The complete set list for the Orpheum show (Vancouver, October 15, 2004):
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Make It Rain
Heartattack & Vine
All Stripped Down
Top of the Hill
Sins of My Father
Hoist That Rag
Temptation
Dead and Lovely
Table Top Joe
Part You Throw Away
Metropolitan Glide
How's It Gonna End
Hang Down Your Head
Day After Tomorrow
Murder in the Red Barn
Kommeniezuspadt
Encore 1
House Where Nobody Lives (on piano)
Some Lucky Day (on piano)
Encore 2
16 Shells
(via various Raindogs and Straydogs)
Its good to hear (even unconfirmed) that he picked some older songs instead of just playing the new album!
ReplyDeleteA good night...but not the greatest.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know it's their first show - and Tom could knit a sweater on stage and I'd still love it.
But the band was off. His vocal loop mike wasn't working. He was visibly annoyed. The band never let loose - always keeping a hushed jazzy tone for the most part. Compared to other Waits shows, the crowd wasn't on 10 for the whole time - there were honestly times where you could feel the audience was a bit complacent.
Only 2 songs on piano. Limited storytelling. It wasn't his night.
Ribot is a genius.
Great song choices though. Some I thought I's never hear (Kommienezuspadt, All Striped Down, Lucky Day).
The Commodore tonight will be better. Can't wait to hear how it differs.
Vancouver show was exceptional. Not necessarily better than his last Vancouver show, but Tom's a classic showman & had charisma to burn as usual. Focus was more on the songs than theatricality. Agree that crowd seemed subdued at times, but I think that was due to the number of new songs played & only 2 songs having Tom on piano. Not surprisingly, Ribot shone.
ReplyDeleteEncores were House Were Nobody Lives & Some Lucky Day w/Tom on piano; closer was 16 Shells.
Definite highlights were the song selections from older & obscure albums: Tabletop Joe, Temptation, 16 Shells, Heartattack & Vine, The Part you throw away, Komme nei zu spat, All stripped down, Murder in the Red Barn. Downtown Train wasn't played. 2 solid hours, and we call could have heard more. I'm jealous of the people seeing him tonight, as I'd expect different old songs played.
does anyone else disagree that "downtown train" and "clang boom steam" were played? there WAS a lot of clanging booming and steaming, but i didnt hear him do the "my baby's so fine, even her car..." verse..
ReplyDeletehere is my guess at the setlist, the order for the main set is probably not correct but i think most songs are in about the right area.. i also think i am missing either 2 or 3 songs
jockey full of bourbon
make it rain
all stripped down
top of the hill
heart attack and vine
temptation
sins of the father
table top joe
murder in the red barn
hows it gonna end
dead and lovely
day after tomorrow
hoist that rag
metropolitan glide
kommienezuspadt
encore1 - piano
house where nobody lives
lucky day
encore2
16 shells from a 30 ought 6
show was amazing. A bit of trouble with equipment, so a couple of songs didn't have the looped human beatbox - I think it worked for two of the four songs he tried it on, but even without it, those songs were great. set list (I think it's complete, but definitely not in this order):
ReplyDeleteTop Of The Hill
Hoist That Rag
Sins Of My Father
How's It Gonna End
Metropolitan Glide
Dead And Lovely
Make It Rain
Day After Tomorrow
The Part You Throw Away
Kommienezuspadt
Table Top Joe
House Where Nobody Lives
Lucky Day
All Stripped Down
Murder In The Red Barn
Temptation
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Hang Down Your Head
16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six
Heartattack and Vine
I agree that Downtown and Clang were not played.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that someone got Downtown Train mixed up with his version of Hang Down Your Head (which some thought was Train when they launched into the similar groove).
In the event that you had never seen Tom Waits before it was a great show. However having seen him twice in Toronto during the Franks Wild Years period, plus a benefit in Healdsberg,Ca.,plus a benefit in LA for "Not in our name",plus two shows supporting the Get Behind the Mule tour, I would say categorically it was NOT was on his better shows. I would imagine if you asked Tom if it was a good performance he would say no.
