Tori performed in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Monday, January 20, 2003 at 'Ahoy' . The opening act was Howie Day.

Set List

Thanks to Michel Kempes who emailed the set list to me in record time and to Matt Page who called me via cell phone.

Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Little Amsterdam
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Crucify
Pancake
Horses
Cornflake Girl
Wednesday

Band leaves

China
Lovesong
Cooling

Band returns

Amber Waves
Concertina
Bliss
Take To The Sky
Precious Things
I Can't See New York
Iieee

1st Encore

Talula
Past The Mission

2nd Encore

Sweet Sangria
Playboy Mommy

Reviews

The latest reviews are at the bottom of this page. For more reviews, please check out the Dent's Tour Reviews Forum. (I will eventually move the forum reviews to this web page as well.) Please post your own review if you were at this show!

From Michel Kempes:

Michel tells me that Tori followed her written set list exactly.

From Matt Page:

Matt said the show was fantastic, and that tonight's Lovesong was the best of the whole tour. It was quite intense.

From Hugo van Laren:

I just got back from an amazing Tori concert. I was especially surprised to hear the Cure cover Lovesong. She played it really wonderfully. The rest of the show was amazing as well. She played most of my favorite songs, like Horses, Wednesday and Precious Things. It was good to hear old time favorite Cornflake Girl. Again, Tori didn't talk alot throughout the concert. She introduced the band members, said something like "It's always yummy yummy to be here" and "I feel like I am playing in your living room". Tori seemed in good mood, though. She was very lively. I really liked her little dances when she walked on stage. Definitely my best Tori concert ever...

From A. Welles:

This was by far THE MOST amazing show I have ever seen her play. She was so much at ease and happy and she had an amazing power. The setlist was overwhelming, she seemed very happy, emotional and passionate. I was sitting 3rd row and I could see she was having a great time. Especially during Concertine she was laughing and smiling and before the first encore she was dancing with Matt and Jon.

What really struck me was that she was very articulate and she talked several times during the show. I also attended the show before this one in Brussels where she didn't talk at all, besides the introduction of the band. In this show show she said it was alway 'yummy yummy' to come back to Holland and she played a little improvisation about Holland and how much she liked being there, before she started playing Little Amsterdam. Crucidy was truly amazing, being about 10 minutes...

When she had just started playing China the Roadside Café sign wouldn't want to come down so she started an improv about the sign and that she wouldn't want to come down. When it finally got down she started China after all. Lovesong (a request from one of my friends) was very emotional and powerful.

She also did an improv right before Amber Waves and Take To The Sky was pretty powerful with Jon and Matt.

By far the best show I have ever seen and the audience went crazy with lots of songs. Last night (Brussels) was a Choirgirl evening, this one was a Pele evening, since she played Horses (WOW!), Sneeze, Talula and Little Amsterdam

From Carmen:

it was amazing ( and you received the set list amazingly fast). she seemed very happy, dancing a lot (at least three times) and bouncing up and down her chair (more than usual). she made some conversation, which was nice. Telling us that holland is such a yummie place to be, making up a song how our green is not what it seems, and how she is not what she seems (i thougt she was referring to pod and red light district in amsterdam, i also thought that was funny, but i seemed to be the only one who could see a joke in that.... i dunno).

i was happy that she played caught a lite sneeze, i finally realize that boys for pele is my favorite album until now, it touches me in so many ways and it helped me through a lot of difficult times when it seemed that no one could ever feel that bad, but boys for pele told me that everyone is in that place sometimes. crucify was played with incredible improvisations, i enjoyed it a lot. i admire the way she can turn these oldies into very interesting new ones, because to horses and talula she did the same amazing thing.

wednesday was really fun, it's like a train that song, you have to move to it, so i did.

then it was time for some intimate times. she was already playing the intro of china when she suddenly interrupted herself to say that it was time for the cafe. she sang a little song about the cafe telling she spent a lot of time there and that she will sing to the boy that is hiding. i thought the bandless time was too short, but apparantly she wanted to rock and so she did. before she did, she told us she felt like she was in our livingroom, which i thought was a compliment.

i loved take to the sky and can't see new york was so pretty tonight, just like iieee, but in an other, chrystal way, while iieee was angry and hurt, it was very beautiful.

all in all it was a pretty good day and i tasted heaven perfectly. thanx tori

From Marije Pama:

We were at the Rotterdam show tonight, and here is our review. Tori was extremely good, and seemed to be really rocking tonight.

