StrangeLittleTour
Mannheim, Germany
December 2, 2001

Updated January 7, 2002

Tori performed in Mannheim, Germany on December 2, 2001 at Mozartsaal during the 2001 StrangeLittleTour.

Set List

Thanks to Michael "Dreamweaver" for being the first to email me with the set list, and to Matt Page, Michael, Erik (with a 'k') and Eric (with a 'c') who verified the set list for me!

'97 Bonnie and Clyde
Siren
Silent All These Years
Sugar
Black-Dove (January)
Little Earthquakes
I Don't Like Mondays
Happy Phantom
Spring Haze
Suede
Bell for Her
Rattlesnakes
Me and a Gun
Cooling

1st Encore:
Northern Lad
Tear in Your Hand

2nd Encore:
Jackie's Strength
Something (George Harrison cover!)
Pretty Good Year

Reviews

Latest reviews are added to the bottom of the page.

Be sure to check the Tori Concert Reviews Forum for reviews as well!

From Michael "Dreamweaver"

Added December 2, 2001 - Uhmm...you guess it...it was COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !!!!!!!!

1000 Oceans was on the official, written setlist but she played PGY instead. Something is a Song she n e v e r played before.

During Sugar she hit the Piano so badly that her fingers must have hurt..autsch..

Bells for Her was played on the Whurley..wonderful.

She seemed really into it today and the crowd went up to the front directly after Cooling. Joel seemed a bit worried..*grin*

The M&G was very relaxed and Steve was wondering about our beautiful architecture (..hey.. you have a 300 year old Church here..we don't have that in the States..)

From Matt Page, Michael, Erik (with a 'k') and Eric (with a 'c')

Added December 2, 2001 - The 'official' setlist had 1000 Oceans instead of Pretty Good Year.

The song 'Something' most likely (we are not 100% sure...) is a Beatles song which potentially was played in honour of George Harrison, who died two days ago. (It was definitely not the Tom Waits songs 'Time'.) Tori played this song in concert for the first time ever.

The show was 'dedicated' to the Lorelei. (The famous Lorelei rock at the river Rhine is just about 100km away from Mannheim.) Tori said that she would be present today - and after Siren this already appeared to be true. There was a brief Lorelei reference also in the intro to Bells For Her.

When Tori went to the Wurly to play Bells For Her, her microphone was not working for some seconds. When it came back, she played a short improvisation along the lines of 'sometimes I sing for myself...'.

Within I Don't Like Mondays, Tori stopped once since there was suddenly some strange sound accompanying her.

Happy Phantom was very lively and Tori enjoyed playing (toying) with the audience during the song.

During Pretty Good Year, Tori again sang 'pretty she is' twice after the line 'Let me tell you something about America'. (In Brussels yesterday, she once sang 'pretty she is to me' - a clear reference to America as a country and certainly prompted by the September events.

Tori was fantastic tonight. The show was on an extremely high intensity level. Every song and the atmosphere were just perfect. Tori smiled a lot and seemed to enjoy herself.

Richard (Handal) would have probably said: "She has hit one out of the ballpark again!"

From Christine Abraham

Added December 2, 2001 - I know, it doesn't sound original at all, but this was an awesome show even though there were some technical problems, which didn't bother the crowd at all - on the contrary. During "I don't like Mondays" there was some sort of weird feedback on which Tori commented "Oops, let's try that again". When she started to play "Bells for her" on the Wurlitzer, she realized that the microphone wasn't on. When they finally put it on, she did one of her amazing improvs: "Sometimes I sing to myself, sometimes I don't make a noise, sometimes it's my fault, sometimes it's not" before she actually went into "Bells".

Before "Sugar" she spoke to the audience and told us that she had been near Mannheim a while ago for 3 weeks. She got to know Loreley (a German legend for those of you who are not familiar with that name) then and said that Loreley had taken over tonight.

From Mysterilady2001

Added December 3, 2001 - I think many of us were waiting for Tori to tribute George Harrison.

Lovely choice Tori :-)

Something
(George Harrison)

Recorded EMI Studios, London, 25 February 1969
Engineer Ken Scott

The final solo demo recorded by George Harrison on his 26th birthday resulted in the first commitment to tape of the beautiful Something, destined for the album Abbey Road (recording spanned April to August 1969), George's first A-side composition for the Beatles when it was issued as a single that October, and hundreds of cover versions. The demo is simplicity itself: a live-in-one-take electric guitar/vocal performance that, in addition to the definitive lyric, also embraced a counter-melody verse later dropped. Shortly after taping this demo George participated in a session during which Joe Cocker became the first artist - ahead of the Beatles, even - to record this major new composition; his version did not come out until November 1969, however, by which time Abbey Road and the Something single had been issued.

