Tori Fans Dew Drop Inn - October 1996

Last Updated: January 13, 1998

Below, you see stuff that fans (and sometimes the press) have written about the concerts they have seen during October 1996, from most recent to oldest. Thank you again for supporting my web site :)

I thought I would pass along the set list from last night, in case anyone wanted to see it.

1. Beauty Queen / Horses
2. Leather
3. Caught a Lite Sneeze
4. Surry with a Fringe on Top (hey, she's in Oklahoma!!)
5. Little Amsterdam
6.Graveyard
7. Cornflake Girl
8. Doughnut Song
9. Little Earthquakes !!!!
10. Frog on my Toe !!!!!
11. Happy Phantom
12. Hurt / Love Song
13. Talula
14. Me and a Gun

Encore 1
1. Black Swan
2. Winter !!!!
Encore 2
1. Father Lucifer
2. Hey Jupiter !!!

In my opinion, it was a GREAT concert. I liked the mix between the older stuff and the new. A friend of mine didn't like it because she wanted mainly just BfP songs, but I was REALLY pleased! I am glad she played Winter. We asked her to play Yes Anastasia at the concert, and she said if we would remind her Saturday, she would. The concert went pretty well, taking into account the drunks that were there and the young immature crowd that would scream constantly. But on the whole, I loved it. Our seats were GREAT. Just a little left of center on rows 1 and 2. I can't wait until Saturday...for Tulsa.

I never thought Tori would play OKC on this tour. In my ignorance, I let the ticket sales date pass by unnoticed and was left with fairly poor seats (Mezzanene level). Luckily, we remembered to bring the binoculars - best move for anyone more than 20 rows back!

Josh opened the show promptly at 7:30 and played his set. The Civic Center is the home for the philharmonic and is a rather large venue, but the acoustics are phenomenal. The crowd was rather receptive to Josh and he seemed rather taken by the response.

The intermission was *extremely* long (almost an hour by my count). They went well past all the Zeppelin and on to other music. Finally, just after 9:00, son of a Preacher Man started playing. Tori came out dressed in a white leotard-type shirt (like the one she wore for Leno), ragged jeans (complete with torn back pockets), brown studded pumps, and the white Mardi Gras mask with the feathers (in the spirit of Halloween, I guess).

Set List (and comments) :

BQ/Horses : After BQ, she flipped the mask back and started into Horses. Wow - very powerful!

Leather : very playful - nice song at this point.

CALS : She really built up to the Zoooooooone part.

(somewhat paraphrased) Tori : 'You know, I want to tell you something. I have this favorite song. Some of you may recognize it.' She plays the part from Oklahoma. 'A girl just has to have a favorite song'

Little Amsterdam : a lot of feeling with this song. The concert seemed to be taking on a bit more serious nature from here.

Graveyard

Cornflake Girl : *The* Dance. Great interaction with Caton. I really like this song live.

Doughnut Song : Tons of emotion. Heard several people sobbing in the audience

Little Earthquakes : Even I was almost crying during this one. The lights didn't bother me because we were so far back

(another story paraphrased) Tori : 'What a difference 2 years makes. Last time I was in Oklahoma City, I was really fucked up. It wasn't good. So, I took a quarter and went to one of your local graveyards. It was one of those things I'd been carrying around for a while. Went up and down and found a man and gave him two quarters and told him I was leaving his ass in Oklahoma. So, if you see a guy running around with no ass, you'll know. Ok.'

Frog on my toe : First time I heard this done live!!

Happy phantom : Possibly a halloween request as 2 people shouted 'thank you Tori' afterwards and one shouted Happy Halloween.

Lovesong : She does this beautifully. She seemed to be getting tired at this point.

Talula : Wow!! The sampled drums are really much better than I thought they would be. She really kicked this song. Its amazing that her and Caton can reproduce this song so well considering they cannot screw up because of the drum track.

Maag : Very deliberate. At some points, she was just above a whisper. The crowd was very well behaved, but unfortunatley, the middle of the song occured at the top of the hour ( beep, beep ..... beep, beep)

E1:

Black Swan : Another first for me - I didn't even recognize it

Winter : One of my favorites - if you weren't touched by this song at this performance, you're not human

E2:

Father Lucifer : Very much like the Letterman performance

Hey Jupiter : Very subdued, again much of the song was barely above a whisper.

Tori seemed very tired from several days straight on the road. She mustered enough energy to give a good performance with those great stories. Can't wait for Tulsa.

The OKC concert is my very first of Tori's or any artist--and it was IMMACULATE!!! Seeing and hearing Tori Amos in real life just makes her songs much more powerful! She is truly beautiful, witty, and talented in her own unique way!!! (And so tiny...it's a girl thing:)

The only tiny flaw of the whole concert is when those lights hit you right in the eyes, and blinds you for a second or two, watering your eyes. Otherwise, I can't say it enuf: awesome, incredible show!

I don't know if anybody out there has requested this, but I was wishing she would sing "famous blue raincoat"---for me at least:) Maybe one day....

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Tori Amos 10/29/96 Bass Concert Hall, Austin, TX.

Beauty Queen
Horses
Bells For Her (Harpsicord)
Caught A Lite Sneeze (H/P)
Cornflake Girl (with a very extended dance in which she came up to the
front of the stage on the left and proceded to make her way slowly
across to the middle-finally having to RUN to the piano to start the
song! Too cute and the crowd loved it!)
Father Lucifer!!! (With both the album's 'Girls that eat pizza..' and
'You're only glass...' ending with Tubular Bells/Bronski Beat)
Little Earthquakes
Leather
Flying Dutchman!!! (Began with sad story of fan's letter detailing a
young man who could play almost any instrument "I've met a few of these
people and they are very special...", who "was in a car and didn't make
it," he killed himelf I guess...)
Precious Things
Muhammed My Friend
Talula
Me and a Gun (FLAT on your stomach)

Encore 1:
Landslide
Mother

Encore 2:
('Some of you will know this and some of you won't') Humpty Dumpty
Pretty Good Year
Sister Janet (Harmonium)

A great show (my fifth this year!!!). Tori seemed angry-not with the crowd but with being so close and yet so far to the tour's end. Very breathy and whispered-more than the usual. The best I saw this tour.

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Hi Mike. The College Station concert was great, of course. I came down from Dallas with a friend on Monday afternoon. We couldn't miss school, so no soundcheck. :( Tori played what I would've asked for anyway (Frog on My Toe), so that's okay. We got there a little after Josh Clayton-Felt started. He was better than I expected, and the audience seemed to like him. On to Tori...

I tried to write down what she said (even though my friend thought I was nuts), but it's not exact. "Son of a Preacherman" started; Tori came out in a t-white shirt and jeans (and cute blue shoes)-

 -BQ/Horses

  -Silent All These Years- I wasn't expecting this one. She played it    
     like on "Unplugged"- kind of drawn out. It sounded really great.

  -Caught a Lite Sneeze- She started it with "Stop, don't jump overboard. 
     I hurt myself today to see if I could feel." Has anybody else heard 
     this? (Caton came out.)

  -Tori: "How are you guys? So are all of you in school here? (Everyone  
     screams). I got kicked out of everything- the conservatory at 11 and 
     the Girl Scouts at 9. I really liked Girl Scouts, mostly for the    
     cookies.  Now I can just buy them. Ha!"

  -Cornflake Girl- dance looked to me like it had Indian (like India)    
     elements. Maybe just an Asian/ tribal kinda mix. Caton really got   
     into it. She added something like "Oh, my God, I'm waiting for the  
     keys, you're here again."

  -Doughnut Song- Added "Still on my side well I think I should be      
     sometimes. Still on my side. You can't tell me it's over 'cause I   
     know you."

  -Little Earthquakes- Sorry to say it again, but those lights are 
     annoying. They look really cool, but not right in your eyes.

  -Tori: "I have a very good friend right now who's living Sleeping with 
     the Enemy. You guys know that movie? (a couple of people shout). If 
     any one of you guys are gonna be lawyers, I'll hire you right now." 
     (Someone requests Skynnard.) "Which one?" (He shouts "Sweet Home    
     Alabama"). She improvs a song to "Sweet Home Alabama": "I'm not     
     playing this song. I'm thinking of my friend alone. Nothing sweet   
     about that little cock boy- Sweet Home Alabama. I'll have you on a  
     plate, boy. None of your blood on my hands." This was truly great-  
     a beautiful song. That's why I love Tori.

  -Mary- Is this just a song I haven't heard? A cover?- "Mary, can you   
     hear me? Mary, don't be afraid 'cause even the wind cries your name. 
     Everybody wants you, sweetheart. Mary, can you hear me? Mary, are   
     you bleeding? Mary, we're just waking up. Help is on the way. 'Cause 
     even the wind cries your name." Sorry for typing all that out if you 
     guys already know it. I thought it was beautiful. It seemed to be   
     for Tori's friend, and it really fit.

  -Happy Phantom- this one surprised me too. She said something about    
     telephones, and ended it with a bunch of cute little noises.

  -Crucify

  -Tori: "Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff. Some of you may know this one. I always 
     wanna go really fast like when you're driving and you see the cops  
     and you're like no, not today, I'm in a rental car. And you've got  
     something sitting next to you and let's just say that it could be   
     butter, girls." (Or something close to that).

  -Lovesong

  -Talula (Tornado version)- Caton came out again.  He got really into   
     it w/heavy bass. He also lit up in the middle. It was fun just      
     watching them go nuts- hard to sit still.

  -MaaG- a great audience, though I was a little worried about all the   
     people there who barely even knew who she was.


-Encore 1-
  -Thank You- it sounds even better live.

  -Tori: "This is just what's coming. I don't know why, but she's here.  
     (Plays intro). Now how does it go? I swear I haven't had any        
     margaritas, though." (My clue)

  -Frog on My Toe!! (Sorry Tori, I just had to put them in.)- This was   
     absolutely beautiful. I loved it.   


-Encore 2-
  -Tori comes out hugging Caton. Someone threw a bunch of flowers up on  
     stage, and she took one of them out and put it in her teeth. She did 
     a little dance and then ran over to the harpsicord and dropped it   
     there. Tori: "A couple of things are coming. Don't take it          
     personally."

  -Space Dog- had a big picture of the Earth in that triangle thing.     
     Caton did a bunch of funky stuff with his guitar at the end.

  -Tori motions to a crew guy about something- it looks like she wants   
     him to turn something around. She sings "Round and around and around 
     and around, spooks and goblins coming to town." I would've loved a  
     Halloween song- that was close enough.

  -Finally, Hey Jupiter on harmonium organ

Tori had some kind of little light on her piano- the Virgin Mary nightlight or something else? She was really happy and playful last night. I wasn't sure if she was gonna be tired like some people were saying, but she was probably better yesterday than in Dallas in June. Tori did a bunch of her little waves throughout the concert and even my friend (who doesn't know her very well) thought she was in a good mood. Maybe it's Halloween. :) Anyway, we went outside afterwards, but I didn't get out soon enough. We only waited for about 5 minutes before she came out. I couldn't see her that well through all the people, but I got a glimpse right when she walked out. I was about 15 feet away, but I could feel her there. I really wanted to meet her. Maybe next tour?? I don't know what I'd say, though. Probably just stare.

Thanks for everything, Mike. I really appreciate everything you do for this site. It's great. Bye~ Abby

P.S. I'm really jealous of all of you going to Boulder. Maybe I could sell my car.

Well I just got back from the concert in College Station, and what can I say that hasn't already been said about Tori? All I know is that I was totally floored. I was definitely not prepared for what I saw. I mean, the set couldn't have possibly been any better -- one song after another, she just about knocked me out of my seat every time. Here's the set list:

Beauty Queen
Horses
Silent All These Years
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Cornflake Girl (Plus dance!!)
Doughnut Song
Little Earthquakes
Happy Phantom
Mary
Crucify
I Will Always Love You (?? Not Whitney Houston : )  I don't know if
that's the actual title or not but I do remember this line over and
over and I'm sure some of you will know what I'm talking about)
Talula (Caton lit cigarette as song started, I thought it was cute)
Me and a Gun (This time she whispered "flat," barely audible)

1st encore:

Thank You
Frog on My Toe ("Hope I can remember the words . . . I haven't had any
margaritas tonight . . . "

2nd encore:

As people shout out requests, "Well guys, there's a lot coming to me
right now, so . . . sorry!"
Space Dog
Hey Jupiter (on organ)

At one point early in the show she was talking about a friend of hers who is living in a "sleeping with the enemy" type situation. Suddenly someone rudely shouts "Play some Skynnard." She replies "What the fuck does that have to do with my friend" or something like that. She then goes on . . . "OK, I'll play you some Skynnard." And to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama, or an approximation of it, she sings, to the guy, something like "I'm not going to sing that song, because I'm talking about my friend . . . and I will get you, someday I will have you on a plate." It was amazing, and I'm sure he felt like an idiot.

I was so stunned by the great set that I decided to forgive that she omitted Blood Roses. . . I have noticed she hasn't been doing that one much lately. Any explanation? Is she tired of it?

Anyway, that's the show. She wasn't extremely talkative, although she did throw in a bit about being kicked out of the Girl Scouts at age 9. She said she liked being a Girl Scout because she liked the cookies a lot, but she's not worried because now she can buy them. Go Tori!

Fabulous!

Well what can I say about the concert?! It was great. I thought that Little Earthquakes was amazing! I've always loved this song, but hearing it live made me love it even more. Her voice was beautiful as she sang it. I was also glad that she sang "Lovesong" by the Cure.

It couldn't have been a better concert. At one point she asked the audience.."You all come to school here? Well, I don't know what to say. I was kicked out of everything." She then went on to talk about being kicked out of the girl scouts and how she liked the girl scouts because she could get cookies, but now she can buy them instead.

Now, I'm just waiting for my pictures to develop from when I met her before the concert. I got to take a picture with her!!!!

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I arrived at the Majestic at 3:00 to make it in time for the meet before the show. This would be my first time meeting tori and I was.... uh ... ecstatic, nervous, joyful, downright euphoric. I had planned to meet Jen (FroggyJen) there and ended up meeting not only her but 7 other fabulous wonderful people who made this night beautiful and special. So the 8 of us wait (we were the first ones there) patiently for tori. We laugh, we cry, we bond, it was beautiful! Steve (a big ol meany, but he had his light moments :)) came out and told us that after waiting for 2 hours we wouldn t get to do all the usual stuff (talk to tori and get a pic or and autograph) but that we would get to talk to her for a little while. So, as the people who waited the longest, the 8 of us headed toward the front but some little tater tot small middle school girls who got there 5 minutes before butted their way to the front. Grrrrr... but I wasn t going to let that piss me off, after all, I was going to *meet* tori! I knew that if I got to talk to her I wouldn t know what to say and everything would come out in a heap of nasty jumbled words. So I wrote *everything* down. In the letter I explained why Icicle meant so much to me and asked her to play it at the show that night. I also gave her a gorgeous postcard with a painting of a Titania on it and a little butterfly charm. The charm was one of my favourites but one day one of the wings fell off. So I had this one-winged butterfly and somehow it seemed right and beautiful to give her this. I explained it all in the letter. So finally tori gets there. AHHHHH!!!! I remember the first thing that crossed my mind: she *REALLY* is as short as I am! The second thing: oh my god! She s a WOMAN!! A real-live *woman.* yes she seems like a faerie at times, she bears the beauty of a goddess but she s flesh and blood woman. That thought kept striking me over and over. And it was intensified when I saw that her blue eyeliner was smudged a bit, the same thing that happens to every other woman. She admitted to us that she had had a few margaritas beforehand which explained the sweet aroma of tequila :) when she finally got to me I handed her my letter (it was in an envelope that I made out of rose-covered wrapping paper and I put two lovely pictures of antique dolls on both sides of it) and tori touched it fondly and said it was beautiful :) she asked me my name and I told her then I explained that I had written her a letter so that she d know all of the things that I longed to tell her. She was very sweet and lovingly genuine. I ll never forget that. Now on with the show :)

if I had to pick one word to describe this particular show it would be growl.

Led zeppelin shuts off.... son of a preacher man turns on and so does tori. From my seat I can see her in the shadows just off stage. The music starts playing and tori starts dancing, one arm straight in the air and her hips swaying. She shimmys out on stage, still doing her little sway and then skips to the front of the stage smilin and wavin and runs to her piano. Jeans, brown tank top shirt, black cloth platform mary janes.

Beauty Queen / Horses

Take To The Sky--what a great song to start with! Slapping the sides of the piano for that extra drum beat. You can say it one more time...

Blood Roses

Tear In Your Hand--one of my favourites :) my friend Annabelle asked tori to play this before the show because it means the world to her and tori said, okay, it s done.

Little Amsterdam

Cornflake Girl--OH MY GOD! What a dance!!!! Caton starts his strummin and tori sits on her bench, legs apart, looking very calm. Then she jumps up and sprints to the front of the stage and ahhhhhhhh she starts dancing, I mean *really* dancing! All of these wonderful hand movements and her hips moving the whole time. Eventually she makes her way all the way around the stage and then skips back to her piano to play a truly bitchin version of CFG :) oh and she added some lyrics to the where d you put the keys part, I think they were my darling, my darling blahblahblah I don t remember the rest but i ll let you know when I get the boot of the show.

Little Earthquakes--:) so glad she played this!! She started out by playing the opening piano melody over and over and over and over... she was trying to stall because caton s guitar was on the fritz. Finally she starts singing after adding a few lyrics which I can t really remember right now. Caton gets his guitar fixed just in the nick of time and after the first verse tori says, welcome back caton. Twas funny :)

Icicle--she played this for me!! She opened with a flurry of twinkling piano notes that didn t hint towards Icicle but I got this feeling in my belly and I heard her sing onward christian soldiers and my heart burst thousands of times in one breath. Things like this I want to keep and hold forever :) and what made it even more special was that tori looked at me the whole time with light in her eyes and a huge smile on her face. I was in the second row so it was easy for her to find me. And NO I wasn t fooling myself, she really was looking at me :) this was special

Precious Things--grrrrrrrrrrrrrr... tori was channeling amimal vibes tonight. It started when she got to the girrrrrlllllll part. It was demons and leopards pouncing around in her voice, I couldn t believe my ears during that single word. And then after that she sang the chorus over and over in this little girl voice, sweet and yet frightening. She then bounced back and forth between the little girl and the demon over and over. It was very guttural, I have never before heard her perform precious things this way, truly amazing. She added the lyrics, wash me clean daddy over and over.

Caught A Lite Sneeze

Talula--God and CFG live with the recorded tracks was just awful. Talula kicked all kinds of ass. It just fucking rocked! You couldn t even tell that it was pre-recorded, it was so thumpin and loud! So glad I got to finally hear it

okay, i m not sure what came next. I think i m leaving something out but i ll figure out the real set list when I get the boot of the show. Some of these songs might be out of order but I got them pretty close.

Me And A Gun--dead silence in that gorgeous angel-filled theatre. It really got to tori this time, her voice became teary for a moment. She sang deadly quiet and then wailed FLAT on your stomach...

-------------------------

Landslide-- YAY!!!!! My absolute favourite cover song! One of my favourite songs period. Oh thank you! Tori for playing this :)

Winter--this song is always wonderful and touching :)

-------------------------

tori comes back out for her second encore and she runs up to the front of the stage to meet a fan who wants to give her a rose and then one by one people from the first 5 rows come up to the stage and tori touches their hands and holds them. And the body guards didn t stop this!! :) so some of them sat down but as soon as tori walked up to the piano everyone ran back to the front of the stage to watch her. It was wonderful for me and those that got up there but I did feel bad that the people behind us might not be able to see. Tori explained at this point that the organ wasn t working, she s sick but this baby (pats the piano) she ain t sick.

Mr. Zebra

Butterfly--she started off by saying, someone gave me a wonderful letter today and asked about this song. That was meeeeeeee!!!!!!! I hope this isn t annoying any of you but I feel so warm right now! I exist in her world now, it s not so one-sided! Okay, i m done gushing :)

Song For Eric--does the wonder ever cease???? Jen asked tori in her letter (that she gave to her before the show) to play this song because it was so special to her. I desperately wanted to hear it too but we didn t expect her to play it, for sentimental reasons. But she sang it and the tears fell. I couldn t have dreamed of a more perfect show. I got to hear the songs that mean the most to me. Tori played the two songs that I requested (I only asked for Icicle but she played butterfly, too), Landslide (the words in this song touch me in the softest way, I love tori for playing this) and Song For Eric, which has always been a favourite. I get emotional when she sings that one note, I seeeeeeeeeeeee you in my dreams.... ahhhhhh, if I don t pour tears all over my hands in the next 5 minutes I shall burst. The audience was respectful, clapping and cheering enthusiastically at the proper moments and there wasn t a *single* loud interruption except for the occasional we love you tori at the right moment. I think someone said, tori you rock at the beginning and tori said, well thank you.

Okay, i m done, wooo, gotta go get sleep and dream over and over again about the best night of my life, and in no way am I kidding. This outshines practically everything else :) sorry for all the gushing. If the set list turns out to be wrong or out of order i ll post the right one when I get my tape. :)

I personally liked the concert. Tori and Steve played very well. The concert reached an emotional climax during "Me and a Gun" when as she was singing the entire packed theater was dead quiet. No body coughed, sneezed or anything. It gave me chills. Also, I was extremly happy she played "Precious Things". This was the first song of hers I ever heard. It was what got me hooked on her music. The only complaint I would have about the concert is that whoever is in charge of sound had too much high end on her microphone. It was even feeding back during "Blood Roses". Other than that, it was a fantastic evening. I didn't get to meet her because I got there after soundcheck and afterwards I had to get home because I had an 8:00 class this morning and it's a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from San Antonio to Corpus Christi.

Well Mike, that's the report from San Antonio. Take it easy and I'll talk to you soon.

i just wanted to say that last night's show at the majestic theatre was *perfect* in every way. I could tell she was feeling good. She played the most emotional songs of all her kids, and even sang song for eric as the finale. odd... she must have read my mind because i was about to request it. we rushed up to the stage (and didn't get beaten by the bullies) and she sang mr zebra and song for eric down to us like... like we were rats (excuse the similie) and she was a pied piper. sooo awesome. we went into the alley en her route to the tour bus and on through her fan hand shaking, she held my hand with our fingers intertwined... and it seemed like it lasted an eternity. i was giddy afterwards and on our way out i almost ran over the opening performer guy, felt, with the really groovy attitude. he was just walking down the street, so we stopped and he talked to us in our car. i don't think anybody was giving him any attention. he definitely deserves some. he is really cool. am i right? anyway, my brain turned to slush afterward and i got lost on my home, almost hit tens of things, and thought green lights were red... and red lights were green. it was that look that she gives when she touches you... incomprehensible. i was speechless. !! see her tomorrow, i will. `:

oh... was talula happening or what? i thought that was really cool when they threw in the pre-recorded vocals and percussion. and... that cornflake girl dance (extended version to the front of the stage) was the coolest. go tori!

anyway...

