The first show of the tour was

very very very good. So good, in fact, that I can sum up my (slight) disappointment in two questions:

(1) When did Tori decide that the purpose of an encore was not to reward fans, but to subject them to perfunctory songs?
and (2) why does "Almost Rosey" suck so badly live?


The marquee at the fabulous Palace


Isabel used to be my least favorite doll by far, but this performance was electric.


Isabel takes to the stage


She took total command of the stage when she entered, smoking, in her fire engine red get up, and didn't lose that command until the end of "Tombigbee," which beat the pants off of every 2003 version of that song she did combined. For my money, she should have just not sang "Rosey".



Tori's set was just as amazing. "Sugar" "Black-Dove" "Sneeze" and "Mother Revolution" as the first four non-staple band songs.



Secret time speaks for itself.



The last part of the show--from "God" onward--was kind of standard, but still performed very well, so I guess I can't complain.

And oh! Since someone on @forumz asked, the gift bags are totes that say "VIPosse" and contain a beanie with the same logo.

And according to my two lovely lady friends here in the hotel room, my previous account of the VIP debacle was LESS dramatic than it actually was. I didn't know I was capable of making things less dramatic. Meh. But yeah.


Beanies! Long live the VIP gift bag!


Bed time now!

Oh, and Tori did an improv before solo time which said something to the effect of her "not being back for a long time," which sucks, but it means she WILL, in fact, be back at some point.



So yay!