European Plugged '98 Tour
Bonn, Germany
June 13, 1998

Updated July 18, 1998

Check Out The Reviews And Set Lists Page

Tori performed in Bonn, Germany on June 13, 1998 at the Museumsplatz during the European leg of her Plugged '98 tour.



Set List

Matt Page called me all the way from Germany to give me this set list! I was not at home, but he left a message on my answering machine. Not only that, but Steve Caton was with him, and HE also left a message on my answering machine!

Black-Dove (January)
iieee
Spark
Precious Things
Cornflake Girl
Playboy Mommy
Cruel
Silent All These Years
Icicle
Pretty Good Year
Liquid Diamonds
Raspberry Swirl
The Waitress

1st Encore:

Tear In Your Hand
Crucify

2nd Encore:

Sugar


Reviews

From Omri Walzer

July 18, 1998 - I wrote this review for our school newspaper, the Wave. The review was originally about fifteen times longer and contained an actual review of the show as well as the little sTori, but since I was writing for a mainstreamish Top-Fourty type high-school audience, most of it was cut by the editor before it appeared in the July 2 issue. I thought it might be nice for you to add it to the June 13 page.

From the Bonn International School "Wave", July 2, 1998

We had bought tickets four months in advance; that's how determined we were. From the moment that we heard the amazing Tori Amos was coming to Bonn, we were fans with a mission: we were determined to get as close to Tori as we could, no matter what the cost.

Excitedly, we sat down to wait at midday on Saturday, June 13. At 4:30, a nervous titter began to race through the crowd and we anxiously ran to the entrance of the tent to watch a silver BMW pull up, and out stepped....Tori Amos.

Resplendent in jeans overalls, the tiny, red-haired piano progidy calmly walked over to the barricade seperating her form us, and prepared to sign autographs for her adoring fans...when she discovered that she had nothing to write with.

"Does anyone have a pen?" she asked.

I couldn't believe it. Here I was, standing with a big black marker in my hand, and Tori Amos was asking for a pen. I anxiously thrust it at her with a cry of "Tori!", and she smiled gratefully, murmered, "Thanks, hon," and started autographing.

I just about melted.

"Tori," I asked, "do you think you could play 'Sugar' tonight?"

"Sugar? I'll see what I can do," she replied, and before she could move on I blurted, "Do you have a minute for a picture?"

"Sure," she said, and Noa, Ruth, and I crowded around the tiny Tori for a group photo. As Tori moved on down the row my heart sank when I heard another fan ask for a song called "Flying Dutchman". Then I felt a burst of joy when Tori told him, "Dutchman? I think I'll play 'Sugar' tonight."

I couldn't believe my ears.


From Eric (with a 'c') Thelen

June 21, 1998 - The soundcheck in Bonn was audible:

Spark (complete once and then several parts again)
Iieee
Playboy Mommy
Tear In Your Hand
Putting The Damage On
Raspberry Swirl
Little Amsterdam (only a few bars, practice)
Caught A Lite Sneeze (only a few bars, practice)


From Christine Lubarsky and Eryn Walanka

June 19, 1998 - Wow I just came home from my one week stay in Germany. I couldn't believe our luck when the friend we were staying with told us that Tori would be playing there the same week we planned on visiting her. Eva(the girl we were staying with) and her friends Sara and Inga took me and my best friend Eryn to the concert. Anyway when we got to the concert I couldn't believe it. The atmosphere was so much different than the previous concerts I've been to. It was outdoors and divided into a seating section and standing section. There was maybe about 1,000 seated in the seating section. I was also fortunate enough to catch her small venue tour in Chicago and there was a similar intamate feeling to this venue. There didn't seem to be a bad seat anywhere in the seating section. It was cool to be able to share the experience with some of the natives that had never seen her before. A guy from Belgium sat next to us and was seeing her for the first time. I think he phrased it well when he said. " She just so amazing. my eyes hurt because I can't take my eyes off of her." There was such a strong energy coming from Tori. My favorite was when she played Precious Things I loved the way she played it in Chicago and was greatful to hear it again.

When Tori came back for her encore I and my friend Eryn ran up to the front. The audience was very polite and allowed me to squeeze my way to the front and even moved over for me and helped me to get up there. I was moved to tears when she played Crucify and she would look right at me when she sang. When she fininshed she got off her bench she saw that I was crying and headed to me and reached down to grab my hand. I was so touched. Afterwards we went to the tour bus. I couldn't believe how patient Tori was. I asked her to get a picture but couldn't get my camera open but a fellow toriphilie helped out and took one for me and my friend Eryn so she could send it to us. Tori signed autographs and talked to us a bit she even came back to take a picture when I finally got the camera working weven though I could tell she was tierd and wanted to get going!!!!!

