it is may 5th. We are seeing the final sneak preview club show tomorrow night, may 6th [my 19th birthday]. The time is 7p.m. We arrive at the El Rey theater. Yes, 24 hours before the show. We want to be up front. To our astonishment, we were NOT first! Can you believe that? The 2 girls before us had already been there for 24 hours. So we were 2nd 3rd and 4th in line. A few people quickly showed up behind us..shocking. There were 4 of us at the time. David and i had to scamper off the the airport and pick someone up leaving Nicky and Val in line. Well the person we were picking up had flight problems and we ran 2 hours late going back. We got back to the El Rey about midnight. There were now about 15 peple all huddled under the box office area, protected from the HORRIBLE rain there had been all night. We got our numbers (i was #3) and all settled in for the night. Well since it was midnight, it was also now officially my birthday :]. So i opened all the wonderful gifts from friends of mine. It was really fun. Oh yes...i must discuss these passes we had..as a joke my friends and i made these little laminated "backstage passes" with bad pictures of tori on it..and they said stuff about Plugged. They often got confused with real passes. hehe...so then Some of the fans went to sleep..others stayed up and talked to us for hours. Two guys in particular, one named josh..i believe...was quite amusing, and nice. We stayed up until about 4 am..we went and had breakfast and finally crashed until about 6am when dor arrived. Unfortunatley i had to leave and go to school [either that or take an F] so val and i got in her car and drove off. Interesting thing happened..as we were turning the corner of the El Rey val says "hey look a bus.." and right in front of us is a large powder blue bus :] There was "we love you tori" and stuff written all over the back. Tori's bus drove by the El Rey to..i suppose see the ppl in line. I doubt tori was awake. So we kinda followed the bus for about 10 minutes until we got to our freeway onramp. It was kinda neat. So la la i was only in class about an hour (the class is three and a half hours long..oops] and im sure its made my grade drop a WHOLE lot, but i needed to get back. At least i was able to take a shower, and it refreshed me a bit. So we kinda hurry back to the El Rey and notice there are now two seperate lines. For last names. Pretty much all of the people i knew were on the other line, but it was alright. Val and nicky and his cousin sat with us in line and we all just chatted and stuff like that. About 3 o'clock Steven and Joel come out and announce that the show has been moved to the Wilshire theater. We all kinda look at each other like "wuh.." and hell semi breaks loose. People start running down the street. Dude, we had been there overnight and these people that showed up in the morning were now gonna try for 1st in line? it was panicy. We all start running...unfortunatley i wasnt EXACTLY sure how far it was...it was over a mile. Half way there we had all slown down and i REALLY wanted a cab but my friends kept saying it wasnt far...oy it was. We get there last...everyone had driven [and we should've] but luckily our line was REALLY nice. They let us have our spots back. The other line wasn't so nice..my friends that had been there longer than others werent given their places back..they were told that..well... they werent first to the wilshire..sucked for them. So we get the car park settle..etc. and go over to where the baracades are set up..this was about 4pm..and the waiting for tori began..
Meet N' Greet.
