Toronto - August 27, 2005
So I popped my Tori cherry at this concert. We had excellent seats (3rd row center) and paid half price for them on ebay :P Anyway, she's had some pretty amazing setlists on this tour so I was looking forward to hearing songs like Yes, Anastasia, Cool on your Island, Father Lucifer, Northern Lad, Spark, Leather etc etc. I was sorely dissappointed. The setlist was as follows: Original Sinsuality Icicle Blood Roses Here In My Head General Joy Mother Crazy If You Could Read My Mind Both Sides Now Cars and Guitars Northern Lad Spark Taxi Ride Beekeeper Jamaica Inn Cloud On My Tongue Putting the damage on Baker Baker I'm not a fan of the following songs: Icicle, Here in my head, Crazy, Taxi Ride, Beekeeper, Cloud on My Tongue. Not to mention all the Beekeeper songs (they take up to much valuable setlist space). So, even though the setlist wasn't my cup of tea it was still a great concert. The performance was enchanting and her rendition of "Bother Sides Now" was beautiful. She mentioned how great it was to be up in Canada "where many of us would like to well...relocate." The concert was taking place at the Molson Ampitheatre which is located amidst the fairgrounds for the Canadian National Exhibition (a big midway/fair that happens at the end of August). Each night they have fireworks, and at the end of Baker, Baker the fireworks began. tori heard them and turned her head and when she saw her eyes lit up. It was a cute little end to the concert. All in all...it was just "ok." Hopefully she comes back with a livelier setlist.

sorry it wasnt great... the whole damn concert is just ruined if the setlist isn't that good. and you never know with tori...

Found a review: Live Review: Tori Amos in Toronto Tori’s got grit By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun TORONTO -- Tori Amos has an incredible, otherworldly voice and piano playing skills that are truly astonishing. That said, two hours of her ethereal wailing over songs that sound remarkably similar can -*test*-('") the patience of a casual fan, even if it seemed about 4,000 Tori-philes couldn’t get enough of it on Saturday night at the Molson Amphitheatre. In the past, the singer-pianist has performed both on her own, as she did on Saturday night, or with a small band, and has often broken up her set with lots of animated chatting and funny stories. This time, however, Amos kept the stage banter to a minimum on what was an awful night of windy, wet and cool weather, and played a rather serious, intense show, despite occasional waves to the audience. Even when some fans shouted “Happy Birthday Tori!” — she turned 42 on Aug. 22 — she barely smiled. It was also the smallest crowd I’ve seen yet at the lakeside venue this summer — yes, even fewer people than at Clay Aiken’s show on Thursday night — and perhaps that was disappointment-making. She did laugh when what sounded like a man yelled out his affection. “I was going to say, fall is coming,” Amos said, while regaining her composure. To her credit, Amos did offer up a much-needed detour about mid-way through the show, when she opened what she called “Tori’s Piano Bar: Now Taking Requests” for covers. She certainly seemed to know exactly what she wanted to play to an audience on this side of the border as she trotted out two Canadian classics: Gordon Lightfoot’s If You Could Read My Mind and Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now. “It’s so nice to be up there where a lot of us want to relocate,” said Amos with smile and a pause: “No words necessary.” Amos opened the show with Original Sinsuality from her autobiographical album, The Beekeeper, released in February as a companion to the memoir Tori Amos: Piece By Piece. Dressed elegantly in a flowing, pink chiffon dress, complete with high heels and big jewelry, Amos was dwarfed on her large stage by an apple tree around whose trunk was wrapped a snake, and an octagon-shaped video screen that projected images ranging from clouds to raging seas. She also made a pit stop to reapply lip gloss and pop a lozenge into her mouth. “Lubrication girls — you need it even up here,” she said, playfully. Amos, a very physical and dramatic performer, would often stand with her legs splayed, either to emphasize a vocal or to play both piano and organ at the same time. In total, there were four instruments on stage, a piano, an electric piano and two organs, and Amos handled all of them masterfully. The Beekeeper was represented by other new songs Cars And Guitars, General Joy, Jamaica Inn, as well as the title track. Among material from other collections were Icicle, Blood Roses, Spark and Taxi Ride.

You were dissapointed with Northen Lad and Spark. That would be my couplet heaven at a tori gig. I'd love them in a setlist as well. but if you don't like pretty much all the rest, that doesn't save the whole thing, I think.

First shows are so cool - I remember mine so well. Glad it was good and I have to confess I wonder what Northern Lad would have been like live - never heard it live... any other opinions?

The only time I have ever gotten to hear her do sprak live is during sound check :(