DAR Constitution Hall

Tour

Date	August 01, 2009
City	Washington, DC
Venue	DAR Constitution Hall

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Setlist

Thanks to @Vixxenkiss and @Angorasoul for posting the setlist on Twitter!

Main Set

Give
Body and Soul
Cornflake Girl
Flavor
Space Dog
Hotel
Jamaica Inn
Icicle (w/The Church’s One Foundation intro)
Carbon

Lizard Lounge

Mary Jane
Gold Dust

(band returns)

Pretty Good Year
a sorta fairytale
Fast Horse
Precious Things
Strong Black Vine

Encore

Bouncing off Clouds
Raspberry Swirl
Big Wheel

Video

Give (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Cornflake Girl (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Flavor (posted by jenndawn)

Hotel (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Icicle (posted by jenndawn)

Mary Jane (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Gold Dust (posted by dukedvl11)

Gold Dust (posted by lanoragd)

Pretty Good Year (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Fast Horse (posted by wojo4hitz2)

Strong Black Vine (posted by dukedvl11)

Bouncing Off Clouds (posted by dukedvl11)

Reviews

tim says:

Solid show. Tori was in a great mood …lots of smiles and love for the audience. The new material is great live – loved Strong Black Vine! Body and Soul, Space Dog and Pretty Good Year were highlights for me. Gold Dust was touching, with Mom (and Dad) in attendance and Raspberry Swirl was a guilty pleasure I’d happily experience again. Icicle was probably my favorite moment of the night though. The intro improv was beautiful.
kristin says:

tonight’s show was full of energy. for such a mellow album, this tour (well at least tonight’s show) was very fast passed and exciting. tori did a lot of dancing a shimmmying of a beautiful pinky/orangey ensemble.

i won’t go into too much detail seeing as how i’m exhausted, but i was wondering if anyone noticed during hotel…the part before each verse a little bit of the first few bars of abnormally attracted to sin…especially the part that goes, “impeccable picadillo.” was that just me or was that really there?

highlights for me: icicle with “the church’s one foundation” as an intro…how appropriate

and gold dust. made up for the fact that she didn’t play maybe california.
Jason Schlemer (@ethertwist) says:

My umpteenth gadjillion time seeing Tori. I have to say tonight was the best I have seen her since 2001. She really connected with the audience and was really present at the show. No cover ups with concepts or costumes. Just her and the music.

I haven’t seen her play with such passion in ages. She really was improvising hardcore on Flavor, Icicle, and Pretty Good Year. I have to say I even got teary eyed during Pretty Good Year (one of my go-to faves). Couldn’t have been more delighted.

Highlights of the show were:

Body & Soul – so much electricity and energy she is bringing to it. HOT.

Hotel – She kept belting “I’m still alive, I’m still alive, I’m still alive” at the end. Awesome.

Icicle – Intro about Jesus was incredible. Watching her tilt her head back, her hair flying all over her face while she is banging the keys. Amazing. One of my fav tunes from the night.

Gold Dust – It’s Gold Dust. I mean Gold Dust. The song is sacred as is any performance of it. She was smiling and quite happy when playing like she was reminiscing on great memories.

Pretty Good Year – PGY is such a beloved song to me. It’s also one of the few that is directly about boys so I feel even closer to it because it feels more direct. At the end she sang “You’re pretty good to me.” and pointed to the whole crowd. I suspect because she was in her hometown. Very poignant rendition.

Strong Black Vine – the push that evil like a motherfucker ending. She didn’t stop….doing the headtwitter thing she does when she gets all worked up. She kept saying almost yelling “Push out that evil boys like a motherfucker.” Quite long with the ending. So good. Would kill for a recording of this.

Overall, she was in a great mood. Dramatic at times, playful at times, dancing, moving around, shaking it, loving it. Loved the show, like a said, the passion with her seems back full force.