John, seedless with a chocolate philanthropist coating

San Antonio Express News
'Majestic' turn dispels Tori myth
October 29, 1996 By Hector Saldana

A cute pic of her (i think it goes out with all her press releases and biographies) was accompanied by the caption ___Alterna-rock princess Tori Amos thrilled a packed house Sunday at the Majestic Theatre___

------------------------------

The myth of Tori Amos--she's a great singer; she's a raving beauty.

Sunday at the Majestic Theatre, Amos set the record straight. She is a most passionate singer, deftly whispering, screaming, punching and wiggling herself through each tone poem.

Her breathy, schoolgirl-diary-set-to-music style is compelling, but just as often patently contrived, painfully evident as she sat between the Bosendorfer piano and harpsichord and repeated her trademark emotional heaves over and over.

The packed house lapped it up.

At 32, the diminutive Amos is a perfectly New Age elf for the alternative-rock masses. Surely she shows more guts and angst in her stark presentation than many armed with a stack of Marchall amps. When she sings, "I think the Good Book is missing some pages," Amos is to be believed.

The brutal rape story of "Me and a Gun" hushed the crowd. Amos' cathartic artistry is unsettling. It was a moment of high drama but with no release, an excercise in emotional voyeurism for the audience.

Is she utterly original? Hardly. Amos' fans should search out Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell or author Arthur Janov's "The Primal Scream."

Amos, dressed simply in tattered jeans and a stretch knit top, downplayed her sexy / angelic image. She could easily flaunt it, but she doesn't. In fact, the redhead has toned down the fiery red locks of her promo shots for a more natural look.

The concert was beautifully lighted. Especially effective were the red hues that created Amos' own version of Dante's Hell on "Blood Roses."

The writhing "Cornflake Girl" drew squeals of delight all night. "We love you Tori," was a regular refrain. She deftly dredged up Stevie Nicks' "Landslide" as one of her encore numbers, proving this oblique femme fatal has plenty of suprises up her sleeve for her growing cult following.

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About the Kravis Center: I thought I wasn't going to be able to attend this show. Fortunately, my friend Heather decided she wanted to go, so off I went for my 3rd Tori concert in a week (and what a great week! got to talk to her every single time!). We arrived at about 7:45. It was GORGEOUS. I had never been to the Kravis Center before, and I was definitely impressed. Me and Heather skipped Josh Clayton this evening and decided to load up on cigarettes instead. :) This is when I ran into some familiar faces. Jaysen (Morpheus) and the girl you were with, I am so sorry I forgot your name (hi!), Alex, Jennifer (sweet little Jennifer), and the guy with Alex who didn't have a ticket but wanted to go in anyways :) and William (?) the guy who is SUCH A FANTASTIC ARTIST! He gave me a copy of this drawing he made which is absolutely breathtaking. We hadn't seen each other since the 22nd, so it's wasn't like a long time we were apart :P Anyways, I think Alex and his friend (whom I'll see at the Bake Sale Sunday! haha) and Jennifer were the ones who told me about the 2nd Miami show on the 23rd... Anyways, here's about the show:

Tori came out wearing dark pants, black shirt with white polka dots and pink shoes.

BEAUTY QUEEN/HORSES - she always does an intro before these two. This intro sounded a lot like Spacedog's intro (which might be an inside joke about her getting sick while singing it the night before)

ANGIE - i was quite surprised to hear this one. it's not one of my all-time favorites, but i welcomed it nonetheless

CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE - it was a refreshment to see this song at the beginning of the show.

Tori: "As some of you might know, I almost passed out last night. To those of you who were there last night: you were delicious. Thank you. And again, here's lovely Caton"

CORNFLAKE GIRL - i was kinda disappointed that this song was on so early in the show. i had the impression we were going to have a short show.

DOUGHNUT SONG - She intro'd to this with something I had never heard before (it wasn't "You can tell me it's over, over")... something to do with babies and girls.

LITTLE EARTHQUAKES - she sang this one again (she sang it 10/18 Melbourne and 10/22 Miami as well)

LEATHER - great surprise to hear this one!

Tori: (I don't quite remember exactly, but it had to do with her playing Leather in Germany and the people started clapping in perfect unison and something about tori telling them "that's right girls, you're free!")

ALAMO - Wonderful live! I knew she was going to play this one because before the show someone told me a girl asked for it before the show.

PRECIOUS THINGS - wonderful as ever. the grrrrrrrrrrrrrrl was close to 40 secs.

THE WAITRESS - love this song!! everyone got a kick out of it.

TALULA - yummy

ME AND A GUN - very respectful crowd

Encore 1

MOTHER - i love this song! I was ecstatic to hear it!

A CASE OF YOU - at first i didnt recognize this one

Encore 2

Everyone ran up to the stage and she told the audience "It's ok, come on down. I don't bite.")

PRETTY GOOD YEAR - probably my favorite tune of the evening. She was CRAZY with this song! It rocked!

PURPLE RAIN - beautiful! about halfway thru it, me and heather left so we could make it to the bus area.

Welp, I got to say hi and bye to Tori again. I'm so happy she remember me still. I gave her a big hug and said "I DID get to make it to the last Florida show" and she said "Good. I'm so glad you got here." I asked her whut's up after the tour. She said "Many adventures. Maybe I'll get to play with the centaurs." She said San Antonio, Texas was next. I talked to her for a little bit. Caton, though, had already left and that pissed me off, but I was just glad to say my final goodbye to Tori. Jennifer and Alex and my friend Heather were to the left of me. I don't remember who asked (Jennifer?) but someone asked Tori if the new song she sang the night before had a name and Tori said "It's called COOLING." Steve (bodyguard Steve) was really nice tonight. Before the show I saw him and Joel standing in the lobby, and I asked Steve where to go after the show. He showed me where to go and told me to "shhhhhh" and i said no problemo... I love being recognized! when i was walking back to my car, Steve said bye to me and Heather, shook his hand and he said "Well, see you guys in a couple of years. Take it easy" And he smiled and we walked away, with visions of Sugartori's in our heads :)

Well Mike, this was a great week for me! I'm gonna miss the fun I've had, and I am glad I could be of assistance to you with the reviews....

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A few people have mentioned Tori's 10/23 show in Miami; I believe Heather the 'pider queen was the last. I just thought I'd add a few things to what has been said, both from being at the show and from talking to Tori the next day about it.

Here's the setlist (courtesy of my girlfriend, the wonderful scribe; thanks Jen!)

Beauty Queen/Horses
Losing my Religion
Love Song

SpaceDog --- this is where the dramatic interruption occured: Tori walking off the stage in tears, saying she was too till to go on. I actually felt something was wrong during SpaceDog, because she was half-heartedly playing the left-hand ostinato riff and didn't seem to be "into" it as she usually is. I believe it was John Witherspoon that came out and informed us to stay and wait for Tori to return if she felt up to it.

She came back after about fifteen minutes saying she had three choices: 1) go to the hospital, 2) go home, 3) come back out and play for us. It was probably in her best interests to take the night off, but she came back. I don't know if she felt indebted to play for her fans or it was just something she had to finish, but what followed was unlike any Tori show I had seen this tour (I saw 7 shows this tour BTW).

Tori elected to do away with the setlist that she had planned for that night and told her sound crew and the audience that she would play "whatever came to her." She told her lighting man to "be a hallucinogen for us" since he wasn't following his normal script, and she would have to call Caton over to play the songs he was involved in, since he didn't know what was coming next either.

The show continued:

Let it Be
Winter
Tear in Your Hand

Girl --- Before playing this, Tori asked for some effects to be put on her voice and asked Caton to improvise in G minor. He looked to her confused, asking "What do I do?" She answered "You'll know." This was an arrangement of Girl considerably different from the album version, funkier, more driving, and filled with a vocal improvisation that wrenched my soul adrift... :) And then:

In the Springtime of his Voodoo

COOLING --- what's Cooling you ask? Well, before playing this one, Tori stated that this was a track that didn't make it on to Boys for Pele and would probably be on her next album. This was a first as far I know, Tori playing a new, unreleased track of hers in full. And it was GORGEOUS. I don't know what the album arrangement would be like, but this sounds like a typical piano ballad for Tori... lyrics including lines resembling "Fire decided she wanted to be Water" and "Is Heaven worth giving up these kisses." Don't hold me to those... it's been almost a week since the show and I am doing some serious paraphrasing I think. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. Then came:

NOTE FROM MIKEWHY: To Read the actual lyrics to Cooling, click here!

China --- Tori was visibly crying at the end of this one :~(

Me and a Gun --- Tori went through the first two lines, then announced that she was going to sing this one with her best friend and called someone out from backstage. They sat at the piano bench, hands around one another, and slowly rocking back and forth as Tori sang accapella. She changed the lyrics in the second verse:

Yes WE wore a slinky red thing
Does that mean WE should spread
For you your friends
OUR father Mr Ed

It was difficult to tell if Tori was implying something or just changing the lyrics for effect. This song is usually unnerving when heard live, but this night is was downright CHILLING.

Encore 1:
(Right after coming onto the stage, Tori shook some hands with the people in the front rows, and then *everyone* rushed the stage and piled about as she performed her encores. This was the norm at all the South Florida shows I went to)

Bells for Her
Talula

Encore 2:
Cornflake Girl --- with interpretive dance intro, of course :)
Hey Jupiter

And that was the end to a truly awe-insipiring night. I went to her concert the next night in West Palm Beach where she mentioned "passing out" at the show the night before and that those of us who stuck thru it with her were "delicious." After the concert, I was able to catch her outside. I asked her the name of the unreleased song and she told me "Cooling." I had heard Blue Skies earlier in the day and was curious if she had written the lyrics, and she told me that she had. My girlfriend asked the name of her best friend that sat with her thru MaaG, and she said "Nancy." Someone else had also mentioned that this was Beenie, which is Nancy Shanks nickname if memory serves correctly. Then I got my ToriHug(TM) and thanked her for the wonderful, inspiring performances she graced us with.

I don't know what energy source Tori Amos taps into when she performs live, or how she is able to go on and give a spectacular performance while under such obvious physical and emotional stress. She was calling on some strange spirits this night, and they all obliged and graced us with one of the most overpowering, heart-wrenching shows this tour, I would think.

Thank you, Tori. :)

O.K. Here goes.

Tori had two dates here in Miami 10/22 & 10/23. I went to both but the last one was definetly more interesting.

She came out to "Son of a Preacherman"

She sang:

Beauty Queen
Horses
Losing My Religion!!!
Lovesong!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spacedog - this is when IT happened.

In the middle of the song she stops and turns to the audience and says, " Guys, I'm so sorry but I just can't play. I am so sick, guys. (she crys) I'm sorry. I'm am just so sick. " She then runs off the stage with her hands in her face. Caton quickly puts his guitar on the floor and walks off.

The lights then went on and everyone was screaming "Tori it's O.K./ we love you" They told us to stay seated until they found out what was going to happen.

After 12 min. the lights went off and Tori came out. She said, "Guys, I've just had a really bad day. They tell me that Ican go home, go to the hospital, or play. So I don't know what's going to happen. This has never happened before but were just going to pretend we're in my living room. I'm just gonna play like we're old friends. O.K."

she played:
Let It Be
Winter
Tear In Your Hand - She called Caton out for this and I might be reading to much into her gestures, but when she sang, "so you say you don't want to stay together anymore," she pointed at Caton. ????

Then she told Caton "O.K., lets do something in G minor, no just G. Don't be nervous, you'll know what to do. Now can't you give my piano some reverb too cover my ass. And let's show some real funky stuff up here ( the screen) like hallucinogens. Now this is unique guys. Were gonna have fun." (or something to that effect)

she sung something about being a woman now and then went into GIRL. and then sung something about heal me. Well it was incredible.

In the Springtime of His Voodoo

Next she introduced a song that should have been on BfP but will be on the next album. It was about speedracer and Piggy I think it was called This is Cooling ( not Led Zepplin)

Then for MaaG- she started singing then stopped and said she would bring out her best friend. This woman came out in a white dress and a huge white hat. People screemed " Take off the hat!" Tori says, "Hey, I like the Hat. I bought it." So her and her friend sat there while Tori sang. She sung the FLAT loud which scared everyone and Tori smiled.

1st Encore;
She waved everyone to rush the stage so we did.
Bells for Her
Talula - By this time she was really rockin'.  

2nd Encore:
Cornflake Girl - She did the dance!!!!
Hey Jupiter

The concert was awesome. But It was an emotional rollarcoster even more so than usual! I have no idea why it was a bad day, but I guess it was emotional. She came out after the show and seemed alright.

I hope everythings alright. Anyone who sees the West Palm Beach - Kravitz Center Performance let us know.

I didn't go to the 2nd Miami show on October, but I DID go last night to the Kravis Center (Oct. 24th). I met up with some familiar faces (Hi Jennifer!! Hi Alex!!) who went to the 2nd Miami show. Here's the info I received about the 2nd Miami show Oct. 23rd:

A little ways into the concert, during Spacedog, Tori stopped playing and started crying. She said she couldn't go on and she was sick. She ran off of the stage and 20 minutes later came back and said she was so sorry that she was feeling so horrible, but nevertheless, she ended up finishing the concert. She said that she wasn't sticking to the setlist (she turned away from any songs where she would hit some violent high note). She performed GIRL!!!!! She said she never does this song because "Girl is a Woman now" and she also SANG A BRAND NEW SONG!! She said that it was supposed to be on Boys for Pele but never made it, so it may be on the next album. It's called "COOLING". Yes, it's HERS, not a cover.... She also did China as well. That's about all I know about that night, since I wasn't there.

Was anyone THERE? I just got a long email from a friend who was.

Tori had a breakdown on stage. She began crying and left. And when she came back she just "played whoever showed up" including a brand spanking new song, Let It Be, Winter, China, and Me and a Gun with a woman (possibly Beenie) sitting next to her.

She said she was sick and needed to go to the hospital. Earlier, she told a girl standing near my friend that there had been a death in the family.

It sounded very sad and I felt like a long lost friend had been hurt and I wasnt there to help her... I dont know... I can't explain.

My friend said it made tori too REAL and that she just wanted to be able to have her be a voice and a musician but it wouldnt ever be that way again...

I'm freaked out...anyone have more details?

marlantigone and lance who is watching over my shoulder

Yeah, I was totally confused.

She left the stage for about ten minutes, and we were told to be patient and they would see what was going on, since Tori left the stage during Space Dog, after saying "I'm sorry, but I've been feeling really ill lately, and I'm just so sick, I'm really sorry." or something quite similar, and then ran off the stage.. Caton walked off too, so it seemed kind of like it was a joke or some kind of dramatic act or something.. but.. it didn't turnout that way.

She then came back and said that she has been kind of sick lately, and said she had to make the decision to go home and to the hospital, or keep playing.. of course most people wanted her to keep playing, and that is just what she did.

Having a pair of binoculars, and looking at her afterwards, she looked rather ill but those stage lights can do funny things to one's face :-) She seemed to be a lot better later on though, and danced for like five minutes to the lengthened guitar of cornflake girl, and just went wild.. methinks she lost it for a while there :-)

Has anyone else noticed her being sick, or anything? I would hate for her to totally wear out and be unable to do a tour after the next record she said she will be working on.

Oh, and.. any idea who her 'best friend' is? She sang me and a gun, and said that she was going to get her best friend to help her, and some shortish woman with a really big hat came out. Someone shouted for her to remove her hat, and Tori said something like 'No, she likes her hat. I bought it for her.', so the issue dropped right there. I don't think her companion sang though, even if tori replaced the "i's" with "we".. (no we haven't seen barbados, so we must get out of this, etc)

ok, i've delurked for once this year, and erm, i am not going to read any replies, i just thought i would give a bit more of a relatively detailed account of what happened with tori getting sick, because it would be plain awful if she were to do permanent harm.

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Hi Mike! I went to the Tori show in Miami last night.... WAS GREAT! Here's my review!

Still excited about meeting Tori on Friday, I was thrilled to have the opportunity again. Me and my 3 friends Tessa, Raven, and Fry got there about 3:40. I told my friends that the girls I wanted to see tonight were "Father Lucifer", "Here In My Head" and "Killing Me Softly". We didn't have to wait too awful long for Tori. Steve was really undecisive about how he wanted us to stand. After all the shifting and moving, I was up at the front! Caton came out first. Thank God he remembered me from the Melbourne show (since we did talk for some time then). We talked for a bit, and I told him that I had a letter for him in my car, so he'd hafta come back out soon so I could give it to him. He obliged and said to just "holler for him". Meanwhile, Tori arrived. She was beautiful and she actually looked a little rested. When she got to me she looked surprised and said "Hi!" I told her I was Jason, whom she had met at the Melbourne show and asked her about her Sugar/Honey necklace. She remembered and said "Now you're all the way down here in Miami?" and gave me this "Awwwwwwww" look :) She gave me a hug and I told her I had a gift for her. I gave her a necklace with a purple ladystar on it. I gave it to her and said "Tori, here's a twinkle for you" and she had that "oh-you-shouldn't-have" facial expression. I motioned for her to come a little closer and I asked her (you'll be proud of me, Mikewhy!) if she could bring "Killing Me Softly" to the show tonight, because it would be a VERY long time before I saw her again, and it would complete my circuit. She wrote it on her hand and said "Please don't be hurt or upset if she's not here tonight. She could be out having a drink or something. I'll see, though, okay?" and gave me a smile. I thanked her and told her to have a great show. Meanwhile, I had row B seat 12 (yeah!) while my friends had row W. it was okay because i met some of the COOLEST CATS where i sat. HI EMILY! HI DAVID! (psssst David, e-mail me!) I had so much fun where I sat... I wish it wouldn't end. Josh Clayton Felt was pretty good and kinda frisky. During the intermission between Josh and Tori, I became better acquainted with my new row A and B friends :) LOVE YA!

All of a sudden, lights lowered, and Son Of a Preacher Man arose... Then out walked Tori. She was wearing Black pants, a white muscle shirt, and Black shoes.

BEAUTY QUEEN/HORSES - Was excellent as usual. Before "off with superfly" she kept moving away from the microphone and lipping some words you couldn't hear. she'd go back to the microphone and say something like "Can you hear me?"

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT - VERY suprised that American Pie didn't come before it. It was alone in all of its glory

HURT (nine inch nails)/BLOOD ROSES - before she began Blood Roses, she sang a little bit of Hurt. I was so excited to hear that!

LITTLE AMSTERDAM - Went ballistic on "playing that organ must account for something"

CORNFLAKE GIRL - Before she began, she again mentioned how Florida was her favorite place to come. She did her traditional mime dance and did a great rendition.

HONEY - had a wonderful long intro.

LITTLE EARTHQUAKES - beautiful as ever.

HERE IN MY HEAD - One of my wish list songs! I told my new Tori-friend David before the show this was my favorite Tori song, so when this came on, he was happy for me! :) It had a long intro to it, which I didn't mind :)

SUGAR - David's favorite song. I was happy THIS was played for him. It was a great version.

PRECIOUS THINGS - I didn't clock the grrrrrrrrl :( but she did the ending very beautifully, adding "wash me clean, daddy" "i'm sorry i'm sorry" and she sang it like a little girl

CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE
TALULA
ME AND A GUN

Encore 1
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW - gave me goosy pimplys :)
SILENT ALL THESE YEARS - Was a surprise to hear this one!

Encore 2
When Tori came out to do the final encore, people started rushing up to the front of the theater. Tori ran to the microphone and said "It's okay, let them stay up here" TORI AND CATON LOVED IT!!!! So half the theater was up front and she broke into

FATHER LUCIFER - ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! never had i imagined this song to be so awesome live! people were cheering and goin crazy. i had NEVER seen an audience with so much electricity.

and then... tori said "I don't usually do this but... someone ask me to, so... KILLING ME SOFTLY - i just stood up and wept. what more could i do? it was for me and i knew it. my new tori-friends around me knew it too because i told them about it before the show began. It was great. She started it on the harmonium and finished it on the piano.

SONG FOR ERIC - the final song. VERY surprised to hear this one. She was wailing throughout it, and it was nothing but sweet to my ears.

After the show, me, David, his friend (sorry, I forget yer name sweetie!), emily, tessa, fry, and raven ran to the back again to see tori. Caton came out first and told me how much he liked the letter and we talked for about 10 minutes or so. It was great. Caton is SUCH A GREAT GUY! When Tori came to me, she goes "See, I came through for you!" and I said "Thank you soooooo much Tori. I'll never forget it. It deserves a big hug!" we hugged each other and she asked me if I was coming to the 2nd Miami show (on the 23rd) or the 24th to the Kravis Center in Palm Beach. I told her I couldn't I had to work. She nodded her head and said "I understand. You take care, then." Gosh, I felt like she wanted me to go to another show! (anyone out there with an extra ticket to the Kravis Center on the 24th? Let me know! we'll talk to tori! :) ) I told her to have a safe and fun end-of-the-tour. She thanked me and said that "we keep her going".

So, another Tori night. Most likely my last time to see her for a long time. Thanks Tori. You're wonderful!

And to David: tape tape tape! contact me, like, now? :)

I didn't have time to read the whole thing, but, from what I did see, the guy didn't mention that the impromptu ending to "Precious Things" was extremely emotional for Tori. She turned red in the face while singing "Wash me up Daddy...I didn't mean to soil my dress...I'm sorry" and walked off stage as she burst into tears. How he could have left this out, I don't know. If he was in row B, like he said, then he should have been able to see her tears...I did. Orchestra Pit row B

ok. i still don't know what i'm going to say about all of this. the day was too incredible for words. i've seen tori four times prior to last night, counting the three times i've seen her on this tour and this was the most magnificent, most amazing, most perfect that i've ever seen her. i can't remember the last time i cried that much. ok, here's the setlist. sorry for any repetitions if someone else posts this:

**beauty queen/horses (with funky little thing in the break in horses where she sang leaning away from the mic so you couldn't hear her but she was really really emphatic about it...i thought i read her lips say "peaches and cream" but i'm not sure)

**smells like teen spirit

**blood roses (with intro that was blue skies, i think...something about can't stop my little snow cone gonna be in the ozone, somewhere she is...and then into the first couple lines of HURT by nin. she didn't do the whole thing but it was a neat intro to B.R.)

**little amsterdam (did a thing in the "all alone got a girl in the city" part where she said people's names, natty and amy and phoebe saying that she knew they were out there doing those 'girl things' ...and when she got to the 'father only' part she started playing really quietly, but when she got to the 'said yes, said yes, it was like she was having an orgasm...it was amazing.)