Dude, i felt bad for the crew..they had come RIGHT from SF and set up..they then had to take down everything at the El Rey and re-set it up at the wilshire. So we all squish in. I manage to be 2nd row behind the baracades. We were unfortunatley next to this..well this guy i see at EVERY show i go to that just takes pictures of anyone famous...to well, sell them. He sells at every show..i really dont like him. He was really REALLY pushy ..he was straight out shoving like..teenage girls. Really bad. So anyhow, we knew tori would be late since they hadnt even brought over equipment...so we have a huge wait. Our long line gets squished into a smaller short line which was weird...val was in front with joy and christ and i behind her..and nicky behind me. So we stand around and wait. Strange thing..eric shows up. He was just standing around and stuff. I'd never seen him before..it was almost surreal. Anyhow the crowd gets really listless and stupid. The entire first 3 rows (minus our little section) decided to SING! Tear in your hand, leather, spark [they all got the words wrong too] and cornflake girl. By the second song we had fun pretty much yelling back at them and telling them to shut up. God they were annoying...about 7:30 Tori shows up. The annoying part of the crowd gets VERY pushy and screamy. Its pretty bad. Luckily our little corner was really cool. I watched her make her way over and i was just flushed with this..warmness..it had been almost 2 years since i'd seen her. It was almost like coming home. So she gets over to our section..and she sees Valerie on the rail. Her face instantly lights up and she grabs her and hugs her. Then they bond. Tori beings to basically thank Valerie for all she had done for her (its a bit of a complex story) and tells her that she has helped heal her and how wonderful she is. (it was very odd to hear the word miscarrige come out of tori's mouth). Valerie is totally composed which is great and Tori gets all weepy. Then she gives her her gift and she gets all excited about it and stuff (the gift was a box of 12 lipgloss's). Meanwhile listening had made ME all weepy. Then Christina hands tori her pass and she signs it. She looks at christ and christina asks her why she hasn't played Pandora so far..tori gets this "ohhhhhh" look on her face. She kinda laughs and tells her that she learned it yet. But by the time they do the whole tour songs like Hotel and Raspberry Swirl will come around :]. So then i hand her my UTP vinyl (you can see her passing it to me in nickys really good picture)..i had a hard time getting her attention though :\. I ask her to sign it on the lyric side and she does it quickly..then christina goes "oh tori" and she looks at her and asks her name..and shes like "um..christina" and tori was like "didn't i already get you?" and christ kinda points to me and i forgot what i was gonna say. So i just said.."i was wondering, if the song comes around tonight, can you play Cloud on my Tongue?" and she did what she ALWAYS does. She looks up and goes "oh!" completley surprised and she grabs her pen and says "well i'll see if she shows up tonight" and she writes a C on her hand. There was only one other letter on her hand..i couldn't tell what it was. Then nickys cousin joy gets to her and THEY totally bond and they're all weepy which in turn makes ME cry AGAIN. Oh yes, she also saw nicky and told him that she "love[s] the blue" in his hair. hehe. And then its pretty much over. People behind us are passing up stuff to be signed the whole time. When shes gone we like JET cos we're afraid they're letting ppl in. As we run christ and i are like "i REALLY hate to say this but that was SO spiritual" and..it was. :\ I run and catch up with joy who is like running and sobbing and hug her and stuff..and Valerie is totally composed. Tori got more weepy than she did. It was just a wonderful meet and greet. it all went right. So we all dump our stuff int he car and get back in line...
Line time to Opening Act
Val got back inline JUST in time. THey wouldnt let nicky back up. But it worked out. Oh yeah! John was at this event! He's this guy that always works all the other events we go to (spice world oscars etc..). He was really nice to us this time. hehe. we see him so much. Anyhow after standing around impatiently for about a half an hour or so (it was awesome they wouldnt let VIP ppl in in front of us! woo!). We are let in 4 at a time and we exchange our vouchers for tickets and run in..this theater is like a cross between the AZ one and the Macky in CO. Very small. We sit front row almost dead center. We manage to save 2 seats..for nicky. And david comes in and sits center like 3rd row back. But since he had waited so long we make him come take the extra 1 seat..and everything seems to be worked out fine. There is a huge gap between our seats and the rail. This gaurd told me we couldnt stand up at the rail. So we sat. David poe was good. It seemed like everyone had been mean to him at the other shows..so he seemed to really like our crowd. He was good. And i still really love Blue Glass Fall. :] So la la he comes out and ppl talk to him standing around the rail making us nervous. I felt like i was at moz..like they were just waiting for the lights to go down...so val sees joel [who still loves her] and asks him and hes like "no stand her right now" so she kinda becons me over and i run and im RIGHT in front of the keyboard. Shes right inbetween the keyboard and bosie. And then nicky and david and eventually everyone runs up behind us. Everyone can see and its all PERFECT. Now its show time....
Showtime:
Tori comes out and waves. I can't believe how friggin close i am. She does Black Dove...now this song i had never been to fond of but..this became like Precious Things..where it took seeing it live for me to appreciate it. The first half of the song on the keyboard she was in a dead stare with me. Nadie tapped on my shoulder and was like "that is ALL you girl" and i felt like i was gonna die..the tears just POURED out. She just gave me this intense stare. God i get chills when i think about it. I don't know if i was just really emotional or it was the tiredness but i was SUCH a weepy cry baby. During I i e e e which was WONDERFUL she kept looking our way and i kept crying.