ReplyDeleteWhat went wrong??Why were people continuously streaming in and out of the audience around me on the floor. I think part of it was the total focus on the new material some of which required a looping microphone which was not working properly. Or maybe it was the loud hailer at the end of the show that was inaudible. Or maybe it was the distorted sound mix that at times made it difficult to hear his vocals or when it was way too loud when Marc Ribot was playing.
It seeemed that Tom was a bit tired. Comparedto earlier shows it was more of a stripped down affair with little attention to lighting and staging.I preferred the old gold dust and car lights!!!
Nevertheless there was some stoundout moments-ncluding the phenomenal giutar work of Marc Riboton "Killing inthe Red Barn". Also noteworthy was the first live version of "Tabletop Joe".
The band he brought was great including "brain" on drums. The addition of his son on drums and turntables was a nice family gesture but didn't add to much to the proceedings.
I am sure the show tonight will be better as will the shows in Europe. This was a rehearsal and I am sure he is happy that his performance was not under the media scrutiny of larger cities such as London.
"THE LIGHTMAN'S BLIND IN ONE EYE..."
ReplyDeleteTom is great. He put on an admirable performance but the entire show was plagued with technical glitches. As already mentioned the beatbox mic didn't work, lighting was awful, Marc's guitar was way too loud half the time and there was a constant static feedback that lasted through the first half of the show. After nearly every song the band stopped, lights dimmed as they tried to regroup. Did they do a sound check? There were some awesome songs; all the old favourites sounded great as did many of the new ones which didn't involve the beatbox mic. Tom salvaged Metropolitan Glide but Top of the Hill was a disaster. I thought he might actually stop the song. Tom sounded great on all the songs but he forgot the words to a couple of the new songs, repeating verses in odd spots and leaving out other words. I'm making it sound like it was a horrible show but IT wasn't. Tom's charisma and Marc's stellar guitar carried the night off. In all a damn good show, however I think we expected a bit more from a Tom Waits show and considering the $100 ticket price. These guys are professionals; the technical problems could have been avoided.
This was my first time seeing Tom Waits, so I have no other concerts to compare to, except other bands/performers. Needless to say, I was totally impressed, and definitely got my $100 worth. But yes, there were some technical glitches - although the songs still came through. I think there were 2 or 3 songs where the guitar was definitely too loud - but the rest were great. I didn't really notice the distortion mentioned by others. I was impressed by the selection from the new album - that's what I'd expect from a show - a mix of old and new.
ReplyDeletei was at the vancouver show last night as well as in the vancouver show in 1999. and i must admit that i enjoyed myself equally on both occasions. i didn't even notice there were equipment problems until he tried the loop mic! maybe i am too used to going to noisy punkish shows, but it all seemed like part of the act to me. tom was amazing, as usual. the versions of murder in the red barn, temptation and table top joe were just wonderful! i have the set list from the 99 show, and he pretty much played the same ratio of new/old stuff last night as he did then. ribot was fantastic, ditto brain and larry taylor. kommienezuspadt was the highlight of the show for me followed very closey by 16 shells. i payed more than 100$ for my ticket (on ebay) and the night was worth every cent.
ReplyDeleteThe show was great despite the technical problems. Hearing "All Stripped Down" was incredible. I did notice the feedback sound that was coming from one of the speakers for about half of the show. It was a constant buzzing that was really annoying. I could not believe that they didn't get all the tech problems remedied before the gig started. It was a little amateurish. The stage set was also pretty plain and did not have the charm of his '99 tour, but I didn't mind. The security people at the venue were really over the top, though. Everyone had to undergo a pretty thorough frisk to get into the venue, and I noticed a few people getting busted for taking pictures. Tom and his organization are obviously very paranoid about cameras and recorders, which is too bad because raindogs are pretty benign people in the big scheme of things. I'm curious if security will be this tight for the other shows.
ReplyDeleteThe constant feedback/static was b/c the smaller mic that he had for sampling was sometimes turned up pretty loudso that his little 'aw shucks' and other tiny voice spazzums could be heard. Regardless, everyone who's seen a Waits show is always going to talk about some other show that was better, its inevitable. As for the technical difficulties, who gives a shit,they were classic.
ReplyDeleteI actually enjoyed the technical difficulties with the 'beat box' looper because it meant everytime he tried to do a loop we got to hear him try and create it about 4 times as well as his silly comments
ReplyDelete