**cornflake girl (ok, now for any of you who are going to see her, tell me if you don't think that she's hinting to a baby. she did this panto- mime thing where she moved her hands making gestures about a belly getting bigger and then rocking a little baby and then when she got to the rabbit part she changed the words a little, but i was too floored to write them down.)

**honey (beautiful...i've never heard this one before in concert...)

**little earthquakes (with added 'don't say you'd like a while on the side...' lyric)

ok, story time. she said that sometimes she'll be walking along eating something, of course, and a song will come, and she wishes she could tell us how beautiful they are when they come, and that she only hopes that she can get them out and make them as beautiful as they are in her head..

**here in my head (sob-ville)

**precious things (god, that grrrrrrrrrl was scary.)

**sugar

**sneezy (when caton lit a cig.)

**talula (i totally loved this with the backing track. it was soo much fun. caton went off. neato)

**maag

(encore 1)
**somewhere over the rainbow

**silent all these years

**father lucifer

(encore 2)
**KILLING ME SOFTLY

**SONG FOR ERIC

ok, and that's the setlist. i don't quite remember which ones had caton so if anyone else knows, let me know ok?

there was a monkey on the soundtower that was really cute, and a glowing statue that was either the virgin mary or a ghost. i think it was the former. caton was wearing a red hat and he lit up a cigarette during caught a lite sneeze. tori was wearing either black or dark blue pants and a sleeveless mock turtleneck white bodysuit and black shiny boots with a chunky heel. her hair was pulled back and hung down in the back.

ok and before the show i went to meet her and there were tons of ppl there by the time that she got there in her limo. we were all lined up by the barriers and she came to me FIRST!!! i gave her my letter and the little button that i got her that says 'help, i think i'm a rock star' and she whispered in my ear and hugged me for what seemed like forever and i really can't tell you how amazing it was. but anyway, sorry for the long post. oh, and for all of you on irc #tori i won't be there much for a while cuz i'm moving, but you can still write to me here. i love you all and i wish you could have been there last night.

The original posting was in all CAPS. I have changed that for readability.

ALL CAPS FOR TORI - sorry whoever it was that wrote to rynn about the
evils of caps. I went to the meet and greet before the sound check and
gave her 2 punkins - one fake that she can keep forever and one real
that i decorated with glitter. She wasn't signing autographs cause there
were too many people and the security had us all lumped together in
chaos but i was lucky enough to be close enough to the front but i got
her to kiss my death:the high cost of living and now i have her lips
forever! :) She looked very tired but otherwise happy. My best friend
gave her a huge lollipop, which becomes relevant later in the story.
After she left i hung around and talked to her people. I talked to her
cook for the longest time and he was really cool. Josh was really neat,
i liked him alot he was talkative and interesting. She came on a little
late but it didn't matter, she was so fantastic. The set list is as
follows with commentary:

1)bq/horses
2)smells like teen spirit
3)improved lollipop song/hurt/blood roses:
here's where my best friend becomes relevant i think tori likes
lollipops. She played only the first couple lines of hurt but it was
more than enough for me. I think if she had played the whole song i
would've had to leave the room. Both these songs were done as intros to
blood roses. She had so much emotion throughout the concert. It was
simply amazing. She put so much energy into everything and drew us all
in so well we couldn't have left her if we had wanted to. It looked like
she had a faerie sitting on her harpsicord while she played it.
4)Lil amsterdam:
i was really happy to hear a bunch of improved stuff on this song cause
it sounds so much better with the additional lyrics, especially the
"playing that organ yes said yes said playing that organ" for some
reason i just love that.
5)Cornflake girl:
complete with the dance. It looks something like she's mother earth as a
mime. Very beautiful. 
6)Honey:
tihs song meant so much to me to hear because i relate it very much with
a relationship i'm in right now and it's my best friend's fave tori
song. Since this was her first tori concert we were determined that tori
should play honey for her and obviously tori got our vibes.Pelegrrl-
could ya hear me screaming "thank yous?" 
7)Little earthquakes:
a very heartrending performance of an already incredibly powerful song.
She whispered a lot the entire concert but this song was so gorgeous. 
8)Here. In my head:
she seems to love to play this in south florida and i was so happy to
hear it. She seemed a little sad while she was playing it though. A guy
on the balcony screamed thank yous to her towards the end of the song
and she blew him a kiss when she finished.
9)Sugar!!!!
The highlight of the concert for me. This is my absolute favourite song
on the face of the earth and i had never heard her play it live before
so it was very special to me that she did. My friends were sitting in
another row and they were talking about how i was probably having an
orgasm when she started the song and just as they said it i started
screaming and they figured "yep, there's heather." I needed that song so
much. The people sitting by me thought i was having some sort of nervous
breakdown, i was crying so hard. 
10)Precious things:
she added some lyrics to this approx something like "wash me clean daddy
please wash me clean i'm sorry daddy" the grrrl was clocked at well over
40 sec. But i forgot to check my watch when she finished. She sang it a
lot slower than she normally does and her voice was very gutteral.
During the grrrl she was lit from the back and i could see her so
perfectly and she looked so beautiful, her face all twisted up in a
grimace.
11)Caught a lite sneeze:
we know it's always perfect. :)
12)Talula:
she got really into it and she used some sort of altering device on her
voice that made it echo after certain lines like the "chasing her hey" i
couldn't stop dancing long enough to pay a lot of attention to her.
13)Me and a gun:
this was the most emotional performance of this song. She actually
started crying at the end. Joel came out at the end and took her
backstage. She didn't stay there very long but she looked kinda upset
still when she reappeared.

First encore:
14)somewhere over the rainbow:
i never really got into this song so ask pelegrrrl how it was.
15)Silent all these years

second encore:
tori and caton came back out and started collecting flowers off the
edges of the stage and everyone rushed up to the front of the stage.
Lucky little me in row b got right up against her stage and when the
security started looking nervous she said "it's ok they're mine. It's
alright they can stay here." 
16)Father lucifer:
almost identical to the letterman performance. A lot of people around me
were crying during this song. They brought out the organ while she
finished
17)killing me softly:
i was glad to hear her play this cause i didn't like the fugees remake
and i do like hers. She played it on the organ and it was really
beautiful
18)song for eric:
i never expected to hear this song but i had been wanting it really
awful. I'm sorry to say that i interrrupted the song to scream thank you
to her. I thought i had cried during sugar but this was worse. I was
shaking and sobbing and i think she could see me making puddles on her
stage (i was standing directly in front of her) cause when she finished
the song she came down to the edge of the stage and was grabbing
people's hands and she held mine for just a second before she moved on.
It was so wonderful. I think  i'll die and go to heaven since my life
has now reached its peak.

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I noticed that you didn't have any reviews of the Fort Myers show so here's my contribution pertaining to that very special performance.

First, my wife and I arrived about 4:30 to meet Tori. At about 5:00 she emerged from the tourbus to talk with the approximately 35 fans eagerly awaiting. The show was on the campus of a community college in Fort Myers (I don't remember the name of the college since I live 200 miles away in Orlando). While Tori was talking to the fans, Caton was fishing in an adjoining lake (from reading other posts I noticed he did this at the Melbourne show as well). Josh Clayton Felt sat about 100 yards away relaxing under a shade tree. Anyway, I patiently awaited my turn. Unlike the August 11 show in Jacksonville, I was able to mutter more than just a weak "Hello, Tori!". I asked her if she could play the only girl from Little Earthquakes yet to make an appearance on the tour. She smiled knowingly, saying "And that would be Girl, right?" I responded with an affirmitive "yes!". Tori said that she has been working on trying to get "Girl" to come out of seclusion but to no avail. She really sounded sincere in her explanation and I know she sensed my disappointment (from reading reviews of the Miami shows, maybe my talk had a role in bringing part of 'Girl' out 3 nights later). I told Tori that I understood, and consequently I would settle for "Putting the Damage On". She smiled and said "Certainly! 'Damage' will be there tonight." She then proceeded to write it on her hand. Next she signed the picture of the two of us taken in Jacksonville and posed for another. I wished her a happy "recuperation" period after the tour, to which she responded with a genuine "thank you."

Josh Clayton Felt definitely seems to have grown more confident in his performance since I last saw him in August (which consequently was his second show of the tour). I really enjoy the song he does which was featured on the "Kingpin" soundtrack.

Although Tori appeared tired prior to the soundcheck, it definitely did not affect her performance. She talked less at this particular show than either of the three previous concerts I had attended. The audience was one of the most respectful ones I have observed. They did not seem particularly knowledgeable of many of Tori's songs since they often applauded at inappropriate times. Still, I would rather have this type of audience than some of the obnoxious ones I have read about (has anyone ever noticed that the Florida audiences seem to be a lot calmer and more respectful of Tori's music than a lot of the venues I read about - particularly some of the audiences up north; maybe that's why she plays here more than anywhere else.) During the show, she mentioned the fact that this was her first time visiting the southwest part of Florida, so consequently she mentioned that many people present may not have seen her before (to which many fans applauded). She also thanked all those who have faithfully followed her around the Sunshine State from one concert hall to the next. The seats I had for this show were my best yet. I was 3rd row, slightly right of center. It was the first time I've been close enough to observe the glorious saliva that escapes uncontrollably from Tori's mouth as she belts out "Precious Things".

What an incredible sight!

Anyway, what follows is the set list (it's been 9 days since the show so I may have left something out, and aside from the encores it's not necessarily in order). What stands out is one song that Tori performed that she introduced by saying that she often likes to drive her truck into the desert and that this song emerged from one of those trips. She said she doesn't perform it often, but that there was a very special person in the audience who requested it. While this song played, images of desert Indians flashed across the monitor. I didn't recognize the song, but it seemed to mention the phrase "Blue on Blue". Hopefully someone recognizes it. (Note from Mikewhy: That song was Alamo.) Here's the list

Beauty Queen/Horses
Let It Be
Father Lucifer
CornFlake Girl
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Little Earthquakes (one of my favorites)
Past The Mission (another pleasant surprise)
Previously mentioned song ("Blue on Blue" ???)
Precious Things
Silent All These Years
Talula
Me and A Gun

Encores:
Putting the Damage On (yay, my request)
A Case of You
Pretty Good Year
London Girls
Sister Janet

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Short but sweet. That's the very brief description of the show tonight. I think Tori is tired and looking forward to the end of the tour. I met her briefly before the show, amongst a very large crowd based her normal arrivals, and I expressed my concern in that she was working too much. She said "It's almost over and I'm looking forward to a long break. Every one deserves a break." I agreed and thanked her but she did seem tired and very business like tonight.

Tori graced the stage following the normal Josh warmup, at about 9:20. Anastasia keyed up after the usual opening, noting that it may be an interesting show. After CALS and a guitar breaking Cornflake Girl dance, Tori stopped the Sneeze before it began and played Ode to the Banana King. Other strays into the relics brought Graveyard, Tear in Your Hand, Sweet Dreams, Upside Down, Fire on the Side and Purple Rain.

Most noteworthy to me was only four songs from Pele and no Hey Jupiter. The show was a far songlist from the Pele heavy U.S. tour opener here in April. The crowd was the most respectful I've seen on this tour, actually quieting down when each song began, reminding me of the spellbound audiences from 1992. When GUN came on only an hour and ten minutes in, twenty minutes early , and after the "diddlies" and Caton's guitar delays, I was surprised. I had been lulled into possibly a longer show with a few bonuses tossed in. Not so tonight on a chilly Florida eve. The show would end just past the 90 minute mark. I few notes short on this tour.

Tori did talk a bit about men not being able to fake it. Women have to give men credit for that. Men are the "vulnerable ones." She would pour some wine , talk a bit, relax a man. She would say that if she were a man, she would twice the problems. Of course, she "didn't meant that, it just made them feel better."

To the setlist:

Beauty Queen
Horses
Anastasia
Caught A Light Sneeze
Ode to the Banana King
Cornflake Girl
Graveyard
Tear in Your Hand
Little Earthquakes
Cloud on my Toungue
Crucify
Sweet Dreams
Talula
Me And A Gun
----------
Twinkle
Upside Down
----------
Father Lucifer
Fire on the Side
Purple Rain

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October 18, 1996 will definitely be set in my mind forever. Up to the day of the concert, I never even thought about going to the Melbourne show, even though it's the closest city to my city she'll probably ever perform in. I had gotten 2nd row seats for the Miami show on the 22nd (which I'll post a review of too!) so I didn't need to spend excess money when I have car payments to make (hey! just trying to be economical!) Anyways, me and my friend Cindy decided the SAME DAY of the concert, well, that we wanted to go. We were going to try to see if there were tickets left, or, well, I hate to say it: but maybe even find a scalper if we had too. It was just too spontaneous for us to just give up. At about 5:30, when I got off of work, me and Cindy went to a local Ticketmaster outlet to get directions to the theater. OUt of curiosity, I asked if there were any tickets left, and he said "Just two, they were recalled". We snatched them up!!! Row M, seats 39 and 40 (a little to the left of center). Not bad seats for 3 hours prior to the show!

We headed out toward Melbourne at 6:45, got there at 7:45. On my way there I was having second thoughts about going. See, this night was going to be interesting. My ex-best friend Joel claimed to have gotten front row seats and backstage passes with two other of his friends (whom I really don't even talk to). Anyways, I didn't care to see him because he had already snatched my Alanis Morrisette concert ticket a month before. ANYWAYS, we got in to the theater and proceeded to find our seats. When we entered the theater part, I was THRILLED to see that it was small and quaint, maybe 2000 or 2500 max can fit in here, I thought. We found our seats but guess whut? Someone was sitting in them! We had to compare tickets: we had ticketmaster tickets, they had box office tickets... IDENTICAL. It got me a little worried. We went to a manager and explained whut happened. We were rewarded with better seats. Row M Seats 20 and 21.. .RIGHT IN THE CENTER! WOO-HOO! We had awesome seats for a few hours work. Not bad. After we sat down, he had missed most of Josh Clayton Felt, but we were just happy to have a seat so good and so spontaneously! After Josh, there was a 45 minute intermission. Me and Cindy went outside to have a cigarette, and we ran into my bad karma. But the funny thing was I noticed my ex-friend HAD NO BACKSTAGE PASS on, and neither did the two other friends he was with. I was in my own personal heave seeing this. I thought "Hmmm, they didn't think they'd see me and Cindy here, so they HAD to tell us and everyone else they had backstage passes!" 1 point for me! We got back into the theater and sat down to wait for Tori. About 4 feet away from us was Tori's mom and dad!!! Mr. Amos was wearing a BRIGHT green jacket and Mrs. Amos a BRIGHT red jacket. Can't miss 'em. I told Cindy I would talk to them after the show, what can they do? Just say no, and that's about it. About this time, Son Of A Preacher Man came on...

Out comes Tori! MUCH more beautiful than the April 12 show I attended in Ft. Lauderdale. (Her hair is getting long!) She wore a white sweater-like long-sleeved shirt with blue pants and pinkish/creamish Spree high-heels on. She had her hair up in a white scrunchie (sp?) too. She came out, sat down, and did an improv on the piano for about a minute or so. Then:

BEAUTY QUEEN/HORSES: Awesome! So powerful! The Beauty Queen interlude wasn't as long tonight as I remembered it in April. Horses blew me away. She added some stuff to it righ before "Off with superfly, sniffing a sharpie pen"

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS/BLUE SKIES/ICICLE: Crazy!! Awesome! She really gave it away for OCS. She wailed her way into a little bit of "Blue Skies" and broke down into the whole Icicle song. Was chilling as hell.

(I'll try to remember everything Tori said and stuff, but it's not DIRECT QUOTING) Tori: Can't stop, gotten keep going.

LOVESONG: I was melting! The roller coaster ride fascinated Tori, she would look at it quite a bit. Toward the end of the song, she wailed and wailed. Chills.

LITTLE AMSTERDAM: Just as good as it was in April. A little bit more ad-libbing.

Tori: "I come to Florida more than any other place in the world, so thanks guys for comin' back. You've probably seen this a hundred times, so bear with me, ok? Caton? Oh, Caton went fishing today in the lake and cought a TEN POUND BASS! But for any of you who wanna know, he threw it back"

CORNFLAKE GIRL: She did her mime thing! It lasted about a minute or so. She did the mother and child mime, and she pretended to wanna jump into the audience. She RAN back to her piano, threw a foot in the air and broke into the song. She put in a lot of new words (to me) during "Rabbit, where'd you put the keys girl?"

BUTTERFLY: I was hoping she would play this!!! It was a little faster live than on the LP, and this is gonna sound weird, but the intro to Butterfly sounded EXACTLY like Baltimore!

LITTLE EARTHQUAKES: From all of the reviews I had heard, I was preparing to be blinded by lights, which I did.

2 girls in the audience: RING MY BELL!!
Tori pretended to pull on a bell string twice (ring!ring!)

THE WRONG BAND: Very happy to hear her sing this song!

Tori: "There's this girl, Marianne, who was so nice and I couldn't understand why everyone didn't like her." (A long story, but I don't remember it all)

MARIANNE: After the story she told, it made me see this song in a different light.

PRECIOUS THINGS: She was DEMONIC I swear! The grrrrrrrl was about 32 seconds, and it sounded so evil! And she did the "Wash me clean, daddy. I'm so sorry" and stuff. It was great!

CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE: This was great! She beat on the piano a little bit, but mostly beat herself. The part where she goes from piano back to harpsichord (Girl ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE), she went "Girl Z Z Z ZO ZO ZO ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE" was neat-o!

TALULA: Loved the bass.

ME AND A GUN: When she said "pushed FLAT on your stomach" I think everyone in the audience jumped out of their skin.

ENCORE 1:

SHE'S LEAVING HOME
BLACK SWAN: Absolutely beautiful!

ENCORE 2:

Tori: Okay, dudes.
IN THE SPRINGTIME OF HIS VOODOO
ETIENNE: Me and Cindy were like the only ones who clapped when this was played!

The audience was very respectful. After the show, me and Cindy jumped a row and introduced ourselves to Mr. and Mrs. Amos. They were very polite and I mentioned how I had seen them in church before. They were pleased to hear that, and Mrs. Amos was especially pretty. After we talked to them for a minute or two, me and CIndy ran outside to the back where the buses were. There were already about 15-20 people out there. We ran and found ourselves all the way up to the front of the line (the line didn't line up vertically, it was a horizontal line) we were at the end of the horizontal line, which was good cuz we were DEEP IN PEOPLE. I was running my hands all over the tour bus :) Just wanted to feel it. OUt of nowhere, Steve Caton comes out and starts talking to some people in the front of the line, he began to walk away but something in be clicked. "Steve!!!!" I yelled. He turned around and looked at me and I motioned with my hand to come here. Well, he did! Hahhaha We came up and I introduced myself and this is kinda what was said between us:

Me: Hi! I'm Jason, nice to meet you!
Caton: Jason, hi! Nice to meet you too!
Me: Great great show tonight!
Caton: Thanks a lot!
Me: So, you caught yourself a big ole' bass huh?
Caton: Yeah! Musta been ten pounds!
Me: Where'd ya catch it?
Caton: (looked behind him and pointed at the lake) That one
Me: Not too legal though is it? (smile)
Caton: Nah, but they let us so it's ok.
Me: At least ya threw it back right?
Caton: Yeah, I had to.
Me: So how much longer ya got before the end of the tour?
Caton: We're heading over to Texas then Colorado to end it.
Me: What kind of crowds are the most responsive?
Caton: Ooooh that's tough. Not quite sure.
Me: Well, you came to see us the most so we must be cool people
Caton: Definitely!
Me: Hay, I noticed you were smokin' a cigarette on stage tonight. Had ta have a
cigarette.
Cindy: Doesn't matter if you're on stage does it? (laugh)
Caton: Not at all. When ya need one, ya smoke one (or something like that)
Cindy: What kind do you smoke?
Caton: Reds
Me: Lights here
Caton: You have menthols? (looking at Cindy's cig pack, it was kinda dark out)
Cindy: these are mediums
Caton: oh yeah?
At this point I noticed a little bag on his side)
Me: Is that a camera bag?
Caton: Naw, It's a shit bag.
Me: Laughing: Oh, so you just put shit in it!
We both laughed!
Caton: Well, it was nice talking to ya!
Me: I'll be in Miami on the 22nd, so hopefully we'll talk again Caton: Absolutely!

He walked away and me and Cindy were hyped. Cindy didn't talk to him too much, but enough to establish connection as well. :) About 20 minutes later, Tori walked out!! She walked PAST the people in the front of the line and came up to me and Cindy! I stuck out my hand and here goes:

Me: Hi Tori! I'm Jason!
Tori: Jason! Hi! Nice to mee you!
Me: Can I give ya a big ole hug?
Tori: You sure can. Com'mere!
I gave her a BIIIIIG fuzzy hug.
Tori: That was great!
Me: You are just so darn beautiful!
Tori: And you too, my fair Jason.
Me: Hey, that's a pretty necklace. What's it say?
Tori: Oh, look! (she bends over for me to see) It was Sugar! And if I flip it ouver
(and she flips it over) Look! It says Honey, isn't that neat?
Me: It's awesome!
Tori then touches my hand and simultanously says: Well, nice talking to you, oh who's
this?
Cindy: Hi! I'm Cindy!
Tori: Hi Cindy! (hugs)
She then looks at both of us and says: Nice meeting you both, see ya soon.

I wonder if Caton told her about us? Dunno! But it was a night I'll never forget! Oh and did I mention, my ex-friend ALSO DIDNT HAVE FRONT ROW! Hahaha He had Row J all the way to the very end.... Life is sweet And on the 22nd it will be sweeter when I see her again in Miami. :)

OKay, okay, I am not quite over my post concert/she played a song for me bliss yet... but heres a review/ list of my :) concert.

I got to the show about 4:30... and there were about 20 people in line all ready by a tour bus. My two friends and I walked over to the bus, told by a security guard "jut don't try to get between the two buses" Okay fine. I am not a demanding Toriphile.... I just wanted to see her, and maybe talk to her for a minute... and thank her for all her music. Another bus pulls up and, I swear, I got butterflies in my stomach. Meanwhile there were three girls who were approaching the tour bus, but the security guard as well as Tori's body guards said that no more people could go up to the bus... I felt so bad for those girls. If that had happened to me (we were the second to last ones who got there) I would have cried.

Tori got off the bus and hugged and spoke quietly to each fan. Finally it was my turn! She was wearing a blue denim Gap style short jumper, a tee shirt underneath.. with these bright YELLOW tennis shoes and big scrunchy white socks. Her face had no make up at all.

