Spotlight - "Jesus Gonna Be Here" from Dublin, Ireland final night (2008-08-01)

Such a beautiful night of music, how can you only pick one song to highlight? Well, you pick the song that best deserves to be spotlighted of course!

Hands down the winner this night is "Jesus Gonna Be Here". Something happened to this song over the course of the tour. It was always fun and instantly caught your ear (and feet, making them stomp, and the hands, making them clap!). But for some reason, for these ears, it was hard to top the "feel" they reached in the El Paso, TX concert on June 20th! Just the perfect tempo and while not perfect, the feel that was never matched again the entire tour (again for my ears, and I haven't heard every performance of the tour!).

Well on the final night of the tour Tom nailed the performance. The band nailed their performance. There was something magic in the air, and you could almost feel Tom and the band noticing it while they were playing! The arrangement was stunning tonight too! Previous versions of this song always had Omar's great lead guitar playing call and response with Tom's vocals, but now that part has been removed completely. That helped open up the sound more, allowing for Tom's vocal performance to "breathe" and take over this track. I love the feeling of Tom's "Ahhhhhh" leading into Vincent's best sounding/feeling sax solo of this song all tour as far as I can tell.

The new arrangement on the ending was just "heavenly"! As Tom belts out the last vocal riffs of the song, the band carries on his last note, taking the listener on a journey where you don't want to breathe until you've felt every last second of emotion the band ekes out it. Patrick's key work, Vincent's horn work , and ESPECIALLY Casey's drum work as the song ends capture the emotion of the moment perfectly.

The audience FELT this performance, as you can tell by the incredible ovation they received afterwards! Congratulation Tom and company, what a great night of music this was!

Kudos to the band for a great show to end the tour, this night was truly a phenomenal night on that stage, and EVERYONE in the audience felt it!

When this performance makes it onto a live CD release, I anticipate plenty of replaying by folks worldwide!

Spotlight - "Down in the Hole" from Edinburgh, Scotland 1st night (2008-07-27)

Hmmm, so many seas of cheese to sail through in getting started in reviewing the concerts of the 'Glitter and Doom' show. Should I start from the beginning, and review in order? Should I review every song of every show, or just the highlights?

Well for now, 2 weeks after the final show I want to point your ears towards my favorite (as of this weekend!) version of "Down in the Hole" from the tour (I haven't heard any of the Dublin shows, so I'm guessing that might rival this having three more performances of it down?).

Most folks may be familiar with this song as the theme song for the HBO series "The Wire" (originally from his 1987 album 'Frank's Wild Years'). Interestingly, each season of "The Wire" has a different performer doing the song, and Tom's version wasn't used until Season Two! (Here's a list of performers by season so far( Season One: Blind Boys Of Alabama, Season Two: Tom Waits, Season Three: The Neville Brothers, Season Four: DoMaJe (offshoot from Baltimore Boys Choir), and Season Five: Steve Earle

Tom's studio version is very simple in sonic structure, but powerful in emotional impact (hmm, just like a lot of his songs! =D). The version the band played live on the 'Glitter and Doom' tour was usually right after the opening number "Lucinda=>Ain't Going To The Well No More". Later in Europe it was moved towards the end of the concert evolved from the simple-yet-upbeat version unveiled in the Phoenix, AZ opener, to the even more fleshed-out version I'm loving now.

As from the beginning of the US Tour, the guitar solo from the studio version is replaced with a great horn solo by Vincent Henry. What is new towards the end of the European tour is the more prominent funky "scratch-lead" playing on guitar by Omar Torrez being interwoven with tasty riffs from the keys of Patrick Warren (sometimes these two complete eachother's musical "phrases"!!!). Casey Waits and Seth Ford-Young hold it down perfectly for this "walk through the garden". Tom is definitely in fine form, with a delivery perfectly matched to his lyrics and the band's music. On this night, he busts out his "Scottish Beat Box" to take the band out of the song during the last 30 seconds.

Edinburgh night 2 loses the beat box, but perhaps is just as fun, with Omar's guitarwork/intertwined with Patrick's keys sounding even better to my ears.

So again, without hearing Dublin and a couple other cities, Edinburgh (either show's version) is my pick for the live album/mix tape (if we have to make it ourselves!).

Dublin, Ireland 2008-08-01 (third night) notes anyone?

So mateys, how goeth the final night of the tour? I'm really curious to see what they did setlist-wise on this one! ---Sven Lingus

Tom Waits with the 'Glitter and Doom' band
The Ratcellar, Dublin, Ireland
2008-08-01 (third night) setlist from the Eyeball Kid


Lucinda / ain't going down to the well no more
Raindogs / Russian Dance
Down in the hole
I'll shoot the moon
Other side of the world
Falling Down
Jesus' gonna be here
Tom Traubert's Blues
Heart of Saturday Night
Lost in the Harbor
House Where Nobody Lives
Innocent When you Dream

Hoist That Rag
Cemetery Polka
Green Grass
Long Way Home
Lie to Me
Blue Valentines
Trampled Rose
Eyeball Kid
Going Out West
God's Away on Business
Make it Rain

16 Shells from a thirty-ought six
Heigh Ho
Dirt in the Ground

Metropolitan Glide
Lucky Day

And so it ends (for now)!

OK, so we're on the last night of the Tom Waits 'Glitter and Doom' tour. One of the most fantastic concert experiences of my life, but like all good things they must come to an end. Unless of course Tom wants to extend the run to record that many more takes and ensure that grammy-award winning double (triple?) live album that they already have in the can! Shoot, even if they don't want to take the best takes from the tour (I'll be giving a guided tour of the tour later!), they could release Atlanta as a concert CD...

From the start, it was easy to predict that this band would help record an album that would help define a new era of Tom Waits. I think it is safe to say that this has happened (Atlanta NPR broadcast or individual tracks from throughout the tour). They are helping reinterpret some great songs into a whole new experience live, and as if they had written them alongside Tom from the start. They have gotten tighter, funkier, and better at giving only the most primal essence needed to experience each song with the most emotional impact correlating to Tom's lyrics and performance. Many times the silent movie that plays in my head while they play the actual soundtrack is just amazing. Anyone else notice an experience like this?

I look forward to taking you on a tour of the journey that is the past 6 weeks of concerts. A quick note to Tom Waits and the Glitter and Doom band, if you release this live album (and DVD?) I guarantee it will be on the must-have list for fans and critics alike for generations to come. I have already seen it written in the stars at the same time the Hydra constellation changed shape right before Tom's Norwish pirate captain eyes.

Sing Sing Tommy Shay Boys! =D