Can’t wait for New York.
Lisa071573 says:

This was the best show of the tour that I’ve seen so far! Wow. Just to clarify, the intro to Icicle wasn’t an improv, it was the first verse of a hymn, The Church’s One Foundation. (Had to google it.) She also did a small improv during Body & Soul. It seemed like she lost her place and thought the song was over, since she stopped playing and put her hand in the air. The boys were still playing so she recovered by doing an improv about her father being her favorite preacher. Mary Jane was preceded by the MJ story (I presume it’s about her nephew?) and Gold Dust was nothing short of perfect. Not as emotional as it was in Phoenix, but spot on, and she pointed to the stage as she said, “I was here.” She seemed very happy to be playing for us and sang during PGY that we were pretty good to her. Strong Black Vine gets better every night with the “push that evil out” improv. A really amazing, solid show. Very happy I flew 3000 miles for this show!
Adrian says:

Welcome home, Tori! Can I just say how much better and more cohesive and enjoyable this show was than the last one here in 07? She looked happy and GORGEOUS, her family was in the audience, the place was pretty packed, all good things. And she danced a lot too, which was adorable!

To the setlist:
GIVE-Dark and Fantastic opener

BODY AND SOUL-Wow, man, this rocked, came alive live

CORNFLAKE GIRL-Expected, but more fun with Jon playing the guitar, I think, quite nice and the audience loves it

FLAVOR-How many keyboards can this gal play at once?? Gorgeous version

SPACE DOG-Always fun, always welcome, great live song

HOTEL-Well, she played it last time, but I don’t care, it was on fire again tonight, YAY

JAMAICA INN-I wasn’t thrilled at first, but I loved the new piano improvs in between the verses, Very emotional and one of her best lines ever…“The sexiest thing is trust…” You said it, Sister

ICICLE-Was SO hoping to hear this, and it was amazing, great audience reaction, truly beautiful, hearkened back to the old days

CARBON-Not bad, great to hear it with the band

MARY JANE-Ok, this song is fun, but at the end of the day, it’s about pot, so I’m out

GOLD DUST-Not surprising that this turned up, but she played the hell out of it, such tangible emotion radiating out, lovely

PRETTY GOOD YEAR-The OMG moment, I’ve never heard it in a show before and this is one of my Sister’s favorites and she was with me for our 8th show together (my 12th overall), SOOO perfect, very very happy at this point

A SORTA FAIRYTALE-I like the 02/03 arrangement better, since the drums were drowning her out a lil (but love ya anyway Matt :P), but still well done

FAST HORSE-This song works so well live, just born to be played in a show, and again, a truly great lyric…“I am struck by my own rage…” YES!

PRECIOUS THINGS-Like Cornflake, expected, but I really really liked this new arrangement, especially since this is the song that got me into Tori in the first place, So nice to see it gussied up again

STRONG BLACK VINE-Didn’t hit me really till we saw it live, This song is brilliant, the organ work, the freakout at the end with the cursing, the nod to the Goddess, OOOO nice

BOUNCING OFF CLOUDS-A fun song, no lie…I think the version on the last tour was more musically full, but was nice to be able to make out more of the piano this go-round

RASPBERRY SWIRL-YAY again for an old favorite, worked so well in tandem with Bouncing, audience was clapping along…felt like a real rock show, Great choice of encores

BIG WHEEL-I don’t care what the haters say, I love this song, and it’s an ideal closer, send em out dancing and smiling and singing…

So, yes, all in all, a great evening was had. Thank you, thank you, thank you Tori! Mucho LOVE (Just avoid the Metro, once again, it was scary)
Russell says:

This was the fifth Tori concert I have ever seen and it was the one I enjoyed the most so far. That’s saying a lot considering that either the first or second time I saw her I already knew that Tori gave the best concert I have ever seen by any musician in any style of music. My friend who accompanied me to that second show from the Scarlet’s Walk tour agreed with me and told me he also felt it was the best concert he had ever seen and he listened to just about every style of music you could possibly imagine.

