore, she was dancing around in front of both Matt and Jon more than she usually does. She really did seem to love performing tonight. And the audience certainly loved the show. This was one of her best. I love being there when Tori "hits one out of the park." She did that tonight!
From Mairie:
Yesterday, I left my house for Chicago at about 12:30. I arrived at the Chicago Theatre a little before 2pm. Downtown Chicago was nuts with Day-After-Thanksgiving Shoppers and other traditional Chicago stuff. People were getting ready for the annual tree lighting ceremony, and just down the street was the Marshall Fields store with the Christmas decorated windows, another tradition in Chicago. It was hard to drive around. Not so many cars, but pedestrians everywhere. Throngs of them. I finally found (expensive) parking, just adjacent to the theatre.
I went over to the group of folks waiting before for the meet-n-greet, and saw a familiar face or two, but was too shy to go up to anyone. I sat down by a planter, and called Elisa (Imagine), whom I was supposed to meet there. She said she'd be there in a few minutes. I continued to sit by myself. A few minutes later, Dor came up to me and said she knew me and I should join the group, instead of sitting by myself. She introduced me to a few people, some from online, and some not. Rainbush was there. A few others, but I don't remember all. Elisa and her friend Angie showed up very soon. We all stood around and hung out for a while. Mikewhy and Novinha arrived a few minutes later. Steve Sanchez and company started setting up the barricades around 3pm. Tori actually showed up a bit later. There were not a lot of people there, since Tori had a signing at Borders that afternoon. I did not try to get up close and meet Tori. I've done so before. I figured, if I got the chance, that'd be cool, but I'd let others go first. I did get a good view of her for a few minutes, and she looked very cute and happy. Every time I've seen her, I've been amazed at how tiny she is in person. She has such a commanding presence on stage, you'd never believe that she's only 5'2". The meet-n-greet only last about 20 minutes, and she was whisked away inside to the warmth. We all left at that time. Elisa, Angie, Mikewhy, and Amanda and I decided to walk past Marshall Fields to look at the windows, and then head over to the tree lighting. The theme of the windows was Paddington Bear, which I loved when I was a little girl. Once we got to the tree area, I could no longer feel my feet. I decided to head back to my car to thaw them out, and then have a cigarette. I told my group that I'd meet up with them later on at Potbelly's, a sandwich shop right across the street from the venue.
We regrouped at Potbelly's around 5:30-ish. Potbelly's was a really nice place, with great food. I wish we had one in Rockford. We sat and ate and chatted about the upcoming concert, songs we'd like to hear, and why she hadn't yet played Carbon. I told Mikewhy and Amanda that if she played Girl, I would pass out. A little later, Josh and his friend showed up, and we talked to them for a while. A little after 7, we decided to head to the venue.
The Chicago Theatre was a really nice place. It was fancy, and I think they'd recently renovated it. I found my seat, which was not particularly good. I was in the left center section, but I was in row C (there were three rows of triple-letters, and about 12 or sow rows of double letters before the single letters), so I was actually about about 18 rows back. Oh well. I had an aisle seat, which had its good and bad points. I didn't have to climb over anyone, but of course everyone else had to climb over me.
I don't know what time it was when Howie Day came out. It was just him and his acoustic guitar, and an array of foot pedals. His first song blew me away. He's a very talented musician, and I really liked what he did with recording beats and riffs and melodies and stuff and playing them back for a really full and interesting sound. I didn't like all of his songs, but some of them were very good. He wasn't out for very long, but an average amount of time for an opening act at a Tori concert. Then there was about a half an hour break before Tori came out.
When the lights dimmed in the theatre signaling that Tori was coming out, everyone began wildly cheering. The people who were sitting in the seats right next to me had not come back from the break. I guess they were Howie Day fans, because they also left after the 13th song. *shrug* More room for me, so no problem.
Here's the setlist, along with comments:
1. Wampum Prayer - Recorded.
2. A Sorta Fairytale - Decent song, but not one of my favorites. I was really excited that Tori was out.
3. Little Earthquakes - There were bright lights shining out on the audience during LE, and I had a headache, so it didn't help. Matt Chamberlain did the drums on LE perfectly though, and it looked like Tori, Matt and Jon were having a good time up there.
4. Sweet Sangria - Tori did a cute, sext dance at the beginning of this song, but I didn't see much of it, since that's when my neighbors decided to come back to their seats. After Sweet Sangria, Tori said "Hi, how's it going? I think I met a lot of you today already [probably referring to the signing at Borders]." She also commented that it was sad to leave Chicago for all of them in her group, and starting singing a little song about how Chicago is one of their favorite places along the trail, and they don't want to go, but there's always something called next year, next year. So that means they'll definitely be back in Chicago next year!! Wooo!
5. Cornflake Girl - Tori did some more dancing at the piano at the beginning of the song.
6. Strange
7. Space Dog - The band kicked ass with this song!! Matt was right on with the drums!
8. Northern Lad
9. Wednesday - This is a cute song, and I enjoyed hearing it live. Roadeside Caf? time (solo, no band)
10. Winter - I like this song, but it's not exciting to me anymore. At the end when Tori was about to song "my dear," someone in the audience shouted it out, and Tori laughed.
