Chicago Theatre

Tour

Date	August 03, 2009
City	Chicago, IL
Venue	Chicago Theatre

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There’s much anticipation for this show as Tori reportedly promised two debuts and “a boys’ show” at the meet & greet this afternoon.

Set List

Thanks to @TheSovietKitsch and @WhenSheTwinkles for tweeting the setlist. The former reports she’s wearing a gold dress with silver leggings.

Main Set

Give
Bouncing Off Clouds
Cornflake Girl
Curtain Call
Hotel
Josephine
Pandora’s Aquarium
Marys of the Sea
Lady in Blue

Lizard Lounge

Leather
That Guy

band returns

Northern Lad
Cars and Guitars
Fast Horse
Precious Things
Strong Black Vine

Encore

Police Me
Take To The Sky
Big Wheel

Video

Josephine (posted by scottmdphd)

Lady in Blue (posted by scottmdphd)

That Guy (posted by scottmdphd)

Reviews

Anthony says:

Great show…I couldn’t believe it when she played Leather and That Guy for the Lizard Lounge. That was the big shock for me. I also loved that during Take To The Sky she played both the original bridge and I Feel The Earth Move bridge.

This is the only show this tour for me and I think I lucked out. Precious Things, Lady in Blue and Strong Black Vine were particularly strong and memorable. She did an improv at the end of Strong Black Vine about pushing the evil out and dropped a couple MF bombs.

Lady in Blue and That Guy are my favorites from the new album, so I couldn’t be happier. Except maybe if I made it to the meet and greet to see her again. I can’t say thank you enough!
ChicagoDave says:

Tori was really alive tonight. This is my fourth show on this tour, and this has by far been the best energy, performance and set list. Pandora’s Aquarium was a highlight for me…been waiting many years to see it performed live. And the lounge performance of That Guy was simply beautiful and riveting. Thanks for a great show, and see you in Milwaukee!
Rabbitsongs says:

I’ve been playing a lot of Tori’s music on piano lately, and have been having a blast coming up with an original arrangement to PANDORA’S AQUARIUM. I was THRILLED when she played it… The synth effects she threw in were incredibly clever.

I was surprised at how well THAT GUY sounded on solo piano. I don’t care much for it on the album, but thought it was a real highlight tonight.

Gotta admit – she took it to another level of performance with PRECIOUS THINGS, CORNFLAKE GIRL, and especially the ending of STRONG BLACK VINE. (I haven’t seen her in concert as many times as some on this website, so I’m not bored with seeing ‘em live.) She’s got more talent at her fingertips than anyone else I know performing today.
andy says:

The show was really great, but sort of hard for me to enjoy at the same time. We had really good seats (second row) but our view of Matt was totally blocked! Lucky for me a couple of people didn’t show up in my row and we could slide a few seats over. Fast Horse is one of my favs from the new cd, and the live version is so sweet! Being a drummer myself, I have to say that Matt C. aced this show, as he always does. A little different interplay between Tori and Matt in the middle of Precious Things that was really cool. Hotel, Northern Lad, and Strong Black Vine were all top notch. The only thing that left me wanting more was from the actual audience. Year after year it seems like the fans at Tori shows get more and more ummmm…. annoying. I can’t stand people who try to sing the lyrics along to every song (give it up, in most cases you can’t sing and others around don’t want to listen to you). People don’t go to most shows to hear fans sing along. Sure, maybe if you go to a Live show or Better Than Ezra or something like that, there will be a lot of people singing, which is cool, but in an intimate show like with Tori, I don’t know why people can’t show more respect. I’m not trying to sound mean but lets face it, if you go to a Bjork or Radiohead or Tori show, you want to hear the band. If you’re going to go to something like say… Nickleback, then I would expect to see a ton of drunken idiots blabbing all the wrong lyrics in your ears. I just don’t like to see that kind of crowd at Tori shows is all. And what is with everybody trying to record videos on their friggin cell phones? I was in the second damn row behind the pit and was still always looking at, or trying to look around some jerk holding a cell phone in the air trying to record a 10 second, out of focus, blurry piece of crap. Some of the ushers were trying to get people to knock it off, but just gave up after a while. And it wasn’t just one or two people either. At one point it thought there just might be more people with their phones out than not! I just wish people would be more respectful when in the presence of one of the most gifted musicians this planet will probably ever see. And then there were these two girls behind us that just would not shut the hell up……sigh Maybe I’m over-reacting, but I’ve seen Tori stop shows dead in their tracks for people that were being rude or causing some sort of scene and I’m sort of surprised that something like that didn’t happen again.
Northernstar28 (Michelle) says:

Oh god, what a show! Tori did a knockout job of picking songs for the Chicago Theatre venue. She really did her homework. I could really visualize Louise Brooks stepping out of the shadows to open Pandora’s Box for us and take us on a meet and greet to all the ladies with a past. The ghosts came out of the balconies to perform for us and to show us that the curtain never really comes down on them and if you listen very carefully you can hear them echoing across the floorboards. Josephine came to visit from across the pond to see the theatre that was built in the French Baroque style. There is an exterior replica of the Paris ‘Arc de Triomphe sculpted above its State Street Marquee (Chicago Theatre website).

Was there an underlying meaning in the song choice of “Curtain Call” with it’s ebony beauty asked to take a final curtain call maybe in response to the Chicago Theatre’s practice of having all-white bands play jazz back in it’s early history as a way to get the patronage of “respectable whites” into the theatre who had avoided dance halls and speakeasies but still wanted to hear all that jazz? To hear “Lady in Blue” was chilling and brought to mind Billie Holiday.

Tori brought out all the torch and sass tonight. Even a little burlesque made it into the Lizard Lounge via “Leather”. Brilliant performance on that one.

Yeah, it was a “guy” show but all those women behind those guys stole the show for me. A little whiff of all the girls who loved those “bad” boys like in the recent movie “Public Enemy” when Billie Frechette’s love for Dillinger showed a vulnerable side of one of Chicago’s “bad” boys. Josephine and Napoleon. All the bruised and damaged women who loved a little too much but oh what great theatre it makes.

These ladies will never die and we will always have their stories. They lived through their glory days and suffered through their own personal griefs but they refuse to be told they are past their prime and longer viable and they continue to reemerge again along with the Chicago Theatre resplendent in all their finery and their passion electrifying the air.

Thank-you Tori for this exquisite performance and for constantly changing and challenging yourself. For me an artist is one who constantly seeks out the new and is never complacent and seeks new frontiers. As Joni Mitchell once said in concert, (paraphrasing) ‘No one ever asked Van Gogh to hey, paint Starry Starry Night again, man. He painted it and that was it’. But we all know he kept exploring and creating new scenes.
Julie says:

The show was fantastic as usual. This was my 13th Tori show and she never disappoints. I got to see songs tonight that I’ve never seen her do, which was awesome. My favorite part was the three encores…you could just feel the energy in the air. Other highlights for me were Curtain Call, which sent shivers down my spine. That Guy, which to be honest, isn’t one of my favorites but was BEAUTIFUL as a piano solo (like Rabbitsong said). When is she coming back? Do I really have to wait another 2 years?
blank-ette (Mel) says:

Last night’s show had a great build up. My friend and I drove from WI to the Chicago meet-up dinner at the Emerald Loop, and seeing everyone there just made me more psyched for the show. And Tori did not disappoint. Some people, I think, were hoping for more album diversity, but I didn’t mind a Chiorgirl and AATS heavy set.
I was glad to hear Curtain Call. You could feel the emotion pulling out from her. Josephine was really sweet and felt just right. My next surprise was Pandora’s Aquarium, which I have never heard live. The arrangement was superb. Leather seems like a song she likes to play in Chicago. The crowd always goes wild and you could tell Tori loves playing it by all her smiles. That Guy was unexpected, but sounded lovely on solo piano. I feel like we got a really sultry loungey first half of the show with Pandora, Lady in Blue and That Guy. It seemed to fit Chicago.
Northern Lad sent me for a loop. So unexpected, and it’s one of my favorites, so of course I let a few tears fall during that one.
It was nice to hear a few different changes during Precious Things. It’s such a crowd pleaser.
For the encore there wasn’t a huge stage rush, but some people were walking toward the front. I made my way up part way when a security girl told me I couldn’t be there and to go back to my seat. I just shrugged and complied. She must not know what usually happens. I just thought it was ironic that it was during Police Me. :)
My only complaint was how many people kept standing up and walking around. If you seriously can’t go without a drink for two hours there is something wrong with you. It was rather distracting and disrespectful. Oh well. That what happens when you are at a venue that serves alcohol. All in all it was a very lovely show. I hope I’ll be able to tell Tori how much I enjoyed it at the Meet and Greets in Milwaukee or Minneapolis. Maybe I’ll see you there too!
Lauren says:

Longtime fan here…seen her 10+ times live. She played here about 5 or 6 years back I think? On the Scarlet’s Walk tour. Beautiful venue…very old school/1920’s feeling. I called the Curtain Call thing to my partner before the show even started, figuring Chicago was the town that reminded her the most of having a hard time in the music business. Sure enough she played right off the bat. I know she’s always told the whole Schuba’s story about the girl and the piano thing never working. I also figured the show would have a lot of AATS in it because the venue was so piano lounge-y feeling. Lady and Blue and That Guy fit right in there, amazing to hear those live. Nice to hear Josephine! Kick-ass version of Hotel, and she didn’t fuck up the words like she did the last two times in Chicago. :) She definitely took it to a whole new level with the Fast Horse/Precious Things/Strong Black Vine combo. Fast Horse is my favorite off the new album so I was stoked. Amazing, her voice is as top notch as I’ve ever heard. I liked Big Wheel as a closer, that was fun. Have to second the RUDE audience. Singing and/or talking loudly, tons of people getting up the whole time to take bathroom/drink/smoke/whatever breaks. We were about 10th row center, pretty good seats. My partner kept saying she looked pregnant…I kind of thought so too…just a rounder belly than last tour. And then there were a lot of strange baby references? Pandora is all about the miscarriage, and that comment about there being a “little boy in all of us”? I know it’s not likely, and her management said no, and she is going to be 46 in a couple weeks. Hmmm…Overall this wasn’t my favorite Tori show…but how can anything compare to seeing her at the Vic a couple years ago…I think towards the end of the show she had the most energy. I felt like she was a little tired in the beginning maybe…and almost no talking to the audience, she’s normally very chatty here. I love anything this goddess does though…
Bumblebee says:

Did anyone adore the opening band? They were so great! From the previous 5 Tori shows I have seen, the opening acts have been pretty mediocre for me. But alas, One Eskimo on this tour was most unforgettable.

Moving forward, Tori. What else can I say? She is born to perform on a stage, and she executes as always. Hotel, Pandora, Vine, and Police Me were my gems I will take with me. Tori was so cute during Police Me. She looked more entertained to hit that sample button on her keyboard, than she was playing the song! She was cracking me up!!! I was reluctant to hear Precious Things again, but surprisingly, Tori and Matt changed it up a bit and did another cool jam session. She left out the GURRRRL part and instead slammed down some extra piano for the effect. I’m so glad she sampled Carol King again on Take To the Sky!! What a brilliant collaboration for that song!!! My favorite from Scarlet’s Walk!!!
I was sitting front row, very thankfully, (usually I need binoculars!) but I tell you this, Matt be slammin down on some drums this tour. He most def had his swag on, I thought his drum kit was going to explode!! Kudos to you Matt!! The first part of the show was absolutely stellar for me. Lizard Lounge as well although I wish Tori would have selected at least one song from Boys for Pele tonight, considering this was a “Boys” show. But I am still grateful for what I experienced. Well on the Tori side of things to say the least. On the subject of Tori fans, I have never been so embarrassed to be at a show this time. I would think that people who hear her message thru her gospel of music would have ALOT more respect for other people at the shows and not display such sloppy and distasteful acts of rudeness. If an usher comes to you and asks you to leave because you are doing something you are not “obviously” allowed to do, don’t sit there and fight, kick and scream and disturb other people, because you can’t take responsibility for you own actions. TACKY! I wish Tori would have stopped the show this time like she does on occasion, and throw these noodnik’s out!!!
And another thing, about this rushing towards the stage at the end of the show…I don’t know when this started but it needs to stop. There is no need to run so fast thru the aisles, knock into people and possibly trample someone just because you are dissatisfied with your chance of bad seats. I was glad to see the security guards breeze in AGAIN and pull MANY people back and ask them to sit back down (although most of them stood and verbally fought with security, which was distracting from the encore) because that was just really annoying. From what I saw this all happened on the right side of the stage. Rightfully so, as Tori was exiting the stage after the show, she did come to the left side of the stage, shake hands, high fives, and all that. Not so much the right side because they totally got snubbed by her! And that is what you get!
I saw her face expression towards all those people on that side so close to the stage and she looked as if she had digested something awful.