There are a couple reasons why last night was my favorite Tori concert experience I have ever had. She played “Hotel” which is one of my absolute favorite songs from my favorite Tori album and a song I had only heard once live. Then a couple songs later was the highlight of the night for me – Gold Dust!!! It is my absolute favorite Tori song and I had never heard it live and always wanted too so badly! I actually had tears in my eyes by the end of the song from the sheer emotional impact it had on me.

I also met some very nice people – especially Lisa from Burbank who was sitting to next to me and smiled at me when “Hotel” started because I had told her how much I love that song. Later, around the end of the concert I told her that I hadn’t told her I hoped Tori played Gold Dust because I was afraid I might jinx my chances if I said it and she laughed. Lisa, like many Tori fans has been attending as many of the concerts from this tour as she can and by the end of the show she told me that although the Phoenix show was extremely good, tonight in Tori’s hometown even a little better and the best one of this tour she’s seen so far.

Some other reasons that last night’s concert was the best Tori concert I’ve been to are: Tori seemed to be in an especially good mood and talked to us several times between songs including telling a hilarious story before playing Mary Jane. Tori looked absolutely stunning. I’ve never seen her look better. The light show was gorgeous. Despite the fact that Tori is, as she described herself, “a forty-something mom, last night her voice did not seem to have aged at all. Her range from the beautiful high notes to the low notes was tremendous. Her voice sounded so good and the sound was mixed perfecty so that the bass and drums were loud enough but no instrument ever got so loud as to cover up Tori’s voice. You could always hear her perfectly well and the sound quality was such that making out the words to the songs was easier last night than any of the other concerts I can remember.

In general the audience was very respectful and I didn’t hear anybody singing along to her songs drunkenly or otherwise. We knew we were watching the type of musician that only comes along once in a lifetime and all noise from the audience during the songs was kept to a minimum, except during appropriate times such as after some of the very bold improvs she added to lines from Strong Black Vine and after some of the most suggestive lines from Raspberry Swirl.

When you sit next to great fans that are fun to meet and you hope you see again and you’re sitting only a couple rows back from the stage ( even though we were very far to the left), and you hear such an amazing performance of an incredibly well chosen set list on a beautiful night in Tori’s hometown, that’s just about as close to perfect as it gets. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to also get to meet Tori herself, which I someday hope to do. Last night was easily the highlight of my summer and so far the best night of the whole year for me.
Samantha says:

OMG I cannot even describe how amazing last night’s show was.This was my 2nd Tori show.The M&G was canceled but I didn’t let that bother me. I got there at about 6:30 with my Mom and my twin sister before the doors opened and Mindi (tori’s body guard) came out and talked for a little bit and handed out ticket upgrades.I also got to give Mindi the letter i wrote Tori and requested ‘Little Earthquakes’(which wasn’t played but i was okay with that)I was lucky enough and very very thankful (this being my only tori show) to actually have had the opportunity to actually get my seats upgraded to what at first i thought was 5th row (row E) but apparently at DAR last night, row E was front row!!!! I could not believe it so I literally cried my eyes out in shock and joy!I also got my picture taken with John so that was really cool! Tash was outside for a few minutes talking with some of the security people and Tori’s assistants.The show was beyond explanation! what can i say after getting traded front row tickets? It was breathtaking, it was a whole other world to me. I even got quite a few looks from Tori where I was sitting..i think she even watched me a little as i sang along quietly blush. And the all the fans are so endearing..i love you all you are the best people a person could ever meet*hugs to all*!Tori wore a beautiful orange dress last night with orange leggings as well. I cried some more during her performances (‘gold dust’ and ‘pretty good year’)i just couldn’t believe i was sitting in the front row watching Tori! She was on fire last night too lots of energy! It was great to see her bring that to DC and I am just so grateful to have had the experience I am still crying tears of joy because i just cannot believe that it happened to ME.I remember last night..and i think it was at the end of ‘big wheel’ but it may have been from ‘raspberry swirl’ Tori added a little “i loove youuu!’ to the end and it was so cute! but amazing show flavor,gold dust, hotel, mary jane, pretty good year…and many more..overall the best experience i have had so far!!My Mom got some pretty cool pictures too!later last night..i stayed after a little bit and got to see Tori’s parents leave. i blew her mother a little kiss and motioned mwah and she returned one. Tori, thank you for coming back to DC..you were breathtaking!! xoxo.
Ashley (hell0mrzebra) says:

VERY AWESOME SHOW! Tori, Matt, & Jon were all smiles! It was amazing and we could feel the energy.
Her parents were there, as usual in DC-so cute. Loved the father preacher bridge during Body & Soul.

I thought Tori was really emotional during Gold Dust-I almost cried. It was very touching. She also made several gestures to the audience (us being DC), during several songs. It was all in all a great performance!

My husband & I were in row L but it only ended up being the 7th row from the stage since they had the stage up so far. Then, during the encores we were able to go right in front-it was great! We had a wonderful time!
ReneeTori says:

What a phenomenal show. The energy was very high and light, fully charged. Tori is such a Shaman. I love it. She is my church. Did anyone get to see her after the show. We waited for 2 1/2 hours and everyone kept saying she left. They have done that at other shows but this time I was one of the last to wait. I was sad though, I have been going to see her for 13 years and it sucks to have wait for another tour.
Quiana says:

The show was fantastic. Tori was on fire. I really loved that she played Pretty Good Year. What an amazing show. Loved her outfit. She’s one hot red headed mama!!!
Bryan says:

Ok… not much new to add. Obviously, I thought the show was really great. I thought that as the show progressed it just kept getting better.

I have to say… Gold Dust is one of the most beautiful songs live! I was thrilled when she started playing it.

Loved the piano intro to Flavor.

Pretty Good Year was awesome, Icicle was great.

Fast Horse and Strong Black Vine blew me away.

Precious Things: the best i’ve ever heard this song. Very powerful performance last night.

FINALLY got to hear Raspberry Swirl. Was able to get very very close on the side of the stage and was dancing my ass of when she started playing and saw me and a fellow fan shaking it hardcore to the song (we were directly in her line of vision) and gave us a huge smile and referenced us “lets go boys” during the intro. We screamed like little girls… definite highlight. :)

Overall, great energy and very fun, powerful, and beautiful moments.

Bravo!

Can’t WAIT for PHILLY!! WOOT WOOT!
Niki says:

Like everyone has been saying, last night was SO amazing! My sister and I came to DAR early for the M&G only to find out it was canceled. We thought we would come back for the soundcheck in case there was a chance we could catch her then but we had already missed her. We did get the opportunity to be upgraded by Mindy so we sat in the front row next to Samantha and her family. That makes up for not getting to meet her. I loved every minute of the show. My highlights were Hotel (one of my favs), PGY, Strong Black Vine (the ending…I’m speechless!), Raspberry Swirl and Bouncing (also a favorite). Every time I see Tori she just keeps getting better!
J.W. Mahoney says:

Concerts can be judged like sports events – some songs are winners, some not. Or, better, as theatrical events, which they are, and each audience member is entitled to rate the value of their experiences in totally subjective terms. For myself, I saw the concert unfold darkly at first, her best stage lighting in years, and deepen radically as she moved from the strong, uncompromising Christian hymn at “Icicle”‘s beginning, after her reference to her preacher father in “Body & Soul.” Her parents were sitting directly in front of me, recognized & greeted by folks before it started, and it was sweet to see how they rose when the audience did, at first, to see what their strange daughter-star was doing, live. Then they settled in, sharing a quiet closeness,no matter how difficult “Black Vine”‘s ending was. “Gold Dust” was such a local DC song that, for any of us who knew DC then, seeing her take that song into such an astonishing clarity was a really beautiful shock. “Pretty Good Year” was just as perfect, a tour first, and Jon’s cello was just right. Then the lack of a guitarist manifested, in three lost songs: “Fairytale,” “Precious Things,” and “Dancing/Clouds” were all far weaker than last time, and she knew it. The energy wasn’t there, nobody’s fault, but if you knew, you knew. Lots of thanks-a-lot at the end, as ever, honestly, but.