I handed her the book I brought to give her. It was a book on Faeries that contained some amazing artwork as well as some cute Faerie Anecdotes. I said "We don't know if you all ready have this... but if you don't we would really like to give it to you..." And Tori said "Oh no, I don't have this (flipping through the book) Thank you!" She looked visibbly moved that we gave her such a nice gift! I said "it has some really nice artwork in it" and my friend Neil interjected "the art in that book is amazing... and you're an amazing musician....:)" Tori smiled and asked us all our names and signed autographs for all.

Then she asked if she could play something for us. I said "I know you have a handful of requests, but I would love it if you could play "She is Leaving Home" by the Beatles" Tori said "I think I can do that for you" and wrote it on her hand. And she played it!!!!

Okay, I know, enough about meeting Tori, but how can you get over something as amazing as that?!

Tori was REALLY enerjetic... She did an incredible set list, complete with her amazing CornFlake Girl dance that I have been hearing so much about! (I have a hunch that it is a rendition of a Native American folk dance, probably cherokee!) When she played "She is LEaving Home" I turned to my friend Jim (who wasn't familiar with this song) and grabbed his arm. "JIM, this is OUR song!!!" SHE really played it! My friend Neil turned towards me and said "I am so happy for you!" I was moved to tears and could hardly manage a "Thank you TORI!" when the song was over.

What a great show!!! It goes down in my record book as the best show I have ever been to. Alas, this is my last Tori show for Dew Drop Inn... But I look foward to meeting her again in 1999, or her next tour!

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"The Belle of New Orleans"

(A semi-spontaneous encounter with the Goddess)

It was the night before a Tori Amos show...and I didn't have tickets. I had pretty much given up any hope of going in any way, shape, or form and so decided to block it out of my mind the next day. But then, I had a dream. You may laugh, but it's the truth. I dreamt that I had somehow managed to net backstage passes to the concert and hung out with Caton after the show. You figure it out. But thanks to that dream, there was no way I could forget that Tori was going to be in town and I wasn't going to see her. But it didn't bother me that much, I had attended other concerts over the summer, it wasn't like she had completely passed me by. But...I had never gotten the chance to meet her.

As I sat through my German class at 1:00...that was all I could think about. Regardless of whether or not I got to go to the concert, I wanted to meet her. So when the class ended at two, I took off for downtown with about $80 and nothing else. In my hurry, I forgot to bring a camera or anything for her to sign. But it didn't bother me...probably because in the back of my mind I kept say, "it's not going to happen, you're not going to see her".

The trolley ride downtown was frustrating. Traffic is so slow, and the trolley was so packed. It was 3:30 by the time I got to the theatre, and I feared I had missed her entirely. I walked around, trying to figure out where she would go in. And then I saw it. A small group of fans sitting against the wall right by some barricades. I went over and joined them. None of them knew if she had come yet. We all just hoped she hadn't. Somewhere I lost track of time. I met up with some girls from Tuscaloosa, AL and a guy from my school (Tulane) that I had met before. I talked with them, for awhile, trying to calm myself down.

Finally, the security gaurds started to get us ready to meet her. "If this is going to happen at all, it's going to happen one way, my way" he said, obviously getting a testosterone rush out of controlling what he kept reffering to as "the riff-raff". There was only one problem though, because of the way we got lined up, I went from leaning on the barricade to second to last in line. Looking at the size of the crowd, I thought there was no way I was going to get to meet her, they were complaining about being behind schedule anyway. As I worried about this, I saw the limo pull up. I was the first to catch a glimpse of her as she got out and soon the entire crowd seemed full of energy. She walked up to the barricades and started to greet the fans in front of me. I can't tell you how anxious I felt...I was still convinced that she wouldn't get to me. There were just too many people.

But she got to all of us. I finally made my way up to her. For awhile all I could do was look at her. Even with her hair wet and pulled back and without makeup...she was still gorgeous. I handed her a piece of paper to sign, and she had to ask me what my name was twice. Hearing her voice directed at me like that was just wonderful. She made some joke about how she would probably forget my name by the time she finished writing it. I told her that it was okay. A friend of mine came out of nowhere and snapped a picture of us. But then, I had to get serious. My girlfriend and I had been having trouble as of late, and for some reason, both of us thought that "Hey Jupiter" pretty much summed up what was going on between us. I had to have her play that song for Jean. She listened to my story with a concerned look on her face and then smiled as she told me she would play it for us, she wrote it on her hand to remember. But then I had to ask her if she could play it on piano, since Jean hates it on the organ. She just looked up at me with this cute little apologetic face and said "Well, I do it on the organ now, but..." I cut her off and said it was okay before she could finish, I just didn't want to inconvenience her as she was already doing enough for me. I turned to leave, but then turned back around and gave her a hug. I started to cry as she put her arms around me...I whispered "I love you" and then pulled away. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I smiling for hours.

But then I had business to take care of. There was no way that I was going to have her play "Hey Jupiter" for Jean without Jean and I being there. I didn't have tickets, so I had to find other ways of going about getting them. I managed to score some upper balcony seats with only a marginal "service charge" added to the price. I didn't care, we just had to be there. I found a pay phone and told Jean what had happened, she had to get downtown as fast as possible. She met me in front of the theatre at 8:30, we missed the opening act almost entirely, but I didn't really care...I was there to see Tori and enjoy it with Jean.

Her show was phenomenal...far better than her last performance I had witnessed in Birmingham, AL. She came out onstage with a Mardi Gras mask on, but threw it off as she launched into Horses. She wasn't very talkative at all, only told one story and introduced Caton. She was, hoever, very emotional as she sang, more so than I've seen in the past. I can't remember eveyrything she played, but the highlights included: "Losing My Religion", "Leather", "Little Earthquakes", and the Tornado version of "Talula", complete with the synth-bass accomaniment. And sure enough, the last song played was "Hey Jupiter". I didn't watch her as she played, I just closed my eyes and held Jean tight. The entire night was magnificent. Jean proclaimed it as the sweetest thing I've ever done for her. It quite possibly saved our relationship. No matter what, it was quite possibly on of the best days of my life.

As usual her performance was wonderful.

Now, here are some tidbits which I think were unique to the New Orleans show.

As "Son of a Preacher Man" faded, the star background lit up, and Tori appeared wearing a feathered Mardi Gras mask. It covered her face from above her mouth to her forehead, and large feathers extended from the mask over her head, covering her hair (Siouxsie Sioux wore a similar mask when she sang "Cities In Dust" for the "Tinderbox" tour). She then sang "Beauty Queen." As she ended the song, she dramatically ripped the mask off of her face and threw it across the stage, and then sang "Horses". This was very effective, striking and startling.

After the first 2 or 3 songs, someone in the audience shouted for her to tell a story. She replied, "I'll tell you a story in a minute. I'm warming up to you."

She didn't talk too much during the show, but when she did, she talked about local musicians who played with her. She said that George Porter, Jr. was in the audience, and that she thought that he was her long lost father. She had been auditioning bass players but, "they all, well.......sucked. You know, you give them some milk and cookies, then .....(she waved goodbye)" Then she talked about how terrific a drummer Carlo Nuccio is and how he said, "Have I got a bass player for you, but I don't know....." Then she talked about meeting George and how wonderful he is. She said, "You either have it (she then played a few bass chords on the piano), or you don't. You know, this man really must be my long lost father. He taught me more about my left hand than I thought was possible!" She then went on to the next song.

During "Hey Jupiter" when Tori would come to the line "Are you gay?", several groups in the audience shouted out "Yes!" Tori seemed to have gotten a kick out of that as she giggled a bit when they did it.

On Tuesday, the night before the show, I was told that Tori was at House of Blues to see The Heads. I knew I should have gone to see them!

On Thursday night, the night after Tori's show, George Porter, Jr. had a show in a small nightclub. I checked the tour dates, and Tori was off that night. I had a hunch that she might be there, but I was unable to go due to prior obligations. Damn! Was she there? Did she perform with George Porter, Jr.? I don't know, but wouldn't that have been something to see?

Anyway, what more can I say? Tori Amos....brilliant music, brilliant performer, brilliant person.

Went last night to see Tori play at the Sanger (an old-time theatre with cool balconies, statuary, and, hell, the lobby is cool. She was sounding really good. The intro music, before she came out was "Son of a Preacher man" She did a very Tori-esque version of loosing my religion, and here second encore was somewhere over the rainbow. She also got to poke fun at her drummer and bassist on a couple of her albums, and New Orleans natives: Leo nonteccelli (sp? drums) and George Porter Jr. (bass) She seemed a bit over-dramatic at points, but her acapella performance of "Me and a Gun" was riveting. Well, just wanted to report, no I did not write down a setlist.

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NOTE FROM MIKEWHY: I am very disturbed by what Samuel says happened to him when he requested the set list after the show from a sound guy. This should be reported to Tori IMHO.

Hi Mike

This was the typical Tori show, and yes, she seems to be very tired. She did very little talking and walked offstage immediately after RAINBOW. She came back on stage hugging Caton. She seemed to be either exhausted or extremely upset. The strange thing is that she gave it all she had and turned out a powerful performance, and for that we are all appreciative.

Also, Tori thanked all the kind people of Breaux(pronounced bro) Bridge Louisiana for all their cooperation "when was nursing that pig about a year ago." This is a small town right outside of Lafayette where all the BfP photography was done. The town's name is mentioned in the album's credits.

WARNING: To future seekers of setlists from the sound guys at the end of the show; be prepared to be insulted. As I asked if there was a spare copy of the setlist, a copy was thrown at me as was the following insult in a wonderful European accent of somekind: YOU FUCKING LOSER! Pretty cool,huh? Can't wait until the show in New Orleans tomorrow night.

To say this would be an ordinary Monday would be far from the truth. No, this is the Monday Tori would be in town. Plans were already under way for Christine (my wife of 5 years) and I to leave work early, in hopes of meeting Tori. At work the minutes seemed like hours and the hours like days, 2:30 was my targeted time to leave the office. Finally 2:30 arrives, I leave the office, go pick up Christine, then go grab a bite to eat. We choose Hub City Diner, both for the food and the location, which is right across from the Heymann. After eating we join the small crowd that has developed outside the Heymann at approximately 3:45. Each person anxiously waiting for Tori to arrive, the air is brisk with excitement. Finally at 5:05 Tori's bus arrives and the group of about 20-30 people line up like herded cattle behind some barricades. As Tori comes out of the bus the crowd can barley hold itself back, each person wanting to be next to Tori, talk to Tori, get autographs and pictures (as Tori is more than happy to oblige). Christine has the "Boys for Pele" c.d. opened and ready for Tori to sign and I have a slip of paper. As all of this is going on I am taking as many pictures as I can with my brand new Polaroid plastic disposable camera. Tori seemed to be in a very good mood as she chatted, signed, and posed with everyone. A few stragglers were trying to get in line and, just as the security guard was turning them away Tori tells him to let them through, seems she always has time for her fans.

As show time approaches a menagerie of people are gathering outside the Heymann, there were "Goth's", "gays", "norms", "old people", "young people", etc. A display of the wide range of people Tori reaches. Some people sitting outside getting every bit of nicotine they can before the show, others enter the complex to buy up all the "Tori stuff" they can.

The opening act is Josh Clayton Felt (who I saw on the streets earlier, but I had no idea who he was). His first couple of songs were a bit dull, but he quickly picked up the pace and won the crowd over. I think the crowd was just really anxious to get Tori on stage. As an opening act Josh was very good, he really got the crowd into it by the time he finished his set with his most popular song "Open Up". I think I will go out an buy his c.d.

After Josh goes off stage the roadies prep the stage for Tori, it seemed like it took forever for them to do this. The crowd was getting restless, people chanting "Tori, Tori, Tori", then the lights go out, the curtains go up and Tori strolls out. The crowd goes wild, screaming, shouting, whistling and clapping; so much so that they drowned out the first line of "Beauty Queen". Finally silence came over the crowd, Tori's voice filled the air. "Beauty Queen" led into "Horses" during "Horses" someone screamed out "Tori I love your shoes" (I thought this and all other screaming was rude and inappropriate but), I think Tori liked that line because she waved as she heard it. Tori seemed full of energy, moving around on the piano stool as if she were possessed, banging on the piano and herself as if she were a drummer. You could almost feel the emotion as she poured her heart out on stage, giving all she had, and the crowd happily returning the energy. The crowd was also delighted by a dance exhibition as an intro. to "Cornflake Girl". Tori covered songs from "Little Earthquakes", "Under the Pink" and "Boys for Pele", she even covered a song from "The Cure". When I met Tori I kept thinking "Those Piano's will make her look tiny", boy was I wrong, Tori was like a GIANT on stage. The piano's seemed to dwarf themselves as the show went on, Tori getting bigger and bigger with each note. Joined on stage by only her trusted guitarist, Steve Caton, the two of them working together as if they were one unit. I personally don't think Steve Caton gets enough credit, so here is my part. Steve was great, a perfect blend of guitar to add to the perfect vocals and piano.

One hour and forty minutes later, after two encores which encompassed four songs, the lights were turned on. Tori exited to a standing ovation. Christine and I had gotten all we expected and more.

Tori was everything we had hoped she would be: nice, pretty, cheerful, patient, and a great performer. Many people say Tori is a "Goddess", I usually don't get into giving titles to performers. Matter of fact I hate when people call Elvis "The King", I mean I respect what he did but, he is no king. However, lately I've been thinking if I would give titles Tori would be "The Goddess". Hhuumm, who would be "The God"··.My vote would go to Trent Reznor. Imagine that concert, Tori and Trent together in one show.

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This was my second time to see Tori in concert (I also saw her in Jackson Mississippi also). This show I enjoyed so much more.

I was sitting on the second row a little left of center but not enough to make a difference. Tori seemed hyper and extremly emotional ( she mentioned that she had had 6 cappicinos in last four hours) so maybe it was the caffine. She did talk alot more telling us stories before many of the songs. Ofcourse some fans inturpted her to scream out I love you then another fan scremaed "I love you more" she answered "Ok you win, now can I tell you a story."

She did alot of moving around during Beauty Queen, Horses, and Yes Anastasia dancing making faces at the crowd and grabbing her crotch on "Happy birthday her blood's on my hands." During Lovesong there was a rollercoater simulation playing on the triangle screen and she kept turning her head to look at it. During the last part of Cornflake Girl Tori moved her mouth from the mike and started screaming "No you can't have my, no you can't have my" and she left out the words "Golden Gun" this live version of Cornflake girl was much more emotional and differnt than any other live version I'd heard. She told a story before Let it Be about being at thePeabody and not being able to play what she wanted to play and something about "People who have enough money to but expensive wine and stinky cheese..." She said she asked one time if she could please just play something that had been on her mind and in her heart and they (Peabody) said "OK whos it by?" she answered "Lenin/Mcartney" and they said "Whats that" she mumbled befor eplaying "Let it Be" "That explained everything." Before Muhhamnd she told us the story about being at the church for christmas and telling her father that she wasn't hearing the song like he did then she gave us an example "hears what you're hearing" then she played and hummed the first part of Away in the Manger "Here is what I was hearing" playing away in the manger she started humming again then Yidadididi ahh and screaming (sorry I can't explain it better than that.

During Me and a gun Twinkle and Baker Baker Tori seemed to emotionaly take us from being raped to being healed again. When she walked off the stage after me & a gun I couldn't even stand up, it didn't even sound like the same song, she seemed almost to be crying and when she came back on playing twinkle and then Baker Baker I felt she was really trying to make us feel the turmoil she went through. She left again longer this time and walked back on with Steve, she seemed so relaxed playing London Girl and Steve sat in his chair and smoked a cigarette during that number. Tori danced while she played and even gave us another crotch grab when she sang "...You get alittle smelly." Finally she turned to the organ and played Etienne before blowing us all kisses and running off the stage.

I waited out by the tour bus with many others to see Tori before she left I stood by a guy named Rodney who had also been at the Jackson show She came to us first held on to each of our hands and talked about only having 20 more shows left.

I don't know if the first time I was just to in shock but this time the cincert seemed much more emotional and she really seemed to take her time and enjoy it all.

I just got back in town from Little Rock.  This was the third and last show I
could see on the DDI tour and I picked a good one to end with.  I drove up
from Memphis with one of my friends and when we met Tori before the show, she
seemed tired and hoarse.  I thought:  oh no!  I got her to sign my Cornflake
Girl Cornflake Box and I asked her how she was doing.  She said she was doing
really well and that she had gotten a lot of sleep on her way in b/c it was a
long drive.  So then I aasked her about requests and she said that since she
had never been to Little Rock before, she was going to stick to standard,
non-obscure material.  This made absolutely no sense to me, but who was I to
say? --  I asked for the Wrong Band.  My friend Kati asked for Baker Baker.
 We took pictures and waited.
      Josh Clayton Felt (sp?) wasn't very good.  He had some pretty good
material but he killed it my opening with some really bad songs.  I didn't
really like him.  Then I bought a shirt.  They had changed.  There were no
more Recovering Christians or those dreadful Agent Orange snowcaps.  The
shirts were really tasteful and this one.  I bought the one with the leaves
and piano.  :)
    Then the show started. The audience was surprisingly quiet.  Tori had
mentioned a standard set-list show and I had pictured the classic Blood
Roses-Little Amsterdam-CfG-Doughnut Song type thing, but she really surprised
me.  She was a completely different person on stage.  I have never seen her
with as much energy as she had that night.  I'm not sure if it was the long
sleep or all the cappucinos she alluded to having had in the past 24 hours
during the Cornflake Girl intro or what, but it was really exciting.  She
could not sit still!  But it was really good b/c she kept improvising and
changing the songs up.  
    The list and comments where necessary:
BEAUTY QUEEN / HORSES
YES ANASTASIA -- I was actually hoping she wouldn't play this b/c there was a
really loud teeny bopper girl yelling about how Tori said she would play it
for her.  I was hoping she would be bitterly disappointed and go gome cynical
and angry, but that was not the case.  The song was beautiful.
LOVE SONG -- I love the roller coaster.
FATHER LUCIFER -- Really strangely done.  She opened with the opening chords
of Hungarian Wedding Song, then played half Father Lucifer, then the gaining
weight bridge, then Tubular Bells, then Small Town Boy, then the rest of the
song.  It was awesome.  She was so lively and even Caton couldn't stay in his
seat.  He kept jumping up.
CORNFLAKE GIRL -- she told about a coffee shop in downtown Little Rock where
she'd been getting cappucinos constantly for 24 hours.
CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE -- in the middle, when she was changing from the piano
to the harpsichord, in lieu of beating on the piano, she started slapping
herself everywhere.  Then she turned to the audience, made a really scary
face and bellowed like nothing I'd ever heard before. 
LITTLE EARTHQUAKES -- Incredible.  Not only is it my favorite song from the
album, but Caton's guitar work and the psycho lighting effects have made this
song unbelievable.  Absolutely brilliant.
LET IT BE -- told a story about piano lessons and how most classical music is
a bunch of shit.  :)
MOTHER -- Remember when I said she was hyper?  Well!  I always thought this
was a slow song until tonight.  My jaw could not have been gaping more.
CRUCIFY 
MUHAMMAD MY FRIEND -- Never saw this live before tonight. Excellent!  Told
the traditional Away in a Manger story.
TALULA -- This was a first for me tongiht too.  Isn't there some way to do
this without a backup tape?  I thought this kind of took away from the
performance.
ME AND A GUN 
   1st encore:
TWINKLE -- Very pretty.  Yet another live first.
BAKER BAKER -- At this point Kati went crazy b/c it was her song and I tried
to seem happy b/c she didn't play mine.  Oh well.  The song was good.
   2nd encore:
LONDON GIRLS
ETIENNE -- Another first.  Again a live first!  It was breathtaking.

Well, that's my story.  Hope you liked it.  Then I went home because I live
in Memphis.  The other two shows I saw (namely Memphis and Birmingham)
absolutely paled in comparison to this show.  And if anyone tells you
differently, they're lying like the dogs they are.  I'll never get over it.

