Tom Waits concert last night
Last night will certainly go down as one of the most memorable nights of my life: my first time seeing Tom Waits in concert. Tom Waits has been in my top three or four favorite singers for all of my adult life, waxing and waning in and out of first place along with Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, and Shane MacGowan. He's the only one of my top ten or so whom I'd never seen in concert before (uh, besides Johnny Cash, but I guess I missed out on that one). The guy almost never tours, and I can't believe I was lucky enough to see him in my favorite city in the world. The concert was absolute magic, just about the closest thing I've ever had to a spiritual experience.
I sort of used up most of my superlative words on the Leonard Cohen concert earlier this week, but Tom Waits is simply the most dynamic performer I've ever seen in my life. It was incredible watching his weird undulations and foot-stompin', his insane hootin' and hollerin' all over the place. He stood for most of the concert on a wooden platform which had been dusted with talcum powder or something so that every time he dramatically stomped his foot, a small cloud of dust got kicked up and was illiminated by the spotlights. I was wondering if he'd do the trick where he pulls a handful of glitter out of his pocket and tosses it up over his head so it rains down on him, but instead they had a huge amount of glitter fall from the ceiling onto him during Make it Rain. He also did the singing-into-a-megaphone-into-the-mic bit, and he also pulled out a piece of banter he's been using for like thirty years: a guy in the audience yelled something indiscernible at him, and he apologized to the crowd that it was his brother-in-law and then asked him if he was still working out at the airport. I swear I've heard him do this same bit on bootlegs going back to the mid-seventies, and it was hilarious to hear him bust it out last night on the somewhat snobbish Parisian crowd. When he wasn't making wisecracks or telling ridiculous stories, he was rocking out like an absolute madman. He'd sweated through his gray three-piece suit by halfway through the set, and didn't slow down at all from there. I could not believe the man's energy. His voice is staggeringly powerful and percussive at times and heart-wrenchingly soulful at others, and even though he's gotten progressively more gravelly and Cookie-Monster-ish over the years, I was surprised he was able to hit a few real nice smooth notes in the prettier songs they played.
The band was incredibly tight, and we learned at the end during their individual introductions that the drummer was his son! He also had another younger son come out a few times to play bongos or clarinet. I didn't recognize the names of the other guys (a guitarist, upright bassist, pianist, and sax/clarinet/harmonica guy) but they were all amazing players. They played a crazy long set, and this morning I tried to jot down as many songs as I could think of from the show. I came up with twenty-two, and I'm sure I missed a couple. If anybody's interested, here are the songs I could remember, in no particular order. ( Read more... )
Falling Down might have been the highlight for me for the whole night, but it's hard to pick. The concert was such an emotionally exhausting experience for me, I felt completely bizarre when I got home, sort of physically and emotionally drained. I slept for nine hours and woke up feeling wonderful this morning and wanting nothing more than to play the guitar and sing my heart out, which I've been doing all day now. I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet for having the opportunity to see a real live Tom Waits concert, finally. I could get run over by a bus today and die a pretty happy guy.
I sort of used up most of my superlative words on the Leonard Cohen concert earlier this week, but Tom Waits is simply the most dynamic performer I've ever seen in my life. It was incredible watching his weird undulations and foot-stompin', his insane hootin' and hollerin' all over the place. He stood for most of the concert on a wooden platform which had been dusted with talcum powder or something so that every time he dramatically stomped his foot, a small cloud of dust got kicked up and was illiminated by the spotlights. I was wondering if he'd do the trick where he pulls a handful of glitter out of his pocket and tosses it up over his head so it rains down on him, but instead they had a huge amount of glitter fall from the ceiling onto him during Make it Rain. He also did the singing-into-a-megaphone-into-the-mic bit, and he also pulled out a piece of banter he's been using for like thirty years: a guy in the audience yelled something indiscernible at him, and he apologized to the crowd that it was his brother-in-law and then asked him if he was still working out at the airport. I swear I've heard him do this same bit on bootlegs going back to the mid-seventies, and it was hilarious to hear him bust it out last night on the somewhat snobbish Parisian crowd. When he wasn't making wisecracks or telling ridiculous stories, he was rocking out like an absolute madman. He'd sweated through his gray three-piece suit by halfway through the set, and didn't slow down at all from there. I could not believe the man's energy. His voice is staggeringly powerful and percussive at times and heart-wrenchingly soulful at others, and even though he's gotten progressively more gravelly and Cookie-Monster-ish over the years, I was surprised he was able to hit a few real nice smooth notes in the prettier songs they played.
The band was incredibly tight, and we learned at the end during their individual introductions that the drummer was his son! He also had another younger son come out a few times to play bongos or clarinet. I didn't recognize the names of the other guys (a guitarist, upright bassist, pianist, and sax/clarinet/harmonica guy) but they were all amazing players. They played a crazy long set, and this morning I tried to jot down as many songs as I could think of from the show. I came up with twenty-two, and I'm sure I missed a couple. If anybody's interested, here are the songs I could remember, in no particular order. ( Read more... )
Falling Down might have been the highlight for me for the whole night, but it's hard to pick. The concert was such an emotionally exhausting experience for me, I felt completely bizarre when I got home, sort of physically and emotionally drained. I slept for nine hours and woke up feeling wonderful this morning and wanting nothing more than to play the guitar and sing my heart out, which I've been doing all day now. I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet for having the opportunity to see a real live Tom Waits concert, finally. I could get run over by a bus today and die a pretty happy guy.