Being this close was just amazing. You could see her EYES. You could tell where they were looking. We could see all her slobber. Dude she drools a lot. It's just flying everywhere. She does precious things and its album like and really good. Its just..ah. The whole time shes either looking at like all of US (the first 6 or 7 ppl around) or the baclony (eric neil gaimain and maynard from tool were there.) and everytime she locks eyes with you its just..incredible. I can't explain it. Yay liquid diamonds was next. I just love that song. Then Cornflake Girl...this was really fun. I got to dance around..and she was playing with Caton so well. I looked at him and he'd be doing this little elvis dance and look at tori and was singing..i caught him singing "never was a cornflake girl.." and it was so cute out of his mouth. I actually caught Catons eye about 3 times during the show and id just give him a big grin and he'd give me the cutest teddy bear smile right back. I did that to joel too! I saw him off to the side..and i didnt even think he was looking over here..and i just BEAMED at him and he kinda cracked up and gave me a cute smile. tee. :] She talked to us a bit and told us the story of us moving venues. It had a really cute thing about her eavesdropping and she was like "i was eating my soup and pretending to read.." and she did this cute open mouth YEAH RIGHT look. Very cute.
Okee..um..oh Jackies Strength. I had Joy right behing me..kind of leaning on my shoulder..and the SECOND this song started..Tori homed in on Joy. It was SO intense. Tori would say lines that..really made sense with what Joy had told tori..and she would just give her these looks while singing it like "i know...listen.." like..apply it to your life. And Joy was absolutly sobbing and tori was getting weepy and i was like caught between the two so *I* began crying AGAIN. It was just..wow. Then she did Tear in your hand and she was really cute about waving to the balcony with the "neil" line. Then came Icicle complete with singalong. And this is the song that always gets nicky. Towards the end i just hear this uncontrolable sobbing..and i look back and hes like lost it. Aww. He always loses it to icicle. Next on the set list was China, but..thank goodness she didn't play it..although..she didnt really replace it with anything much better. She did Silent All These Years instead..it was pretty. I knew by this point there would be no Cloud on my Tongue. I knew the second she did Icicle. I was okay with it. It wasnt supposed to be played tonight :]. So the band came back and started Northern Lad..i instantly lay my head on the rail and like..bawl silently. For the first few lines of the song [up until..thought we'd be okay..me and my molasses] she kinda just gave me this look...like "i know me too.." and it was just a sympathetic "we both feel it" kinda look...right in my eyes. Oh chiills..then she kinda flittered off into her own little world..staring at the balcony...[sigh]
Then Spark which was really good. And Cruel..by this point i wasnt as emotional or into it as the first half. From Black Dove to northern lad it was SO wonderful..i mean the whole show was..but this was the first tori show where the FIRST half was the best. Anywho then came the Waitress which was different, but good, ofcourse and ended with her fun blowing of the mic. Somewhere around her she talked a bit about Clinton and how he reminded her of Beavis always goes [while she imitates the beavis voice and kinda convulses like beavis's cornholio] "butts tities butts tities". And nicky was like "ah!' and it was REALLY funny. hehe. Okee then encore and she does God and Cocaine and then the last encore is Horses which i still don't like [the new version] and she waved bye bye and it was over. Aw. i so didn't want it to end. more than ever before.
i REALLY wanted a set list. I obviously got one. heh. Marcel [who is so cute he seems so nice..i love him] came out and i asked him for a set list..he gave me the nicest "sure" look..and he tore up the one inbetween her keyboard and piano and handed it to me. Hehe. I got the went one. It was like DRIPPING. Covered in toris spit and her little lemon drink im sure. It was all over my hands. Kinda cool though. Heh. Read more at the Dent....So we all take off and run for the palace..for breakfast with tori...
Click me To Read about Breakfast
and see many pictures!
The May 98 Tori Amos Adventure begins here...
