The Medusa Fora

Tom Waits is on tour! Tickets will be going on sale very soon!

Heres the scoop so far.....

Iconoclast and reclusive touring artist TOM WAITS is making an unprecedented
move by taking his always unpredictably stunning live show on the road,
mostly in cities (Atlanta, Memphis, Louisville, Nashville) where he hasn't
been seen on stage since the mid-to-late '70s. As for Asheville, NC, Tom has
never played a gig; he hasn't performed in Akron, OH or Detroit since the
'80s. The most recent stop on this extraordinary tour is Chicago, where
Waits played the Chicago Theater for three sold out nights on his "Mule
Variations" tour in '99.

"We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me
money in Kentucky," says Waits about why he's chosen this particular time
and route to tour.

When this two-time Grammy-winner last performed live in 2004, tickets sold
out in hours, if not minutes. His most recent live date in London sold out
in 30 minutes, with over 150,000 ticket requests received within the first
hour. Waits' three previous North American concerts (two in Vancouver,
Canada and one in Seattle) were also snapped up in record time.

"His concert was a nostalgic trip through freak shows, murder ballads, and
ruminations on lost love," wrote Charles R. Cross in Rolling Stone after
2004 performance at Seattle's Paramount Theater. "He didn't so much sing
these songs as he wheezed, whistled, and shouted them, shaking his fist like
a craps player on a roll. Mining his recent Real Gone.Waits created a world
of haunting characters adrift in a bygone age."

In other news, Paste magazine has just issued its collector's edition citing
the "100 Best Living Songwriters," with Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
(longtime co-writer, co-producer and wife) clocking in at #4. According to
Paste, "In literature, only a handful of writers have pulled off the near
impossible. In music, it happens on every Tom Waits recording."

Look for local ads in the regional papers for on sale dates. The first show
in Atlanta goes on sale July 8.

Tour dates are as follows:

DATE CITY/STATE VENUE

Tues, Aug 1 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle

Wed, Aug 2 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

Fri, Aug 4 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre

Sat, Aug 5 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium

Mon, Aug 7 Louisville, KY Palace Theatre

Wed, Aug 9 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre

Fri, Aug 11 Detroit, MI Opera House

Sun, Aug 13 Akron, OH Akron Civic

Man, Mr Waits on the Grand Ole Opry!!!!!! Now that IS the heart of Saturday night!

WOW! dublinrambler, how do you come to know this? I have searched several spots on the web and can find nothing. Tom Waits is my alltime most-desired-to-see-in-a-live-performance artist! AND, I am from the Midwest, so I am truly excited at this unexpected turn of events! Please assure me that you are not toying with us!

Thanks, DzM! I, too, have found info at Pollstar among others. My heart is a-flutter!

Who is this tom waits charactor? I havnt heard anything by him. Seen his name mentioned allot. Is he any good?

Holy cow this is amazing news!!

F!
Must do something immediately!

Yez lucky, lucky, jammy, fecking beggars. Enjoy every last gravelly, gritty syllable.

I saw Tom Waits in New York City in 1986 and 1999. Both are among the most amazing concerts I've ever attended.

I'm praying he extends the tour to include the northeast, but he is perverse enough to let Akron Ohio be as close as he gets to me!

Anybody who CAN go MUST. This is as amazing as finding out the Pogues are touring!

Tom's wilfulness aside, his agents clearly have decided to Test The Water here a little, to gain some indication of how Waits will sell in "major centres". All nonsense of course. The world is finally ready for Tom, though he Waited for no one.

philipchevron wrote:Tom's wilfulness aside, his agents clearly have decided to Test The Water here a little, to gain some indication of how Waits will sell in "major centres". All nonsense of course. The world is finally ready for Tom, though he Waited for no one.

Then his agents are clearly morons. Tom has had a devoted following for at least two decades and will fill any reasonably sized venue with only minor promotion.

Oh Tom - Please to come somewhere I can be ...

Yeah, I'm lookin at a cool grand to go to a show as they stand. But if he comes to the D.C. metro area or anywhere close, I'd do what needs to be done. Even NYC is doable.

Eric V wrote:Yeah, I'm lookin at a cool grand to go to a show as they stand. But if he comes to the D.C. metro area or anywhere close, I'd do what needs to be done. Even NYC is doable.

Tickets for the Akron show (AKRON! The Rubber Tire Capitol of the WORLD!) are $65. I think I paid $85 or $90 to see him at the Beacon in '99.

Seeing him in NYC is the BEST. Both shows I attended (the first in '86 was in the Eugene O'Neill Theatre) were chock full of celebrities - we saw Willem Dafoe and Elvis Costello, and I met KEITH RICHARDS in the loo!! It was obvious the whole time that we were in the absolute coolest place on EARTH at that moment.

Tom's shows TRANSPORT you. In 1999 he had this kind of sepia lighting, and floorboards he stomped on as a percussion instrument with dust flying up around his feet. It was like we were in 1912.

He's one of THOSE GUYS. Like Mark Twain or Leadbelly, or a cross between them. The real thing.

O'Blivion wrote:
He's one of THOSE GUYS. Like Mark Twain or Leadbelly, or a cross between them. The real thing.

My God.