Tom Waits, God, And 1,000 People Walk Into A Bar…Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before

At times, the patience of Job was called upon to get me through, but after waiting and sweating and waiting and sweating and waiting and… Tom Waits hit the stage just past 8:30pm last night, making his first appearance on a Dallas stage in more than two decades, stomping, crooning and willing the sweltering crowd through a 2+ hour set (which included a 5 song encore) which featured nods to the old (“Anywhere I Lay My Head” from the classically sinister Rain Dogs album) mixed with several of his more recent releases (“Make it Rain” off the amazing Real Gone).Opening the show with “Lucinda”, Waits came out and took control of a somewhat restless crowd (it was hot in there, dammit!) stomping and yelping his way through boozy waltzes (“Singapore”), heartfelt ballads (“Lucky Day” and “There’s Never a Rose”), and spoken word beat-style performance pieces (“Chocolate Jesus”).  On several occasions, Waits told stories, interacting with the crowd and carrying on short conversations which various members of the audience which kept the mood very light despite the intensity and darkness of the music.  Make no mistake about it, Tom Waits is a total pro and while he doesn’t tour like he used to (the vocal chords simply don’t allow it), he runs a room like few I’ve ever seen. Despite the wait, despite the heat factor (you people at the Palladium should seriously consider taking a look at your lack of air conditioning), despite the fact that it became so cramped at one point I think I may well have impregnated the ass of the chick standing in front of me, the show was amazing and Tom Waits was on his game.  Here’s hoping the enthusiastic crowd response will prevent him from waiting another 20 years to get him back around this way.