11. Cooling - cute little improv, but I don't remember how it went.
12 Tiny Dancer - I like this song, and someone had told me that she promised Dor she would play it by Milwaukee, since Dor wouldn't be at the show after that (St. Louis). I'm sure Dor was stoked! end of Roadside Caf? time
13. Mrs. Jesus - with another pretty improv. The neighbors left at this point, which was annoying at first, but I was happy when I realized they weren't coming back. They'd been very quiet and respectful, but now I had plenty of room for my long legs.
14. Taxi Ride - Tori danced some more at the beginning of this song.
15. GIRL - I didn't immediately recognize this at first, which is funny since it's my favorite Tori song ever. But I guess I just figured I'd never get lucky enough to hear it live, so I wasn't expecting it. As soon as I did realize what it was, my heart started racing and my eyes welled up with tears. It was beautiful. The band did a good job, and Tori was right on. I am so glad she played this. It's the first time this tour (or in a couple of years, I think), and I was lucky enough to be there. :)
16. Horses - Horses had a pretty little piano intro, and was a lovely song. I like it a lot. She played it as it is on the album, not the unrecognizable wild style that she did a few tours ago.
17. Precious Things - During the long girrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrllll part, Tori moved her hands up her thighs and eventually grabbed her crotch.
18. I Can't See New York - Pretty song, great live.
19. Spring Haze - I've always loved this song. I think it's neat how she's paired these two up on the tour. Kinda emotional. After Spring Haze, Tori and the guys had a group hug on stage, and then all ran off to the right. People clapped wildly, and then they came out for the first encore. Encore 1
20. Pancake - The band came out first and started playing, and after a minute or so, Tori danced out over by Jon Evans, and finally went to the piano. The people on front of me were making out.
21. Sugar - Earlier in the show, someone had screamed "SUGAR!!" and Tori responded by saying "in a minute.......!" So she played it for them during the encore, and it sounded great.
22. Scarlet's Walk - I like this song more and more every time I hear it. It sounded especially cool live.
Encore 2
23. In the Springtime of His Voodoo - I think there was an improv at the beginning of Voodoo, but now I can't remember. It was beautiful live.
24. Etienne - She played Etienne with the band, which I *think* is a first. I think she usually plays it solo. It was beautiful though, so I think the band adds a lot to it.
25. Playboy Mommy - This was the last song of the night, and sounded really beautiful. I was surprised that she played a third song in the second encore, but it was a good surprise. It was bittersweet though, since I knew that she probably wouldn't come out again, and she hadn't played Carbon.
Over all, the show was awesome. Mikewhy said after the show that this was definitely his favorite of the tour so far. That impressed me since I know he has been to quite a few. I felt privileged to have been at such an awesome show. It was definitely great. As I was leaving the venue, a couple of peopel behind me were arguing about whether it was good. One guy felt the same as I did, that she was excellent and in great form. His girlfriend thought that it didn't feel right, and that Tori hadn't been very energetic. It made me wonder if we were even at the same show. Tori danced around a lot, and was peppy and even I (many rows back) could tell she was smiling quite a bit, and that the band was having a great time too.
A few random thoughts...
Jon's upright bass was on stage, but I didn't notice him playing it at all. Of course, I focused more on Tori....
The sage scent was really strong, even out where I was. I smelled it again later, midway through the show. It was a good ambient odor, but with my headache I felt that it was a tiny bit too strong. Tori was wearing a sleeveless outfit, and I could see the muscles in her upper arms moving as she was playing the piano. I thought it was kinda neat.
So that's it. An awesome show. There's a show tonight in Minneapolis, and then tomorrow night in Milwaukee. Minneapolis is a bit too far for me, but I'll be driving up to Milwaukee tomorrow night. I hope it will be as wonderful as last night. And perhaps she'll debut Carbon then. *crosses fingers*
See you in Milwaukee, Mike and Amanda!
From Amanda Morris:
This is my sixth show of the On Scarlet's Walk tour and it has probably been the most incredible so far. The suprise element of this show was second only to the very first show in Tampa. Tori's general attitude throughout this show was probably at its highest of any of the shows I have seen this tour. Tori and her band seemed like they were just having a great time performing. There was even an additional song added to the original set list during the second encore.
One of her improvs, before Cornflake Girl, even implied her liking of Chicago. She first commented on meeting "a lot of you already" referring to the Borders signing that morning. Then she began a quite tune on the piano and started on an improv about it being her "favorite place on the trail" and "sometimes I don't wanna go, but there's always something called next year...next year...next year."
She did another improv before Cooling that sounded like a part two of the beautiful improv she did in Columbus saying something like, "You are not on this earth, but I still feel you here on my shoulder" It was very touching and between that improv and the one somewhat similar that she did in Columbus, it really makes me think of those very special people in our lives who may not be physically with us, but they very strongly live on in our hearts.
