Tori Amos Wants Your Attention, Or Else She'll Kick You The Fuck Out
Tori's that rare performer that's been known to whip out a gun just to capture your imagination. But if you're sitting up close and she sees you disengaged from the show? Fuck the gun, she'll just kick your ass out. Via Dlisted:
[Wednesday] night [12/12] at her San Diego show, Tori Amos showed two girls that she doesn't mess around. Two girls were seated in the front row and I guess they kept coming and going as they pleased. While playing "Code Red", Tori stopped halfway through and told the girls "Get the fuck out of my show! It's a privilege to sit in the front row and I reserve those seats for people who appreciate music, get the fuck out!" A dude then came out and escorted the chicks from the front row.Check it at around 2:25.
Don't act like you're surprised. Everybody knows Tori's got a 12 inch cock.
UPDATE: And now a report that fleshes out Tori's side of things a bit...
Via mollyknight.com:
Next up was Code Red. Now, there were two girls who were front row center. They'd been getting up to get drinks every few songs, texting people, putting their cameras on the stage and taking pictures of Tori, as well as snapping pics of each other and just generally talking really loudly. I spoke to one of them during the Professional Widow interlude, and she mentioned her friend was a fan and she was along for the ride. The girls seemed nice but also probably should not have been front row center if they were going to eff off like that. I was worried something bad was going to happen after one of them tried to yell over to me during Virginia. Maybe she was trying to ask what song it was or something, I'm not sure. Tori noticed this girl was being loud and she looked like she was about to say something, but bit her tongue. The girls kept talking, and one went up to get a drink. Then she came back before the start of Code Red, and I could tell Tori was distracted and pissed. They kept on snapping pictures of each other and yapping loudly, so finally Tori stopped Code Red and told one of the girls to get the fuck out of her show. Then she got up and basically charged the front row and pointed to her. It was surreal and frightening. Then she went back to the mic and said something along the lines of, "Sitting in the front row is a privilege. Those are my seats and I give them to people who like music." Smitty ran down and lead one of the girls out. Then Tori looked at the other girl and said (not into the mic but just right to her face): Are you with her? You can get the fuck out,too." It was definitely the angriest I have ever seen her at a show. Ever. She started Code Red over again and snarled her way through it. Then she came back and growled through Precious Things, Space Dog, and Bliss. As my Nana would say, she was madder than a wet hen!Thanks for the link to that, Iskra. Girls probably had it coming. Imagine what would have happened if they'd requested "Summer of '69."
Posted at 2:16 PM in Video
Tags: Tori Amos
what a douche. I have never like Tori Amos as she has always come off a pretentious ass, but kicking a fan out of your show is a little much. I agree that the front row is a privledge, but since when do artist have any right to pick who their fans are.
Perhaps the girls had bladder issues or some medical reason for leaving.
I really hate Tori Amos (execpt for her cover of losing my religion)
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what, does she think she is ryan adams?
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For a better account with some actual facts go here:
http://www.mollyknight.com/
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AWESOME! Now if only all other performers would do the same...
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Tori is so full of crap. I remember reading an interview with her waaaaay back in the day -- and she was offended when the interviewer insinuated her style was heavily influenced by Kate Bush. "I'd never even heard of this Kate Bush!" I mean, seriously. What a fake. Her music sucks.
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When Tori says those are her seats, she really means it. She usually keeps the first two rows of seats at a venue and then upgrades people at the (free) meet and greets she usually does before shows.
So either she had given those girls better seats and then they acted unappreciative by constantly leaving/talking/etc. or they had taken someone else's seats and Tori knew they weren't who she had given the seats to earlier in the day.
Either way, if you're going to be front row, you had better be into the show. Otherwise it's a downer for both the performer and everyone else a few rows back who wishes they could be where you are.
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ef outta here. come and go as you please, you paid your money.
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Maybe the faeries told her to do it?
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I fucking love that woman.
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So fucking pretentious and self-important. Of course all her fans go crazy when she condescends to them. That's what makes her "deep," I guess.
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I could care less about her music, but I'm all for morons getting tossed out of shows!
I'm sick of having great shows sullied by presence idiots who can't shut their fucking mouth for an hour or so.
Why would *anyone* want to subscribe to the idea just because you "paid your money" you are given free run to distract the artists performing & generally ruin the concert experience for the people around you?
Did you hear the crowd cheering when they got turfed?
Exactly.