Overall the concert was amazing we met many new people and I lived my dream of meeting Tori. It was the first concert for three of the people we came with and everyone was dumbfounded by her performance and agreed that it was the best concert they had ever attended. I was deeply impressed and greatful that we had the opportunity to experience Tori in this wonderful and friendly town. The people were amazing and so was Tori!!!


From Rolf Peukert (Posted to rec.music.tori-amos newsgroup)

June 17, 1998 - The concert took place at the Museumsplatz, which is really just the place between two museum buildings, underneath a tent-like roof construction, so it was almost open air.

I'd have guessed there were 4000 people in the audience, but someone told me the maximum capacity of the venue would be 7800 people, and it was (almost?) sold out. With the stage about 1.5 m high and the first row about 1.5 m away from it, front row tickets turned out to be a bad idea. I was in 6th row and very happy about that. The concert was great, so fascinating I forgot to take out my pen and note the set list. Here's what I remember (definitely not in play order, any corrections welcome):

Black-Dove
iieeeee
Spark
Cruel
Raspberry Swirl
Playboy Mommy
Silent All These Years
Icicle
Precious Things
Sugar
The Waitress
Crucify
Tear In Your Hand
Cornflake Girl
Pretty Good Year

During the main set she did two songs alone on piano, one of them was SATY, the other one could have been Icicle but i'm not sure. She did two encores. No songs from BFP and no covers. The piano-and-drums intro of Precious Things ROCKS. And Raspberry Swirl live is only slightly different from the album version, but works much better. Merchandise: only one kind of poster, expensive T-shirts, but the tour photo book is really excellent!


From Todd Brownlie

June 15, 1998 - Whoa! Last Saturday was Tori's concert in Bonn, Germany, and let me just say, it was SUPERB! I mean, her new album really rolled out well LIVE. I was so shocked and flowing with adrenaline when I got there. It was open-air, but under a tent, of sorts. The opening act was a band called the Devlins from Ireland... really hip, really good. Then, Tori stepped up to bat. The first song they played was Black Dove (January) which then led into IIEEE.... overall, the concert was amazing, with three encores, consisting of Silent All These Years, Cruel, and finally Waitress. The only thing I didn't like about the concert, was that she didn't play even a SINGLE song from Boy For Pele. I was expecting a little something, but she didn't play anything... damn. I guess it was because of the fact her Harpsicord wasn't with her.

So, in the end, her concert in Bonn, Germany, was a sell-out wonder! ;-)

Todd Brownlie
Union, Missouri
(Currently in Koblenz, Germany)


From Debbie Pappyn, Christophe Fontain for the French Fanclub and Erik Debruyne

June 15, 1998 - This was for me the last concert... So with a little bit of pain in the heart we drove up to Bonn..

The meet and greet was really nice, Tori seemed very relaxed and wasn't in a hurry...

We were with let's say 20 people from all over the place and it was nice to get to know one another.

Somebody requested Sugar and Tori asked if it was the only concert he was attending (it was) so she agreed to play it! And she did of course. The Museumplatz was an open-air concerthall and very nice, especially since the weather was perfect...

Since the concert hall was outside we could hear (and see a bit) the sound-check... this was kind of a free extra concert :))

Thanks to Erik from Aachen we got very very cool first row seats right in front of Tori... let's say it couldn't be more perfect (exept for the damn fotographers who kept standing in the way for like 2 songs) I don't quite know the order of the songs she played but for me it was the first time I heard Crucify and Sugar on this tour.

There was a powerbreakdown in the end of the show, she made some funny remarks and talk a bit till it worked again...

Sugar was one of the highlights of the show (last song)... the glitter ball was spinning and some people ran to the front...

It was so emotional and I noticed a lot of people who were deeply moved by the song...

I guess the atmosphere was okay, not that great but I didn't see a lot of the crowed being in front...

After the gig there were a lot of people waiting for Tori, so she signed some stuff, took some pictures and was gone...

The security wasn't very friendly at all, don't they know that Toriphiles aren't that violent??!! :))

Anyway, after this we talked a bit with John and Matt (the band) and then we went out and had a drink with Steve Caton with a bunch of German and American toriphiles which was very nice of course... We left early since we still had to drive to Belgium but I guess you'll hear more about it from the others... :))

So this was it for me, no more Tori for now, maybe maybe i'll try to go to the US but we'll see what the future brings.. hope it wil be Tori of course...