Song: Something
Duration: 3.00
Track No.: 1
Composer: George Harrison
Vocals: George Harrison
Year: 1969

Lyrics:

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

You're asking me will my love grow
I don't know, I don't know
You stick around and it may show
I don't know, I don't know

Something in the way she knows
And all I have to do is think of her
Something in the things she shows me

I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

From Ben Deissler

Added December 3, 2001 - WOW! My first ever Tori concert and I was just amazed. What can she do with just her piano? Just about everything. This has definately got to be one of the best concerts of any artist that I've ever been to. Intense is my summing up of yesterday's evening. Jackie's Strength, Northern Lad and Pretty Good Year were beautiful. Suede was much different than on the album - very sensual, not as cold as with all the electronics. Me And A Gun was haunting - cheers to the absolutely well behaved audience for not spoiling it. But the highlight for me was definately Something. I had already thought about George during Happy Phantom ("Strawberry Fields"), but to hear his song from Tori was absolutely fabuluous! The world lost a great musician last week.

Unfortunately, Tori was not very talkative - she spoke to us just once before Sugar. But her music says so much, many words were not necessary.

From Marion

Added December 3, 2001 - So the concert in Mannheim was absolutely magnificent. Tori was really energetic (perhaps angry energetic at times) but it was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. She was wearing red pants, and a black shiny top which also went over her hands (I heard someone who was upfront say so, I was on the Mezzanine). The show started at 8:10 and ended at 10:05

Here's the setlist (I wrote it down as she went)

Bonnie & Clyde (she didn't appear on stage, she was hidden somewhere behind a shredded black curtain, the poster of the character hanging on the right side (from audience view). I thought there was something wrong with her voice at first, but I think that was just the song)

Siren (first time I see this one live, I couldn't recognize it as first).

Silent All These Years

At this point Tori said that she had stayed somewhere not too far from Mannheim for three weeks some time ago, and that her friends took her to see the Loreley, and then she said "so I just want to say that she's with me tonight, that's it". That was the first and last time she spoke.

Sugar (she sang the "youre just a pussy my sweet boy" very very clearly)

January girl (when she sang "all my kin" she put both her hands on each of her thighs)

Little Earthquakes

I don't like Mondays

Happy Phantom (she was toying with the audience, banging on piano)

Spring Haze

Suede (it was so pretty and calm)

Bells for her (with an intro for hte Loreley, "sometimes I sing to myself...Loreley...sometimes she's with me sometime's she not)

rattlesnakes

Me and a Gun (a girl behind me started to cry, first time I saw her do this one, you could sense the mood in the room change)

Cooling (people moved forward)

1st encore

Northern Lad (the audience cheered after they recognized this one)

Tear in your hand)
(people stomped their feet and cheered very loud)

2nd encore

Jackie's strenghth
Something (I thought nooooooooo way she did it she did it she did it! It was very full of sound, you could really feel the piano wanting to start dancing with this one, and the vocals were just absolutely excellent)

pretty good year (I think this has something to do witht he fact that we have December already)

This was an absolulety excellent show, I'm still smiling and it's almost been 24 hours... anyway, I have a question for you, and I wonder if you'd know. I read that the meet and greets are cancelled, but people were saying something about the after show meet and greet, I'm seeing her again in frankfurt, so I'm just wondering when would be a good time to meet her, or is there anyone I could give aÝletter for Tori to? Also do you know people going to the tori show in frankfurt, cause I'm going by myself and I'd like to meet up with people before perhaps...

Added December 18, 2001 - Christine Abraham sent me the following press review of Mannheim, which appeared in the December 4, 2001 edition of the German newspaper Mannheimer Morgen. Christine translated from German to English for us and included the original German. Please remember that translations are sometimes error-prone and not perfect.

Exploring Dark Areas
Singer Tori Amos at Mannheim's Rosengarten

By Hans-Günter Fischer

Allegedly there are people who buy a record only because of its great cover (even though it has only the size of a bonsai in our current CD age). When it comes to Tori Amos [' new record] it would be pardonable: on the cover of her new record you see a really beautiful woman - Miss Amos herself. But she is a little bit over styled - on pure purpose. And if you open the booklet, you have a whole range of Amos-photos with the most varying clothes, hair colours and poses. One picture for each song. From blonde - of course - angel to vamp.

At her Mannheim show in the almost sold out 'Mozartsaal' of the town hall you look for such masquerade in vain. Tori Amos does not take on any roles, she rather bares herself. Therefore her own songs are dominating, not the classics from her new album written by others - from Neil Young to Eminem.

Amos seems very delicate, almost girlish. But this girl knows some things about life that some men do not even see happening in their dreams - or nightmares. Her lyrics are mostly explorations of the dark areas of human states of minds and thoughts, again and again they are about hurting and trauma. And also in Mannheim her performance is like it has already been described before: it seems as if she wants to confide in the spectators and make them listen to her intimate confessions.

All by herself she is sitting on the stage in front of the biggest of all B–sendorfer pianos. She is only accompanied by two electric pianos. The sound is sometimes turned up that it sounds like an orchestra playing, and Amos' voice - longing, imploring, very fragile - is not unaffected by echoing effects either. But it is capturing any time, be it lamenting with a husky timbre or fluting in the highest register like Kate Bush.

One piano ballad is followed by another, which is strictly speaking a mockery of the laws of dramaturgy. You do not even need five fingers to count the upbeat songs - one finger is already enough. She is also playing the old hit by the Boomtown Rats "I Don't Like Mondays" in slow motion. Which makes it even more cryptic and ambiguous. There are not many who take hold of other people's songs in such a domineering way.

The audience is listening almost with rapt attention. And rushes towards the stage at the end during the encores like the parish to the priest in front of the altar during the Communion. Once more the spectators receive blessings from the singer. For example "Something" by George Harrison: a tribute from gentle Tori to the gentle Beatle, which he probably would have liked.

Original German text:

Die Sängerin Tori Amos im Mannheimer Rosengarten

Von unserem Mitarbeiter Hans-Günter Fischer

Es soll Leute geben, die sich eine Platte der gelungenen Verpackung wegen kaufen (auch wenn diese im CD-Zeitalter nur noch Bonsai-Größe hat). Bei Tori Amos wäre es verzeihlich: Auf dem Cover ihrer aktuellen Scheibe sieht man eine wirklich wunderhübsche Frau - Miss Amos selbst. Nur ist sie, allerdings aus purer Absicht, etwas übertrieben durchgestylt. Und öffnet man das Booklet, hat man eine ganze Fotostrecke voller Amos-Bilder mit den unterschiedlichsten Klamotten, Haarfarben und Posen vor sich. Je ein Bild für jeden Song. Vom - selbstverständlich blonden - Engel bis zum Vamp.

Bei ihrem Mannheimer Konzert im voll besetzten Mozartsaal des Rathauses sucht man solchen Mummenschanz vergebens. Tori Amos schlüpft hier nicht in Rollen, sie entblößt sich vielmehr selbst. Es dominieren daher auch die selbst verfassten Stücke, nicht die Klassiker aus fremden Federn - von Neil Young bis Eminem - vom neuen Album.

Amos wirkt sehr zart, fast mädchenhaft. Doch dieses Mädchen weiß vom Leben Dinge, die bei manchem Mann noch nicht einmal in seinen Träumen - oder Albträumen - passieren. Ihre Texte sind zumeist Erkundungen der dunkleren Bezirke menschlicher Befindlichkeiten und Gedanken, handeln immer wieder von Verletzungen und Traumata. Und auch in Mannheim wirkt ihr Vortrag so, wie er schon oft beschrieben worden ist: Es scheint, als ob sie die Konzertbesucher ins Vertrauen ziehen und zur Abnahme intimer Beichten bringen wolle.

Ganz allein sitzt Tori Amos auf der Bühne, vor dem größten, hubraumstärksten aller Bösendorfer-Flügel. Nur zwei E-Pianos leisten ihr ansonsten noch Gesellschaft. Der Klavierklang wird vom Mann am Mischpult ab und an zu orchestraler Fülle aufgedonnert, und auch Amos' Stimme - schmachtend, flehend, sehr zerbrechlich - bleibt von Hall-Effekten nicht verschont. Aber gefangen nimmt sie allemal, ob mit belegtem Timbre klagend oder in der höchsten Lage flötend wie Kate Bush.

Eine Klavier-Ballade folgt der anderen, was allen dramaturgischen Gesetzen streng genommen Hohn spricht. Für das Zählen der Uptempo-Nummern braucht man nicht einmal fünf Finger - es genügt bereits ein einziger. Den alten Hit der Boomtown Rats, "I Don't Like Mondays", bringt Tori Amos ebenfalls in einer Zeitlupen-Version. Was ihn noch abgründiger, doppelbödiger erscheinen lässt. Es gibt nicht Viele, die die Lieder anderer derart gebieterisch in Besitz nehmen.

Das Publikum lauscht fast schon andachtsvoll. Und drängt am Ende, bei den Zugaben, zur Bühne wie die Kirchgänger beim Abendmahl zum Pfarrer vor den Altar. Nimmt noch einmal sängerische Segnungen entgegen. Unter anderem auch "Something" von George Harrison: eine Hommage der sanften Tori an den sanften Beatle, die ihm wohl gefallen haben würde.

The reviews below were taken from the concert reviews section of The Dent Forum and added here on January 7, 2002

Now my impressions from the show:

First of all, the mood was aweseome all around.
The people were all well-behaved and calm (of course when the stone was rolling in the later parts of the show, people were going crazy! yay! ).

more coming ...

Bonnie & Clyde was sort of strange -- I think you could hear she wasn't all too positive mood, plus the beginning of the show had delayed, but as soon as she got her energies rolling, with Siren, which was awesome, her mood seemed to improve!

From the lighting and stuff, Spring Haze was definitely the best thing I've ever seen. Imagine a red and orange illuminated Tori in front of a blazingly turquoise and blue illuminated background. As she went "billowing out to Luna Riviera", the lighting changed, and some white lights sweeped across the crowd, and some lights were wandering across the venue wall from the stage to the back. It was great!

Oh she also played Black Dove. That also these lights.

I was at the post-show meet and greet for some minutes accidentally because I wandered around searching for the entrance to the subterranean parking lot I parked in. Tori hadn't shown up yet by the time I left. There were barricades and stuff, and two mobile homes, and trucks and buses standing around.

The venue area is really big, Mannheim's entertainment center, there was also something Christmas Market like thing going on, and there houses for parking above and below ground everywhere.

More to come!

BTW, Spoonface was cool too (the opening act). I definitely have to check out his music!

Tori's performance was over two hours long, so I have trouble recalling all the songs she played (I think it were over 20 songs altogether, but maybe I'm exaggerating).

In Pretty Good Year, she did the "she is" line, as reported by other people.

In "I don't like Mondays", she "fucked up" once, and resumed playing after some moments of goofing around!

Tori told a little story before Sugar but I can't remember the exact wording, something to the effect of "a couple of days ago I took a trip to the city of " (...) "and I met that girl and she said 'you're mine!'" -- then she went "ha!" and went into Sugar.

Siren was most energetic for me, but since I'm currently a bit numb because of my flu, I didn't really get into the vibe of the show much.

After the main part of the show, people were going to the front. I was in 22nd row center, but I had a good but distant view, but for the encores I walked up to the front as well.

When I was upfront, there was a strange guy right next to me who acted really strange but followed the movement of the melodies and the songs. I found strange that he laughed when Tori sang in PGY: "hold on to nothing as fast as you can". lol, and you guys here think I'm strange. lol

BTW, she played that Beatles cover on that little piano-type thing with the stars and stripes. I didn't recognize it. Thanks for telling us, trailerpark that it was from George Harrison. That's really sad he died.

She mentioned the Lorelei? I didn't acoustically comprehend what she said before Sugar, but I know she said then that the "Lorelei told her 'you're mine'" or something. lol -- Tori didn't say it with much humor tho. I'm glad her mood brightened up further down the show.

BTW, something I remember right now: The lighting in Spring Haze at one point switched from turquoise / azure green to shades of violet and pink. My god, the lighting of the set background was awesome!

And whenever she hit a note on the piano, the floor trembled, and when she was in the lower keys, it was like thunder, especially near the stage!

Tori was shoulder-free, and she wore some glittery top, and something I couldn't identify for pants (hey, I'm a man! )

She had light red long hair, but you couldn't tell sometimes because of the lighting. Tori was a color-shapeshifter!

BTW, the line from SATY she sang differently was "will I still be waiting for somebody else to understand" to "will I be waiting for somebody to understand", or something.

She also sang some other lines in other songs differently, but I can't remember which.

In some songs she goofed around musically by playing additional fun notes and stuff (in Black Dove I think, for example).

BTW, it was me who confused Jackie's Strength with Hey Jupiter, but I corrected myself!

This show was too much a stimulation of my senses as that I could remember all of it at once. And I was a bit sick, and my parents and my brother (the three of whom I met today) didn't want me to go, but I did it anyway, and I must say it was wonderful!

I hope I'll see her on at least one more of her German shows, I can't wait to see her perform more of her songs!

BTW, Tori sang in Bells for Her tonight:

"we could fix what is broken, I said (...) even you said you can't stop what's coming" or something to that effect.

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Review by Markus (trailerpark)

Ok... Back home.. still "recovering". the show was fantastic, the best tori show ever for me.

