DAR Constitution Hall

Unrepentant Geraldines Tour

Date	August 16, 2014
City	Washington, DC
Venue	DAR Constitution Hall

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Setlist

(Thanks to @StephanieNelson and @AzuliaZebleaux for sending the setlist on Twitter.)

Parasol
Taxi Ride
Cloud On My Tongue
Crucify
Ophelia
Northern Lad
Bouncing Off Clouds
Unrepentent Geraldines (Vicar’s Wife)
Weatherman

Lizard Lounge

Pictures Of You (The Cure) / The Big Picture (YKTR)
Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac)

Gold Dust
1000 Oceans
Ribbons Undone
Not The Red Baron
In The Springtime Of His Voodoo
Cornflake Girl

Encore

Winter
16 Shades Of Blue
Precious Things
Carry

Reviews

Adrian says:

This show was awful. I mean, lousy. It was almost verbatim what she played (better) in 2011 here at the same venue. Does she not keep track of these things? Aside from that, her voice sounded spent by the second song, the playing was sloppy and those loops are just embarrassing. This was not the Tori I’ve loved for years.

I also want to reiterate what so many others have said at other shows. This was, by far, the nastiest crowd I’ve ever encountered at a Tori show. Rude, pushy, combatative…where are the sweet people who used to populate these things?

I feel bad sounding so overwhelmingly negative, but facts are facts. Yes, Voodoo and Red Baron and the Picture medley were pretty decent. And it was nice to hear Taxi and Weatherman. But otherwise, this whole experience sucked.
Joey DiGuglielmo says:

Ouch! Love the candor and honesty, but have to (somewhat) disagree with Adrian. Although last night’s show didn’t blow me out of the water the way some of Tori’s shows have, I don’t see how any reasonable person could say this was awful or lousy. Tori was in fine voice throughout the evening and the playing — as usual — was commanding and note perfect. Yes, the canned beats are a little jarring but I didn’t mind them. With no band or strings, things skew more toward songs that work better on keyboards alone, i.e. ballads. By the time we got to “Voodoo” and “Cornflake Girl,” my ear was just about screaming for a groove. Nothing before it was bad — just too many down-tempo songs in a row IMO. The crowd was fine where I was in the back. VERY respectful, yet enthusiastic. I did get the feeling a couple times Tori was kind of plowing through — almost like she was quickly going through the paces like she was checking off a grocery list. She also literally ran off stage at the end, giving the sense she couldn’t wait to get out of there. Still there was a lot to love and I throughly enjoyed the evening.
Andrew says:

Sorry your experience was so disappointing, Adrian.

I mostly disagree.

As far as the grumblings about repeating the 2011 show, it’s true that Crucify, Winter, Precious Things, Cloud on My Tongue, Ophelia, and Carry were all repeats. I’ve gotten to hear so little live from AATS that hearing Ophelia a second time was kind of a snooze for me too, and I would have preferred any number of other tracks from that album — Flavor, Curtain Call, Fast Horse, Fire to Your Plain, 500 Miles, or Not Dying Today. But hearing Carry with just her and a piano (no strings) was lovely. And my friend who went with me and isn’t a die-hard fan like me really appreciated all the tracks from Little Earthquakes, because she knew the lyrics. (I wouldn’t mind an entirely Earthquakes-free tour sometime myself.)

But overall I really enjoyed this show.

Taxi Ride was wonderful, Voodoo was out of this world, Bouncing Off Clouds was fun, the Big Picture was incredible, and I also really love the reworking of Parasol as the tour opener. And I’ll admit that while I kind of can’t stand Ribbons Undone as an album track, she does sell it pretty well live.

The Vicar’s wife portion of UG was lovely too, but I would rather hear the whole thing. She’s being so skimpy with the Geraldines tracks that I’m hoping she’s gearing up to tour the record a second time with the band. This was the only should I could see on this tour, and Weatherman + 16 Shades + the vicar snippet = not enough.

I need to hear Oysters, Invisible Boy, Selkie, Forest of Glass, Trouble’s Lament, and Wild Way.

I thought the DC location might provoke her to play America or Dixie, but alas, she didn’t.
Andrew says:

Gosh, I’m sorry to hear the other reviewer had such a bad time – mine was absolutely amazing. I thought her voice was spectacular, very full and versatile, and she seemed fully present and engaged for every single moment of the show, not taking a single note or phrase for granted.