From Christoph Viethen

June 15, 1998 - Tori's concert was amazing. _Great_ audience. After Tori left the stage for the first time, all stood up from their seats and many went to the front, which means it was so extremely crowded that the security guys couldn't prevent people from making photos anymore. I hope you'll get some cool photos from Tori's - beautiful - encores, I unfortunately didn't make any myself. (I'm a fool. :)) And the soundcheck before the concert was nearly like a little concert of its own, and because the whole event was - kind of - open-air, one could hear it all down the street.


From Omri Walzer

June 15, 1998 - I saw a copy of the planned setlist, and it was wildly different. For one thing, the order was totally changed around. Secret time should have been Mother and Sugar, but instead she played SATY and Icicle. The 1st encore was supposed to be She's Your Cocaine and Crucify, and the 2nd one was supposed to be Flying Dutchman. Oh well.

Well, I must say that tonight is one of the best nights of my life.

We (Myself, Noa, and Ruth, both fellow Toriphiles) arrived at the Museumsplatz at about 2:00 in the afternoon. After walking around awhile, we sat down to wait at the back entrance, where we met Matt the Fanatic and his Cohorts (hi Matt). We waited until about 4:30, at which time Tori pulled up in a grey BMW.

She got out and I was next to her; she didn't have anything to write with, so she asked if anyone had a pen, at which point I gave her mine- she say "Thanks, hon," and started to sign autographs. I got my BfP liner notes signed, and asked her to play Sugar. She asked me if it was my last show, and I said yeah, on this tour, to which she replied, "I'll see what I can do". The three of us then got our picture taken with Tori. After that she went inside, but before that, I heard someone ask for Dutchman, and she said, "No, I'll play Sugar." Of course this made me quite happy.

After Tori went in, we went around to the front, and saw her go onstage, but then we were pushed away by the guards and a fence was set up. During the soundcheck she played Spark about five times, also all of Tear in Your Hand, Putting the Damage On, Raspberry Swirl, and part of iieee. We got to see her through a crack in the fence, so that was nice.

A few hours later it was time to go in, so we lined up and in the line we met some American EFW. After we got in we went to the merchandise stand, got our loot, and went to our seats (4th row, near the middle). We waited until the Devlins started, they were nice but they sound sort of like about 100 other bands, and also the content wasn't too deep, I felt personally. Then the roadies started to swarm over the stage.

About a half hour after that, the band came on stage, and Tori followed them to thunderous applause. She started with Black Dove, then did a nice strong iieee and Spark, and just went insane during Precious Things. It was really wild. Before she started Cornflake Girl, she spontaniously improvised a nice quiet thing on the piano that revolved around the lyrics "you bet your life it is". It was really cool. Then Caton sort of looked at her, and they launched into CfG. Playboy Mommy was sort of like a resting song after all the energy of the first songs. Cruel was pretty calm, too. Then she sent off the band and explained to the crowd about secret time, and then started SATY. She was sort of playing with us, because she would sing the lyrics a few seconds after they were supposed to be, and sort of smiled. Icicle was really passionate, and I just swear that during the "lay a book on my chest" line she was STARING RIGHT AT ME.

Then the band came in for a great Pretty Good Year, is sounded just like the album version! Liquid Diamonds was really groovy, sort of a slow deep type groove, really great. Something got screwed up at the beginning of Raspberry Swirl, and first the loops didn't start right and then the sound didn't work right, but that didn't stop the song from being just an explosion of energy, I almost couldn't breathe the whole time, it was definitely a highlight.

After RS they left, and the crowd started screaming and chanting, so they came back out, and at this point something was really screwed with the sound, because they came back out and the mic on Tori's vocal, Tori's piano, and Caton's guitar wasn't working, so we couldn't hear anything. Then Tori's vocal mic got fixed, and started talking to us, and she got up and danced, and said "OK, I'll sing them a song while you get this fixed", but in the end it was fixed before she could. Then she said "Sorry for the limp dick, you guys," before going into a great Tear in Your Hand. It was really funny.

Crucify was great, but the most amazing thing was SUGAR. I mean, I sat there and just knew she was singing it BECAUSE I ASKED HER TO. It was the most incredible thing. I was practically in shock the whole song, and in the middle she made up some lyrics like "Falling like a rolling stone, they'll get to you and fucking rip you open." It was really really really beautiful. I couldn't believe it.

After the show we ran to the back and waited for some half an hour, and then she came out and started autographing, but she never got to us : < Needless to say we were disappointed. She drove off before I could thank her, which really made me sad, because I really wanted her to know how much it meant to me that she'd played Sugar for me...

That's it! An amazing night...I only regret that it's my last show on this tour.....


From Andreas Weinmann

June 15, 1998 - just arrived today from my first ever Tori Amos Concert and it was amazing. The show at the Museumsplatz, Bonn, Germany was completely sold out and I was among the lucky folks who managed to get tickets for a seat. They in fact sold far more tickets than there were seats available.