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To all the Tori haters: was it OK when Fugazi stopped playing when their crowd started to mosh? Or should Fugazi have allowed the moshers to push/run around because they "paid to get in"?
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you know a musician has gotten out of touch with reality when she decides that it's a "privilege" for someone to see HER, rather than a privilege for her that people come to her shows! I hate those kind of annoying assholes who sit in the front row and ignore the show as much as the next guy, but come on. They paid fifty bucks at least to see someone "established" like you. Maybe you're actually making money so you've forgotten how much of a commitment that is for most of us . . .
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Good for Tori. I'm sick of dealing with other peoples' bullshit at show. There are so many assholes out there who treat a concert like a night out at the bar. Newsflash! They're not. You're there to have an experience, not to get fucked up and be disruptive to those around you who are into it.
I once watched Jeff Tweedy humiliate this total MORON who would NOT stop talking during one of Tweedy's solo acoustic shows--like, literally EVERY SONG was drowned out by this asshole in love with the sound of his own voice. Finally, Jeff just tore into him (in a very respectful fashion) explaining that it wasn't a rock show that night; that he could hear every word the guy said while he was performing, etc, and that if the guy wanted to go have a fun night out, he was willing to give him his money back but that he really needed him to shut up in order to finish his set. The crowd went WILD, and the guy turned beet-red, so most people DO like it when concertgoers are respectful and attentive.
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one of the best responses I've heard from an artist to a yappy concertgoer was a few years back at a Rilo Kiley show when they were still playing little bars - some girls were chatting away and between verses, Blake Sennett said "this isn't like TV you know, I can hear you". They shut up.
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@Tyler: No, it wasn't okay. Surprise, Fugazi is a little on the preachy, pretentious side.
@frank: see, I think that (the Rilo Kiley example) is a good way to deal with things like that. The artist pointing out that people are being inconsiderate, that makes sense. Kicking people out and claiming that the front row is a privilege is just a power trip.
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Everyone who's critiquing Tori needs to get their heads out of their asses. When you go to a concert, you don't do as you please and act like an inconsiderate ass, especially when you're in the front row of an intimate concert. Tori did the right thing and I'm sure the people around these brats were quite thankful. (And before anyone makes any accusations, I'm not a Tori Amos fan.)
As someone who finds himself next to at least one moron per concert, I wish more artists would tell their fans to shut up and act with some consideration. Good job, Ms. Amos.
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I love it! Every bit of it!
Tori's amazingly talented -you can't deny that. Seeing her is a privilege, let alone sitting on the front row.
Those girls were wasting their money before Tori even kicked them out. Talking on your cell phone during a show -what's the point of even buying a ticket if that's what you're going to be doing.
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I totally agree that if u pay money..then its urs..they paid for the seats so they can do what they want with them but how crappy is it when u are dying to see a movie or concert for months and someone ruins the whole thing..mostly no one says a thing and u know u always want to but dont want trouble...its nice to see as a fan of someone they have you back...i mean her show would have went on but the experience was ruined for, im sure, plenty around these girls
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The closest to being a Tori Amos fan I have ever come is Jawbox's cover of Cornflake Girl but I've had innumerable shows ruined by obnoxious little shits who have yapped there way through bands I paid to see so I am 100% behind her decision to boot them.
Even if those girls bought the tickets it is fucking inconsiderate and disrespectful to the artist AND other concert goers to behave like that. They probably blab and text through movies at their local cineplex too.
Also anyone else here see the potential for a Mark Kozelek/Tori Amos tour? Between the two of them they'd call out and kick out every last rude and annoying audience member ever.
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pretentiousness and her being 'out of touch' aside, i wish more performers would follow suit. i'm sick of going to shows and having to:
a.)get out of the way for people who can't sit the fuck still and need to get in and out of their fucking seats every 3 seconds. these are the same dumb shits who don't buy tickets early enough to considerately grab an aisle seat since they nevery had any intention of staying in the seat they paid for anyway.
b.) enjoy a concert over a douche who talks so loudly i hear as much of his/her insipid conversation as i do the concert i PAID for
c.) deal with sometimes the same dipshits who get on cell phones 'yeah...i'm at a show. tickets were hard to get. it was sold out...'
d.) endure teenie boppers (who do exactly what the two bimbo twins in the story did) whose reason for being there escapes me entirely. (eeeeee!!! smileeee!! let's take more pictures of each other!! we're at a concert!!! omg!! omg!!!)
d.) tolerate asshats who are such fucking posers they're just there for the scene.
get the fuck out the shows and into a bar or club poser children. take the good money you paid for a ticket and use it to pay the cover for whatever velvet roped loser lounge is hot on the scene that second. free up the seat you're hogging for someone who's actually going to take in the performance. then, go crawl in a gutter somewhere and die.
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Security should have handled that shit before she had to.
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look, the "privelege" line comes from the fact that the first two rows are reserved BY TORI so she can upgrade people who seem to be big fans. so, those were not "their seats". they did not pay for THOSE seats. so the artist can do whatever he/she wants.
also, am I the only one who senses a little misogyny in the comments here? people certainly don't react in this way when male artists do similar things.
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Imagine if they threw a twinkie at her. She would've gone all Akon-style on their asses (definitely a lot more painful than just plain getting kicked out).
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Tori is a cunt
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It's worth pointing out that Tori has been reserving the front row for her diehard fans, and is having her people distribute free tickets to them on the day of the show. So to see that such disrespectful girls got two of those seats was, I'm sure, really upsetting. It's not all about her ego -- it's that her attempt to give a gift to her real fans had been thwarted.
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Bah, should've handled it Anton Newcombe style. Offer the asshole their money back if they leave. Wait for a response and then, if the answer is a negative, proceed to karate kick them in the head. Works everytime.
-G.
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okay, so maybe stopping in the middle of a song and kicking two girls out was a bit extreme, but seriously, theres so many nanoying people at concerts/shows sometimes.
I went to see Shakira last year and the guys sitting next to me did nothing but TAKE FUCKING PICTURES. thats it. They would record everything, with their bigass camera blocking my way...and they look soooo bored. I got my tixs like months before and they were jsut sitting there, recording, completely bored.
If youre at a concert, enjoy it and stop being such a moron.
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what a bitch.
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I've seen Tori many times and I've heard her yell at fans once. That must mean she does it fairly frequently. The thing is that a Tori show is amazingly quiet. It's not a bar, it's not a big rock band, it's often just a woman and her piano. Plus she often leaves big gaps in her songs...there's huge pauses. Of course telling them to fucking leave or whatever is going to far, but there are way too many insensitive, rude jackasses going to shows these days. They can maybe get away with it at a club, but not in a theater. I'm glad she said something, even if it was too harsh.
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That was awesome! I don't care what the f*ck anyone says, she can do whatever the f*ck she wants. It's her show, I am sure they could get a refund.
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I hate people coming to gigs they have no interest in and spoiling it for others. I can just picture their 'I'm on the guestlist', self-important faces falling when they got chucked out. Why don't they go to see some crap like easy listening, mainstream crap like Metallica, Fall Out Boy or Sterophonics instead? Good riddance to scum. Well done, Tori!
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Tori Amos > everyone, including Radiohead and The Beatles
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brilliant
Don't know how many shows I've attended where people should have been chucked. It's one hing to talk and be disinterested in the back but front row is distracting to the artist. At least she didn't just stop the show and walk off he stage for the night I've seen an artist do that after playing one song because a cell phone went off and the person took the call.
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Hey, Rachel, I'll deny that Tori Amos is "amazingly talented." Chan Marshall puts her to shame.
And lulz to the lame-o who a) went to a Shakira show and b) complained about people constantly taking pictures of her. What the fuck else are you going to do there? Listen? GTFO.
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I'm waiting for the year-end ranking of on-stage hissyfits as Stereogum readers become indignant over the fact that Tori's hissyfit ranked below the Acrtic Monkeys' and yet above LCD Soundsystem's. There would be nothing in the least pretentious or self-important about that!
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Um... There's three parties involved here -- not just the performer and the ticket buyer, as the above posters seem to be assuming. There's one that hasn't been addressed yet: The venue owners.
Admittedly Amos's comments about the front row being a privilege were a bit odd, but the fact remains that her anger should be (unless proven otherwise) *assumed* to be backed up by the wishes of the venue's owners. It's plain wrong to say that Amos can demand whatever she wants at a gig. It's also wrong to say the same thing about the ticket buyer. Neither of them own the seats that they're sitting in. Neither of them have carte blanche. ("they paid for the seats so they can do what they want with them"? --Someone's been done learnified REAL good, I reckon! XD)
The fact is that if you go onto *anyone's* private property and cop the attitude that you can do whatever you want, you're just asking for a rude awakening on your delusions.
It's obviously fun for the commenters above to profanely criticise either Amos or the two social retards, but that's not the whole story. All of them are only guests in someone else's house -- it's not *their* decision what happens at a gig. I support what Amos did (social retardation is now the norm in all large-scale gatherings, sigh), but she could also have set up some ground rules beforehand with the venue management. Surely the place had some kind of security policy for so-tards? If not, why not? If so, why didn't they intervene before she had to? And: why didn't any of her loyal fans (such as that Molly Knight person) scoot off to security to get them booted? One big reason (maybe the primary reason) why so-tards dominate gatherings these days is because people put up with them.
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i like shows. people and performers need eachother. dickheads make for good fun. i get evil looks when i am possessed by booze and boogie at shows. sorry buddy. i like the music and am very happy. these comments are tooo serious. i hate tori like ass cramps but lets just try and get along. fugazzi is gooood for 8 dollar tickets. i once yelled at john k samson at a WEAKERTHANS show and asked him to play "ska sucks". he kicked my ass with irrrevvvvereeennnce..
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^^^
hahahaha.... so-tards.
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finally, Tori kan read, AND get some KRED!! i actually finally respect her again for the first time in 10 yrs...and what great free advertising:D u go grrrrl...i'd'a done the same thing, sept i wouldnt've been so gentiel about it...pretty sure the world 'cunt' woulda been flying around haha.
D$
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In response to that comment about Blake Sennett, Rilo Kiley came to New Orleans a couple of years ago with Tilly and the Wall, and during their set, this huge, drunk ass made his way to the front row. He kept dancing around, bumping into people, and singing along, but like right in people's faces. And basically Sennett did the Amos: He stopped during a song, and told the guy to get the fuck out, and security came and got him.
Moral of the story: Do not FUCK with Joey the Rat.
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Collen F: Have you never heard Kate Bush? If you did, you probably wouldn't think Tori was better than the Beatles OR Radiohead and I don't think either of those bands were astonishing musically, anyway (though def. very important gentrifying factors in pop culture). Still, I see plenty more musical value in them than Tori Amos, and even more in Kate Bush than the lot of them.
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I respect Kate Bush, but Tori Amos is more important to music. She has proved it with her talent, her music catalog, and how she handled this situation.
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"And lulz to the lame-o who a) went to a Shakira show and b) complained about people constantly taking pictures of her. What the fuck else are you going to do there? Listen? GTFO."
Ooh, good one... Lemme guess, you've heard one Shakira song in English on pop radio and decided she sucks from there. She's had a long and well-respected career in the Latin world.
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"Ooh, good one... Lemme guess, you've heard one Shakira song in English on pop radio and decided she sucks from there. She's had a long and well-respected career in the Latin world."
Just like Ricky Martin, right?
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This woman is just an insufferable diva. STFU to the audience? How 'bout you stfu with your self-important comments and just sing the damn song? Glad her music sucks so badly that I don't have to even pretend to like it.
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DIVA!!!
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Nothing pisses me off more than people who are noisy and loud at shows. Honestly, if you're not there to listen or at least try to pay attention, the musician playing has every right to tell you to leave.
Those two girls where being rude and inconsiderate, Tori had every right to do what she did and I wish other musicians would do the same. I think that enough of their audience will appreciate the truth of their actions.
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kidacomputerok:
um, you really cant compare chan marshall and tori amos. yeah, cat power's brilliant and i really love her, but she couldnt perform her way outta a paper bag. (yes, ive seen both of them many times.) she was so high she couldnt play even her minimal piano or guitar songs, it was sad to see b/c she is so good. tori however, plays 2 pianos at once, flawlessly. and was a bit of a child prodigy. so you may not like her, but she definitely is talented.
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Being able to play two pianos at once doesn't make someone talented. It's what they play on those two pianos that makes them talented. And Tori Amos is a bad songwriter. Chan Marhsall is a very good songwriter. Therefore, Chan>>>Tori.
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Tori Amos a bad songwriter. Please. Take a few music and poetry classes and appreciate the utter talent that woman possesses. Sure, she can be a bitch, she can be pretentious, but one thing she is not is untalented.
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Tori Amos better than Kate Bush?
SERIOUSLY?
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Can you imagine all the scary, wiccan, lesbian, chicks that were probably trying to kill them as they left that place?
Thats like when I saw Ben Folds open for her, and left after his set, and got weird witch spells cast on me for leaving before Goddess Amos.
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I'm a huge fan of Tori. I've seen her live 15 or so times. A Tori show is an "experience" and not just a concert. But unfortunately, there are often people in the audience who have no business being there, and they end up disrupting both Tori's performance and the audience. I wish T would do that at every show! Those girls deserved to be humiliated and thrown out. And I actually think that should be the case at EVERY concert, by EVERY artist. If you aren't there to watch the show, and respect the artist and the people around you, then you shouldn't be allowed to stay!
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this post makes me happy
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"Being able to play two pianos at once doesn't make someone talented."
Hahahahahahhahahaha!!!!!
That is: Yeah, by definition, it kind of does.
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i have been to TONS of shows where the artist on stage yells at a douche in the crowd and/or kicks them out. thats the price you pay for public douch-baggery.
i have seen isaac brock do it twice. i've seen jeff tweedy do it. i have seen band of horses do it. i have seen prince do it. i saw sam beam stop playing and not start again until people shut the fuck up.
i think people just need to quit being so self-righteous (i paid therefore i can do whatever i want) and have a little fucking integrity - you can have fun at a show without being a fucking douche.
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She has every right to kick someone out of the show if they are in the front row and creating a hassle. I think it was great that she did it and performers should do it more for people who are there to see the music.
Go Tori
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tori fucking rules.
she is a gracious and kind and super perceptive person. i know this for a fact.
at every show she comes out to meet the fans after soundcheck... takes the time to speak to each one in line, is glad to be in a picture with you, signs things... and listens intently to everything you'll have to say. asks questions even...
the first 5 rows of her show are seats that she gives away to the fans. her bodyguard distributes them outside of the show, and from what i can tell, not just to anyone. she has hoards of fans that follow her for a week or more, going to every show... the bodyguard recognizes them and gives them front and center seating...
it really is a privelege to get these seats, because her shows are intense and intimate. to be able to see her every nuance and movement, her every facial expression... well, nothing compares to that.
these girls were lucky to get those seats. they must have been at the right place at the right time to even get their hands on them. and they acted like asses.
i was at this show, and even though i wasnt close enough to see what went down, i know that they must have been really obnoxious to get kicked out.
tori is an amazing artist and and amazing person.
shes got teeth and shes not afarid to bare them.
dont fuck with her!
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I am glad Tori Amos did this. I hate it when fans are rude and disruptive at concerts. If they wanted to drink that much, why didn't they get seats at the bar? Tori Amos took charge and good for her.
I support your actions Tori. More power to the artist when fans are self-absorbed and rude to others who are trying to enjoy the show.
Peace,
Ed
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I think this might have been stated before, but some people can't seem to get it through their minds: THOSE GIRLS WERE NOT SITTING IN THEIR OWN SEATS. The rightful owners had gotten up, I believe, and Tori noticed this - as others have stated, she gives the best seats to hardcore fans, so she would be able to recognize the ones on the front row. On top of that, the girls were also being completely rude. It may sound harsh, but she was not being a diva, or anything of the ilk. I think this is a good lesson to people who try to steal other people's seats.
Oh, and stop comparing Tori to Kate Bush. They're both great, but the comparisons are passé and frankly quite lazy. And Tori didn't say that she had never heard of Kate Bush - she said that she didn't know who she was when she first heard the comparison (this was when Tori was 17, I believe - long before she was famous). She has acknowledged Kate as a great songwriter and an influence.
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Tori Anus (see what I did there?) could have handled the situation a lot more eloquently and with more dignity, signaling the security guards in a low key manner. But no, she had to be the hifalutin drama-queen cunt she's always been. I fucking hate her pretentious overrated ass.
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Oh hahaha nice one "bloke"... why not cut and paste the other 15 copycat "Tori suxx" responses while you're at it, you could have saved time and found a fresh blog post to mock.
I could have found a fresher post too, I guess, but I didn't see anyone else making this point exactly:
Those young women who went to [the orchestra] and were yapping away and taking photos of [the soloist] and leaving and returning frequently in the middle of [symphonies] paid their money, even if not for those seats, and deserved to stay instead of being kicked out by [the conductor] in the middle of a [movement].
How dare [the conductor]! So pretentious!
How could [this actor] possibly be so full of it that [the actor] would kick out those paying customers for acting rude and obnoxious in the front row? Those customers had every right to do what they wanted, take phone calls and photos, in the middle of [a play].
Finally, yes, security should be on the ball, but we can't always wait for that to happen.
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