Tori Amos is an American singer, pianist and songwriter, who has frequently been compared to Kate Bush, Björk and Joni Mitchell. Tori's fan base began building as soon as her first solo album was released. Her fan base remains one of the most devoted of any artist, although Amos would say they weren't fans but instead, "don't ever call yourself fans; you're ears with feet". Amos is also recognized as one of the best touring artists, even being named by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003 as the fifth best live act. Her amazing live show was coming to town in support of her latest CD offering "Scarlet's Walk", that's where we come into the picture. Well it surely seemed like a sorta fairytale when we heard that this great talent usually signs before some of her concerts!
The night before the concert, I found a very helpful website that stated facts about Tori Meet and Greets. Evidently she holds these meet and greets before every show and this website informed us about everything we needed to know (such a great site that we included a link at the bottom of this page). Our town didn't seem like a place that would hold one of these special meet and greets, so we were pretty suspicious about this supposed "Meet and Greet".
There was also no official information about this on her own website, so we ruled out this websites information as most likely false. The website did say that it was wise to get there as early as possible in order to get a good spot at the Meet and Greet barrier they would be setting up, so we took that under consideration. This outing landed on a school day for us which meant we wouldn't be able to get there as early as we would have liked. Tori supposedly held the M&G between 3-4:30pm and we hoped this would be the case. My class got out at 1pm so I was fine, but Sterling's class didn't let out until 4pm (so things didn't look too hopeful for him).
I arrived at the venue around the same time fellow autograph collector "The Newt" showed up. Both of us turned the corner of the venue and were shocked to see 28 fans waiting around the backstage area. Everything that I had read on that website was indeed true and we couldn't believe it! A fan approached us and gave each of us numbers and I ended up with number 29. Then Newt and I sat down and waited with the rest of the fans. They said she would probably be signing between 3-4pm, which meant we would be waiting for about two hours. Waiting two hours would be totally worth it if we were able to meet Tori Amos!
It said on the website that part of the fun of the meet and greet is that you get to spend the day with other Amos fans and get to know each other. Sure enough, we were soon approached by a DIE-HARD Tori fan. It turned out that almost everybody there were die hard fans that had followed Tori throughout most of her tour. Some of them had even been to 200 concerts of hers, now that's what I call a BIG fan.
One fan even had a diary that contained her set lists and song changes (changes in some of the lyrics of her songs) and he really knew everything about her. I read on the Internet that Tori has one of the most fervent following of fans and boy were they right. Some of the venues security came out and started setting up the meet and greet barrier, so the fans got up and we made a nice long single file line. They said they would let us know when we could start lining inside the barrier, so this gave me some time to study some homework.
Eventually the security guards came back and informed everyone that we could start lining up inside the barrier and I quickly got up and tried to get the best spot I possibly could. My spot (along with Newt) wasn't that great and we were about 5 spots back from the barrier. Now it was up to Tori Amos to come out and sign some autographs.
Soon after Amos's very own bodyguards came out and started to go over the rules of Tori's meet and greets. When he saw so many familiar faces he said, "Since most of you are regulars I won't repeat the rules for the millionth time, but since most of you have done this before I'll really expect your full cooperation." Minutes seemed like hours and hours felt like months and it really wasn't helping that we were squished together like sardines. I was shoulder to shoulder with everyone else and couldn't look at much except the back of a person's head or the sky. I had also brought along my heavy backpack so I was really getting tired and worn down.
Her personal security guard came back out and said she wouldn't be signing right when she arrived but a little bit after and then he began to wait by the sidewalk waiting for her arrival. Soon after two tour buses pulled in and the lead bus drove right into the garage of the venue, but since the venue is so small the butt of the bus was sticking out. We didn't get to the her walk into the venue, but at least the tour bus gave us something to look at instead of the boring wall everybody was staring blankly at.
Tori sure did take her time with whatever she was doing because we didn't get any signal from her bodyguard for about two and half hours. It was about 4:30pm when Sterling finally arrived and I was so relieved because I feared Sterling would miss out on everything. Sterling really didn't know what was going on so he lined up on the outskirts of the barrier, but eventually he moved inwards. About fifty minutes later her bodyguard came back out and told us to stay calm because she was on her way down.
