News: The [San Diego] Shizznit Hits The Fan

Posted by Violet on Friday, December 14, 2007 | Touring

Numerous agencies have picked up the news about Tori kicking the two girls out of the San Diego show during “Code Red.” (Jump the cut to read some of them, provided by Stephanie, Kimberly, jenndawn, JupityrBoi, Annie Marie, Chris, franco/pork, Joshua, and Fredrick.)

Those of you who checked the San Diego concert page after the show know that we mentioned this at the time and had the “Code Red” footage (including the expulsion) up a couple of hours later, but in my excitement to post the roundup article, I completely forgot to mention that bit here on the front page and it was still news to some of you. Oops, my bad! I was a little verklempt at the time and not thinking clearly. Check out the video on the concert page (it’s at the 2:28 mark).

The incident is still unclear… Some fans have said that the two girls were being outrageously squirrelly, running in and out all night, talking on their phones, taking pics of themselves, and yapping up a storm. Others say that they moved up into the front row seats when they were vacated by other people in an attempt to jump the gun on the mass stage rush at the end of the song. Either way, it’s safe to say that whatever they were doing, it was distracting enough to piss Tori off royally.

UPDATE (Dec. 16): d. ackerman sends us this additional info:

As we were leaving the show, we happened to walk past one of girls that got kicked out. She said: “I don’t know why the fuck she did that. We were just switching seats with someone,” so the information about them preparing for the stage rushing appears to be accurate.

Right after the incident, a man ran up to an empty seat in the front row and asked Tori (via gesture) if he could sit. She gave him the nod and (venue) security promptly removed him. I felt really bad for him.

Interesting. So the mystery (and confusion) only deepens. Chances are, no one except Tori will ever know exactly what happened or why (including the girls it happened to, apparently). LOL

As a final note, we’d like to make a point of giving another shoutout to Stebbo (aka butterfly0fdoom) for taking the footage — and in fact recording almost every song — and sending it in to us so we could have it up for you guys right after the show. For those of us who couldn’t be there (and were at home crying into their cocoa), that was the next best thing, and was truly awesome! Rock!

dlisted

Tori Amos Doesn’t Fuck Around
Thursday, December 13th 2007

Last night at her San Diego show, Tori Amos showed two girls that she doesn’t mess around. Two girls were seated in the front row and I guess they kept coming and going as they pleased. While playing “Code Red”, Tori stopped halfway through and told the girls “Get the fuck out of my show! It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the fuck out!” A dude then came out and escorted the chicks from the front row.

Damn! Those girls went really quietly. I guess Tori told them. I would’ve been hollerin’ for a refund and shit.

Yahoo UK Music News

Amos launches verbal tirade against unruly fans

(Friday December 14, 2007 02:40 PM)

Singer Tori Amos shocked fans when she launched a verbal attack on misbehaving gig-goers – and had them removed from the venue.

The star was performing in San Diego on Wednesday when two girls seated in the front row of Copley Symphony Hall persistently left and returned to their places during her performance.

Amos was so infuriated by their behaviour, she stopped halfway through song Code Red and yelled, “Get the f**k out of my show! It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the f**k out!”

The pair were then escorted from the gig, reports Dlisted.com.

Rolling Stone

Tori Amos Issues Mid-Song Smackdown to Inattentive Fans
12/14/07, 12:39 pm EST

Anyone who thinks Tori Amos isn’t fierce (as Christian on Project Runway might say) these days should check out the above video we found via Dlisted. Last night in San Diego two ladies sitting in the front row of Amos’ show pissed off the singer-pianist by leaving and returning frequently. Amos’ response? She stopped mid-song to chastize the duo, shouting into her mic, “Hold on. Get the fuck out of my show! Get the fuck out. It’s a privilege to sit in the front row … These are my seats, and I give them to people who like music.” She then returned to “Code Red” as the pair were reportedly escorted away from their seats. Our only question: Did one of Amos’ American Doll Posse alter-egos issue the smackdown, or was she acting alone? On the Onstage Tantrum-o-Meter, we give this delightful outburst a raging seven.

TMZ

Amos Goes Ape****!
Posted Dec 14th 2007 3:52PM by TMZ Staff

A word of advice: don’t disturb Tori Amos while she’s working.

Two fans learned that lesson the hard way and ended up with a verbal smack down from the crotchety singer before they were unceremoniously booted from her Wednesday night concert in San Diego. Code Red!

The piano playin’ mama was in mid song when she suddenly began lashing out at the girls: “It’s a privilege to sit in the front row. I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music. Get the f—- out!”

So much for being silent all these years.

UPDATE: A rep for Tori’s record label just contacted TMZ with the following statement: “Tori doesn’t sell front row seats to her shows. She’ll pick fans that are in the back row and she will upgrade them. It is a privilege to get picked. Apparently these two girls were on their cell phones all night… It was her sticking up for her other fans that missed out on the opportunity.”

MTV News

Tori Amos might seem genteel enough, but that wasn’t the case at her concert in San Diego on Wednesday night, when she lashed out at a pair of fans who were disturbing the performance. According to a video on TMZ.com, the singer/songwriter ripped into two girls, saying, “It’s a privilege to sit in the front row. I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music. Get the f—- out!” Her label reportedly responded with a statement, saying, “Tori doesn’t sell front row seats to her shows. She’ll pick fans that are in the back row and she will upgrade them. It is a privilege to get picked. Apparently these two girls were on their cell phones all night. ... It was her sticking up for her other fans that missed out on the opportunity.” ...

Mother Jones

Singer Tori Amos (or an alter ego?) had a bit of a fit at a gig in San Diego on Wednesday night, evicting two fans from the venue. “Get the f*** out of my show,” Amos shouted, reportedly because the two women had been repeatedly getting up and down from their seats in the front row. “It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music,” continued Amos. Ulp!

