Tom Waits has emerged from his Northern California pod to announce a brief tour of the South and Midwest, in true “I'm cooler than you” fashion. "We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky," Waits said in a press release.
The brief tour will stop in Atlanta, Asheville, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Chicago, Detroit, and Akron. Akron? So, for those of you keeping score at home, that's eight cities, three of which end in "-ville." Somehow, I doubt that's a complete coincidence.
Too bad someone doesn't owe him a Buick carburetor in St. Louis. A Waits tour is a rare thing, indeed, and it looks like Chicago or one of the Tennessee shows will be the closest Waits comes to St. Louis. This in itself is not a surprise. St. Louis is not exactly a hot stop destination for artists with a, um, scattered, devoted following.
St. Louis is primarily a radio airplay tour stop, with the occasional non-radio-friendly musician making an appearance at either the Pageant, Duck Room, Mississippi Nights, or one of the other smaller venues (Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, and Vic Chesnutt have all made stops in St. Louis in the recent past).
St. Louis is, first and foremost, a Top 40 and Aging Rock Dinosaurs city, especially in the summer. It's a city where current hot ticket acts go to get a bump in sales and where aging musical icons brush off their dusty corpses and give it one last fling.
This summer's concert list reads like a musical shitstorm nightmare, with Kelly Clarkson, Def Leppard, Journey, Sammy Hagar, and Earth, Wind, and Fire all bringing their particular brand of torture to the city. There is some relief, though, with yet another Built To Spill show at Mississippi Nights and a truly rare Silver Jews show at the Duck Room at the end of July.
Article comments
1 - bigshoulders
hope you do get to see him at some point. he's definitely worth taking vacation time. that's exactly what i did for the the first 2 nights. and he's worth every bit of it.
2 - Cleveland Bob
So Eric,
Did you get to see Waits? Here is an email exchange from my brother and myself this morning. Tom Waits was fantastic last night.
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No, no Marc Ribot. According to my recollection pieced together with an online revue from last week the line up was son Casey Waits on drums, Larry Taylor on upright bass, Bent Clausen on keyboards and vibes and Duke Robillard on guitar. I was kinda hoping for a little Ralph Carney, but alas, no.
And yes, the venue was ideal.
Check out the youtube clip. Marvin Hamlisch looks like he's afraid Waits is going to bite him.
WOW-- sounds v. cool. Who was in the band? Does Marc Ribot tour with him still? I'll bet that was a great venue.
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Here was the set list from last nights Akron Civic show. He was bloody great.
Make It Rain
Hoist That Rag
Shore Leave
Dead And Lovely
God’s Away On Business
Tango Til They’re Sore
Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
Tom Traubert’s Blues
Til the Money Runs Out/Howlin’ Wolf song
What's He Building
Falling Down
Eyeball Kid
Murder In The Red Barn
Trampled Rose
Lost At The Bottom Of The World
Shake It
Encore #1
Lie To Me Baby
Get Behind The Mule
Day After Tomorrow
Encore #2
Clap Hands
Sins Of My Father
I found this on youtube (link doesn't work) this morning as well. Timely considering that Mike Douglas just passed last week.
One last thing, we even ran into and spoke briefly with Jim Jarmusch in the parking lot right after the show let out. All in all, a blissfully cool evening.
3 - Joe
Check out his '08 tour. Don't you feel silly