Finally, there were great performances, art was made, and so no complaints.
Matt says:

The best show I have seen on tour (out of my 5 so far)!! Tori’s energy was spot on, the setlist was amazing, GOLD DUST finally made an appearance for me (I“ve been asking Tori for it for 5 years!)… ahh… perfect night.
Lorraine Eakin says:

This is the fourth show I’ve seen on this tour (31st overall) and one of the best in the DC/Baltimore area that I’ve seen. The setlist was more surprising than I expected (DC/Bmore usually gets a lot of LE and very little improvs or rarities). Highlights:

- The improv in Body and Soul; although she was basically just covering herself for screwing up, it made the song really amazing!

- The piano intro to Flavor was so beautiful and really passionate – great to hear her play so intensely on one of the newer songs.

- Space Dog! My best friend Sarah and I had talked over and over about what we wanted to see, and totally overlooked this one. But we wanted to see it, whether we knew it or not!

- The Church’s One Foundation intro to Icicle. She changed the tune/key to the hymn to match Icicle (or else Methodists sing that hymn differently than Presbyterians) but it was beautiful anyway.

- The drums on Carbon! The audience really reacted to the “get me Neil on the line” bit as well.

- Gold Dust, of course. It moves pretty much everybody. Sarah and I were both crying at this one.

- Pretty Good Year – she’s become a rarity lately, but it was spot on – T. really belted out the bridge!

Sarah and I both thought the Jamaica Inn into sounded A LOT like Tear in your Hand. Also, it’s a crowd-pleaser, but something was off with Raspberry Swirl – she seemed to be in the wrong key or something. But, Matty and Jon ROCKED IT OUT and kind of covered her.

Thank you Tori!
Psyryn says:

So…after 11 years of attending Tori shows I finally heard Icicle! And what an amazing version! I will try not to repeat similar comments from those who have posted already, but Jamaica Inn (which isn’t particularly an album favorite of mine) was a HUGE surprise. She just beyond nailed it with that one… A true thanks for finally getting to hear Gold Dust!!

My only note of mention is this: When she plays the keyboards…I cannot hear the keyboards when the band is playing. During Bouncing the keyboards were almost absent. She’s like Saraswati, arms everywhere playing a different instrument. Seriously is there something they can do to boost the sound on those?

Other then that small comment, one of her best shows I’ve seen. My brother was just blown away by it…and thoroughly enjoyed the “Raspberry MILF” song to close. His words, not mine. We traveled 6 hours to see her in DC, our first time seeing her in the South…and if she plays like that all the time there — I’ll be coming to DC more often!!
Rachel says:

It was absolutely the best Tori show I have seen in a while.. the energy was there, the acoustics and sound quality were spot on and the selection of songs were a good mix of the new, the old and the fan favorites. (And I love how I now get to rediscover those classics from “Little Earthquakes”). :-)

The only complaint I have stems from most of the audience on the floor (where I was) standing for most of the show. I don’t mind standing for the intro or during her encore, but standing for nearly the whole show, especially when some of us are a bit height challenged, wasn’t exactly ideal. I likened it to listening to an amazing live concert, without the visuals—and really, who would want to miss looking at Tori for two hours??? :-)

So perhaps next time Tori comes to town, we can all enjoy the concert together, sitting down… :-)
JQHN says:

This is my 2nd time seeing Tori perform @ Constitution Hall and I’ll say this is a perfect venue for her and even while sitting all the way in section O I still could feel her presence. Highlights for me included “Jamaica Inn” as it was totally unexpected and “Gold Dust” which was a nice homage to her times in DC. Anyway, I wish I had the means to travel around the country & see Tori more often, but I’m 100% content with Saturday’s performance : )
Kate says:

I haven’t seen Tori in a mood like this in years and years. Loved the songs! Still no Siren for me :( but it’s difficult to complain.
melody says:

this was my 8th time seeing Tori + i gotta say it was one of the best performances i’ve seen! awesome set list, sound was great, the goddess herself looked beautiful + i thought it was so cute when everyone applauded for her parents who were sitting near us. my favorite moment was when i heard the piano intro to “pretty good year” which is one of my all-time faves… i cried a little + took in the moment with a huge smile on my face :o) my song faves of the night besides PGY were space dog, raspberry swirl girl, + body & soul. only downside of the evening was no M&G after the show… but maybe next time! Tori, you’re amazing + we love you… thanks for always coming “home” while you’re on tour! ooh… and if you ever wanna play “happy phantom” – i’d be eternally greatful ;o) xoxo
Scott says:

This was my 21st time seeing Tori and this was my 1st time that I liked every song she did. Most shows I liked all the songs but 1 or 2 and usually that was a cover song like Landside. I think this was the runner up to the NY show she did 2 years ago (the 1st of the 2) which I think was best time I saw her. Hotel, Space Dog, Icicle and Pretty Good Year were the high lights for me. Even though I saw it 6 times on the last tour, Bouncing off Clouds is a perfect way to begin an encore and I hope to see it again being that I’m going to the last 4 dates of the tour.
Stevie Nicks has lots of goods songs, try Rhianna or Edge of Seventeen instead of Landslide. Didn’t the Dixie Chicks play that to death anyway?
Ed says:

Hi all,

So this was my sixth time seeing Tori and my first show on this tour. Tori and the guys were exceptional. The sound was well mixed and I really dug the lighting design as well.

Tori’s energy was palpable! She seemed in great spirits and very animated. The audience, very receptive – which I thought was cool. From where I was, everyone seemed to be soaking it in and letting loose. Awesome.

Highlights for me were:

FLAVOR – also my favorite track from AATS. Very eerie done live. Just gorgeous!

HOTEL – Tori was on fire. I never tire hearing this one.

ICICLE – a VERY different version! A darker take, but done very well. I’m always amazed at how Tori always changes things up.

GOLD DUST – My first time seeing this live. So emotive! The music in this song is breath-taking. One of Tori’s best!

and then…

PRETTY GOOD YEAR – This too is a concert first for me. And I will admit, the tears came. What can ya do? It’s Tori!

It’s too bad I won’t be seeing any other shows this time, but it makes D.C. that much more special.

I was hoping for something from Pele, but it surely isn’t a complaint.

Until next time …
Thanks Tori!
Rachelle says:

I’m a little late with this..maybe still trying to relive it? As others said, she was FULL of energy as was the band. All smiles and dancing which made the show so fun. The improv during Body and Soul about her favorite preacher daddy was cute. I got to hear a bunch of songs I’d always wished I could have heard at other shows like Space Dog and Body and Soul. Jamaica Inn had a really good piano solo during it..hoping a video of it pops up :) And best of all I got fairytale and Fast Horse back to back. Strong Black Vine was so awesome I almost couldn’t stand it. I love watching the video of that one.

For my only show of the tour.. I am a happy happy girl.
scarlets_muse23 says:

I always love seeing tori live, and to see her at DAR again was wonderful. I brought my camera again, remembering that they allow them, so I got some nice vids and pics at the show as well. I also did a very “Tori” thing, which made me feel good:) I had an extra ticket, seeing as I bought 3 but only needed 2 (long story, dont ask, lol) so instead of just wasting it, I gave it to someone in the very last row who this was their only concert. The ticket was for the 6th row. I cried during Gold Dust, laughed during Mary Jane and Strong Black Vine, I just love tori. But yet again, I hate when people rush the stage or do a lot of standing. Her parents were like 2 rows over from me and its like they cant stand for 2 hours so why couldn't those in the front wait until the encores to stand? I don't know, it just bugs me, its selfish. But, hopefully I will get to meet her in NYC even if I don't get to see the show!

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