The sound from where I was sitting was probably the best I have heard. The piano was incredibly crystal clear and more dominant over the band then I had heard. I first noticed the incredible sound, especially with the piano, during Winter. I have probably heard this song 10-15 times live in concert, but this was by far the best. The combination of the crystal clear piano notes and the extra emotion and beauty in Tori's voice made this the most enjoyable Winter I have ever heard live.
A similar encounter with both Cooling and Northern Lad as with Winter. Cooling and Northern Lad are both songs I have heard numerous times, but there was something extra special about them at this show that not only the incredible piano sound gave them, but also the emotion and enjoyment that seemed to come from Tori as she was performing these songs. There was also a long drawn out piano intro to Horses that I had not noticed previously on this tour, that totally make the song for me. Quite an amazing show when the "typical" songs don't sound so typical. This was very much the case for me at this show.
I noticed Tori's spirits seemed to also be extra 'up' for this show. Pancake and In The Springtime Of His Voodoo almost always had Tori dancing, but she was dancing around at these songs a lot more than usual for this show. She seemed to be smiling and moving her body a lot more during Pancake then I had seen before. Her dancing as she came back on stage for Voodoo was much longer and more exagerated than she had done the previous times I had seen it. She smiled out at the audience a lot and genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself and having a good time.
Tiny Dancer - the debut and a huge highlight of the show was one of the most beatiful covers I have ever heard. I never thought this song would be so gorgeous. Tori did a lot of her famous, cute Tori-smiles all throughout this song. She looked like she was enjoying playing it just as much as I enjoyed hearing it.
When she began playing the first few very recognizable notes of Girl, I was in disbelief. I knew it was Girl, but I just could not believe I was finally going to get to hear it for my first time live after a long, patient wait. And I was so impressed by it. A definite huge highlight for me.
Etienne, the final debut of the night, was defintely a suprise, especially to hear it with the band. I was not sure how well it would work out with the band, as I am so used to hearing it solo, but I was once again very impressed. I don't think I liked it better than solo, but the band acting as a background for this song was certainly enjoyable to hear.
From jennifer:
that improv she did before cooling was amazing...i am a relatively new tori amos fan, but she had me at that line "sometimes i see you on my shoulder"...what i remember is something like..."you're gone from this town and from this life...but sometimes..."
From Maure:
Just got back from the concert -- Tori was nothing short of fantastic. She was in excellent voice, and was as feisty as I've ever seen her. So, here's the set list:
Wampum Prayer
(with the band)
A Sorta Fairytale
Little Earthquakes
Sweet Sangria
We Like It Here improv for Chicago ("We like it here, our favorite place along the trail, we like it here, sometimes we don't want to go, but there's always something called 'next year'")
Cornflake Girl
Strange
Space Dog
Northern Lad
Wednesday
(solo)
Winter
I know that you're gone . . . improv into:
Cooling
Tiny Dancer
So You Go improv into:
(with band again)
Mrs. Jesus
Taxi Ride
Girl
Horses
Precious Things
I Can't See New York
Spring Haze
Encore 1
Pancake
Sugar
Scarlet's Walk
Encore 2
Springtime of His Voodoo (including the "every road . . . " improv in the song)
Etienne
Playboy Mommy
And that was it. It was glorious and wonderful. I am so pleased to have been there.
From J. Lynn:
Hi all! We saw the Tori show last night in Chicago (11/29) ... I noticed she played quite a few different things during our show than she did from the 11/27 one, including "Sugar" at the first encore (my absolute personal favorite!!) She also did some improv with us, something to do with how much she loved Chicago, "it's our favorite place on the trail/ we hate to go/ but we might be back next year...." And another time when some woman in the balcony was crooning along to "Winter" (which Tori performed in a very passionate, deep-felt, tear-jerking way), she kinda chuckled toward the end and suggested -- very sweetly -- "Why don't you come on down here and sing it?..." to which the crowd laughed and applauded and the crooning woman finally shut up!
She had EXTREME energy, seemed to be truly enjoying herself, and the band rocked. I still can't get over how she flips from one keyboard to another, or sometimes even plays two at the same time. The woman is incredible. I've seen her perform half a dozen times, maybe more, and I'll never get tired of watching her! Anyway, thanks for the listen.
One interesting and unexpected song she did during the 2nd encore was "Etienne," which originally came from the Y Kant Tori Read album. Also she covered Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."
From Jennifer:
that improv she did before cooling was amazing...i am a relatively new tori amos fan, but she had me at that line "sometimes i see you on my shoulder"...what i remember is something like..."you're gone from this town and from this life...but sometimes..."
From Danita:
As you know Tori was at Borders in Chicago on Friday. I went and had the most amazing time. When I was talking to her, I requested "Cooling" for the St. Louis show in dedication of my grandfather who passed away last week. She said she would try and that made me happy enough. I saw that she played it with a little improv on Friday night. I am so unbelievably happy, that I wouldn't even care if she didn't play it on Tuesday. I just thought you might want to know why she played that song (or why I think she did). This just goes to show that she is a more wonderful and caring person that I thought before.
From Q Magazine
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