The M&G was crowded and rainy, and therefore not very long. She didn't seem to be in a good mood then, but that changed in the evening apparently! After the M&G we went to a café with a group, and guess who we ran into in the mall??!!! Howie Day! It was so funny. he walked past us, and some of us looked back: 'Was it really him......are you sure...?'...Uhm, Excuse me......Howie! He looked quite shy, and obvious not used to 'being recognized'. He put some autographs, and we took a few pics. He told us he just bought some weights (?, for lifting with your arms)and he was carrying them in a bag. So they were heavy, and he headed on.

You got the setlist already, and Tori said a few funny things: After Caught a Lite Sneeze she mentioned it is 'yummy, yummy, yummy to come here, and went into a little improv where she sings/speaks something like:'' This is too crazy......when they say green here, they mean something different, when they say 'she' here, they mean something different.....It's hazey (?) here. When I'm here'... I didn't undertand it perfectly, but that's what we think she said.

Then she went into Crucify, very long!!!

Then Pancake, and then she introduced the band. Then Horses, very beautiful!

Then Cornflakegirl. The guitarpart Caton normally plays, was played by Tori on the piano!

And Wednesday had turning leaves on the background.

Then China, without band. A long intro, then she stops: 'ok, stop, I have a sign desperately trying to come down!Ah, here it is!' Then the Roadside Cafe sign came down. She played a little improv about the sign!'This sign comes down every night, sometimes she tries to hide (?).

Then into a beautiful China again.

She played Lovesong! This was requested by a fan.

And wow....Cooling............chills............

After cooling she says: 'It feels like I'm in your living room'(twice)'And you with me'. (?)

Amber Waves was cool. She started solo, and then suddenly the band joined in. Very impressive effect. After the line: 'They told me to tell you they're waving', she waved at the audience.

Then Concertina. Audience loved it, just as Bliss. It was very loud and powerful!

Take to the Sky, where she banged the piano (ofcource) As usual everybody started clapping.

Wow, then Precious Things, the crowd went wild. Beautiful light effects!

Then I Can't see New York
Ieeeee

First Encore:
Talula!
Past the mission! Still gives me chills. So beautiful!

Second Encore:
Sweet Sangria
Playboy Mommy

The audience was very nice. Respectful. No running/walking around, no yelling etc. I enjoyed it a lot. She did a lot of improvs, and she talked a little. More than in Brussels. Some songs were very loud, almost too loud, but there are different opinions on this. It sure rocked!

I am sorry if I made mistakes, but it's late, and we are still trying to type. Now we're going to bed, because tomorrow we will be going to Oberhousen!!! (where we will have really good seats, almost up front!)

From arend smit:

I liked the show tonight very much. Sitting 15th row from the stagecenter the sound and vision were excellent. The combination of piano, bass and drums as in a jazz-trio worked fine. I enjoyed the versions of the songs and in particular Crucify and Precious Things were fabulous re-written (or open to improvisations, I don't know) and for me the best songs of this concert. For my friend it were those two and Bliss. She had her lyrics book autographed during the meet & greet that afternoon and Tori signed it on that song's page!

Tori didn't talk much between songs, just two or three times. She told that she felt like playing in a livingroom and later on that she felt "yummie". She was very enthusiastic in her performance.

We had a great evening.

From Maartje:

Tori in Ahoy: WHOAAAAAAH!

Although I had to get into it this concert was superb! The crowd was very quiet and she played lots of my favourite songs, like Sweet Sangria (at last), Horses, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Love Song, Amber Waves and Cooling. I couldn't wish for more! As I said; the concert didn't get me at once; when she started playing Crucify it did. Precious Things, Cornflake Girl and the Waitress were, in my opinion, ok, but Love Song, Iiiiee and Horses were outstanding; it almost brought me to tears, something that has never happened to me before (Dutch you know). This was the one and only concert I've seen her on this tour and I liked the band; although it doesn't seem to add something to ll the songs, Talula for instance, became a bit noisy, but Take To The Sky sounds absolutely great played with a band! So, it's hard for me to point out the highlights, the only thing that I can say now is that hopefully Tori will visit the Netherlands very soon again.