This was the first time I’ve seen her do an entirely solo show, and that was such a lovely experience for me. It’s nice being able to hear all the details in her phrasing and intonation without any distractions, and it felt very intimate.

“Carry” in particular blew me away, pretty unexpectedly: I’ve never had much of an attachment to that song, but this rendition on the organ sounded absolutely stunning. Very solemn and beautiful. The Lizard Lounge was AWESOME as well: two amazing covers. She brought a lot of sass to Gold Dust Woman that was amazing to watch.

It’s obvious to me how much Tori loves what she does, and loves her fans as well. I think many of us would do well to remember how giving she is to her following, and how lucky we are to have that – it’s not something to be taken for granted.
Elph says:

Dear Adrian, I’m sorry that your experience at this show was so bad. I disagree as I’ve certainly been to worse shows of hers. During the Holmdel, NJ show years ago her sound cut out during Father Lucifer and she had to leave the stage, only to come back and have her monitor pick up people talking back stage which prompted her to curse them off. I’ve stopped going to the NYC shows because of very rude, intoxicated people. The random yelling is not my thing either. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive this show so you can enjoy another in the future.

As for my experience, it was great. The seats in the back had a lovely crew and the sound was great. She finally played Carry and I was able to personally thank her during the RAINN Meet & Greet brunch today for playing it – as it was a special request from my mom back in Philly to hear it.

Thank you to all the very nice fans who welcomed me and my brother as travelers to your fine towns to see her shows — you guys were great!
Richard Handal says:

Tori Amos in DAR Constitution Hall 16 Aug 2014

This was, for MY money, one of the top five Tori Amos solo concerts I ever attended going back to 1994, and I’ve attended lots of them.

Exhibiting remarkable relaxed depth of expression, each note was placed with purpose, no movement wasted. She rolled her fingers for effect sparingly, held one of the most attentive audiences I was ever part of rapt, and slyly changed a lyric here or there for personal satisfaction. At the finish, when she unplugged her earpiece, it became a propeller-spun watch, like a zoot suiter swinging his chain. Gentle grace, good humor, and unabashed musicianship were the order of the day. With ego tucked safely into her back pocket, she led us on a wondrous tour of human emotion, and we felt every bit of it. I used to say a Tori Amos concert could strike one as coming from any section of the color wheel on a given night. This time, she flung the entire palette against the wall, and watched it drip down to the floor.

Family was much in evidence. I was glad to see Mrs. Amos led in on the arm of a niece, Kelsey it seemed, with Dr. Amos not far behind them all on his own power.

I couldn’t feel prouder than to be any small part of this community.

Tori came onstage at 9:04 and her final song ended at 10:56. The main set was over at 10:34.
Christine says:

I feel as though I am in “church” whenever I am in the presence of Tori’s live performance. I am entranced by the haunting sounds of the piano, beautiful lighting, and of course, Tori’s magnanimous energy.

I love Tori. She has been in my life since I was 16. I am turning 40 in a few days. Every show has had it’s own flavor and texture. I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences…
Josh says:

Although I have seen Tori 50+ times since 1996, this was the first time seeing her since 2007. I thought she was as powerful, energetic, expressive, captive and poignant as she was when I first saw her. The new songs blend nicely with the older songs and bring a vibrancy to the show that makes Tori still relevant with a voice and message.

I agree that the prerecorded parts were disappointing, but this also isn’t new and she’s done this going way back.
Jon says:

This was an OK show. I can agree with Adrian on some points here. The show felt rushed, the set list was not very good as some other shows I’ve seen. However, Tori was in fine form; both in playing and voice. The highlights for me were Parasol (a song I’ve hated until this tour – sometimes the songs really speak a different language live), Gold Dust & Voodoo. The set was too lazy and slow and she did play about 5 or 6 of the same songs she did last time. I felt Detroit & Cleveland were far superior to this show.
I was second row center stage for this show. What a gift! My only real complaint was the gentleman in front of me who decided it would be a good idea to come to the show in his underwear and then proceed to “rock out” to every song. Bull horns, head banging and all! I’m sorry but there is a fine line between being yourself and acting a fool. To me, this was a more classic/proper concert in a theater. We were not at Lady Gaga or at a dance club. I was embarrassed for him and distracted the entire night. It’s time to grow up.
I was also fortunate enough to attend the RAINN event on Sunday. Tori was very present, gracious and happy to be there. It was fantastic and I was so happy that I had a chance to sort of give back, even though it wasn’t much, to Tori.
JQHN says:

Over the years, I’ve seen Tori at this venue and I’ve noticed she does seem to always play many of the same songs, such as “Winter”, “Crucify”, “Gold Dust” etc… However, among these songs there were a few suprises, such as the Cure & YKTR medly and I was surprisingly impressed with her performance of “Ribbons Undone”. Since I can only afford to go to one Tori show per tour and this is the closest venue to where I live, I have to take what I can get and try not to complain about the concert itself, but I do wish there was some better organization to the “Meet & Greets” and Mindy or whomever give the fans an approximate time/wristband/number or something? It’s very depressing waiting 6 hours to be cut off right at the door. Also, I do wish some of the rabid regulars would give some of us other people a chance to meet with Tori. I’m not saying these fans can’t see her at all, but they should be considerate of others.
Ann says:

I loved the energy of tonight’s show even though the setlist may read as dull or aesthetically confused to select Tori fans. It was so heartfelt and introspective in places (see Taxi Ride, Bouncing Off Clouds, Gold Dust, Carry) and intense and aggressive in others (see Voodoo, Crucify, and Precious Things). I would have loved to have heard splashier songs like Bliss, Riot Poof, or iieee to add a bit of texture to the setlist. That said, I’m more than satisfied with the quality of these performances. I would rank tonight’s Lizard Lounge as one of the very best of the tour so far — the energy in the room was palpable when she began Picture of You! Gold Dust Woman sounded incredible and paired nicely with Gold Dust. I thought for sure DC would get America or Dixie, but perhaps they will make an appearance here in the future.

I had a fantastic seat in the orchestra section and most of the fans were very respectful and didn’t scream during the ballads or shout out requests. Most people stayed seated for the duration of the show as well.

I agree with much of what Richard Handal said in his review above. I have seen Tori several times through the years and this has to rank near the very top of my favorite shows.
Lorraine Eakin says:

Although many were not songs I would have chosen on my own to hear (COMT is one I’ve heard too much, same goes for Winter and Bouncing Off Clouds), I was thrilled with almost every song in DC. Her playing was lush, and her voice was full and confident. She worked every song to its fullest.
During Crucify, she held her neck at the line “you’re just an empty cage girl.” Vicar’s Wife followed the thread she began unwinding from Crucify. I found she did that again later in the show – not just by linking (obviously) Gold Dust Woman with Gold Dust, but by linking the latter with 1000 Oceans. GD is a lyric calling from the other side of birth, and 1000 Oceans calls from the other side of death. The same juxtaposition with Ribbons and NTRB. Again, Ribbons was not a song I wanted to hear – I thought – but this was a fine version, better than anything she mustered up in 2005. And any Pele song can come to any setlist, ever.
Pictures of You and Big Picture – well, I don’t need to tell you that that was divine. Much yummier than another Elton cover!
I had seen Precious Things 25 times previously, but always with the band. Seeing it solo, man…that’s something else entirely. One of the absolute best moments I’ve ever had at a Tori show. It is her most-performed song for a reason!
By my count, she did songs from every album but SLG and Midwinter (and you could probably argue convincingly that Midwinter isn’t really a canon work anyway). So she covered a lot of territory and a lot of life in one show, and made it all fit together. Keep at it, T. High hopes for the FL shows!
Raeshine says:

I thought this was a very family oriented show in that a lot of the songs seemed to be played for those in her family. Her voice was great and I love watching her pound those piano keys – had good seats so I could see her well. As someone else said, I would not have chosen many of the songs played, but I can’t complain either. Winter wasn’t dragged out like she does sometimes and was just lovely. I never tire of Gold Dust and Northern Lad was a nice treat. I have heard A Sorta Fairytale at every single show I’ve been to up to now, was hoping to hear it, but Carry was a nice substitute, was just beautiful.

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