the wonderful gifts from friends of mine. It was really fun. Oh yes...i must discuss these passes we had..as a joke my friends and i made these little laminated "backstage passes" with bad pictures of tori on it..and they said stuff about Plugged. They often got confused with real passes. hehe...so then Some of the fans went to sleep..others stayed up and talked to us for hours. Two guys in particular, one named josh..i believe...was quite amusing, and nice. We stayed up until about 4 am..we went and had breakfast and finally crashed until about 6am when dor arrived. Unfortunatley i had to leave and go to school [either that or take an F] so val and i got in her car and drove off. Interesting thing happened..as we were turning the corner of the El Rey val says "hey look a bus.." and right in front of us is a large powder blue bus :] There was "we love you tori" and stuff written all over the back. Tori's bus drove by the El Rey to..i suppose see the ppl in line. I doubt tori was awake. So we kinda followed the bus for about 10 minutes until we got to our freeway onramp. It was kinda neat. So la la i was only in class about an hour (the class is three and a half hours long..oops] and im sure its made my grade drop a WHOLE lot, but i needed to get back. At least i was able to take a shower, and it refreshed me a bit. So we kinda hurry back to the El Rey and notice there are now two seperate lines. For last names. Pretty much all of the people i knew were on the other line, but it was alright. Val and nicky and his cousin sat with us in line and we all just chatted and stuff like that. About 3 o'clock Steven and Joel come out and announce that the show has been moved to the Wilshire theater. We all kinda look at each other like "wuh.." and hell semi breaks loose. People start running down the street. Dude, we had been there overnight and these
people that showed up in the morning were now gonna try for 1st in line? it was panicy. We all start running...unfortunatley i wasnt EXACTLY sure how far it was...it was over a mile. Half way there we had all slown down and i REALLY wanted a cab but my friends kept saying it wasnt far...oy it was. We get there last...everyone had driven [and we should've] but luckily our line was REALLY nice. They let us have our spots back. The other line wasn't so nice..my friends that had been there longer than others werent given their places back..they were told that..well... they werent first to the wilshire..sucked for them. So we get the car park settle..etc. and go over to where the baracades are set up..this was about 4pm..and the waiting for tori began..
Meet N' Greet.
hen Christina hands tori her pass and she signs it. She looks at christ and christina asks her why she hasn't played Pandora so far..tori gets this "ohhhhhh" look on her face. She kinda laughs and tells her that she learned it yet. But by the time they do the whole tour songs like Hotel and Raspberry Swirl will come around :]. So then i hand her my UTP vinyl (you can see her passing it to me in nickys really good picture)..i had a hard time getting her attention though :\. I ask her to sign it on the lyric side and she does it quickly..then christina goes "oh tori" and she looks at her and asks her name..and shes like "um..christina" and tori was like "didn't i already get you?" and christ kinda points to me and i forgot what i was gonna say. So i just said.."i was wondering, if the song comes around tonight, can you play Cloud on my Tongue?" and she did what she ALWAYS does. She looks up and goes "oh!" completley surprised and
she grabs her pen and says "well i'll see if she shows up tonight" and she writes a C on her hand. There was only one other letter on her hand..i couldn't tell what it was. Then nickys cousin joy gets to her and THEY totally bond and they're all weepy which in turn makes ME cry AGAIN. Oh yes, she also saw nicky and told him that she "love[s] the blue" in his hair. hehe. And then its pretty much over. People behind us are passing up stuff to be signed the whole time. When shes gone we like JET cos we're afraid they're letting ppl in. As we run christ and i are like "i REALLY hate to say this but that was SO spiritual" and..it was. :\ I run and catch up with joy who is like running and sobbing and hug her and stuff..and Valerie is totally composed. Tori got more weepy than she did. It was just a wonderful meet and greet. it all went right. So we all dump our stuff int he car and get back in line...
Being this close was just amazing. You could see her EYES. You could tell where they were looking. We could see all her slobber. Dude she drools a lot. It's just flying everywhere. She does precious things and its album like and really good. Its just..ah. The whole time shes either looking at like all of US (the first 6 or 7 ppl around) or the baclony (eric neil gaimain and maynard from tool were there.) and everytime she locks eyes with you its just..incredible. I can't explain it. Yay liquid diamonds was next. I just love that song. Then Cornflake Girl...this was really fun. I got to dance around..and she was playing with Caton so well. I looked at him and he'd be doing this little elvis dance and look at tori and was singing..i caught him singing "never was a cornflake girl.." and it was so cute out of his mouth. I actually caught Catons eye about 3 times during the show and id just give him a big grin and he'd give me the cutest teddy bear smile right back. I did that to joel too! I saw him off to the side..and i didnt even think he was looking over here..and i just BEAMED at him and he kinda cracked up and gave me a cute smile. tee. :] She talked to us a bit and told us the story of us moving venues. It had a really cute thing about her eavesdropping and she was like "i was eating my soup and pretending to read.." and she did this cute open mouth YEAH RIGHT look. Very cute.