Tori performed in Poznan, Poland on Friday, January 24, 2003 at the Arena. The opening act was Howie Day.

Set List

Special thanks to Richard Galbraith, Christine, Matt Page, Danny from CA, Eric with a 'C' and Christoph Viethen for all jointly leaving me the set list on my answering machine. You are all the greatest!

Wampum Prayer
a sorta fairytale
Precious Things
Sweet Sangria
Cornflake Girl
Black-Dove (January)
Crucify
Caught A Lite Sneeze
Wednesday

Band leaves

China
Carbon
Songbird

Band returns

Playboy Mommy
Amber Waves
Sugar
Talula
Take To The Sky
I Can't See New York
Iieee

1st Encore

Pancake
Past The Mission

2nd Encore

Taxi Ride
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, Richard Galbraith and the crowd:

Matt said this was one of the most enthusiastic crowds he has ever seen. The pre-show meet & greet was huge today, around 400 people! It was the biggest meet & greet you can imagine for Europe. Songbird was dedicated to Kevyn Aucoin tonight. It sounded like the Polish audience adored her and that Tori will definitely want to come back there! Matt told me that Tori had planned to performed Doughnut Song, Gold Dust and Songbird during her solo set, but decided to perform China, Carbon and Songbird instead.

From Leszek Zabinski:

There was some serious delay. Tori arrived late and the soundcheck took place around 17.30 hours. The gates were supposed to be open at 17.00, but we'd have to wait until 18.30 to get in. Howie Day performed for nearly empty hall as people were slowly allowed to enter the place by the security. The main act began just after 20.00. What a fantastic event! The chemistry between Tori and the audience worked perfectly. She did not talk much as the songs flow from one to another with almost no pause leaving not much space for ovation (but we did our best!). At the beginning she said: "I know where I am right now in the world" (she was referring to the jingle she recorded for Polish Radio 3: "It's 1.05 and I don't know where I am right now, physically in the world, but my songs are here with you. And maybe, in a way, I am too." Polish toriphiles know exactly those words from weekly shows by Piotr Kaczkowski). When they played "Cornflake Girl" everyone stood up form their seats and basically from now on half of the venue was standing, although the concert was supposed to be seated. We just couldn't stay in those seats!

I especially appreciated "Crucify", "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "China", "Amber Waves", "Take to the Sky" (whole audience was clapping the rhythm), "Iieee" (what a song! what a song!), "Past the Mission". During the intro to "Songbird" she spoke again, something like: "So many things have changed since I've been here last time. Tash is growing up. My friend Kev is not with us anymore. This one's for him." I don't recall if the words about Tash were "growing up" but I guess something similar. Whole thing ended with interesting live version of "Hey Jupiter" and at this moment there was pure magic in the Arena. No words can ever describe it. I guess she'll be back.

From Paulina aka faith:

posted by Leszek Zabinski:
" I don't recall if the words about Tash were "growing up" but I guess something similar."

Tori said potty trained :-)
good news either way, right?

From Marcin Janocha vel Jezyk:

The show that Tori has done yesterday in Poznan was fantastic. It was about 2 PM and I (with a whole group of my friends) had come to Arena in Poznan, and we have heard that Tori would do a "meet & greet" for us... and it was a very big surprise for us, because we wasn't sure of that. We have waited for her about three hours, but it was worth of it. Her bus came to one of the entries, where we have waited... and then in the window we saw her and Natashya's shape, as they were waving to us! It was amazing! But more amazing was a moment, when Tori came to us... she was so beautifull and so joyus of seeing us! She had signed some photos, concert tickets, and cd covers... and she had talked with her fans. I have two her autographs!!! And I was so close to her!!!

Then the show was going to start... the gates were opened with a big delay and the organisation wasn't very good... so Howie Day must played for 1/3 of all audience. But when the hall was full and every Toriphile was inside, the lights were turned out... it was nearly 8PM. And then in one moment only Tori's voice was heard... she was singing a'capella "wampum prayer". The curtain felt down and the band started to play... Tori camed to us and bowed. She played "a sorta fairytale" at first... and it was a beutifull start for this show.

Then the third song was one of my favourite - "Precious Things"... as always played with great passion and strength (maybe it was in her playlist, but my friend Kamila said to her in meet & greet to play this song... and Tori had written this title in her hand! :))).

Next song was "Sweet Sangria"... and it was next song from my "wishes list" :))).