After the Devtones played their set Tori took the stage at about 20:45h and played a 13 song set with 3 encores (surprise, surprise). The show lasted about 1:37h .

As they wanted to play the first encore the band suddenly stood on the stage with no power to there instruments whatsoever. So after a short moment Tori proposed that she wanted to sing another song until they manage to plug in the band again. But unfortunately the power came back just after she stated this and the show continued as planned.

All in all a very great, nearly unbelievable experience. Can't wait to see her again.


From Alex Badke

June 15, 1998 - Review Bonn, Museumsplatz - June 13 1998 - by Alex Badke

Here's my review of the semi-open air in Bonn...

Judging from the recent weathers, I was afraid this Tori show would be marked by pouring rain. After all, this was to be an Open Air event. Luckily, the sky started to smile when she saw Tori! And so did I! The venue was actually quite small, not what you expect from an Open Air. The stage and the seated audience area were covered by a major tent, so it wasn't really Open...which made the light show much more enjoyable! I was sitting 4th row, looking right into Tori's face. Before the show started, I had hoped for two things: I wanted her to play Space Dog, and I wanted her to talk...a lot...neither of which happened during the show, but nonetheless it was almost perfect. I don't really have to say anything about Tori's performance, you know how good she is, and you know about the faces she pulls, the eyes rolling, the standing-up, the waving of hands and the occasional arm that points to the sky for two seconds and falls back down to be hidden behind B–se in a mo. I love her usual unplugged style, but this plugged thing really kicks ass! It's only too sad that the audience was seated. There are moments - like in Raspberry Swirl - when I could really imagine an audience slam-dance to Tori's sounds, or just float away in trance. At times I felt the urge to run to the edge of the stage and simply smile at her...like you do... I don't know why music so moving as hers needs to be listened to by an artificially sedated audience! Maybe it's because parts of it were past 45?

Anyway, my favourite song - apart from the end and the classics like Silent - must have been Cruel, with its throbbing bass and Tori's elflike vocals. The only times Tori spoke was when she introduced her band after Iieee, before Silent All These Years when she told us that this was the time when she played songs that people had asked her to play. And finally when shortly before the first encore the band was cut from the power supply and Tori expressed her liking for Thomas Edison. She was about to play us something on her own when the power came back on. On one occasion between waving good-bye and second encore Tori was given a huge margarita by a fan...or was it a sunflower? I can't remember...shame on me! Then came the end with a song I really didn't know before. That's maybe because I don't know her entire catalogue or it's something very rare...you prolly know what it was...something about Sugar. Whatever it was, it was breathtaking! Tori really is exceptional!

By the way, The Devlins who supported Tori again today are GREAT! I'm definitely going to buy their album "Waiting", and so should you!

Set

Black Dove
Iieee
Spark
Precious Things
Cornflake Girl
Playboy Mommy
Cruel
Silent All These Years ac.
Icicle Icicle ac.
Pretty Good Year ac.
Liquid Diamond
Raspberry Swirl
Waitress
1st encore:
- power cut -
Tori thinking about singing us
a song without the help of Thomas Edison...but then
Tear In Your Hand
Crucify
2nd encore:
???? (Sugar...Landslide?...I have no idea) ac. [Note from Mikewhy: It was "SUGAR"]

(ac. = piano only)


From Big Mike

June 15, 1998 - after a 4 hour drive home , a quick first review of the concert in Bonn. It was in open air, a very nice place, before the show a lot of us we're at the soundcheck (outside) you could hear it perfect.

The soundcheck was really long almost an hour !!

About the concert i don't have the exact setlist, but tori played , icicle and silent all these years AND sugar solo.

other songs were :

blackdove
pretty good year
playboy mommy
tear in your hand
raspberry swirl
cornflake girl
liquid diamonds

it was a great concert, unfortnuately something went wrong at the end, (something with the sound ??) so after that the show had a quick ending. On the setlist WAS AGAIN "flying dutchman" and again she didn't play it. the other time was in THE HAGUE.

ps for John. W (i'm sure he read this) holland belgium 0-0

Big Mike (and little carola is already a sleep)


From Blackburn

June 15, 1998 - If you already got the list from someone else, you should be aware that during the concert Tori decided to play other songs or changed the order.

Instead of 'Mother', she then played Icicle

Sugar (This was originally supposed to be played in the middle of the concert, but it was a very good choice to do it as the last encore. What a great finish!)



Go Back To The Reviews And Set Lists Page


Please give me feedback, comments, or suggestions about my site. Email me (Michael Whitehead) at mikewhy@iglou.com