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It was such a beautiful day to go to Roanoke, the sun was shining and
the leaves had just started to turn as we headed into the mountains of
Virginia.  we got to the civic center around 3 (me, rodney, and jenna-it
was her first show). tori arrived close to 5 and there were at least 30
or so people there to meet her. i approached and she asked 'how i was
doing', i said pretty good, and i asked her if she remembered the deal
we made in baltimore, as i handed her a letter, she said 'what was
that?' then i told her how she'd said she'd try to do my request for
'here. in my head' for Caton in Roanoke. and she said 'oh, right' and
wrote it on her hand (this becomes very important later on). then i
asked her if she knew what Roanoke was originally called. she said
'what?' i said Big Lick, she said "really? really? you think people
would know that tonight?" i said i wasn't sure and that i heard the name
came from the salt mines or something that were nearby. and she said
"well, i may just have to mention that tonight." (she didn't, but that
was ok), i got a hug and then went to go sit on the wall on the other
side of the parking lot.
        a little while later Caton came out and he walked straight over to me
and we sat and talked for a long time before some other people came over
to get his autograph and such. then he had to go in for the soundcheck,
but before he walked away he gave me a huge hug, and a peck! i must have
blushed, i know i was melting at least. who knows, i may just have to
give up my job and move to L.A., just kidding.
        it seemed like forever before they opened the doors and it was starting
to get rather chilly, but they finally let us in and we took our 4th row
left seats. the civic center was set up really nicely, reminded me of
chrysler hall in norfolk, but prettier decor.

here's the gist of the show:

BQ/HORSES
HAPPY PHANTOM
T: hi, i'll talk in a minute, i can't stop.
"she and me going somewhere sweet...where they can't tell us what to
think" intro.
LOVESONG (i had to wait 10 shows to hear this, finally!)
CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE (caton lights up, a bit early tonight)
T: how's it going? this is my first time playing in Roanoke. Caton, it's
yours.
CORNFLAKE GIRL
TEAR IN YOUR HAND
LITTLE EARTHQUAKES
T: this is a funny night tonight, there are a lot of people who knew me
when i was a little one here (i saw her parents with some people before
the show). it's funny cuz they know your secrets, like when they had to
tell me to keep my skirt down, and i'd think that's not the way it's
supposed to be, all the boys want you to lift your skirt, i can't wait
until you guys get to be 30/35 and become fathers and your 15yr. old
daughter is out there and you try to tell her even though when you were
that age... (paraphrased, but mostly right)
SUGAR
WINTER
PRECIOUS THINGS
T: i got this letter today from a group (someone yelled and then she
said something about giving the girls pizza and ice cream because they
shouldn't be starving themselves) a group of young boys. their teacher
brought me the letter, they live in a home for abused children, and it
was so cute they said 'hi tori!' and they wanted me to play this and
gave me poetry on what it meant to them. it's one of the best presents
i've gotten in awhile. (paraphrased, as close as possible)
FLYING DUTCHMAN
TALULA
ME AND A GUN

---(first encore)
maggie intro?
LANDSLIDE
BAKER BAKER

---(second encore)
(she re-enters with Caton and sits down)
T: i got this request, and there's a story that goes with 'here. in my
head' which, Lisa (that's me!!!) i'll explain later.
BUTTERFLY (alternate lyrics of "i go through this so i could be happier,
i feel safe with you")
"old man take a look at me now, i'm a lot like you" intro.
HEY JUPITER

        she said my name! she spoke directly to me on stage! ok, i'll try to
calm down a bit now, but just think about how you'd feel if that were
you. Tori followed the set list exactly tonight (i think, after reading
the athens review, perhaps to make it up to the sound guys). it also
felt like 'little earthquakes' nite as half of the songs were either
from that album or a b-side there of, a big chunk was from 'boys for
pele' too, maybe it was a LE vs. BFP nite. 
        we tried to get outside quickly, though many people beat us out there,
but at least the body heat kept everyone warm. Caton came out and i
worked my way over to him, he talked to everyone and then we went on
another walk (see baltimore). we talked a bit and i broke down and told
him i'd be in boulder next month, he seemed pretty happy to hear that. i
explained i had a dual purpose, my friend just moved out there and he's
miserable. then i asked him what the 'here in my head' story was. he
said "oh! well, Tori pulled me aside before the second encore and said
that she had tried to do it but she just couldn't fit it into the set
list so she did 'baker baker' instead because that's my favorite." i
said, ahh, ok. time was running out and he had to get on the bus so i
got one last hug and a kiss on the cheek. then i headed back towards the
crowd to look for rodney, jenna, and doug. i was pretty far back, but
doug saw me (i hadn't had a chance to tell him i talked to Caton) so he
got Tori's attention and said 'hey, Lisa's here and she wants to hear
her story' then tori said "where?" i raised my hand and jumped, then she
said "come close" (thanks to all those who made room for me) and she
said "i did baker baker instead because that's his favorite, is that
ok?" i said yes, it was fine, thanks.
        thankfully we didn't have to make the drive back to richmond that night
because my mom's best friend lives in Roanoke, and what was waiting on
the table in the basement when we got there? the article from The
Roanoke Times on Tori and her parents, what a great after show bedtime
story! well, i'd better go get some sleep now, my grandparents suckered
me into going with them to church tomorow, i think i may just have to
have 'father lucifer' in my head all day.

counting down until boulder,
Lisa

I'm still all aglow from getting to see tori, yet again, this tour :) :):)

her show in Roanoke was awesome (like there would be any doubt???) jonathan said he would post a setlist, so I won't bother...but she did Landslide...which made me happy (so why was I almost in tears?)... She also began one of her songs (Hey Jupiter I believe) with a bit of "Old Man" by Neil Young.

and of course, she did Love Song (wooo-hoooo!) and threw a bit of Hyperballad into a song (sorry, can't remember which one....:( ) which was most excellent :):):)

She also played Flying Dutchman as a special request...she told us of a boys home that got together and wrote her a letter asking that she play that song for them....wow :)

She had her hair down through the whole show, and it looked fantabulous, of course. :)

Also, during MAAG, she did something I have never heard her do before....and I've only heard of her doing something similar to this once.... I'm not sure whether there was someone talking (I didn't hear anyone) or whether she just was feeling something particularly potent, but when she came to "your pushed flat on your stomach" she almost yelled the word "flat"...... I think everyone in the theater jumped back and lost their breath for a moment........

After the show, I got to meet several rdt'ers (hi, gang :) some of whom have never made it to rmt-a, but promised to check it out. Thanks for the great time at MacAdo's!! I had several questions about my rmt-a shirt ("man, that is a great picture"..."i've never seen that one before" etc.etc.) but I didn't run into any rmta-er's :( :( I want to thank jonathan for coming all the way from Boone to go with us...wouldn't have been as fun without ya, you felon you ;) and I want to especially thank kelley for being such an awesome person :) :) :) :)

now, can anyone buy me tickets and a round-trip airfare to boulder??????? I'll like clean your house and your car and whatever ya want :) :) :) :) :)

this is the "jonathan" mentioned in icarus's review of the show we went to see... figured i'd write my 2 cents and tell my story..

the first time i ever saw tori was in raleigh, nc when she visited on the dew drop inn tour.. (a few months prior to roanoke) it was incredible and when icarus sent me an email saying there was a chance i could see her in roanoke, i didn't hesitate one bit.

as i skipped my afternoon classes to head the 3-4 hours to get to kelley's (our wonderful driver :) home near downtown raleigh, i couldn't imagine what i was in store for that night. when i got to raleigh, there was one little detail icarus hadn't told me in the emails he had sent me on how to get to kelley's house -- that he had left some turns out!! i finally found the house (even though i had never seen it) and waited for someone.. anyone.. to show up. icarus showed up and we waited for kelley. she came in and we got ready to go. kelley drove her wonderful new car straight into a 2 hour traffic jam only 30 minutes out of raleigh.. for some reason, it seemed like we would never get to roanoke on time.... we got into the parking lot of the roanoke civic center around 8:15 and the guards "informed" us that there were no parking spots left.. (there was a hockey game that night too..) luckily for us, a spot opened up and we RAN to the auditorium.

we got to our seats and had to run off some people, but we had just enough time to catch the last few songs of the opening act (i got to hear the real funky song he does.. which was my favorite at the time) we got up and walked around a little bit.. i tried to get a tour book for a friend at school and they were all sold out. we got back to our seats, blessing whatever gods brought us to that place in time.

then tori came on.

from the moment she stepped foot on the stage to the moment she left after "hey jupiter" i was as emotional as i think i've ever been in my life. there were things going on in my life at that time that only tori's music could speak to and she played every song that had anything to say to me. the emotional highpoint for me (besides "little earthquakes" - god, that's incredible live) was when tori sang lyrics >from bjšrk's "hyperballad" in "butterfly" -- i would say my appreciation of these two women's music is fairly large, as the majority of my cd collection is comprised of these 2 artists (well.. the money spent on them anyway) -- i recognized the lyrics almost immediately and just sat there.. stunned. i knew tori and bjork were featured in an article in Q magazine (along with PJ harvey) but i had never heard of tori ever singing bjork at a concert. "hyperballad" being one of my favorite bjork songs intertwined into one of my favorite tori songs was too much for me to handle and while the entire crowd cheered, i sat there feeling more pain than it seemed one person could bear. kelley had nudged me after tori inserted the lyrics and asked if was bjork or if i had heard it.. all i could do was nod :) -- then tori played "hey jupiter" on the harmonium.... i still get emotional when i think about that song and it's more than 14 months later.

after the show, we tried to see tori.. i almost bumped into caton as he spoke to a group of people (i was behind him facing the auditorium as he was facing the other way... i didn't say anything to him because i WAS so close to him and i felt it would be quite strange for me to just turn around and go "hi caton, great show" - call me shy ) but we only got to see a 1.5 second glimpse of tori as she raced to her bus under the cover of her bodyguards and others.

afterwards, a group of toriphiles went to macado's (a sandwich shop with a few locations open in western NC and southern VA) and had a wonderful time comparing tongue rings and reciting poetry. scotch posted pictures of that night, but took them down in a recent page redesign (at least that's what i saw when i looked). i had an incredible time and actually got to see 2 of the people i met that night later. it was pure coincidence, but i ran into them in a mall in greensboro... fate?

icarus, kelley and i decided to not get a hotel room in roanoke.. (i don't think any of us had the money) so kelley drove all the way back to raleigh by herself.. on different roads than we took to get to roanoke. all i remember is seeing shooting stars and listening to kelley's old u2 tapes. i drifted off to sleep and woke up to kelley tailing a fairly large truck. i still have no clue how she managed to stay awake and if she even did stay awake. i do know that icarus and i were alseep for at least an hour... we got back to kelley's house and crashed out.

i feel spiritually connected to that show and reading these accounts (especially the first.. thank you lisa, i forgot about her saying her parents were in the audience) has brought me close to that night. ever since that show, i've wanted to somehow thank tori for giving me some perspective on things going on in my life. i know there was no way for her to know what i was going through or what songs would mean the most to me, but everything that night was perfect and i would never have it any other way. thank you.

OK, so. I saw Tori.

Let's get this out of the way, shall we: let the record show that October 11, 1996, at the Roanoke Civic Center, was Scotch's First Tori Amos show. Shocking, isn't it. Here I was all this time masquerading as a Toriphile and I hadn't even seen her perform.

I'm not going to try to compete with Richard Handal's review of the concert. I don't have a setlist. I don't have a play-by-play. I don't have any other Tori shows to compare it to. Hell, I didn't even know all the songs. And up until the instant the concert began I had this deep-seated nagging feeling that the old RDT Review was something along the lines of a homework assignment, that I had to be taking mental notes the whole way, that I had an insanely high standard to live up to. As the lights went down, I just said "Fuck it" and I sat and just watched the show.

So you'll forgive me if I give kind of an impressionistic view of the experience.

Here goes.

I met my chauffeur, RDT'er Jake Hirsch, Mr. Debonaire, for the first time early Friday afternoon. He looked nothing like I'd imagined. Honestly, I'd pictured some soft-spoken, unassuming, hippie-looking punk-ass. Nothing of the sort. Except perhaps for the punk-ass part.

In case you all need a mental picture here, Jake looks like Matthew Broderick with a beard-- yeah, the whole beard thing was what threw me. Now, the hippie-looking punk-ass part was played by his friend Barry, who was our Mystery Third Ticket (my cellist roommate had to back out because of orchestra practice).

So we got onto the road about 3:00. Luckily the RDT had come in that morning and I got a bunch of replies to my question about Sound Check-- and I thank all of you for your advice. Most of you said to get there around 4:00. However, the planets must have not been aligned correctly or something because we hit some mind-manglingly horrific traffic on the Interstate because of the Sinkhole that decided to appear the other day in the middle of the highway. So we sat, and we fumed, and the clock ticked.

We got to the Roanoke Civic Center sometime in the 5:00 hour. And we were notified by Beefy Security Dude #1 that we had missed Tori by about 10 minutes.

More fuming ensued.

There we met up with RDT'er ClareEmily and her friends and her mom, and we shot the shit for a little while. Tori's parents showed up and greeted us briefly before disappearing into the Civic Center. We thought briefly that we were going to get into Sound Check, since some crew people came out and said something to that effect, but of course it didn't happen. Stuff like that just doesn't happen. That would be too easy. They let in some VIP group but left the rest of us out in the cold. What can I say; we just weren't Very Important. We were the VUP group.

Fast forward 2 hours. You don't need to hear about our time in McDonalds.

OK, so, showtime.

Before the show, we hung out in the lobby, just watching people. Two reasons for this: First-- I was looking for Richard Handal and Icarus, with whom I'd arranged to meet before or after the show. We didn't see either one. Second-- it's just too cool to watch the people who show up to a Tori concert.

A quick word on this. I've been to my share of concerts and have seen all kinds of odd-looking concertgoers (I've been one of them), but this was a whole new breed. Say what you will about these people, call them Freaks or Grungies or Punks or whatever, they make for incredible visuals and a wonderful vibe and I just love being around them and I am more convinced than ever that I will meet my future wife at a Tori concert and all-- the multitudes of dyed-red hair; the Lollapalooza grunge wardrobes; the piercings and black nailpolish and oddcolored makeup; the braids and dreads and tails and locks; the bellbottoms and corduroy; the Birks and Chucks and Docs and Airwalks; the flowing gowns and billowing coats and shabby flannel and faded T's... and there were the Hardcore Headbangers, and there were the Goth Girls and Goth Guys, and there were the Aging Hippies, and the Deep Artsy Free Thinkers and Squirming Teeny-boppers and Styling Preppies and Hairspray Clique Girls and Glassy-Eyed Suburbanites and Brooding College Students and every freaking other possible label you could come up with, plus some odd combination of a few that you hadn't thought of...

... and when the lights went down, and all there was was a lit stage and a rapt audience, there were no more labels or stereotypes or Poseurs or True Fans or shallow Top40MTV people or elitist Toriphiles. Or anything. It doesn't matter at that point. I would make an educated guess about Tori concertgoers that, no matter how superficial you may think someone else is, no matter how convinced you are that they don't understand Tori the way you do, or how insensitive and irreverent and phony you think they are, or how trendy you think they are trying to be-- it occurred to me that the vast majority of people at that Tori concert really DO have within them a deep-rooted, heartfelt connection to Tori. I don't know why I'm telling you this... this is what I was telling myself here.

So that was what I was thinking while I watched the kids in front me of floss each others' teeth with their tongues. And that's what I was thinking when 2 burly longhaired bluecollar late-30's guys sat in front of us. And that's what I was thinking when I saw all the other people I initially thought Didn't Belong Here. It really just tickled the inner recesses of my mind to think about all these different types of people really connecting with Tori's music, and that there's nothing fake about it. That made me think.

Anyway, on with the concert.

"You can't deny the funk, y'all." With those words Josh Clayton-Felt proceeded to impress the hell out of me with his funky wah-wah guitar tunes. Jake had told me about JCF's underwhelming performance at Wolftrap, so I was expecting him to suck, but he was really good, even with his super-hi-tech lighting FX (ahem). It was a little annoying trying to wring all the drool out of my clothes from the Josh-lovestruck girls around me, though.

After his set, I set out on my quest to find Icarus. Since the auditorium seemed to have been designed by whoever invented the Chinese Fire Drill and there was no middle aisle, I had to trek through an entire row of knees and feet to get to the other side. Luckily, Icarus spotted me first by my Sun&Moon shirt. He had on his rmt-a shirt (which I admittedly would never have spotted), and we agreed to meet after the show in The Hug Zone.

I then cruised through the lobby, chucked back a box of M&M's and a DrPepper (my dinner), and went around the other side back to my seat. We found Richard Handal, watched Dr. Amos work the crowd, and mused thoughtfully as to the source of all the smoke that hung over the auditorium. Since it was Non-Smoking, I thought that it was probably partially the crew sucking down some nicotine backstage, and partially all the smoke wafting out of people's hair and clothing that had stuck there since their last pack. Whatever. We listened to the Led Zeppelin and all was cool.

And then the lights went down. Screams. Standing. "Preacher Man." Curtain up. Stage lights. Black shirt black jeans red hair double wave. Just like I'd read about a million times. What I remember next was the rolling way the audience suddenly sat down, in a wave, lit by the stage, like black oceans swells, except much faster.

And I sat very still throughout the entire concert.

And it was over much too soon.

While the place I went to during that show was mysterious, I do remember clearly a few Moments which sort of broke the surface a little.

... You'll hear from others that she played a lot of LE stuff and a lot of b-sides. Now, LE is my favorite of her albums, but I am not a b-sides person, so I didn't recognize several songs... and he calls himself a Tori fan...

... I don't know what she did to "Happy Phantom"-- a little retooling under the hood, just a few subtle differences, but I loved this version lots... odd chords... and an awesomely quirky little scat-type thing she did at the end, almost like a dolphin clicking... there's a metaphor for you...

... I'd forgotten how much I liked "Tear In Your Hand". I wondered why exactly I never seem to think of that song when I think of Tori... in spite of the frantic "Omigod omigod" shrieking of a nearby girl, I enjoyed this piece probably most of all here... and it was so, so sad to hear the "time... to wave goodbye now"...

... I'd also forgotten how much I liked "Little Earthquakes"... heavy...

... Let me get this out of the way too: I didn't like "Precious Things". Believe it. Maybe it's because I'd read a million RDT reviews of the live performance, with the whole "grrrrrrrl" thing, I'd had it so built up I was expecting this hugely breathtaking furious emotional thing, or because I so dig the way she does it on the album, or because of the apparently unique way she did it this night, but I did not like it, Sam-I-am, and I'll tell you why.

First off, one of the reasons I like PT on the album is because it MOVES. It's eerie that way, with a very dark running frightening urgency, and it's just so powerful in that vein. Plus, as a piano player, I fiercely love the cascading piano parts that follow the "grrrrl". Now, live, Tori performed PT almost like a dirge, slow, full of pauses (which normally I can handle in her live music), especially when nearing the oh-so-anticipated "grrrl" part... "with their nine inch nails and..."-- that was so slow and deliberate, I was like Could you get any more overdramatic about this?? I was looking forward to this great vitriolic payoff here... and then--

The "grrrrrrrrl" she did was positively INHUMAN. It was not a scream, it was not a growl, it was not a low raw moan, or anything like that. I might've dug that. No, this was an alien, guttural, croaking, fucking Incubus-Exorcist-Death-Noise coming out of our Tori as she moved her hands up her body and back down again. I could literally hear the sounds of eyes widening in soundless fear and facial expressions contorting into horrified masques (or maybe that was just me) before the audience screamed its approval and she plunged back into the song. I just sat there, truly scared, like What the Fuck was THAT.

Jake said that she didn't do that at the other concerts he went to. I hope not.

I admit that the "Wash me clean" thing yanked me back into the wringer... nevertheless. I will say that this was the only song I really didn't like.

... On a more positive note-- I almost fell out of my chair when, in between songs, a couple of girls yelled out "TORI FOR PRESIDENT!!!!" Holy shit. Jake and I both cheered... and Tori goes "I don't think so, girls... I'd just make everbody eat Peanut Butter." Or something like that. Something characteristically Tori.

I never did find out who those girls were, so I don't know if they heard my poem somehow (how??) or if it was just a mad coincidence. Eerie either way. (Clare, was that you?)

... What is up with Caton puffing away on his cigarette while Tori's performing? I'll give him credit for lending a little Noir Style to the theatrics of it all... the whole darklit stage, hands close to face, lighting up...

... You know how everyone always says that it seems that Tori is looking directly at them during the concert? I think that I was the only person Tori DIDN'T look at... sigh... our seats kind of sucked (row V, 3 rightmost seats) and my eyesight isn't great, even with glasses on... so I'll never know.

... Those robot light things during "Talula" (which is too funky to be legal) are creepy.

... That roller coaster film during "Love Song" made me dizzy in a dreamy sort of way.

... The way the Thin Spotlights slice through the smoke, lighting up the wavy soaplike contours of the smoke, is really trippy.

... I saw Aeon Flux while we were in the lobby. Seriously. It was her.

... Who the hell are these people that get up and leave during the encores?

... "Cornflake Girl" dance-- very Aztec. There were 2 parts of her dance-- the "full belly" and the "rocking baby"-- seemed to bolster the flitting rumors that Tori's pregnant... but Richard said she'd been doing that awhile on the tour, so so much for that theory... he suggested it was more of a Fertility thing than an Impending Motherhood thing... but still... (aren't rumors fun?)...

... There was, I felt, and this might just have been me, an overwhelming sadness hovering over the whole performance. Just this sort of melancholy vibe, hanging, omnipresent, in every song and every word, even afterward, staying with me all evening and even now as I'm looking back. A fantastic show that I'll remember as long as I'm able, though-- but I'm sure that sadness will be in with my memory of the performance. I can't really pin it down; that's just how I felt.

And that's what I remember.

Afterward we went out back into The Hug Zone and waited for a little while for Tori to come out. Caton came out and chatted, and responded in the negative to Jake's question as to when the YKTR Reunion Tour will be.

I had with me my little packet of Lame Tori Humor (the Tori Muppet show, the stupid Tori jokes, a Top-10 list, a photo of James Hetfield with a word balloon saying "Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon", and the Tori For Pres poem), and, not knowing exactly how to go about giving it to Tori, I gave it to Caton to give to Tori. I figured it'd be too hectic to give it Tori herself, and I preferred just to think that she got it than try to go for the personal glory (remember this-- that's a bonafide admission of modesty out of me).

So we were there with like 20 or 30 other people, huddling together in the cold. I was expecting it to transmogrify into a mad crushing mob when Tori came out, but it wasn't at all. She just hopped up the steps and suddenly there she was, not 3 feet away. And everyone was cool and calm. She talked with some girls, and had a picture taken, and then she reached her hand out to us, and I just reached out and squeezed her hand. Real brief thing. I just watched her for a little bit-- just watched her, and yes, she's a slip of a girl, much smaller than you expect, like everyone says; and I was just fathoming the obvious yet elusive fact that she really is a flesh&blood human, even though she's on MTV and magazine covers and posters on my wall-- and then I moved out of the way to let other people get a chance.

No, it wasn't any profoundly emotional exchange like some of you guys have had... hey, it wasn't even an exchange (I don't know what I would have said)... yeah, I was just another face, as bad as that sounds... but I was satisfied. I touched Tori Amos. I'm happy.

Then Jake, Barry, and I went to Macado's, this phat restaurant in town, and there we met up with Icarus and 4 of his friends-- including RDT Lurker Jason (wherever you are)-- and also that Madman you all know and love, Richard Handal, and his friends Greer (a she) and James.

We schmoozed. We talked about Tori and music and stuff. We ate food, yum. We teased the waitress, yum. Greer and James read their delightfully wacky story about Bunnies or something, involving Caton and Tori in an odd way-- it was really weird and they got really giggly and silly with it. (Richard, you've got to get a copy of it and post it to RDT, it's just too cool not to share.) And then, never one to pass up a chance at the spotlight, I whipped out my copy of Tori For Pres, stood up on the table and recited my poem to the company. Wary waitress glances notwithstanding. We then proceeded to ruthlessly trash the entire restaurant, tar and feather the help, and paint WE LOVE YOU TORI in mayonnaise outside on Church Avenue. (OK, I lied about that last part)

Pictures were taken, and when I get them developed I'll put them up on my web page so you can all get a little taste of what you missed.

All in all it was one of the grooviest experiences I've had in a long long time, and I am deeply convinced that we need to have an RDT convention sometime. (Hey, those punks on rmt-a can organize one, why can't we?) It was great meeting RDT'ers in person, and it was great meeting other Toriphiles, and I always like good food. I don't get enough.

And, of course, it was absofuckinglutely earth-shatteringly gut-wrenchingly star-crushingly mind-blowing seeing Tori perform.

And here is where I draw this fucking book to a close.

This has been Scotch's First Tori Experience. Sorry for the length. Thanks for listening.

Out,

Scotch.
Whew

By some blessing from a power I will never understand, I got front row tickets to the Oct. 11 show that Tori did in Roanoke, VA. For some reason she is not a popular here as she is at home (washington D.C- I'm at college). So I came to wait in line to get tickets back in september at 6 am, and only one person was there waiting in line. I couldn't believe it!! So anyway, the she was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. And where she played in a very small venue- something like the place could hold a capacity of a 11,000. But the place wasn't completely filled, so there was a very intimate atmosphere. Someone I know overheard someone say that the reason she was doing Roanoke was because her parents are living here or some other immediate family. The show was so electrifying, though I wish she had played more from Boys For Pele. Most of it was from Little Earthquakes.

My life has never been the same :)

And to think, I had eyecontact (or I like to think) with Tori herself!!!

