Awaitsing Tom

“Almost as much fun as the music was the monologues. Waits has a stand-up comedian side to him that’s been well-honed since his early years when he was balladeering and badgering barflies for tip money. One segment of banter was essentially an extended joke concerning “how hard it is to get a bad cup of coffee” nowadays, what with the Starbucks-ization of the planet, and how he was going back to instant coffee; the punchline went, “because the keyword there is ‘instant.’” (This is a joke Waits has apparently been telling and refining ever since a 1997 Allen Ginsberg tribute he was involved in.)“

-Harp Magazine, August 2006

Tom Waits is in St. Louis Thursday. I wanted to confirm that there’s no opening band, and in my Google search I came across a great review (quoted above, and below) from his eight-show 2006 tour that not only totally whetted my appetite for the show, it also went into great detail explaining the anti-scalping measures they take.

The two-tickets per person, per household policy flummoxed me (and others) originally, because I wanted to buy tickets together with three others, as well as for another unsuspecting guest. This policy scratched that thought — particularly amid the “better order now, they sell out fast, is it worth the price?” dilemma in the work-day moments when the sale began.

But among the revelations in the review: They do small venues because it’s like a theater experience and they can better fight scalping that way (by requiring will call and such). On the last tour, tickets sold out in 20 minutes, and immediately following there were tickets on eBay and other places for 1500-2000 dollars! But it sounds like they were able to fight that — including turning away people who had paid handsomely for scalped or even counterfeit tickets.

It’s always annoyed me how you can get squeezed out of an actual ticket sale, and then minutes later find them on auction sites for a 400% markup.

Anyway, I also realized that, while it would be nice to sit with people I know, it sounds like the Tom Waits experience is something best seen like other theater: Take in the moment now, talk about it with your friend afterward.

“Upon reflection it occurs that a Waits concert is part musical exorcism, part extemporaneous theater, and a whole lotta psychological manipulation. It’s certainly a stage show, but it’s also larger than just a “show” – it’s something more emotionally extreme than that. The entire time attendees get so caught up in the moment – all 120 moments, in fact – that they never stop to ask themselves, “What am I seeing and hearing? What does this mean?” It’s that same spontaneous, willing suspension of belief you tumble into when taking in a particularly transcendent piece of cinema.”

Mmmm, yeah, I can dig that.