Then Tori said hi to us... and he said "I know where I am right now in the world" which is a paraphrase of Tori's words from beautifull interview with Peter Kaczkowski. She played "Cornflake Girl" and "Black Dove (january)" next. "Crucify" was the seventh song... and I hadn't heard such an interpretation of this song - it was perfect! Eighth was "Caught A Lite Sneeze" which was beautifull as always and very powerfull... Then she returns to Scarlet's Walk songs, and she played "Wednesday" which was a very good start for his solo - played only with piano - songs...

In this part of the show she did three songs... they were "China", "Carbon" and "Songbird". I especially liked the second song, because for me it is one of the most beautifull songs from all Tori's numbers... and in Poznan it was for me a very big emotional thing - I have cried! Before "Songbird" she have told to us that many things in her life has changed, that Tash is growing and that Kevyn (Aucoin) is not with us... and to him he dedicated this beautifull song.

When the band returns Tori has sang "Playboy Mommy" and "Amber Waves". Then she did "Sugar" and superb version of "Talula"... which was something between Tornado version and original album version. But I think the best song of this evening was "Take To The Sky" when the crowd was having a great fun, and everybody has clapped to the rhythm! Then the temperature came down, and Tori did a great "I can't see New York"... and then she done the last song, which was "i i e e e". And it could be the end of this evening... but only beacuse, that this song was perfect!

Tori thanked us and go backstage... but we were clapping, waving, screaming her name and she returns with band to do first encore. She did "Pancake" and "Past the Mission"... and for second time she's gone backstage. But we couldn't permited her to stay there ;))... so we clapped harder then before and she came out. For the end of the concert she did a great song from the last album - "Taxi Ride" and - I think - the most loving song of all polish Toriphiles - "Hey Jupiter". And this last song was the most beautifull... it was so delicate and so touchable. Pure Tori! :)

That was a marvelous show... even though the some inconvenients of the organisation for me it was a great show! Tori did twenty three great songs, which every is an artwork!

It was the first Tori concert in Poland for such a big audience... earlier she was only in Warsaw, in December 2001 giving a Radio Show for nearly 50 people (I was there too :)). So you must know that we were so thirsty of her, that every her word and every sound was for us like a drop of saviour water.

It was an amazing evening... and I'm sure that it will be in memory of every Toriphile for the rest of his life!

From Ame:

I was in Poznaƒ and I had to wait with other Toriphiles for many hours to meet &great Tori (the bodyguard told us that Tori is supposed to arrive at 4 p.m and she's going to have lunch and then with meet with us). At 16:00 Jon and Matt arrived at the Arena -we waved at them and they waved to us - they looked a little shocked. Finally Tori met with us at 17:00 and then it was when the soundcheck began (on our tickets it was written, that the concert will start at 17:00- I think that all of this was the Oddysey's fault). We could enter no sooner than at 18:30 (there was only two entries and everything was going slowly). Howie Day performed for few people (because almost everyone was outside). Then at 20:00 Peter Kaczkowski said :"welcome everybody, I'm Peter Kaczkowski (then was an ovation), please take your seat, and it's a wonderful thing that everyone of us gathered here because of only one reason". Then we heard a voice singing "Wampum Prayer" (we couldn't see her because of the curtian that obscured the stage completely). After the song, the curtain disappeared (it was removed by the orange-coated men). Jon and Matt started to play and Tori came out onto the stage. She joined her hands and bowed to us (it was amazing!!). Then she played "a sorta fairytale". Afterwards Tori said: "I know where I am right now in the world"."Precious Things" was a soulbreaker; no words can describe that feeling when we heard it. During "Cornflake Girl" most of the audience stood up. She didn't gave us time for ovation but we did our best. Before "Songbird" she said: Tash is paddy training (i'm not sure if it is the word "paddy" or something else but it sounded like that). "Sugar" was so full of energy, While performing "Take to the sky", the audience were clapping to the rythm. Everyone stood up when "I Can't See New York" began. When she was performing "Iieee" somebody threw flowers onto the stage. After the end of the song Tori joined her hands and bowed to us again and ran off the stage. At 1st encore she played "Pancake" and "Past The Mission". During "Taxi Ride" (it was the second encore) everyone was standing and moving to the music. "Hey Jupiter"- it was just something that everyone who were there will remember for their whole life. Then she waved at us and ran off the stage again. She was happy and had a *big* smile on her face. The concert was just magic- the earth was moving under our feet, and breath was held in our lungs . We just felt the music running through our body, running through the bodies of 4 thousand people in the Arena. I'm sure that Tori will be back.

