Tori performed in Hamburg, Germany on Thursday, January 23, 2003 at CCH 1 . The opening act was Howie Day.

Set List

Thanks to Matt Page who called me via cell phone with an entire gang of European fans after the show!

Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Take To The Sky
Sweet Sangria
Lust
Concertina
Virginia
Talula
Wednesday

Band leaves

Leather
Abraham, Martin and John (Dion cover!)
Jackie's Strength

Band returns

Your Cloud
Scarlet's Walk
Cornflake Girl
Juarez
Precious Things
I Can't See New York
Iieee

1st Encore

Taxi Ride
Tear In Your Hand

2nd Encore

Space Dog
Hey Jupiter

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 Matt Page:

Matt said that the show tonight was outstanding and truly exceptional. Tori did a new cover that she has never performed live before! The new cover was Abraham, Martin and John. (It was listed as Abe, Marty and John on the official written set list). Matt said the new cover was appropriate for the state of the world right now. Tori closely followed her written set list, except for the final song. She was suppose to do Pandora's Aquarium tonight, but performed Hey Jupiter instead.

This cover was a huge hit in 1968 for an artist named Dion.

Dion DiMucci, better known only by his first name, was the lead singer of the Belmonts in the late 1950s. In 1960 the group disbanded and Dion started a solo career. In 1962 Dion signed a contract with Columbia Records, for which he would record for the next three years. In 1968 he recorded his hit, "Abraham, Martin, and John."

From Eric (with a 'c'):

As Matt said on the phone immediately after the show (you have probably all heard us cheering in the background), we have been treated to an absolutely exceptional, extraordinarily wonderful show tonight. Certainly one of the best ones that I had the priviledge to witness so far.

Tori was in perfect form and produced an intensity level during all songs, which was more than impressive. Take To The Sky, as just one example, was never so powerful for me as today - and the same is probably true for Precious Things.

The highlight and centerpiece was Tori's extremely beautiful performance of Dion's "ABRAHAM, MARTIN AND JOHN" from 1968. I just did an Internet search on this song (I think none of us knew what it was when Tori did it...) and came up with the following links, which provide much more relevant information:

http://www.geocities.com/wingsofmercury/prez3.html
http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/4b3.html
http://www.rocklibrary.com/Education/Lesson_List.cfm
http://www.epinions.com/musc-review- å2810-78BDFCF-39DA391C-prod1

I was extremely moved and it took a while for me to recover from this experience. Tori is an endless source of energy and inspiration. These are the moments, which are difficult to explain, especially to non-Toriphiles, but which will stay in my memories forever and which make all of this so worthwhile.

Best regards - and thanks for all your effort for keeping the community informed. You are doing an amazing thing with 'The Dent'!

From Marla Tiara:

The lyrics to Abraham, Martin and John:

http://www.lilesnet.com/patriotic/music/abraham martin_john.htm

(I'm assuming it's the same song.)

Thanks to Mina, Danny and Trevor for also sending info about this cover.

From Joshua Wagoner:

Abraham, Martin and John was written in 1968 by Dick Holler and has been covered by Bob Dylan (around 1980), Harry Belafonte, Marvin Gaye, Kenny Rogers and Whitney Houston. Here are the lyrics:

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
Now I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
Now I just looked around and he's gone.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good die young,
Now I just looked around and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
An' we'll be free, someday
I know we'll one day.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
Thought I see them walkin'
Up over the hill
With Abe, Martin and John
With Abe, Martin and John

From Christoph Viethen:

Well, to make it short, it has been one of the best shows I've ever seen (and I've seen a few!). First thing I noticed was that the sound - at least in the place I was sitting at - was absolutely brilliant, with a very nice balance between Tori's voice, her piano, the drums and the bass. Being very happy with that, I next found that Tori was in a great mood, very playful, very energetic. As the concert went on, it more and more turned out that this would be a very special evening:

Take to the Sky was great already, with the audience reacting well and clapping in the right places. Talula was a nice surprise (again :-)), and then she begins the solo part with Leather! She obviously was in a really good mood ...

Next came "Abe, Marty and John" (written like this according to set list), and I have to admit I didn't know what the song's title was at that time, but it was really beautifully played. With a few lines of the song in mind (and the help of Google), here's what I found. I'm very sure this is the song Tori played, though I'm not prepared to swear that she sang everything exactly the way it's printed there :-). But it's very close:

Click to read the lyrics to Abrham, Martin and John.

So it's a Dylan song, though not written by Bob Dylan (if that web page is right). Note From Mikewhy: Dylan covered it, but the song was first performed by Dion in 1968.

Next, Jackie's Strength was great, and then we got a band version of "Your Cloud" (never heard that one live before).

As if that wasn't enough of wonderful presents from Tori, next we heard the band play a powerful Scarlet's Walk. After a roller-coaster ride of more highlights (Cornflake Girl, Juarez, Precious Things) played to a great audience, and through a nice first encore, we got Space Dog and Hey Jupiter for second encore! Isn't that incredible! I still can't believe I was there. :-)

The great selection of songs combined with the really good shape Tori was in made it a truly special show. I'll sleep very well tonight. :-)

From Prince Adam:

This is a Dion and the Belmonts song.

Very odd for Tori to cover. It was an anti-Viet Nam
war song.

It goes "Anyone here seen my friend Abraham?/Can you
tell me where he's gone?/He'd freed a lot of people
but it seems the good, they die young/I just looked
around and he's gone."

It's a nice little tune.

The people are Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King
Jr., and John F. Kennedy.

The song has a final verse about "Where has Bobby
gone?" that's a reference to Bobby Kennedy.

All great people lost in the fight for civil rights.