Sure enough, I was able to see over the sea of heads Tori Amos, arm in arm, with another bodyguard. She said a few words and immediately started to sign and talk with members of the big crowd, starting from the left side of the barrier (We were on the right). Newt was freaking out and kept trying to get people in front of us to pass down his items, but they kept telling him to wait until she got closer (he was really starting to piss them off).
She really took her time signing/posing for pictures and really liked talking to her many fans. Despite the massive crowd she was very calm with everybody and that resulted in everyone else remaining calm and polite when trying to get autographs. One of the rules of the meet and greet is that once you get an autograph (when in front of the line) you cannot leave your spot and let someone else take it.
Her security finds that if people exit, it causes too much of a panic and havoc results. This meant that the only way to get her autograph (if you weren't in the first two rows of people) was to pass over your things. Another rule that people broke was video taping the meet and greet and raising people on their shoulders, but security was really quick and proficient in stopping these individuals. Everybody was so calm that sometimes it didn't even seem like there was a celebrity signing autographs at all.
Fearing that I didn't have much time to get her autograph I quickly sprung into action when she got closer to the right side of the barrier. I handed my booklet to a guy that was a few rows in front of me because I saw that he was successful in getting his thing signed. Unfortunately the guy hardly tried to help me and a few seconds later he gave it back saying he couldn't get it for me. How are people in the back supposed to get autographs when the people in the front are too shy to ask for autographs? I noticed the same thing happening all over the place unfortunately.
I then took my chances and gave it to this really sweat girl a little bit in front of me. It looked as though Tori was now in front of my accomplice but the shroud of heads prevented me from seeing anything. I heard a little bit of commotion and then the girl turned to me and said, "I'm so sorry, don't worry I'll trade you out". I had no idea of what was going on and didn't understand what was happening. She soon explained that when she gave Tori the CD booklet that Tori wrote her name on it instead of mine, because Tori thought my CD cover was hers as well. Oh NOOOOO!
I heard Tori's voice over the crowd saying, "That's not your CD? Oh no, okay, just give me your CD cover and I'll sign that for him and then you can trade". This sounded like a good suggestion by Tori, but the girl informed her that she was from Colorado and her CD cover was there as well. During this commotion I realized I still had my 8x10 picture of Tori so I showed the girl and she quickly said, "Tori here's a picture you can sign for the guy who had his CD cover signed to me".
Tori took it and before she signed it, wanted to know exactly whose CD cover was lost and started panning the crowd looking for the owner. She thought it was the guy standing next to the girl and there was quite a bit of confusion, again, for a few seconds until she realized it was mine. "You're the one who lost the CD? (I nodded) Okay what's your name?" I yelled out "Earl" and then she said, "Don't worry Earl I'll make sure your taken care of, just wait here for about twenty minutes and I'll give you one of my own CD covers".
She told her bodyguard who then looked at me and said, "Your name is Earl?" (I nodded again) "Okay that's all I need to know". Tori then said, "Earl, is this your picture? (She hands it over) I'm sorry for the mix up but I'll take care of it, I promise". I didn't know what she meant by this, but I was happy that I had at least gotten my picture signed and even talked to this amazing artist.
Newt, in the meantime, was still getting on everybody's nerves because he was pushing his way forward and it was not going well with the crowd. Finally, Tori came up and posed for a picture and signed for Newt then he darted out before anybody could retaliate against him. During this frantic time Sterling was trying to get an autograph, but unfortunately it was not written in the stars. He tried his best but Tori couldn't be there all day and as a result left, leaving Sterling empty handed. Many fans weren't able to get an autograph so I was one of the lucky ones. Sterling decided to leave, but I of course hung out to see if Tori would keep her promise.
Security then began to yell at everyone to clear the area, but Tori's security told them that I was the only one allowed to stay. After about 15 minutes passed her bodyguard came back bearing a very cool limited edition CD of "Scarlet's Walk". Tori signed the CD cover "To Earl, with love, Tori Amos" and it was such a cool thing that she did this for me.
The limited edition CD is so cool in fact, that she was nominated for a Grammy for the packaging of the limited edition version of the album. It included a bonus DVD as well as collectible items such as charms, stickers, a map, mock Polaroid postcards, and even a little toy frog. Not only did she replace my CD cover but now I had all of these sweet extras, amazing.
I was also lucky because she signed my picture earlier so I made off with two of her autographs, despite the one item per person policy. It's always great when you spend the whole day waiting for this moment and are rewarded for it. Tori Amos is so wonderful to her fans.