P.S: I didn't know that there were so many of us to meet & greet Tori.

From Wojciech:

I just got back from Poznan and slept off the whole ordeal of getting there etc etc, thought I'd give you a review of the show.

First the downsides: Terrible organization, delays, and a lot of smoke in the Arena =). I'm not sure, but it looked like Howie Day was less than enthusiastic about having perform while people were constantly streaming in and out of the hall. He eventually stopped even pretending to care and walked away from the mic, while the song he was supposedly singing went on from playback. I was additionally nervous about the delay because I had a bus to catch afterwards and could end up stranded in a city I've never been before, which wasn't my idea of fun. But on to the show itself...

It was great, I want to stress that. I've only been to one Tori concert before, so I don't have much comparison, but I was absolutely thrilled after this one, even if I had to leave before the 2nd encore (blasted delay!). I did however have the impression that the first part was the worse one. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but "a sorta fairytale" sounded a bit awkward, the piano was either totally overwhelmed by the bass and drums, or was eerily high-pitched and sort of separate from the melodic line. The lowest point of that segment was "Caught a Light Sneeze", a song which I love, and which I was very disappointed with that evening. It got drowned in the beat (but the distinct beat of the studio version), and you could hardly tell the difference between the verses and the chorus. "Precious Things", "Cornflake Girl" and "Sweet Sangria" were enjoyable and 'correct' (yes, I heard the clink of various sharp objects being drawn), "Crucify" was somewhat amusing, because it was totally different from the studio version, and you could tell when different sections of the audience recognized it by the point at which they started applauding. There were 3 or 4 such outbursts, the last one at the start of the chorus =). "Black Dove (January)" was in my oppinion the most beautiful one from the first part, it was absolutely captivating. I'm not a big fan of the song, but I was mesmerized. And at the end they shut out all the lights, except for several violet beams from behind the piano, causing Tori's silhouette to appear as if it was sucking in all the light...brilliant. Wednesday was another high note, very cheerful, and cute, especially the way Tori poked one key of the piano with her index finger childishly =)

The Roadside Cafe part was beautiful and touching, but looking back now it was (perhaps unfortunately) mainly a prelude for what was to come

The 2nd band segment started out with an absolutely beautiful "Playboy Mommy". I remember thinking that it must be a bit strange for Tori to perofrm the song now that Tash is in her life..."Playboy Mommy" was, along with "Mr Zebra" the song that my companion wanted to hear, so we were really happy about it. And I thought that maybe one of my favourites would get a spin as well...and then it started. I'm not sure if anyone can confirm this, but Tori seemed to play the intro to "Sugar", just the piano, and in a curious, faster tempo than usual...I'm pretty sure that it was "Sugar", got really excited, and then she went into "Amber Waves", which baffled me. Still, it was beautiful, and I now after hearing it live I'm much, much more fond of the song. And then she actually DID go into "Sugar" - perhaps it's one of those sudden twists? Anyway, by that's one of my all-time favourites, so I was starting to get very excited, and then followed "Take to the sky" (with obligatory tapping on the piano of course =)), "I can't see New York", "Talula" and "Iieee" - all of which I adore. I'm really glad that the main set ended after "Iieee" because I might have suffered a sensoric overload if another favourite got played in a row.

During the last songs the audience got really lively and half of the Arena was standing up, some were on the stairs, some on the main floor. People got even more responsive during the first encore, and "Past the mission" was absolutely magical, with everyone just sucking in the music and the mood with every pore of their body. It was also the good-bye song for me, as we had to catch that bus, but what a high note it was!

Simply magical

P.S. We did linger outside, just to check what would get played in the 2nd encore, and took off running as soon as we heard it was "taxi ride" =)

From Marcin Janocha vel Jezyk:

Marcin sent me the exact contents of the written set list that Tori had prepared for the Poland show. This is what she had planned to perform:

-----
...wampum...
Fairytale
Precious
Sweet Sangria
Cornflake
Black Dove
Sneeze
Crucify
Wednesday
===
Donut
Gold Dust
Songbird
===
Playboy Mommy
Amber Waves
Sugar
Talula
Take To The Sky
I Can't See New York
PEiieeeALS (petals or iieee)
---
Pancake
Past The Mission
---
Taxi Ride
Jupiter