The show was brilliant, tori was in a really good mood i think, she didnt talk very much, only told a little story that she has been in this area before and vsited the "lorelei" which said to her "come to me Tori".

The audiance was really good - very calm!

Just a few words to the songs:

Siren.... wow! pure energy!

Silent all these years... simply beautiful!

Little Earthquakes... what a surprise... but really good... i just made the setlist perfect!

Bells for her.. played on the whurly. the microphone didnt work and she waited looking to someone behind the stage. She started with a little improv something like: sometimes i am silent... or something like that.. really sweet!

Cooling... thought i would die! I LOVE this song! My favourite of the evening!

Something (written by George Harrison) was wonderful, a really great cover with strong emotions... just a perfect song for the encore!

Pretty Good year... best

well i think she really was in a good mood... the lorelei story was related to siren... btw... because u know... lorelei = siren! *G*

well i think she was in a great mood, she never talks much on german sows... seen her 5 times now.... she never talked very much!

she played something on the bose!!! was really a great cover!

perfect ending together with pretty good year!

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Review by Sashatwen

I've got to get this out of my system or I won't get any sleep...

Mannheim Concert Review (See previous post for set list)

When we arrived at the Rosengarten people were already qeueing up in front of the hall in huge lines. After reconfirming that these, indeed, were the lines for people who already HAD tickets (the show was sold out), we had to wait for a good while before we finally got inside. The merchandise people informed us that the crew was running a bit late because of delay.

When we arrvived inside the concert hall at 19:15, Ben Christophers was already playing his first song! The acoustics were less than great during his performance, a real shame. I like his music, but the tech crew had obviously not done their job (It seems the crew really HAD been in a hurry to set everything up.)

Tori's concert started at 20:10 with a somehow rushed version of Bonnie & Clyde. The audio mix was still off in the two first songs (especially Siren!). The base was audibly distorted. When the audio problems disappeared, it was a great show all the way!

Although some people have reported it, Tori did not play "Hey Jupiter".

My favourite of the evening is Tori's rendition of "Little Earthquakes". I heard it before on her last tour to Germany (in Bonn), but it was the most powerful of the two. She did a lot of songs from the same album. In "Silent all these years", she sung a completely new melody for the "Years go by...". part.

"I don't like Mondays" and "Happy Phantom" were a beautiful combo. She played them in direct succession. Both of the songs were about death, like both sides of the story. In a way, it was a bit of a "happy end" - like a little multipart story. And yes, there was a little cute fuck-up during "Mondays". Tori grinned and said "Oops. I think we'll try that again."

Hmm... now that I'm writing this, I think these two came a little earlier in the show than I originally wrote...

Tori didn't talk much else during the show. She greeted the audience before "Sugar" and said something about "her friends taking her to a city not far from here, where she met... (??? None of us got that part) She also banged on her piano at "and hammers, he used one on me." (I think it was. It kinda makes sense thinking back on it... )

"Suede" was a nice surprise, but it was one of the weaker parts of the show (it was still great, of course ;-).

She had a third piano on stage which she only used for "Bells for Her". Another of my favourites for this evening.

I can't say anything specific about "Cooling", but it brought tears to my eyes. :-) It's one of my absolute favourites and I'm so glad she played it! Tori really shone.

"Spring Haze" was one of the best parts performance-wise. She left the audience in the dark at first and did some improvs, shaking her hair around wildly. Unfortunately, the couple sitting behind me started talking in the middle of the song, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to.

Although she didn't talk much, Tori had a wonderful rapport with the audience (they were a great crowd!). After "Cooling", people started running towards the stage to get a better view, so both the Encores got a full standing observation. (and a hall-wide stomping at the 2nd encore ;-) Tori shook hands with a lot of the fans.

All in all, it was a great concert! The lighting was the most beautiful of all of her shows that I've seen and changed a lot during the songs to reflect the mood changes. (Very terrific during "Black Dove" and "Cooling") Tori wore a black shine-through top with lace and glitter that looked VERY pretty on her.

And the tour book/calendar cost only 20 DM! I heard people had to pay $25 in the US. I'm glad they made them more affordable for the European tour.

Logging out and going to bed...

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Review by Nynaeve21

Hi everybody!

I was there as well (quite at the front) and I loved the show, it was so intimate... But there are some things I found a bit strange.

The last time I saw Tori was during her Plugged Tour in Frankfurt. When I saw her yesterday I thought "my god she is so thin". Her face has gotten so thin. And she also looked a bit exhausted to me.

So, I wondered wheather this is only my impression or if anybody else, who has seen her more often, can agree.

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