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All this week prior to the tori concert, i have been excited, anxious, and hopeful that this would be a wonderful and amazing concert of tori's. This was my sixth concert of hers and it was absolutely mesmerizing, filled with many many b- sides and special stories.

My seats in the classic centre were first row balcony- an extremely good veiw point of tori and the entire stage, much better than sitting on the floor.

and the " preacher started"

and i was so exited i had butterflies in my stomach. She did an improvisational thing at the beginning of beauty queen and horses. This was truly the best that i have seen it. SHe keep on leaning into the piano and grabing it for support throught the night, and especially during these songs. It was extremely airy and super long, and she kept on raming the piano.

Losing my religion showed up next ( which was no surprise to me because michael stipe lives in athens, and was probrably at the show). it was not at all like the vh-1 show version. Her " barrel voice " showed up at this time and you could tell that she was struggling with all sorts of demons.

she then procedded to talk with us " hey guys, hows everything going? ( crowd of course goes wild) she told us that she was so exited to come to Georgia, because it is always warm down here, but now that she was here it was cold, and she wanted to turn on the air conditioning so badly now that she was here, " all the natives" wanted the heat.

Blood roses showed up and proceeded to be beautiful ( especially the " come on, come on come on" part.)

Caton came on stage

Little amsterdam. She played some more added lyrics on this on which wrote down as fast as i could, they were "day by day oh, oh dear lord these things i pray" during that part that goes " playing that organ must count for something". This girl was angry tonight.

She introduced " the wonderful Caton" and said that this was the last time that she was going to be in georgia for a couple of years.

Cornflake girl. the 'gather energy' dance ( which, bye the way was funny, they had a tape white tape on the end of the stage, so that when tori did this dance she would not fall into the orchestra pit). The piano solo on this was extremely long, and not at all like i have heard any version. she played all over the keys. and the improvisation part was there ( again) but i caught the lyrics " oh dear my darling i know you can hear me" in a very fast rushing speak.

Dougnut song, which was extremely good, and charming.

Little earthquakes was extremly melodic. SHe changed her pitch than from the recorded version.

she talked with the crew next. SHe was driving them crazy because she wasn't following the set list at all ( this is what she said ) but thats okay, she's just singing whats coming to her, so they could take the list and throw it out the window)....She then talked about when she was recording the " album" and how she loved this drink " ( straight up with salt and a lime) and when i recorded this song, welll i had more that 3"

and up came FROG ON MY TOE!! it was so sweet and playful so sad. much better live.

the " little blue girl " came up next with upside down, which was a shock to me to hear this song. i like it a lot live.

Precious things ( 30 seconds on the ggggrrrrlll growl. ) her barrel voice came out a lot in this one.

Caught a lite sneeze. The tidal waves help a lot with this one. During this song, Caton started smoking a cigarette, which was funny, because it wouldn't light. during the piano " boys on my right side and your never here" she was pounding on herself.

Talula showed up, Caton was rocking out while smoking ( he seemed kind of funny sitting there going crazy, but the tornado version is so " you have to swing your hips " happy i can't much blame him.

me and a gun. Long and beautiful. The audience was SOO good during this one ( which is very much appreciated after Chastain) and when she said " pushed FLAT " she sang directly in the microphone and everybody jumped, because it wasn't expected.

1st encore

Sugar. much better that vh-1, and china were paired together. These songs do so well off of each other.

2nd-

Father lucifer came next. it was playful and she seemed to be happy to sing it.

The " boyz" brought out the pump organ and she said " i don't expect most of you to know this one" and some body shouted out cool on you island and tori said " WWrrong, but it is from the snake skin leather boots phase" and she proceeded with Etienne. which was wonderful. but sadly, her pump organ didn't do something right and she said " Caton, did you hear that, my organ is dying, oh well, sorry guys you don't get that one we will have to make do, my poor organ BAD ORGAN BAD ORGAN BAD BAD!!!!! THe organ needs and drink, and a whip"

honey which was nice and like the recording on hey jupiter

SONG FOR ERIC!!!!!!!! i was so suprised that she played that, seeing as how she never does anymore. when she jumps and octave, she held that out. and i had chills running through my body the entire time. a great finally.

it was such a good concert, but sadly my last for a long time. But definitely one to remember.

hi all.  just got back from the show.. can't sleep so, i bring you the
set list
but before hand, a few comments...

tori seems to be nearing her end of strength.....for this tour.
tonight blood roses and esp. little amsterdam were just plain dry.
(and we know tori knew this also... look at the list)

she completely blew me away with precious things tonight...
what the hell was that at the end? it wasn't there in august!
sounded like the demands were being demagnitized, blended throughly,
swallowed and then spit back up again...                (?)

*beauty queen/horses
*losing my religion [demands make a brief appearance at the end]
*blood roses
*little amsterdam
[this is a blank, as i tried to recall the list afterwards, but after a
few songs, tori says "i've been driving my guys crazy tonight, so guys,
that set list, poop on it"]
*cornflake girl [the dance has improved!]
*little earthquakes [will i ever see again?]
*doughnut song
*upside down
*precious things [those demands decide to have a hay day towards the
end... a deep throat noise from in her chest, NEVER heard this come from
tori before!]
*frog on my toe
*caught a lite sneeze
*talula [tornado version, of course]
*me & a gun
- --
*china
*father lucifer (letterman style... yeah!)
- --
*sugar
*ethinine (spelled right?) [at this point something goes wrong with the
organ and tori says something like "holy shit did you hear that caylin?
ok, we'll do something else, bad organ!]
*honey
*song for eric

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It's 11:40 PM and I'm feeling a little bit melancholy. I've been to my third Tori concert in 6 months, and it's the last one I'll be going to for a while - the rest of the tour is out of my range (I did briefly think about driving to Athens, GA tomorrow, about 5 1/2 hours, but decided it was probably not within my power - I'm a bit older than some of you and age does make a difference when it comes to things like driving and staying up all night). But I can't ever say never - I didn't think I'd make it to three concerts even, so I'm also counting my blessings.

Tori and Steve were, as always, awesome. It seemed like forever before Tori came on stage but it gave me a chance to talk to a woman from Columbia who is a piano major and who got to meet Tori before the concert (in my next existence, I'm going to take off work early and be there to Meet and Greet). I had been a little nervous about Tori being in Charleston, my home town - I was worried that the audience would be too rowdy (although I also know that Tori is fully capable of handling rowdy bunches) or disrespectful or disinterested or something. I was pleasantly surprised - the audience seemed to be right with her, kept quiet when it was good to be quiet, yelled when it was good to yell, and was just as good as the audience in Holmdel, NJ (although the Holmdel audience, to be fair, was about four times the size).

Tori did not talk a lot but her playing and singing were very focused, very emotional, and she seemed to be enjoying herself. Steve was even more energetic at times and played up a storm. My view of her was excellent (I was up in the balcony) and I used my binoculars to good advantage.

As for what she sang, again, I must fall back on the excuse of age because I know this order is not going to be right but I don't think it's that far off. She opened with Beauty Queen/Horses (of course), followed by (I think) Little Amsterdam, then Love Song (? not 100% sure that's the title but it's the one that she sings with the roller coaster background), then an incredible version of Losing My Religion (probably my all time favorite REM song, and always great to sing to), Father Lucifer, Cornflake Girl (with the usual awesome dance), Little Earthquakes, These Precious Things, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Leather, Putting the Damage On (with a wonderful lead-in of Paddywhack), Talula, and Me and a Gun.

The encores were a song Tori said she had written in London (I was not familiar with this song but it was fabulous), then Winter (I think), then Pretty Good Year (I'm not 100% sure about this either) and finally Hey Jupiter. Next time (and there will be a next time), I'm taking a flashlight with me because I can not write in the dark nearly as well as I thought I could. Tori was smart - she had her Virgin Mary night light on the piano (when someone in the audience yelled "What's in the piano?" Tori told them, then added "It's a very useful thing to have, girls.").

So there it is. It doesn't get any better than this. Except if you can make it to Meet and Greet.

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Sighsighsighsighsighsighsigh...

What a great show...what a great day. Wow.

Setlist first...
-Beauty Queen
-Horses
-Take to the Sky (my 4th show this tour, the first time i've heard this...)
-Lovesong (ditto...i almost wept a lot and stuff...)
-Little Amsterdam (ditto again...groovy...)
-Tori tells us about/shows us her Virgin Mary nightlight atop the piano
-Cornflake Girl (the dance is just so amazing...totally tai-chi-esque...)
-Doughnut Song (with intro and interlude about "still on my side"...beauty)
-Little Earthquakes (oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh...beautiful lighting...)
-Leather (yeahyeahyeahyeah)
-Tori talks about her visiting her grandfather's grave as a child, bringing
popcorn, ice cream, and pizza. She said that when she drinks tequila that he
comes to visit her.
-Frog On My Toe (another first for meeeeeee...)
-Precious Things (nobody yelled obscene things during the naughty bits...yay)
-Caught A Light Sneeze (starting to seem a bit long...i'm so spoiled)
-Talula
-Me and a Gun

ENCORE 1:
-Mary (yet another first...ahhhhhhhhh...hearing her sing it live made me
realize that i've neglected listening to it as often as i should...)
-Cloud on my Tongue (I asked her to play this at soundcheck, and she DID! Of course this
was after Al asked her to play Copacabana, so she was probably
happy to oblige...still...she PLAYED IT...and it made me cry...)

but then...

ENCORE 2:
-Father Lucifer
-Etienne (never heard it before...wow...)

All in all, probably my favorite show of the 4 i've seen on this tour (Syracuse, Toronto, Artpark, and now UB)...hearing the really rare stuff is what really made it. Ahhhhhhh...I'm still sighing.

It was truly great to hang out with other fans before the show, whilst waiting for the soundcheck. Hi Maggie! Much pez and artwork and toristories were shared. Lots o' fun.

At Artpark, Tori mentioned having dreams about crocodiles eating her hair. She said if anyone had any interpretations to drop her a line. The next day, friends of mine and Elena's were going to the show at Finger Lakes. Elena wrote up a little letter to Tori with some ideas about the dream, and our pal Al delivered it onto the stage that night, where she picked it up.

When we met her at soundcheck yesterday, Elena asked Tori if she remembered that letter, and Tori said she did. When Elena inquired as to the status of Tori understanding the crocodile dream, tori responded "It has to do with understanding and accepting the dark side of the Goddess within, and going to that dark place without fear." Hmmmmmmmm...if only we'd had longer to chat.

My mission for the day was to see if Tori would sign the birthday card I was in the process of making for my little sister back home who loves Tori almost as much as I. She signed it alright...I can't wait for my sis to see it.

I got a Tori-hug...its such an amazing thing...like a blanket of warm energy. She gives so much love to her fans...its just incredible sometimes. I got all jelly-legged from the experience.

I hope this isn't the last time Tori comes around here before November, though it probably will be the last time until her next tour....ah well....twas a wonderous summer full of your music Tori...thank you.

...sigh.

ok, so josh clayton felt did NOT play brick house again (how
disappointing) and I had a fight with my boyfriend that threatened to ruin
my night and Stephanie cryed through the whole thing. BUT I saw her
beforehand and got her to sign my Y KANT TORI READ PROMO VINYL (yay) and
she remembered me, she said she loves my butterfly puppet.

set list
-beauty queen/horses
-take to the sky (enter maggie freaking out in disbelief)
-lovesong (continue maggie freaking out-i couldn't take my eyes off the
damn rollercoaster. We all start saying ohmigod)
-little amsterdam (lots of adlibbing, really neat)
(she shows us her virgin mary nightlight, people start going WE LOVE YOU
and she kinda giggles and waves us away.)
-cornflake girl (good dance-after keeping us in suspence as to whether or
not she would do it. I love when she adlibs in this, it's so unbelievably
awesome)
-doughnut song (i thought of you, P. :) Does she always do the "you can
tell me it's over, over and over" thing, it's gorgeous)
-little earthquakes (funny enough, other than the standbuys [aka precious
things, horses, cornflake girl, talula, caught a lite sneeze], this was
the only song I had heard in concert before.
-leather
(story about her grandfather and how when she drinks lots of tequila she
thinks of him)
-frog on my toe
-precious things
-caught a lite sneeze
-talula (kicked, but it always does)
-me and a gun
1st encore
-mary (had to sing along cause steph was so sad)
-cloud on my tongue (maggie cries. cry cry cry)
2nd encore
-father lucifer
-etienne (pour moi. happy happy. swoon swoon.)

we have a tape, and the quality's really good, but of course there are a
few side conversations happening that would bore most of you to tears.
personally, i think it's hysterical.

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TORI AMOS GRANTS MAGICAL EVENING
SINGER's PERFORMANCE FROM ANOTHER WORLD
BY ANDY STEVENS
SUN AND PRESS BULLETIN

There are those who will emphatically claim that Tori Amos is not of this world, that she is from some higher place, or perhaps that mystical land where the faeries play. Well, I dont know much about that, but if there were ever evidence to support such claims, Amos' Sunday night performance at Binghamton University's Anderson Center was it.

Having seen Amos twice previously, I somewhat knew what to expect - a lovely evening of lush, emotive piano and voice works. However, nothing had prepared me for an evening this magical.

Partial credit can be given to the venue; the sound in the Anderson Center Concert Theater is crisp, pristine. Partial credit, too, goes to the crowd - respectful, appreciative, and hyper charged with good Tori-vibes to the last. But the majority of the credit, of course, goes to Ms Amos herself, who was in top form vocally, instrumentally and interpretationally.

Amos has a reputation for both mixing up her shows from night to night,as well as offering radically different versions of both her own songs and those of others. For Sunday's show, Amos relied heavily on her earlier works, and treated the crowd to covers of tuns by artists as diverse as the Cure (love song) and Elton John (Daniel.)

Through dramatic vocal styling, Amos evoked all manner of reactions from the crowd...cheers, tears, screams, and dreams. This, coupled with her drawing from her piano and harpsichord a wide range of sounds both melodious percussive, showcased an artist who is not willing to settle for conventionality, but who is constantly pushing her talents beyond their limits.

But this did not affect the caliber of her performance whatsoever. Indeed, more, than I've heard her do yet, Amos delivered a vocal performance straight from the depths of her soul, moving from hushed whispers to banshee wails in the blink of an eye, her language and lyrics dancing from her gounge to our ears.

Amos also treated the audience to only a brief but wonderfully quirky interpritive dance moment, but to her special brand of humour as well p- whether it be through questioning the "historical" nature of a local hotel, or sending up Whitney Houston.

Opening for Amos was an animated young man named Josh Clayton Felt, who performed solo with acoustic and electric guitar, entertained the capacity crowd with 30 minutes of fresh, blues and funk influenced pop story-songs. Felt, who came across as a younger, saner Robyn Hitchcock, was an affable, and accommodating performed who endeared himself to the crowd despite the brevity of his set.

As Amos progresses through her career, she becomes bolder, more daring,and ultimately more interesting. Her music, especially performed live, is challenging, not for lazy ears; yet her fans remain avid and grow in number. In her final song Sunday evening, Amos sang "Maybe Im a witch, maybe Im a witch." Maybe indeed....it's one possible explaination as to how a single woman could provide an evening so beautiful and magical.

I will remember Sunday October the sixth, 1996 as the best day of my life. Not only was I going to get to see Tori the closest I had ever seen her before (fifth row), but she was going to be on the very same campus where I go to school!!! Tori at Binghamton University..... Almost to good to be true.

I waited in line for 5 hours just for my fifth row seats, so even from the moment I got them, I was exited. We could only get two with our Student ID's, so I got one for me and one for my best friend Garnet. (Hi Garnee!! :) I could hardly stand waiting for October 6th to come. The last I had seen Tori was in Rochester NY on August 29. That time, Garnet and I only had seats in the lawn, so we got there hours early to get a good spot on the lawn. While we were there, we met lots of other Tori fans, some who had met her, spoke with her, got there picture taken with her. So when I got my tickets for the sixth, I began to think that maybe I could get to meet Tori myself. Maybe I could bring her flowers as a token of my appreciation. I mean, why not? Everyone else had. It seemed like a real long shot, but I decided I'd go really early and hang out behind the theatre, just in case.

Well, the day of the concert finally came. I rushed out of work and went over to the grocery store to get the flowers. I began thinking as I walked out of the store with the flowers: This is ridiculous. Who am I kidding? I'll never get to see her, except for on the stage. As it turned out, Garnet called me on Saturday night saying that she couldn't go because something had come up, so on Sunday morning I called my friend Lindsey, the only person that I know that I can safely say is more into Tori than I am. I woke her up with my call, so she was kind of groggy when she answered. When I explained to her that I had an extra ticket, and asked her if she wanted to go with me. Just from the tone in her voice I could tell she sat straight up in bed. She was so happy, and after asking her folks, she said she could go. We made arrangements for me to pick her up at 12:30. Later, Lindsey told me that after we got off the phone, she walked around the house for about 15 minutes trying to convince herself that my call wasn't part of the best dream she'd ever had. I thought that was cute :)

We arrived on campus a little after one. The sky was clear and blue, the air crisp; A perfect fall day. Just how perfect, I wouldn't find out until later. As we walked, the back parking lot of the theatre came into view, we saw two huge red buses and a white 18 wheel truck that looked vaugely farmiliar. Had Tori already arrived in one of the buses? It was hard to say. We walked all the way down to the parking lot. No one was around except the driver of the big white truck. I told Lindsey, "Let's go ask him if he's with the show."

So we walked over, and I asked him if he was with the Tori Amos crew. Yes, he said. WOW! I was so amazed. I asked him if he was the one who carried the piano and the harpsichord, and again he said yes! WOW :o I asked him if he knew Tori personally: "I've known Tori for about four years" Lindsey and I were both impressed. :) :) I asked him if Tori was as kind and sincere as she seemed, and he gave me a very good answer: he said: "Are you kind? Are you sincere? She's just like everyone else." What an exellent point. We asked him when Tori was going to arrive, and he told us the red-head would show up at about 5. We thanked him and walked over twoards the curb.

Just then a security gaurd with sunglasses asked us very politely to please move away from the lot, and that we should stay away. We asked him if we could see Tori after the show. " I don't know", he said "check later." Hmmph. I was so dissappointed. Would I even get to give Tori the roses I had gotten her? Lindsey and I walked up to where we were out of the many security gaurds hair, but where we could still see what was going on. I know this seems really silly, but Lindsey and I ripped pages out of her journal she always keeps with her to write Tori notes to go along with the flowers. We thought that maybe someone could give the stuff to Tori for us. Well, we were struck down again: "Nothing in or out," they said.

Lindsey and I sat there for awhile just chatting, when all the sudden, a girl asked me "Do you go to school here?" Yes, I do "Are there any tickets left for the show tonight?" I told her that the tickets sold out in two hours. She was really dissappointed. "She" as it turned out, wzs a girl named Tina. She had just driven 8 hours from her home in New Jersey. She then told us that she had driven around following Tori that entire week!!! She even drove to New York to catch Tori on the Late Show with David Letterman. She was so nice. We talked and swapped Tori stories for about an hour. Tina asked a few passing security gaurds if they knew about getting a ticket for the show. They said they would try. Tina told us that she's a figure skater. She wants to use "Talula" as the song for one of her skating routines coming up. In order to do that, she has to get permission from the artist themselves. So, Saturday night, Tina talked to Tori and got her father's phone number!!! It was so neet to see it in Tori's famous purple ink.

About an hour later, nothing had changed below. Two more girls showed up. They were from Wilkes Barre, PA, and were also following Tori. When we first saw them, Tina said "I recognize those guys. They were at the show in PA last night." I thought that was cool. It was getting to be around four, and more people were joining us by the lot. I met lots of other people who were also following Tori, and as I met them I became so jealous!! Some were even talking about flying out to Colorado on November the tenth to see Tori's very last show. Wish I had the time and Money...

The next thing I knew, they were putting barricades up on the edge of the lot!! I grabbed all my stuff and Lindsey and bolted over there. This guy with black hair told us "Make one line right here" I was the first in line!!!! I was actually going to meet my Tori!! We stood there for what must've been about ten minutes during which Lindsey and I exchanged a few "I-can't-believe-we're-going-to-meet-Tori"'s. All the sudden, the bus pulled in and parked in front of the loading dock. After a minute or tow, the door opened and Caton got out! He looked a bit shorter than I thought he would.... Then the door opened again..... and there she was. Tori was wearing white jeans, a light blue sweater and a long red scarf around her neck. She looked so pretty. She slowly walked over twoards the barricades with a blonde haired guy (probably her bodygaurd). She had something in her hands, and she set it down as she she reached the edge of the barricade.

"Hello, Ms. Amos", I said

"Call me Tori..." she responded in an even tone.

I laughed a nervous little laugh: "okay, Tori then" I handed her the boquet of roses and said "These are for you" She held them in her arms and looked at them for a moment. I don't remember her saying this (I ws so numb from shock!), but later Lindsey told me that Tori said "Thank you, these are very beautiful, that's very sweet of you." I still had the note I had written her seemingly years ago, and here I was saying "and I wrote you a little note.." I had folded it so that the top design (which was a smiling baby) was showing. "Is this you?", Tori asked? Lindsey said from behind me that it was from her journal. Tori nodded. I felt the tears begining to prick my eyes as Tori turned to meet my gaze. I stood there for a count of about three, just gazing into her amzing eyes. They were the most brilliant shade of green, but it wasn't really green, more of an aqua color of which I have never seen before. I studied her face: I know Tori is part Cherokee, and it really shows when you see her up close. There are these very faint contours to her cheeks that are just beautiful. They makes her much more beautiful than her image in pictures. She raised her eyebrows at me. I said, finally, "Please take care of yourself..." it was then I started to cry thick tears "...because you mean so much to me... and I know it may not mean a whole lot to you, but I love you." She extended her arms and I met them with mine. So there we stood hugging for what was probably 15 seconds. I began to cry harder. Everyone in the line heard my sobs and gave out an "Awwww...." my head was on Tori's right shoulder. "You've helped me so much.." I managed through my sobs that shook through my whole body. Tori's red hair brushed against my right cheek. I'll never forget that feeling. I'll never forget the feel of her slim, but limber arms around me. I could feel their strength even in her gentle touch. She pulled back, keeping her hands on my shoulders. She looked me in the eye and said. "If you're a freak, then I'm a freak, and we're in good company." Those words went straight to my soul. She seemed to know about the hurt that comes from sometimes being an outsider, and feeling like you just don't fit it, which tends to build up inside me. Those words seemed to work magic. I asked her to sign the CD-jacket photo from "Under the Pink" which depict's a barefoot Tori laying down, resting her head on her hand. She took my Sharpie pen, and asked for my name. I told her it was "Chad" She began to write and I didn't dare look to see what she was writing. I watched her head as she wrote, and as she was signing the closing, she gave me a playful glance "...three hearts.." she said as she wrote. She then handed me back the the pen and the picture, being careful to keep my note in her hand. We then posed for two pictures that Lindsey took for me. It would've only been one, but after the first one Tori said "I think we moved, let's try another one..." I was so happy!! After the pictures were taken, I gathered up my backpack and other things as I said "Thank you so much Tori, good luck tonight, please take care of yourself and take a nice break, okay?" Her only responses were sincere nods and "I will's" As I walked away I began to not cry, but sob uncontrollably, again. My tears were not tears of sadness or joy, but those of pure emotional release, the vibe that I pick up from tori every time I listen to her. I walked up the little hill and waited for Lindsey. When she came up we both dropped everything and hugged each other. We were euphoric!! We waited for Tina, who got a promotional poster of Boys for Pele signed. Tori signed Lindsey's very own journal!!!

Lindsey and I then went to get a bite to eat, but I only had water: my heart was still racing, and my body still shaky.

We went to the show, and got our seats in the fifth row. Tina wound up getting tickets. She asked Tori herself to reserve one for her!! I was happy for her!!!

Tori's amazing set list went like this:

1. Beauty Queen/Horses
2. Angie (yessss!!!  Tori held out the 'we' in 'don't you think it's time
          we said goodbye' line forever
3. Lovesong (I'd never heard this one before.  We were on the right hand
             side of the theatre, so we had a really good view of Tori's
             lighning fast hands weave their magic on the harpsichord)
4. Space Dog (She did a really cool intro about martians before this one.              
              The tempo was a bit faster, and it sounded great! :)
- Tori then introduced Caton, and told us about how the hotel they were
staying in was the worst of the entire tour!  She did mention that Caton
got his own Jacuzzi!  Who-hoo! She said she was writing a song that last
night, and that if that song made it on the next album, she'd mention the
hotel in the notes.  I can only hope.......-

5. Cornflake Girl (Tori reached behind the piano bench and produced a jar
                   of rason which she opened, and then sprikled some onto
                   the floor in front of her.  She did the dance while
                   Caton jammed.  As she headed back to the piano, she
                   yelled  out "One...Two....Three....Four..."  the   
                   crowd was so enthused, we all clapped with the beat for
                   awhile)

6. Tear in Your Hand (Very pretty with just her and Caton)

7. Little Earthquakes

8. Silent All These Years

- Tori then told the story of Ana, who requested "Somewhere Over the
Rainbow", and said that before that show, a voice in her head told her not
to play that fucking song.  She said "I played this one instead"

9. Daniel

10. Muhammed My Friend (I broke into tears during this one)

11. Caught A lite Sneeze (Caton lit a smoke!) 

12. Talula

13. Me and a gun (Thank goodness everyone was quiet during this one...)

encore 1. 

When Tori came out on stage someone shouted out "Icicle" , to which Tori
said "We'll see if she's around" Others shouted out other songs and Tori
said "Let's hope all those girls are getting laid...."  I laughed: You
go, Tori!

14. Twinkle

- Tori said "This girl's saying 'I'm not getting laid, I'm right here'"                                                   
It was so cute!  The girl she was talking about was, of course,

15. Icicle

encore 2. 

-Tori asked Caton if they should show us what they'd been working on.  She
then mumbled something about "soundtracks", and "I don't know this fucking
song.." 
and then she broke into                   

16. I will Always Love You (The BU newspaper says Tori sang this line as
                            more of a threat than a promise.  I agree.                                
                            Some people were laughing, but I wasn't it was
                            really powerful.  By the way, has Tori ever
                            done this song before, or was this an
                            exclusive?) 
     
17. Butterfly (Yippppeeeeee!!!!)

18. Etienne

I never realized what a pretty song Eitenne was until that nite. It's so happy and pretty and optomistic.

So that was the best day of my life. Thanks for the opportunity Mike. I know I speak for us all when I say you do a terrific job. If anyone would like to write me about their emotional meeting with Tori, mail me Chad at bf17731@binghamton.edu I'll write back to all. Thanks again!

i'm replying to myself, gonna fill in the good stuff about the concert
now. :)  this might get kind of long, as it was a really big day.

rosser (my sweetie) and i got to campus (where the show was) at about
3:45 or 4:00, and i was really nervous that i was going to miss
meeting her.  we couldn't get there any earlier though, because of bus
schedules.  but we figured out where to go, and  there were about 5
other people standing there, also waiting with stuffed animals and the
like.  so we waited around for a while, gathering more and more
people, and it was a really neat little crowd.  i think it topped off
around 20 people or so.  but everyone was friendly and laughing and
excited, and the atmosphere was really neat.  i met richard from the
rdt list, (i don't subscribe to rdt :(  )  and found out he's been to
around 30 shows...  met more neat people, including ... "the raisin girls" eric and
jacob. :)  we got in line and got the whole shpiel from steve that
i've heard so much about by now.  and around 4:30, there she was.  

she looked wonderful and a lot more human up close.  she was wearing
light blue jeans, a light blue hooded sweatshirt, and a red scarf
draped over her shoulders.  the first guy to meet her just started
sobbing, and she just held him while he was crying,   while the rest
of us stood there going "wow"...   i managed to get a few pictures of
her around people, and then there i was.  i'd known that i wanted to
say something to her about how wonderful she is, how much she's helped
me through her music, on and on.  but all i got out was "thank you so
much"  not even a "hi tori".  so she said "you're welcome so much" and
i smiled and handed her my copy of little earthquakes to sign, and she
asked my name, and signed it.  then i told her that i could see that
her hand was already full of writing, and did that mean i shouldn't
request anything, but she said to go ahead, that it was fine.  so i
asked her, if she could, to play silent all these years.  she wrote it
on her hand, and gave me a hug, and we took a picture.  she signed
rosser's ticket, and i took a picture of them, and that was it.  i
felt like i'd blinked and missed the whole thing.  i wish i'd known
what to say to her, but i wasn't going to dwell on it.  too much good
stuff going on for that.  :)

so we went and got a bite to eat and basically hung out and waited
around for a while.  i was trying to sell an extra ticket for a friend
and one girl was interested around 5:00 or so, but wasn't sure, 'cause
she also needed 2 more tickets.  i hadn't heard from her, and someone
else asked for it, so i promised it to him.  at 7:15, she comes up to
me again, and says she wants it. i hated being in that spot, and i
told her, look, i didn't know if you wanted it or not, i had to sell
it for my friend, so i did, i'm really sorry.  and for at least an
hour, i was worrying about this, and trying not to beat myself up over
it.  but i didn't want to be the cause of anyone not getting to see
tori, you know?  i mean, the bad karma i'd rack up? ;)  (she found me
after the show, and told me that she'd managed to get in, and i was
relieved).

also, i could hear bits and pieces of soundcheck from outside.  heard
some of tear in your hand, and muhammed my friend. :)  couldn't make
it out too well, so i didn't listen too long.

josh clayton felt came on right at 8 and played for a half hour.  he
was okay, good with the crowd, but i wasn't too impressed with the
music.  i liked a couple of his songs, but seeing the piano shadow
through the scrim he was standing in front of was just too frustrating
to let me really enjoy him.

he finished at 8:30, and tori didn't come on until 9:15. i was getting
antsy and tense, but as soon as i heard the music, the tension just
left me.  she was wearing jeans with a purple/burgundy long sleeved
body suit and a cropped pinkish sweater vest sort of thing.  oh, and
black boots with thick heels. and then she started to play:

bq/horses

i was obviously expecting this, but it was still wonderful.  she
alternated between using "he" and "she" in bq.  during horses, and all
through the show, actually, she was stomping her foot on the floor and
it was wonderful.   i could just feel it going right through me.

angie 

i've never heard this before, tori-ized, or to my knowledge, the
original.  i remember enjoying it, but i spent too long trying to
figure out what it was to really have it ingrained in my mind.  too
much thinking, not enough feeling, you know?

lovesong

i wasn't expecting this, and it took me a minute to realize what it
was, but when i did it was great.  they'd had this backdrop of wires
that looked like branches with little lights on them, but with this
song, they removed that and started the screen with the rollercoaster
video ...  i couldn't see it -that- well, but what i did see seemed to
flow right with the music and just enhanced everything.  

btw, from this point through at least 4 more songs, the lights started
going, and for a good amount of time i was being blinded by some
lights on the stage.  made it really hard to watch tori... :(

space dog

i think she did something with the intro to this, but i'm not sure
what it was... is there something that she usually does with this
live?  or was anyone there who can fill it in?  it just seemed
different right now, but i don't remember why.

at this point, she started talking to us. she said that they got into
town at 3:00 am last night "my, your bars sure are open late, aren't
they?" ;)  and she started to say that she had a dream, and then went
to something about staying at the "great historical, historical...
yeah yeah yeah"  and how it was the -worst- hotel that she'd ever
stayed in.  something about how caton's room had a jacuzzi in it, and
there was shag carpet everywhere, and it was "quite groovy."  

cornflake girl

i finally got to see the dance, which seemed somewhat abbreviated, but
was neat to watch.   

{i stopped taking notes for a little while here}

tear in your hand
little earthquakes
silent all these years (i requested this... here's where i started 
        tearing up--this song just does so much to/for me)

here she started telling the story of how someone came up to her in...
and she couldn't remember the venue.  someone called out "chicago" and
she said "thank you, richard"  (the guy i met earlier who's been to 30
some shows)  then she said "richard helps remind me where i've been."
and she started talking about andrea asking her to play somewhere over
the rainbow for ana, and she was going to, but when she was backstage,
she started hearing this little voice in her head.  and the voice said
"please don't play that fucking song for me."  and tori said "so what
should i play?"  and the voice told tori that it was up to her.  tori
said, "dealers choice, babe?"  and the voice said "dealers choice."
and so now she's played this song a few times...

daniel (absolutely beautiful... this combined with the previous 3 
        songs just did me in.  wish i'd remembered tissues.)

muhammed my friend

this was a nice change of pace, yet not too abrupt a switch, and
sounded great.

cals

this was great.  she started on the harpsicord, then on to the piano.
she was pounding on herself and the piano and it was really intense.
and then when she started (nearer the end of the song) with "i need a
big loan from the girl zone"  she hit zone and held it, right into the
mike and loud and strong.  she turned toward the audience, still
holding the note and making a very silly face, and then turned to the
mike on the harpsicord and held it there for a few seconds before
finishing the song on the harpsicord.  very very nice.  wow.  i think
every jaw in the audience dropped.

talula (tornado mix)
also good, wonderful, actually, albeit very very intense.  there was
just so much to the song with the backing tape, and major lights show,
plus tori and caton.  

maag

i'm not sure what i think of this following talula.  in a way it was
neat, from the sensory overload of talula to the bare bones, intimate
feel of me and a gun.  but the switch was too abrupt, and i just
didn't feel maag the way i should have/wanted to.  i was still too
charged from talula.  i also knew this meant that there were only 4
songs left.  but it was wonderful hearing her do this, the way she
leaned into the audience, and everyone was quiet, too.  we could hear
her mouth forming every letter.  at the end, one girl shouted "thank
you tori" but it was after tori had finished. i was relieved.

--------------
when she came back out, someone shouted for icicle.  tori replied,
"icicle?  we'll see if she's around."  then some other people (quite a
few actually) started shouting out a whole lot of song titles.  tori
handled it wonderfully, saying, "well, let's hope most of those girls
are getting laid right now."  big audience laugh.  "but this one says
'i'm here, and i'm not getting laid'"  and she started to play

twinkle

icicle
-------------
when she comes back out again, she starts talking about this
soundtrack that she's working on, "in honor of favorite soundtracks.
i don't know this fucking song, but i've got my own version." and then
she started
a little of "i will always love you"

has she ever done this before?  all she sang was the title line
several times, but it was dark and heavy, and, as one review put it,
it sounded more like a threat than a promise. ;)     
she led that right into
butterfly
which i'd never heard before, and spent sometime trying to figure out.
someone told me that she threw a bjork line into the middle of this,
something about being in the water and crashing against the rocks...
since i'd never heard butterfly, and i don't listen to bjork, i missed
this. 

she said here something about how we women "always show them a side
they never know."
at this point she made some sign with her had to a techie person and
started talking about how she knows all these little technical signs,
and she made this one up and it has to do with eq and reverb.  then
she let out this little "ha!" sort of an abrupt, superior, dismissing
type of laugh that made everyone laugh right along with her.

etienne

beautiful, and a wonderful ending.

afterwards we went around with some ppl to try to meet her again.
there was a much bigger crowd, though, and after lots of waiting, i
couldn't see or hear her for all of the people.  and i got really
upset because standing there, i finally realized what it was that i
needed to tell her, but i was in this crowd of people and i couldn't
get to her, and i just started to cry when she left.  

i did wind up writing her a note and giving it to richard to give to
her, and i gave him my e-mail address so he can let me know when she
gets it.  basically what i needed to tell her was that when i play her
music, it makes me laugh and cry and feel really really alive, and
there just aren't too many things that make me feel like that anymore,
and for that, i needed to thank her.

i felt better after writing it down.  tori played for a little under 2
hours.  we wound up going on a couple of adventures with some people
we met earlier.  everyone had long drives home, except rosser and i.
one car, headed for long island (6 hr drive) wouldn't start, but
thankfully it just needed a jump, as the driver had a 10:30 class the
next morning.   so we stood around, talked, got the car started, took
lots of pictures, and went to denny's for food and coffee.  had a
wonderful wonderful wonderful time.  :)

guess that's it... can't wait until the pictures get developed. :)

*higs*

        --nymsa (who felt a teensy bit more faerie-like again after
the show, so she will also sign this:

        --pixie {flitter}

        )  <---just fot the sake of grammar. ;)

All I can say guys is that this show was amazing. I have seen Tori on a few occasions per each tour and I have never felt such energy from Tori or the crowd. She really mixed things up and played my personal favorite "Tear in Your Hand...", She also played The Cure's "Love Song". She was going to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" but opted for "Daniel" by Elton John - she sited the fact that the little voice in her head didn't want to hear that "fucking song again!"

The crowd was great during the whole show - especially afterwords. I got to talk to her for about a minute and let me just say I was dumb founded...Got a hug out of her too!!! Here's a tip for all of you!!! The CALMER you are after the show the LONGER she stays around...

Anyone that was there or has a boot, please let me know via e-mail!!!

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I am French Canadian, from QuŽbec. Ten years ago, I moved close to the sea, to Canada's smallest Province, Prince Edward Island. Because the sea brings balance and peace to me. But these last two years, I have had to exile and work in grey and insensitive Canada's capital, Ottawa, Ontario, far from the sea that I love. So every week-end, I ride my motorcycle out of this city. To break the chains and feel free again. I have to. Otherwise, I don't think I will survive. Now, it is winter, and it always lasts too long.

Last summer, I purchased a tribute CD to Canadian singer Leonard Cohen's songs. I am sure that most of you Toriphiles know about this CD. I had read a review on Jann Arden's interpretation of ¬If It Be Your Will¬; basically, the critic said that the CD was worth buying for that song only. So I did. And Jann did an excellent job indeed. But what I did not know is that the fifth song on that CD was ¬Famous Blue Raincoat¬, one of the most beautiful of Cohen's, sung by Tori. When I heard Tori's magical hands playing her piano, interpreting the song in her unique way, and then with her beautiful voice, singing it with so much intensity, I was totally swept off my feet. I went out the same afternoon and purchased BFP. Fell in love with her instantly. So in the same week, I went back and bought UTP and LE. That's how fast I fell for Tori. And I have been spending so much time in her company since then.

Then, while surfing the Net, I found the Dent and encountered Michael's obsession. Haaa! I was not alone anymore. In fact, I discovered that we were not alone at all. I just got to know Tori much later than a lot of other EWF. My only desire was then to go to her and hear her sing and play live. She was well into her tour at that time and she had already been up here in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Grrrrrrrrr. So I searched and found that she was going to be in Williamsport PA on Saturday October 5. Oh my God. I had to go. I had to. So I found the venue, phoned the ticket boot number, got a ticket, got a motel (that was the hardest part), and on Saturday morning, October 5, it was cold like hell, freezing at -1¡C, but nothing would stop me. So at 6:30 a.m., I jumped on my motorcycle, and I rode straight to the border. My feet and my hands were like blocks of ice. And you should have seen the customs officer's face when this bearded 46 years old recycled yuppie(with a P.E.I. licence plate) told him that he was going to Williamsport PA to attend a rock concert... He asked me twice who was singing; I said to him: Tori Amos. The poor guy hadn't the slightest idea who I was talking about. He asked me if I was playing in her band. I told him oh no, but wish I would. He didn't think this was funny. These guys are so anal retented. Then he told me he taught I was pretty far away from home. As if I didn't have the right to be where I want. But I did cut this conversation short, saying that I was on vacation and had left Ottawa in the morning. He calmed down when I told him that I had a good job with the Canadian federal government. I guess he then was reassured I was not going to steel anybody's job in the USA and that's really all he wanted to hear. So I finally crossed the border and drove what was left of the 480 kilometres to reach Williamsport. And it was damn cold. But I enjoyed every single minute of this trip anyway because I was going to see Tori live. For the first time. And Tori was with me all along. In my head. I got there ahead of time, around 4 o'clock. I think I was the only guy over 30 attending this concert. And also the only one carrying a motorcycle helmet along. I did get a few strange looks from younger EWF, and especially from the little old ladies placing people in the venue. But I enjoyed every minute of it.

Tori came on after Josh Somebody. Couldn't care less about this OK guy. I wanted her on this stage. And at 8:40, she came. Tiny Tori. So sweet and beautiful. So intense. So generous. Giving us everything that she has got. This is what she sang :

Beauty Queen/Horses (sooooooo beautiful)
Graveyard
Happy Phantom (love the rhythm)
Blood Roses (Hmmmmmmm!!!)
Butterfly
Cornflake Girl (such a groovy dance...)
Caught A Lite Sneeze (what a great beat)
Little Earthquakes (another one of my favourite)
The Wrong Band
Talula (so much energy)
China (my favourite)
Precious Things (another favourite)
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Me and a Gun (so quiet I could hear myself breathing)
Encore 1
Famous Blue Raincoat (OH MY GOD...)
Sister Janet (on piano)
Encore 2
In the Springtime of His Voodoo
Mr. Zebra
Hey Jupiter (on organ)

And yes, yes, she sang Famous Blue Raincoat. Now that the tour is over and I know that she sang this song only 12 times out of 183 concerts... Coincidence huh? Well, I don't think so. Tears were rolling down my eyes the whole song. I was in the mezzanine. Breathtaking view on Boesie, her sweet harpsichord, and on magical Tori. Insightful and masterful Tori.

After the concert, I stopped for a moment at the rear of the theatre. Some EWF were waiting. I hesitated, and I left. I was too shy to stay and I was under a certain spell. I don't know why. I just felt overwhelmed with Tori's music. The next morning, I came back to the theatre around 7:00 a.m. on my way out of Williamsport. But everything was gone. The two rigs, the tour buses, and Tori. I felt a profound sense of loss. I felt an extreme loneliness inside. And I knew that she was playing on that Sunday night about 200 kilometres North, in Binghampton NY. It was horribly difficult not to go and try to get a ticket. And return to grey Ottawa only on Monday. I could have called in sick right? Well I didn't. Sometimes I am such a ding-a-ling. On the way home, Tori sang in my head the whole time.

On November 6, 1996, I took my revenge and flew to Davenport, IA. Right in the middle of a week. Tori gave a extraordinary performance. She was totally wild. I met Mikewhy; he sat just in front of me after the opening act. Recognized him from his photo on the Dent. Michael is a wonderful being. Also met a friend of his who had done some heavy driving around the country following Tori. I think her name was Cindy. (NOTE FROM MIKEWHY: Actually that was Lori!) She was super nice too. Seem like most Torifans are. After the concert, I waited for Tori, and I managed to get close to the gate. And succeeded touching her magical hand. Couldn't speak a single word. I was so excited to see her so close. She looked at me and smiled. Those of you who have met her know exactly what I mean : THE Tori smile. She gave it to me. I simply melted. Totally. Tori is so unique. Now I have succeeded in getting a ticket for the RAINN concert in NYC. Nobody around me understands this groupie thing that hit me since last September. They probably think that it's part of my mid-life crisis because you know, in this society of ours, we always have to put a name on weirdos that do things differently and when they are not supposed to; we need to put a sticker on them, to explain their ¬illness¬, because they disturb the peace; and my boring yuppie generation is then reassured.

Can't wait for NYC. I hope that I will finally be able to give her this very special card that I found for her (it has a piano in a field of flowers, impressionist style, and it seems just perfect for her); and inside, I wrote what follows :

Tori,
I spend a lot more time with you than with anybody else.
My name is Romain, and I am French, from QuŽbec, Canada.
Ten years ago, I moved close to the sea, to Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Because she brings me balance and peace.
But these last two years, I have had to work in grey and insensitive Ottawa, Ontario,
Far from the sea that I love.
In October, I rode my motorcycle from here to Williamsport, PA
To see you and hear you live. For the first time.
The travel was damn cold, but I did not mind.
I enjoyed every minute of it.
Because you were with me all along.
I will now fly to Davenport, IA. Because I want to see you and hear you again.
And I hope that this second time, I will have the guts to wait for you outside.
And maybe I'll see you closer. I was too shy to stay around the first time.
Your music is very healing to me, comforting,
And I want to thank you for it, for being there
For being yourself.
You are not helping only young people and hurt women Tori.
I am 46 and I am a man. But inside, I feel as if I were still only 30.
My body is aging, but never has my heart, nor my soul.
(That's another little trick that God has played on us.)
And the way my own generation behaves is too often making me sick.
I have rebelled against the traditional order of things since I was 12.
And I still am. Everywhere I have been, I have disturbed people.
With my questions, my ideas, my refusal to accept conformism.
Challenging everything. Challenging the established religion, authority, power.
It took me long before I could find a way to be constructive,
Before I found that I could use my own power to persuade,
And help people around me to grow, and to be better persons.
Time has flown by so fast.
Would you believe that I am now an executive (what an arrogant word) in government.
Because a few people along the way were less scared than others of my ideas,
And did not see me as a threat to their holy-sacred authority and power.
I am now shaking many of my generation, trying to wake them up.
And making them realize that they are like dead alive. And so damn boring.
And they always feel so sorry for themselves. As if they were victims.
It drives me crazy to see all that energy lost. Their creativity gone.
But seeing what you do and what you are gives me the courage to go on.
And it gives me hope. For your generation. And the next one.
I love your music, your amazing piano touch, your sensitive lyrics and your deep thoughts.
You are a wonderful being Tori,
Because you do not accept things and values just because we tell you that you should.
Please never stop to do so. We all need you so much.
You are beautiful Tori.
Because you sing your mind and you are true to yourself.
And being oneself is definitely the most attractive thing in the world.
You have been hurt deeply. And you have chosen to sing about it.
And with your strength, you are teaching all of us to stop acting like victims.
Lots of men are also victims, sometimes of their own inherent violence.
Or they have been wounded by the intensity of love and the insensitiveness of loved ones.
And they are hurt. They are alone. And they intensely feel the pain of living at times.
We all walk totally alone through life.
And the only place where we are totally free is in our head.
And once we understand this, we can find how to help others.
You are wise Tori. You have found this long before others.
Your music is what you are, and you are helping me and others to live according to that freedom.
Since you have entered my life,
I do not feel as alone as I used to.
I hope that I will meet you one day,
And I dream of a tender hug from you.
I know how healing it would be.
And I also want to tell you that you are not alone.
At least I know that for a long time and more than ever at this time,
I am giving all of my energy, every day,
To make people better, to make them grow and live more fully,
More intensely, more passionately.
And I try to teach them to listen to their heart and speak out their feelings.
It is quite a challenge in this insensitive and bureaucratic corporate world.
But you see, at least some of us are trying to make a difference,
And we do concentrate on what is essential, in life.
This ÇField of MusicÈ is a thought from me to you,
Just for you.
To thank you,
For comforting me
When I hurt and when I cry.
For always being there
When I am lonely,
And when I am sad.
Thank you Tori.
And much love to you.