From d!o:

Warning! I'm not as positive about the concert as other people. For instance, in my opinion there was way too much delay on Tori voice which almost made it something like a space-concert. Especially in the beginning of the concert the drums were too loud pushing away the sound of the piano. To me, the peak of the concert was when she played Lovesong by the Cure. This was very, very intense and moved me to tears. Other then this, it felt a bit like Tori was on a tour (which she is of course).

From Daniel (Posted to the Raisin Girls Yahoo mailing list):

Ok, I finally got to see Tori last night in Rotterdam. It was an amazing show, but I didn´t expect less actually haha It was the first time that I saw her live so it was quite an experience to say the least. She seemed to be quite at ease, she bounced back and forth and seemed to be having a good time. However I missed a bit more of verbal interaction from her side. She only talked a couple of times: to introduce the band and to say that it was always "yummy yummy to be in Holland". She also asked the audience "to feel as if they were in their living room". And oh yeah, the Roadside Cafe sign wouldn´t come down and she kinda stopped playing and said something about it. I guess I like it when artists thank their audience, tell little stories about the songs or whatever comes to their minds. I also saw Suzanne Vega this year live in Madrid and I had a great time with her stories in between the songs and Alanis is pretty much the same. I guess one could argue that Tori Amos´ interaction with the public was merely musical last night and maybe too much of verbal interaction could have spoiled the intense atmosphere of music and raw emotions that she was creating....what a night it was! The set list was perfect for my preferences! She didn´t stop a single minute between song and song. The audience went wild with " Crucify" that had a great intro. "Cornflake Girl" sounded kinda worn out (in my opinion) but then came "Wednesday" which just rocked and perfectly fitted in the post-Cornflake Girl mood. "China" and "Cooling" were beautiful and I was really surprised to hear her rendition of The Cure´s "Love Song" which was amazing and that nearly brought tears to my eyes. "Precious Things" was fierceful and "I can´t see New York" very emotional and beautiful as expected. The epiphany from the concert, I think. The light effects were quite beautiful, especially with "Concertina" where she seemed to have a great time.

Before the encores began, a lot of people had abandoned their seats and ran to the front rows...so my friend and I did the same, we went to the front, jumped on the seats and danced to "sweet sangria" and stared at her while she was playing "Playboy Mommy".

Man, she is a lioness on stage. And your emotions and memories are in her hands.

From Theo van Dijk:

As usual, the show was absolutely outstanding. I was 15th row and had a perfect view of Tori and the guys. AS usual she started of with Wampum Prayer and A sorta Fairytale, and what followed was like a setlist come true! She played them all, Precious Things, Talula, Past The Mission, Horses (in a wonderfull new version) a very rocky version of Take to the Sky and go on.... All my favourites were included! The lightning was very good for this tour, especially during I Can't See New York and iieee and added very much to the atmosphere. Also there were quite some improvs, most notably when the Roadside Cafe sign refused to come down and Tori paused in China to sing an improv about the sign. Also she told that it was always 'yummie yummie to be in Holland' which I thought was very sweet.

When the encores started, everyone went up to the stage, as they always do during the encores, and there were three venue security guys blocking the isle at row 10, telling us we couldn't go on, even tough there were hardly people from the front rows standing, so I jumped over a few (empty) seats and made it to the front anyway, where I got some amazing pictures of Tori and the guys.

After the show we had suspicion that there was gonna be an aftershow meet and greet so we went to the artist entrance, where I got to make a picture of me with John Evans and Matt Chamberlain (Matt is shy, which was cute!!!) and someone from Tori's crew asked if we wanted to pose for a picture on toriamos.com, which we did obviously, so looik for me soon there!!!

Unfortunately Tori didn't come out, but one of the security guys led me into her dressing room (which she had already left) and I got myself a poster with all the backstage passes on it!

This was my 6st Tori show and absolutely the best so far (but when I check back my reviews on the Dent on previous tours I see myself saying that every year :-)

Can't w2ait to see Tori again!!!!

From Leonie de Wit:

Tori at Ahoy!!

I was in the sixth row and I could see Tori perfectly. I've got the original setlist which she played totally. The way I wrote down the titles of the songs is also the way they were written on the setlist.

