Tom Waits 6-22-08

You can't tell from this horrible picture, but Tom is playing piano here accompanied by the standup bass. The view from the 21st row was much better than it looks in the photo. He discussed strange but dubious trivia between songs during this set, like the eating habits of vultures and the Nazi alphabet soup with little swastikas instead of letters. Most of the show featured the entire 5-piece band including his son Casey on percussion (and maybe another son to add congas on "Hoist that Rag?"), a lead guitarist who touched on Mark Ribot's style but with his own classical/flamenco flair, a very talented guy on sax (two at a time), harmonica, and another woodwind instrument, and a keyboardist who also played accordion. They were very tight and played several songs in distinctly different arrangements from the originals to great effect. Waits himself was a seasoned legend, still growling after all these years. When accompanied by the full band, he stood ringed by instruments and crowned in megaphones on a large circular platform, which was covered in dust so that he raised clouds of smoke when he stomped for emphasis. They covered a decent amount of ground emphasizing the last few records. The acoustic bass and guitar version of "Day After Tomorrow" was intimate and chilling. The slow blues groove version of "Murder in the Red Barn" totally snook up on me and I didn't recognize it until the chorus. All the songs were great and performed with his typicallyamazing showmanship, and I even got to hear "House Where Nobody Lives" so it was a perfect experience for me.

Except the driving around in Houston part. Ugh, what a mess. Google knows jack shit about Houston.

Here is the setlist from the show:

Lucinda
Down in the Hole
Falling Down
November
Dead and Lovely
Lie to Me
Day After Tomorrow
Hoist that Rag
Get Behind the Mule
Cemetary Polka
Trampled Rose
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Lucky Day
Tom Traubert's Blues
House Where Nobody Lives
Innocent when you dream
Make it Rain
Murder in the Red Barn
Come on up to the House
Dirt in the Ground
Eyeball Kid

Encore:
Goin' Out West
All the World is Green


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