Stereogum

TORI AMOS WANTS YOUR ATTENTION, OR ELSE SHE’LL KICK YOU THE FUCK OUT

Tori’s that rare performer that’s been known to whip out a gun just to capture your imagination. But if you’re sitting up close and she sees you disengaged from the show? Fuck the gun, she’ll just kick your ass out. Via Dlisted:

[Wednesday] night [12/12] at her San Diego show, Tori Amos showed two girls that she doesn’t mess around. Two girls were seated in the front row and I guess they kept coming and going as they pleased. While playing “Code Red”, Tori stopped halfway through and told the girls “Get the fuck out of my show! It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the fuck out!” A dude then came out and escorted the chicks from the front row.

NME

Tori Amos tells fans to ‘get the fuck out’

Tori Amos evicted two fans from her gig at the Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego on Wednesday night (December 12), telling them to “get the fuck out of my show”.

Amos was performing ‘Code Red’ at the gig while sat at her piano, when half-way through the song she stopped playing and shouted, “get the fuck out of my show” at two women sitting in the front row, according to US blogger and eyewitness ‘Ytownsound’.

The women had been repeatedly getting up and down from their seats, prompting the tirade.

Amos continued: “It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music. Get the fuck out!” The women were escorted out of the venue by security.

You can watch video footage of the incident on YouTube now.

NME News in Pictures

Tori Amos evicted two fans from her gig at the Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego on Wednesday night (December 12), telling them to “get the fuck out of my show”. Half-way through the song she stopped playing and shouted, “Get the fuck out of my show” at two women sitting in the front row. Amos continued: “It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music. Get the fuck out!” The women were escorted out of the venue by security.

E! has reported on the incident. The clip is available on The Vine — scroll a ways down on the right to find it.

New York Post

SIT STILL OR ELSE

December 15, 2007 — THE melodramatic sentiments of Tori Amos don’t end with her song lyrics. At her Thursday night performance in San Diego, two antsy “fans” with front-row seats kept getting up from and then returning to their prime spots in front of the stage. As shown by a video posted on Dlisted.com, Amos got so fed up, she told the girls, “Get the [bleep] out of my show. It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music. Get the [bleep] out.” The rightfully embarrassed duo were quickly ushered out.

Aftonbladet

Tori Amos skällde ut fans under konsert

“Get the f**k out!”

Tori Amos avbröt sin konsert i San Diego i onsdags kväll för att skälla ut två fans som satt längst fram.

Sångerskan fick till slut nog av de två fansens springande fram och tillbaka till foajén samt deras ringande på mobilen att hon lät de veta vad hon tyckte.

– Vänta ett tag, sa hon och slutade sjunga och spela piano.

– Get the f**k out of my show! Get the f**k out! (Lämna för f-n min show. Gå ut för f-n), skrek hon

– Det är ett privilegium att sitta längst fram. Det här är mina säten och jag ger dem till folk som gillar musik.
Stjärnan bad sedan säkerhetsvakter eskortera de två vännerna ut ur salen.

“Ett privililegium att sitta längst fram”

En talesperson för Toris skivbolag kommenterar händelsen i ett pressmeddelande till sajten Tmz.

– Platserna längst fram finns inte till salu på Toris konserter. I stället väljer hon ut fans som sitter längst bak och förflyttar fram dem. Det är ett privilegium att bli utvald. De här två tjejerna pratade på sina mobiltelefonerna hela kvällen… Hon slog ett slag för de andra fansen som gått miste om chansen att få vara längst fram.

CinemaBlend

Amos Shouts Obscenities At Two Harlots
By Mariana McConnell: 2007-12-16 20:08:44

Tori Amos had two concert-goers removed from the Copley Symphony Hall during her December 12th concert in San Diego according to the San Francisco Chronicle. After being continually distracted by two fans in the center front row talking loudly, taking photographs of each other, and repeatedly vacating their seats, Amos could take no more. She stopped in the middle of “Code Red”, a tune off American Doll Posse and pointed at the guilty party, saying into her microphone, “Get the fuck out of my show! It’s a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the fuck out!” Amos received a standing ovation from the crowd for her outburst. A gentleman then summarily escorted the not sufficiently appreciative girls from the venue. Amos returned to her piano and started the stalled song over, finishing up the show with palpable anger.

Amos is not the only musician to have reacted angrily to audience interruptions. Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre was arrested for assault after kicking a disrespectful fan in the head, a moment captured in the 2004 documentary DIG!. Jeff Tweedy of Wilco punched an admirer who jumped up onstage to give him a hug at a 2006 concert. Amos herself has had negative encounters with fans before, though her preferred method of retaliation is verbal and not violent. On a 1999 tour with Alanis Morissette, she entreated two male Mansfield, Massachusetts fans to “eat my pussy” and “either pull out your dicks or shut up” when they babbled on during a show.

While I have no great love for the potty mouthed Tori Amos, I can understand her frustration, having spent many a show with some loser yakking in my ear and screaming into his cell phone about how awesome the band is while neglecting to, you know, watch the band. The more libertarian among us might argue that if you paid for a seat, it is your right to act as you wish when occupying this seat. As usual with libertarians, this answer is self-serving, self-righteous, and just plain selfish. I also paid for a seat and it is my right to enjoy the show without you actively trying to ruin the experience for everyone else but yourself. It is also my right to call you a rude prick who needs to have their tongue surgically removed before attending another show. And if you can’t hang, Tori Amos will publicly humiliate you and a video of it will end up on the Internet so the entire world knows what an asshole you are. So suck on that!