From Lorraine Eakin:

I'm sure twenty million other people will email you with this information, but I thought I'd share what I know - "Abraham Martin and John" was a latter-day hit for Dion of Dion and the Belmonts (of "Run-Around Sue" fame). It was an albeit slightly sappy tribute to Abraham Lincoln, MLK Jr. and JFK. Very appropriate for Martin Luther King's birthday - it's nice to see her give tribute to such a strong leader for peace during these increasingly tense times.   Hope that's helpful!

From Charity Fish:

Here are the lyrics to the new cover Tori performed. I am not sure if she sang these lyrics exactly (I wasn't there), but here are the lyrics that I found posted on the net. The song seems really beautiful and relavent at this time in the world. Anyway, I just thought you might wanna post the lyrics. Some famous artists that have covered it include Kenny Rogers, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles.

Lyrics:

Has anybody here,
Seen my old friend Abraham,
Can you tell me, where he's gone,
He freed a lotta people,
But it seems the good die young,
I just looked around,
And he's gone,

Has anybody here,
Seen my old friend John,
Can you tell me, where he's gone,
He freed a lotta people,
But it seems the good die young,
I just looked around,
And he's gone,

Has anybody here,
Seen my old friend Martin,
Can you tell me, where he's gone,
He freed a lotta people,
But it seems the good die young,
I just looked around,
And he's gone,

Didn't you love the things they stood for,
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me,
And we'll be free,
Someday soon it's gonna be one day,

Has anybody here,
Seen my old friend Bobby,
Can you tell me, where he's gone,
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

From Dan:

I hope, you don't have to work too hard!!!

Just wanted to tell you that it was an amazing show . They had a lot of fun playing in Hamburg. I was in the first row and could see a lot of smiling especially between Tori and John.

They played about 2 hours (can't remember-still blown away :o) )

The people were beautyful, not a lot of screaming and running around, as far as I could see. They use sage as well in Germany. The sound was good. It was a rockin' evening!!!

So, I've to go to bed now (still a little sick-missed Oberhausen, because of a fu. . . flu, bad time to get ill- I will go to Munich on Saturday) I'm sure, you'll get reviews later!!!

From Upside Down Girl:

I see that the other Euro EWFs already wrote to you, but here's some new information they didn't have:

I talked to Joel before the concert and he confirmed that Tori will be performing in several festivals in Europe from the end of May to at least June, possibly till August. These festivals will definitely include the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and the Rock am Ring Festival in Germany!!! Roskilde is a HUGE festival, and it'll be interesting to see the crowd's reception of Tori.

As for the famed Set List, I have a copy of the official list from Joel(will send a scan, if you like). Interesting note: Your Cloud is included in the Roadside Cafe set, altho she played it with the band. The Roadside Cafe sign was indeed still hanging during Your Cloud -- I thought the RC time was only Tori? (Note From Mikewhy: On This Tour, the section of the concert called the Roadside Cafe and designated as such on her set list always includes all her solo songs and the first song she does with the band when they return. The Roadside Cafe is not just Tori solo!) Second note on the set list: Tori closed with Hey Jupiter, but the set list had her closing with Pandora! I was glad of Hey Jupiter b/c she did a FANTASTIC job with it.

Another note: Talula was an almost unrecognizable version of itself. This wasn't bad at all, just extremely interesting. Her opening improv was a repetition of "circles ... cooling" over and over, followed by an improv around the phrase "I don't want to lose her." The melody AND rhythm of the main song were different from anything I've heard before, all the way until the part about "Big Bird on a fishing line," and then Tori went back to the new melody/rhythm after that verse. Tori also closed Talula with the "circles" improv. VERY interesting!!

Lastly, Tori seemed very refreshed from her day of rest before the show, and she even did a bit of the Cornflake Girl dance!! Life was good at that show :)

From jennytalula:

i just got back from hamburg and i need to tell a few details the others didn't. first of all, i want to thank the exceptional toriphile community in germany! i think we have a truly original and very intense fan base over here. everyone is very friendly, helpful and a bit crazy, too. that alone makes every tori concert a true highlight.

tori was beautiful during the meet and greet, where i asked her to play "your cloud" which she wrote on her hand AND played it later during the concert! i am very happy to have been heard by her...

she was in a real good mood and was very powerful. she said that hamburg is one of her favorite places in the world. she also did a nice improv before the solo songs where she sang about the old days when she used to play bars.

all in all, i am very sad its over and so grateful to have witnessed this beautiful concert! see you all in berlin!

From Birgitte Kjærsgaard Simonsen:

I was at the CCH Hamburg, Germany show on january 23rd! And I came all the way from Denmark to see Tori! Unfortunately Tori rarely comes to my country, so a friend of mine and myself took the train all the way from Aarhus, Denmark to Hamburg to attend the show! And it was worth it!

I've only seen her once before, also in Hamburg in '98, which was also a great show, but this one was even more amaaaaazing! Wow!

Tori was so cute, her greenish dress with long sleeves made her look just like a fairy! And she was very concentrated, she didn't talk much, but that was ok, because the music was so powerful and perfect!

Also the lightshow accompanying the songs was really great! It fit the moods of the songs very well!

I didn't regret the songs she didn't play, but it was like everytime she began a new song I'd go: yeah! great! fantastic! It was cool that she did A Sorta Fairytale, Sweet Sangria, I Can't see New York and Wednesday, also Concertina and Jackie's Strenght were highlights, and that we got the classics Cornflake Girl and Precious Things and the amazing alternate live versions of Talula and Hey Jupiter! It was such a great experience! And I wish I could've gone to more shows and seen her again... one show isn't really enough... :-) But I can't afford to travel all over Europe...

Anyways, what I wanted to say was that I'm so happy I once again got to see the magic of Tori live!