I wish I had a better view of Jon because he plays bass pedals AND guitar!!! What a talent!!! Everybody is on their toes this year!!!
Martha says:

How was that? Well, I’d say great! Wishing peace, fun, and loving happiness to all who go to the show! Cars and Guitars was RE-MASTERED! Also the intro to Pandora’s Aquarium and the song too was phenomenal! All of it was great! On a side note, do people know it’s considered rude to get up from your seat repeatedly, interrupting not only other viewers, but the performers as well. Nothing is more offensive.
EricaShu says:

Andy—-you are not overreacing to the crowd. I am a Chicago native and you would have thought we were at a Bears game. I was embarrassed and annoyed. Seriously people, movies tix cost less and people barely get up to use the bathroom/food then….why should a concert be any different?

On a happier note…Tori was totally on last night. I have seen her over 14 times and this was one of my top 5 shows:) I really was not bored with any song—which I thought maybe Cornflake girl but she was so great during it that I was brought right back to the first time I heard it on UTP! Her voice was so great during Strong Black Vine (loved her improv ending!), That Guy, Pandora (personal fav.),Hotel and Lady in Blue. I mean her voice was great the whole night but those songs were killer. I adore her and can’t wait for the next album/tour (fingers crossed).

And her shoes f*&$-ing rocked!!!
Julie says:

This show REALLLY ROCKED!! I was a little worried after watching clips of performances for this tour on you tube. I thought that possibly some of the fire wouldn't be there…but WOW was I ever wrong. People go on and on about Tori’s former glory (circa 1992-1998) and for those of us lucky enough to be there…Yesss..it was definitely something to behold. However, Tori as she is getting older, like a Very Fine Wine is Aging…but she is of course doing it Tori-Style…With Sass…Grace…but also with a Ferocity and an Edge. Tori will always be TORI..her essence wont change. All artists Evolve…Grow…Change as they are well supposed to. Those fans that want her to stay stuck in 1996 will continue to miss out if they cant see the sparks that emit from the Firecracker that Tori still is and always will be. I'm in it for the long haul….Ms Amos will always have my heart. Highlights for me included “Northern Lad” “Josephine” “Big Wheel” and “Hotel” I think Tori always pulls out all the stops in Chicago..she genuinely looked like she was having the best time..and commented that she was in a “Magical Place.” I felt the same way. Id love to see her again during this tour but as that's not going to happen…alas there is always the next tour. If this tour did anything for me it cemented my love for Tori even more.. and I didn't think that was possible after all of these years.
Spacedog78 says:

The show was great—toned down a little from the last tour, but having its own dynamics. Does anyone have a copy of “Strong Black Vine” from this show? If so, please post! It was amazing.
Another Lauren says:

I see there’s already a Lauren so… I’ll be Another Lauren…
anyway…
I was nervous I wouldn’t make it to this show on time… cancelled/delayed flight, slooooow cab ride, but everything worked out great.
This was my tenth show. The venue was easily the most beautiful I’ve been in- it rivals my beloved Paramount in Oakland.
Pandora was incredible to hear live, such a powerful performance!
Hotel < Josephine < Pandora’s Aquarium < Marys of the Sea < Lady in Blue = absolutely amazing progression!

It took me ten shows to hear Leather- it was great! The audience was really into it.
That Guy was a huge shock and was the highlight of the night for me. Gorgeous and tragic solo on piano.

Northern Lad was perfect, her voice was soaring. She’s in such good vocal form this tour, it’s unbelievable!!!
Precious Things was also great, Tori and Matt were really getting into it, and Tori was pausing and changing things up a bit.

Wonderful concert. Thanks, Tori.
amywaz says:

Another great show in Chicago! This was my first of three this tour. I was sooo happy to hear That Guy. I was hoping for this song to come out but wasn’t sure if she was ever going to do it since it has quite a lot of production on it. It was gorgeous. Also Pandora was really beautiful and Strong Black Vine was so hot. I’ve never seen Tori grind so much on her piano bench! Was I the only one who noticed how emotional Tori was during Leather? She was visibly upset. Almost tearing up during the “if love isn’t forever” parts. It was nice to see that one, even though I was surprised she played it in Chicago. Great show again Tori!
Robert K. says:

I sweard to God(s)that Tori could sing a grocery list and I will still be moved to tears. This was one of the best, of the many, Tori shows I have been to. I was shocked to hear Hotel again but considering last tour I understood.

Stand out songs (all really but some of the best):

Police Me (much better live than on CD)
Give
Leather
Cornflake Girl

Reviews are no longer being accepted for this show.

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