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hi. i just returned from the show in new brunswick at the state theater. i am in absolute awe, i met tori afterward. my friends and i waited for her to come to her bus behind the theater. it was such a small theater. she hugged and kissed my friends and spoke to me. i am in such a daze...(by the way, i adore your page)...

here is the set list:

Beauty Queen/Horses
Sugar (oh, my god!!!)
Blood Roses
Father Lucifer
Cornflake Girl
Honey
Little Earthquakes
The Wrong Band
Upside Down
Crucify
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Talula
Me and a Gun
**Encore 1**
Twinkle
Silent All These Years
**Encore 2**
Tear in Your Hand
Frog on my Toe (unusual, I thought)
Etiene (this was a beautiful end to the show)...on harmonium organ

the show was a good mix, and great bee-sides. i shook for twenty minutes when i heard the first notes of Sugar (i worship that song). it was still different from the other two shows i saw this year. each one was unique, and it is only fitting that on the last time i can see tori, i met her. she was so small and soft spoken...who would have thought she'd have such a power to perform. Tori is beautiful...i am in love again... thanks for listening. bye... :)

Hi gang, i just came back from the New Brunswick show. Needless to say, it was incredible.

...I finally get to see that little dance that Tori does before Cornflake Girls. It's a bit bizzare but I just glad she didn't do the Macarena. :) Tori talked about OJ right before Blood roses. She mentioned something like, when she walked on that stage, it remind her of the OJ thing two years ago. I am not sure about the exact words, but it was something like "Hey Buddy, just go in the back and blow your head off, cause it's all downhill from here."

Tori fooled around with the lyrics on "Wrong Band" and "Upside down". On the line that goes "I think it's perfectly clear, we are in the wrong band", she sang I think it's perfectly clear, I am a transvestite" And on "Upside down" the line "baby what have you been smoking" became "baby what have you been fucking" Does she do something like that in other shows?

The lighting was pretty cool, although I dislike those search lights that blinded just about everyone during "Little Earthquakes". Right after the first encore, a bunch of people went up and handed her flowers and gifts. By the time she starts the second encore, there were already a mob of people by the stage. Tori told the guards, "That's OK, there is nothing you can do about it" So everyone filled the aisle and the rest of the audience were on their feet till the end. This is only my second Tori concert, the other being the Unplugged show. I guess I'll have to wait until her next album.

Hi! You can consider this my newbie post, since I haven't really posted about anything here but tape trading, so here goes...

I'm still dizzy over everything that happened yesterday. I got to the State Theater about 2:15, & there were only about 7 or 8 other people there. The two other buses were there when I got there. So we were all basically hanging about for a couple of hours. By 4:30 the group got to about 25 or 30 of us, just hanging out in the occasional drizzle. I'm protecting my Winter CD so it doesn't get wet. At 4:45, we look across the street & there it is : the big brown bus. Suddenly it makes a turn & heads for the BACK of the theater...

Did you ever see the beginning of A Hard Day's Night????

The entire group of us FLEW down an alleyway to the back of the theater just as the bus pulled in. I swear it was like some twisted Beatlemania flashback. ; ) Anyway, Joel (her bodyguard) & a few other guys lined us up against the brick wall in the back. Tori opens her window from the bus & sticks out this little green hand puppet & waves to everyone. After the customary instructions from Joel (one pic, one auto), she finally steps out. I was near the end of the line so it took a bit. When I got to the front of the line I handed my camera (which I've been shooting pictures with all this time from a distance) to the girl who went before I did. And then...

It all happened so fast. I walk up. Tori looks up, smiles, & says "hey babe, what's up"? So strange...I was nervous as hell the whole time I waited, but when I got to her I became so relaxed. She was so sweet. Anyway, I hand her my Winter CD for her to sign, & then I started to tell her how much I love Upside Down & everything it meant to me.

She then says, "really?" I say yes. Then she says, "Then I'm going to give it to you tonight."

I went NUMB from the shock. I didn't even ask her to play it yet! I think she laughed at how happy I was, but that meant a lot to me. She signed my CD with a little smiley face, and posed with me for a picture. : )

She did play Upside Down last night. I couldn't believe it. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to come home & finish a paper due this morning, it would've been a perfect day. But I don't think I could ask for anything more. (sigh) The show was phenomenal. The "Little Earthquakes" she did last night was amazing. When she came on for her last encore a good portion of the crowd left their seats & came to the front. As she started playing she told security not to bother because there was nothing they could do about it. : ) Sorry I didn't write down the setlist.

Well, that's pretty much all the details. I did feel bad that I didn't bring her a present or something, but I couldn't think of anything at all. I could write pages more about the show, but that paper kept me up till 3:00 AM, so I'm going to take a nap. Thanks if you read this, it took a bit to type. I dropped off the film today & can't wait to see the pictures. Thanks again!!!!!

well, it's been just over 24 hours since i saw tori take the stage
yesterday, and i'm still glowing :)  

thanks to Norm and Elizabeth for getting me directions to the State
Theater in New Brunswick!!! I'd still be trying to find the place if
it weren't for you folks ;)

i went with my fiance, ben, and a friend of mine, who likes Tori, but
isn't nearly as obsessed as i am :)  ben and he brought up the idea of
bringing binoculars, which would be useful, since our seats were in
the balcony, and after a little bit of insanity, i borrowed a set from
a friend of mine so that i would not have to share. my friend who came
to the concert with us forgot to bring his set, and although i felt
bad for him, he dealt just fine.  Tip:  if you aren't gonna be close
to the stage, don't panic, just bring a set of binoculars.  i did, and
i am *so* glad.  i was able to see Tori, her shoes, the writing on her
hand, her setlist on the floor.. (granted, i couldn't read either of
these, but they were unmistakable.)  it was amazing, i felt like i was
only 20 feet away.  and because i was in the balcony, and not
downstairs, 5 feet lower than her, i was able to see all of the
keyboards just fine, and watch those hands of hers go to work.   

Josh Clayton Felt has a nice voice, but IMHO would do good to get some
other musicians to back him.  I didn't say a word while he was on
stage, but after a while i stopped paying attention.  Nevertheless, i
gotta respect him cause he gets up on stage, and i don't do that very
often.  

now, on to tori.  ;) :) :) she came on stage and i just melted. she
looked really cute (as usual).  her hair was down, she wore minimal,
if any, make-up.  she was wearing a comfy-looking pair of jeans, a
white bodysuit, and a grey  & white patterned-spaghetti-strap top over
that.  her shoes were these really cool grey & black platform heel
type thingies.  they looked comfy too.

>{i love her}

oh-so-true. :)

>setlist:
>
>Beauty Queen
>Horses

she was really *on* for these.  "HE is a beauty queen".  i'm sure she
said that.  i wonder if she said that in May when I saw her, and i
just missed it?  

>Sugar

I've really come to like this song over the past few months... B-side
#1 of an evening of B-side heaven :)  I love the "if they find..."
segment of this song in the middle, and last night was IMO the best
version I've heard of Sugar.  (granted, I've only heard 3)

>Blood Roses

I was *Soooo* glad to hear her do this again, it's one of my favorite
Pele tunes... her fingers move so !quickly! on the harpsichord!! her
vocals on this song are just so extra-song.  (note: by now, my wrist
was already sore from holding the binoculars :))  (other note: someone
very recently (perhaps chicago show) was taking  note of how tori
bangs the harpsichord and such during intense songs... well, i
definitely noticed it last night too.  didn't necessarily seem angry
to me though.)

>Father Lucifer

When she first started playing, I had no clue that she was about to
play this song.  she gave it a little intro that sounded *nothing*
like it.  and there i was, leaning over into the aisle to get some
light from the floor so i could jot it down on my setlist, thinking
"huh??? what is this..." and then she started the song, and i actually
squealed with delight.  possibly my favorite song of the night.  The
changes she's put this song thru are wonderful, and if i get a chance
to get a copy of it from the tour, i'm gonna jump on it.  question to
anyone whose seen this recently:  did she do a part toward the end
that sounded like Tubular Bells? (it's been so long since i heard
tubular bells that i think i'm just confused) in any case, it was
beautiful and whether it's original tori, or Tori throwing something
in from someone else and making it her own, it was a brilliant
addition to the song.  i loved it loved it loved it.

>Cornflake Girl

the dance, which thanks to rmta i knew to look for.  had to stand to
actually see it, but it was really cute :)  the performance of the
song was really good... i'd like to point out at this point that
because of someone really tall sitting 2 rows ahead of me to the
right, i could not see Caton all night.  i lived.  but i do like
Caton.

>Honey

This surprised me, especially since I had already heard Sugar, and for
some reason I never expected her to play both at one show.  I liked it
:)

>Little Earthquakes

wonderful wonderful wonderful wonderful... i have never not liked this
song, but of course i now like it more.  (duh... bramble... ok folks,
lets just assume that that statement is true for all the songs of the
show :))

>The Wrong Band

i NEVER expected to hear this.  And i thank the binocular gods and
goddesses because her facial expressions and body language were so
*priceless*.  She was hysterical... threw something in about a
transvestite that i am totally certain is not in the actual song.  I
purposely listened to the album version on the way to work this
morning and could not find the line anywhere.  so anyway, i squealed
for this one too... (people near me must have gotten sick of my little
and mostly soft faerie squeals).

>Upside-Down

this was like a full circle thing for me, because the first time i
ever heard the song was in May when I first saw her... and i've grown
to really love the song.  Norm: good for you!! (wish i coulda made
soundcheck...)

>Crucify

This song is really special to me... it means a lot of things, but for
me, i always lift out of it especially the idea of not weighing
yourself down with all the guilt that we let the world and ourselves
throw at us.  I was very happy she played it.  She gave us a very
exasperated look during the line "got enough guilt to start my own
religion" and me and ben both giggled.  :)

>Caught a Light Sneeze

i really like this song live.. and having seen it in May, and then on
Unplugged, i totally knew what to expect and still wasn't disappointed
or anything.  she seemed to be so intent on concentrating on this
song, she blew me away as she played the harpsichord for it and never
once looked down at her hands.  she seemed focused on some spot really
far away, i remember thinking she  must have to hypnotize herself to
play that so perfectly.  she was really on for this, too. :)  my
friend was really impressed.  :)

>Talula

not only did i squeal, i bounced up in my seat.  i LOVE talula, a lot.
and the tornado mix works well live.  if i had gone to see her and she
played only this song, i would not have been disappointed.  
{brambleglee}

>Me and a Gun

mercifully, the audience was nice and quiet, with the exception of the
first few words, and a few people going "shhh". after that, people
were nice and quiet.  all in all, actually, the audience was pretty
well behaved. which is good, cuz i woulda gotten tired if i had had to
kill a theater full of people.   i really kind of shut myself off
during this song, except on rare occasion.  last night i let myself
not shut off, and it actually felt kinda good.  i know there's some
debate, but i'm glad Tori chooses to still play the song live.  It's
good for me.  and she did it well again last night.



>Twinkle

i like this song more now.  pretty.

>Silent All These Years

beautiful. special to me.  thank you tori.  


at this point, i decided i could remember the exact order of the last
3 songs, and put my paper and pen in my jacket pocket so i could
settle in and enjoy the last 3 uninterrupted.  i noticed some people
getting up to leave, and told ben and our friend to -stay put-.



>Tear in Your Hand

oh the joy the brambleglee the happy happy happy julie.  i've totally
grown to love this song over the summer, and she was WONDERFUL with
it.

>Frog on My Toe

another squeal of delight from me. pretty much the last thing i
expected.  and i loved it.  (gee... is this a theme?)  i only have
lizards and a snake now (runnin thru my body, funny how they all have
my face) but if i get a frog, he'll be a Jethro.  no doubt.  :)  when
we were walking out of the theatre, i was singing it all the way to
the car.

>Etienne

well. i'm one of the people who has never heard YKTR.  the harmonium
was on stage, i knew she was going to use it.  i pretty much gathered
we would hear either HJ, PW, Etienne, or Purple Rain.  when she
started playing, i thought it was going to be PW, which would have
been perfectly fine with me :)  but as soon as she sang the first line
i realized what it was (and felt like a fool, Damaged Justice).  i
really liked it.  a good ending to the show, IMHO.  

and in another vein, i bought the pendant.  i've wanted it since i
heard it existed, and i wore it to work under my shirt today.  i was
happy. :)

we waited a few minutes for it to clear out, and then headed for an
exit.  it turned out to be directly to outside, and we went down this
(really long and steep) fire escape and into an alley... i think is
the one Norm mentioned, cuz the bus was downstairs.   There were a few
roadie-looking people hanging around down there, and one of them was
standing in a doorway that led inside.  For about 3 seconds, I
considered the possibility of lingering to see if.... but no, Tori had
already done enough for me last night, and my day to meet her will
eventually come.  

i hope she enjoyed herself too.  

played BfP all the way back to my friend's house, and took another
hour after that to get back to our house.  Got home at about 1:15,
posted the setlist, and went to sleep happy.  Still tired.  but
feeling just a little more whole.  that's a weird thing to say, i
think, because i don't mean it the way it sounds.  i don't need Tori
to make me whole :)  But getting to hear her live again, and see her,
stirred up some of my stuff (not *that* stuff; other stuff) and
centered me a little more.

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Today was choc full o fun! Doug and i decided to check out the aquarium before heading to soundcheck, and who did we see walking down the street with her parents near the harbour? you got it. tori! we didn't stop though, figured she deserved some quality time with the folks. the aquarium was fun, and during the dolphin show i got to sit next to this very cute guy that sure looked a lot like caton. We were running a little late to the soundcheck, rodney and heather were already waiting for us, and the limo pulled up maybe 10 minutes after we got there (whew, cutting it close). Tori said "hi, how are you?" and gave me a hug, i said 'fine. we went to the aquarium today' tori: "oh you did, what'd you think?" i said i thought it was pretty neat. we talked for a minute or so more and i told her we'd be in roanoke, but that would be our last one. she said "alright, well i'll see you later."

then we figured we should get something to eat since we were both starving. we got some subs and walked over to this park area to eat, and Josh was sitting on one of the benches. we sat down and talked to him for awhile. he said how he really liked touring with tori because everyone has been so nice and that he may be going on tour on his own soon with a band. he also mentioned that a friend of his prints out all of his e-mail and sends it to him (just in case anyone out there wrote) since he doesn't have a computer right now. oh, and he wanted me to tell everyone on the tori edge of the web that he says hi, so "hi!".

we also met this guy, jason, who lives in france. he's over here promoting his new book, but his publisher won't print any more until he gets some reviews to put on it. he said he's known tori for awhile so he came down to the shows and she told him she'd write a forward for him if that would help, so keep your eyes out!

Once again, it's set list time:
BQ/HORSES
YES, ANASTASIA (rodney's request! and had alternate lyrics of
'do-re-mi...fighting again in mr. sprinkle's class, growing up small)
CAUGHT A LITE SNEEZE (started of the long 'girl zone' really quiet, then
got really really loud, amazing)
LITTLE AMSTERDAM (with lyrics about a little angel and sparkle little
girl)
tori story1: introduces caton, i love you and won't be back for
2
years.
CORNFLAKE GIRL
PRETTY GOOD YEAR
LEATHER
tory story2: song for the girl in the twa crash
DANIEL
PRECIOUS THINGS (27sec. grrrrrl, for those who count)
SWEET DREAMS
TALULA
ME AND A GUN
--
SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
TWINKLE (someone shouts 'i love u' and she gives the bunny wave)
--
LONDON GIRLS
SISTER JANET
HEY JUPITER

well as you can tell she wasn't very talkitive tonight, but she sounded terrific! and she played a couple of things i didn't think i'd get to hear. someone also had the creative idea of hanging a banner from the balcony, it said Mr. Zebra. it looked unique, but i guess it wasn't successful since she didn't play it. oh, and someone had left flowers and a balloon up on stage before the 2nd encore which tori put in front of caton. the balloon kept coming very close to hitting caton, kinda funny. (the only thing different on the official set list was voodoo instead of london girls).

we were in the second row of those waiting outside, not too bad. her parents came out first and said hi to everybody. then Caton came out. he talked to a couple of people before seeing me, but then he came right over :) we chatted a bit, but i told him i had some things i wanted to say to him that were sorta private, he then told me to wait by the street and we could go for a walk. i had to wait for awhile because everyone kept stopping him to say something, but that was ok. he then came over and we walked down to the end of the block. i'm leaving out what was said because it was personal and i don't want the world knowing my business, sorry, but i can say that he said Ed and Mary (tori's parents) said they thought this was the best show they'd ever seen (and they've been to quite a few).When we walked back up somehow i was able to get back up near the front, but the hands came rushing forward when tori came out so i only got a quick hi again, and she said she'd see me in roanoke. (only 9 more days 'til that show!) so another show was over, my ninth this tour and now only one left! though i am tempted to go visit my friend in colorado to catch the last show, but i think my credit card bill will knock me back into reality.

The Lyric is an old, ornate theatre that seats about 2500. At 9:15, the lights went down and Tori waltzed out to "Son of a Preacher Man", wearing cuffed blue jeans, sandals, and a dark blue top revealing her shoulders. Amid alternating hoots and shushes from the audience, the one note of "Beauty Queen" echoed over the crowd...

"This is Caton...", Tori said with a smile, introducing her favorite guitarist. At this quiet point in the show after Little Amsterdam, many people felt it was request-time, so the hollering began. "Upside Down!" someone managed to get heard from the side of the stage. "Be patient...ya know, foreplay, honey", Tori answered back. Just then Caton begins strumming "Cornflake Girl". As the crowd cheered wildly, Tori looked up from her bench, raised an eyebrow, and cocked an ear towards him as if to say, "Me? Is it time for ME to dance?" She jumped up to the front of the stage, out of the green and blue stage lights. The Cornflake Dance ensued, which I thought had a big Kung Fu influence to it, with many karate-like stances and poses. And then, as the rhythmic strumming continued, she turned and ran and jumped onto the bench and immediately began playing --- "Never was a cornflake girl...".

During "Pretty Good Year", the loud part ("What's it gonna take till my baby's alright") was accentuated by a pyramid of bright white light surrounding her bench. Very cool. Also, isn't it great how Caton adds those backing string-like sounds to this song? It adds so much depth.

"I got a letter a little while back...there's someone who should be here tonite, but she was on that TWA flight...this is for her, wherever she is..." Tori then played Daniel by Elton John. Very emotional, the introduction itself drew many "Awww"s.

Precious Things' "Girrrrrl", which began as a low, guttural growl, lasted a full 25 seconds.

She seemed to have fun singing the bouncy "Sweet Dreams". It was really pleasant to see Tori sing a happy, upbeat song. Sometimes there's too much Donut Song and not enough Happy Phantom.

Talula and CaLS were the only songs where she played harpsichord.

The blue lights that rolled slowly over the audience during "Somewhere over the Rainbow" were SO bright. I had to close my eyes through half of it, for fear of being blinded.

For the 2nd encore, Tori came back out and did "London Girls". A fun song, everyone laughed when she sang, "She'll darn your socks and wash your eeekkk!" and she sort of stood and placed her hand over her crotch. The last two, "Sister Janet" and "Hey Jupiter" were played on the organ. I thought "Hey Jupiter" was cold and boring when I first saw it on the organ at Constitution Hall (4/26), but this time it was exciting. The guitar was bright and her playing seemed to include more notes, making it more interesting. I still thinks it's a piano song, though...

And then the lights went up at 10:45, and everyone stood and rushed for the door (as always). Does she always play that Beatles song after the show's over?

Another great show...another sleepless night.

Setlist:

Beauty Queen
Horses
Yes Anastasia (again, the first song after Horses is the evening's best)
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Little Amsterdam
Cornflake Girl
Pretty Good Year
Leather
Daniel
Precious Things
Sweet Dreams
Talula
Me and a Gun

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Twinkle

London Girls (was supposed to be In the Springtime of his Voodoo)
Sister Janet (harmonium)
Hey Jupiter

I was in the front row for the show at the Lyric last night (seat 125 if anyone else from the list was there :) Great show. It was my third show on this tour (I saw the Constitution Hall show in the spring and the Wolf Trap show this summer) and it was the best of the three IMHO. I was close enough to see everything and caught Tori's eyes for several seconds at least 5 or 6 times during the show, which was kind of neat.

One of the people sitting next to me mentioned that her father was at the show, which I think was interesting because she really seemed to get into a few of the songs (like Precious Things) more than usual (at the end, she really kind of freaked out while singing "wash me clean, daddy"), and she played Sweet Dreams, which I thought could be related to that as well (the "daddy" parts seemed emphasized).

I didn't actually make a setlist, but here is what I specifically remember (in no particular order):

Beauty Queen/Horses (with different intro)
Daniel (with story about fan on TWA flight, friends were at show)
Yes, Anastasia
Little Amsterdam
Sweet Dreams
Precious Things
Leather
Pretty Good Year
Cornflake Girl (w/dance)
Caught a Lite Sneeze (on harpsichord)
Talula
Me And a Gun
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Twinkle
London Girls
Hey Jupiter (on organ)

It was definitely a memorable show. The only downside was the audience, which was really dead, especially compared to the Wolf Trap show from the summer. But that didn't seem to faze Tori. She seemed to be very into the show.

Too bad it'll be the last time she's in the area for two years or more :(

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