~wampum~
Amazing! I was very anxious to see her and wampum only made me more anxious.

~fairytale~
Matt and Jon came on first. After them Tori came up. She looked amazing! She was wearing high heeled shoes, and trousers with a sorta dress over it. I had to cry during this song just seeing her again from so close ... It made me very emotional.

~Li'l Amsterdam~
I was very surprised she played this song, it was very powerful and I liked it!

~Sneeze~
* I believe that during this song she looked at me ... She said something about how yummy yummy it was to be in Holland again. And she played an improv that went something like:

Grass means something different here.
She means something different here.
Whenever I'm here I think of you honey.
Whenever I'm here I think of you.

I think with the last sentences she was referring to Mark! It was wonderful!

~Crucify~
Crucify was great it lasted 10 minutes!!

~Pancake~
The first scarlet song! It was very beautifull she gave a whole new dimention to it!

~Horses~
WAUW!! I really wanted to hear this song!! She played it during the soundcheck and I was hoping she'd play it!!! It was truly amazing!!!

*After horses she introduce „two of my favorite people in the world‰ Matt and Jon!

~Cornflake~
Amazing!!! This was one of the highlights of the show! During one of the piano solo's I screamed TORI!!! And she waved in my direction!! YAY!!! After cornflake I walked to the stage very fast and I threw my present on the stage (she didn't see it) my present was a small note and lipgloss.

~Wednesday~

~Roadside café.~

The sign didn't come down the way it should. So Tori sang a cute little improv that went something like:

This is my sign.
It wont come down all the time.
It's been here every night.
But she wont come down right now.
And when they sign finally came down she smiled and said. Ok there we go!

~China~
In one word: gorgeous!.

~Love song~
Amazing! Amazing!! Love song was so pretty!! So intence!! She sang so beautiful!!

~Cooling~
She played the piano intro and I went crazy!!! I really wanted to hear the song! It was very good!!!

~End of roadside café.~

~Amber Waves~
~Concertina~
She was very happy during this song! She laughed at Jon and Matt all the time! You could see she enjoyed playing it.

~Bliss~
~Take to the sky~
Another highlight!!

~Precious~
Precious was so beautifull! I really cant describe it in any other way.

~I cant see NY~
The first time I heard this song on the album it was very hard for me to get into. But the way she played it now! I understand the song now! She played it in like a whole new dimension!

~IIEEE~
I liked IIEEE but I found the drums were too loud, I couldn't hear the piano anymore.

First encore.
~Talula~
~Past the mission~

2nd encore:

Tori came up with some kind of flower in her hand ... that was burning I don't what it was ... but she walked around with it and you could smell it ... It smelled very nice.

~Sweet sangria~
~Playboy mommy~

I also had this song on my wish list! It sounded amazing.

From Jan Hofman:

Yes. She still can do it. Raising every hair on my body, I mean. Or bringing tears to my eyes. She still can do it, after all these years. I must admit I felt better about Tori and her music in the days of her first three solo-albums. And sometimes, especially with FTGH and SLG, it felt like I had lost my religion. Sure, the fact that I wished for the ‘road side caf&Mac218;’ sign to stay on as long as possible may proof that I still like her music better when it’s just her and the grand piano. But boy, did she give away a performance in Rotterdam last night. It had everything: from a rocking Take To The Sky or Bliss to a breathtaking Lovesong (wouldn’t have dared to hope for that one) and Playboy Mommy (perfect ending). It was just wonderful, it really was: the performance, the audience, the setlist… I could give you guys a full setlist with every single detail or I could complain about the bad sound in Ahoy or keep on nagging about the fact that I wished she played alone. But it all doesn’t matter. This year couldn’t have started better. She gave me a feeling that I intend to keep as long as I can. Yes. She still can do it.

From arno peters:

I agree with all the other EwF that this show was great. Tori was really enjoying the show herself (did she mak a a stop at a famous Dutch coffeeshop?) and the setlist was perfect. BUT I've to admit I could not concentrate on the show because a lot of people where walking (to the bar?, to the bathroom?)/ Even during Lovesong many people walked around. Opening and closing the doors every 30 seconds was very annoying. Why o why couldn't people stay at their seuts for 2 hours? Please Tori perform next time in a small place for only real fans!!

From the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant