Three Years Of Waiting: Tom Waits Live

In no way different from his recordings, Tom Waits’ live performance proved he knows no fear. From the first note of the opener, the tightly produced bastard son of ‘Lucinda’ and ‘Ain’t Goin Down To The Well’, the smoke bellowed from his feet and his arms seemed to summon the band as if charming a gigantic man-eating python. He stared into audience with both parties, on and off the stage, seemingly transfixed with each-other. The hiss and boom of the musical explosion, coupled with all the theatrics of a David Copperfield magic act instantly stopped anyone thinking about ticket sales or tour locations.

With effectively ending any of the controversy surrounding 2008’s Glitter and Doom tour, it was possible to finally sit down and enjoy the show. For his second trick, Waits pulled out crowd favourite ‘Raindogs’, relinquishing its hazy jazz atmosphere of the original song for a sound not too distant from a Russian travelling band. In fact, there were not many songs that resembled the master copies, however, unlike Bob Dylan, it did not take me two minutes to recognise any of the songs.

Throughout his tour so far, it has been reported that Waits played 63 different songs with only five of these managing an appearance in every show. Knowing this, it surprised me that two of the songs played on Edinburgh’s second night, “Take It With Me” and “The Briar And The Rose” had their first airings on Glitter and Doom turf. It seemed appropriate then that these were the most timid and delicate of the night. In comparison to this, ‘Singapore’ was a blunt blow to the head and ‘Hoist That Rag’ became even more violent as its twisted samba successfully reached the back of the room with the same anger towards its subject matter (being patriotism and the U.S. government)  as the front row.

The highlight, though, came roughly two-thirds into the set as Waits sat down to his piano and played anthems ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’ and ‘Innocent When You Dream’, two tracks no audience member could say they were expecting. However, it was with the chaotic ‘Make It Rain’, which signalled the approaching finale, that gave the audience a taste which was perfectly satisfied with the closing trio of ‘Jesus Gonna Be Here’, ‘9^th And Hennepin’ and ‘Anywhere I Lay My Head’. Safe to say no one was worrying about money now.

Written for Blues Matters! 08.08.2008