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Tom Waits
Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
Filter Grade: 95%
by Paul Bellar, Photo: Steven Dewall | 01.01.2007

The only U.S. show on Tom Waits “Real Gone Tour” hit Seattle on a drizzly fall evening. A large crowd gathered under the marquee taking shelter from the rain. We entered the theatre, headed straight to the bar, and ordered a couple of hearty bourbon drinks to set the stage. House lights flashed, we downed our drinks and proceeded to our seats. Dressed in typical Waits attire, a vintage suit and Fedora, Waits opened the evening’s performance with "Make It Rain," followed by “Don’t Go Into That Barn.” Backed up by Larry Taylor on stand-up and electric, guitarist and banjoist Marc Ribot and percussionist Brain. Waits sang into a megaphone at times and two microphones, one hooked up to a distortion peddle while Brain dropped in sound loops and Waits beat boxed over them.

Telling stories between songs, Waits joked about crossing the Canadian border and an agent asking him to do a cavity search replying, “well, I floss and I brush.” In his intro to “Table Top Joe”, Waits told a story of twin brothers, one tall one short, who perform a vaudeville act where the tall fellow saws the short one in half. His voice at times resembled that of Louis Armstrong, which was perfectly expressed when he commented, “There’s a frog in my throat or throat in my frog.” The audience laughed. “There’s more upbeat material coming your way… promise,” followed by “Murder in the Red Barn”.

In the first of two sets of encores,” Top of the hill” followed by “What’s he building in there?” The audience came to their feet with some rushing towards the stage to get a closer look and release their urge to dance. Standing ovations came when a piano rolled out for the final set of encores, which opened with a joke about topless newscasters in Russia “everyone watches the news in Russia.”

The final set followed with "Hang Down Your Head" and "House Where Nobody Lives." Tom interacted with the crowd by shaking hands with the fans closest to stage. As we exited the Theatre through the alley I made eye contact with a homeless man, we exchanged a smile and he stepped off into the darkness. I imagined him listening to the show from the fire escape, bobbing his head, and sipping on a bottle of Night Train…a fitting end to a memorable performance.