Clap Hands

Update: Apparently my link to the picture site is bolloxed. If you go to the Eyeball Kid's site, that link works, you can find your way to the pictures from there.

Even Updatier: You can read a review of the Asheville show here, from Harp Magazine.

This setlist is from the Eyeball Kid. Hell, my memory isn't that good.

Singapore
Make it Rain
Hoist That Rag
Shore Leave
November
God's Away on Business
'Til the Money Runs Out
All The World Is Green
Tango 'Til They're Sore
Invitation to the Blues
You Can Never Hold Back Spring
Clap Hands
Whistling Past The Graveyard
Heartattack and Vine
Who's Been Talkin' (slips into Lie to Me after opening with the Wolf)
What's He Building in There?
Trampled Rose
Get Behind the Mule
Murder in the Red Barn
Goin' Out West
Down In The Hole
Blue Valentine
Don't Go into That Barn

I'd read before the concert that Tom wasn't crazy about his early music, so I didn't expect to get so much from so early in his career. But he gave us stuff from Blue Valentine, Rain Dogs, even Invitation to the Blues from Small Change. The most, including Make It Rain and Don't Go Into That Barn came from his latest, Real Gone. And one of my personal favorites, from Blood Money, God's Away On Business.

The day started early and went late, with the drive up to Asheville, a beautiful NC mountain town. We got our tickets, met people at a corner bar to drink 'til showtime and watch the freaks.

Thomas Wolfe Auditorium seats fewer than 2500 people, so the venue was as intimate as any star venue. No one, not even in the back row, had a bad seat. My ticket was 1/3 of the way back and almost dead center. Great seat. Great show. Thank you, Jerry.

The Show:

I know a lot of people, people quite close to me, who love Tom's songs but have problems with his voice.

I want to state right here and now that I am not one of those people.

But until I'd seen this show, I never fully appreciated the emotional range of his singing. To hear him, in one set, go from the wistful All the World is Green to the hollering, full-throated vigilante paranoia of What's He Building In There was a revelation. Like all great singers, Waits acts it out, like all great performers, he commits to every note.

And speaking of commitment, the band, with Larry Taylor on bass, Bent Clausen on keys (and too many other noise-makers to count), Casey Waits on drums and Duke Robillard on guitar were amazing. Duke, especially, brought some interesting blues to the angular, industrial stuff, very cool.

The light design was low-key and brilliant. Lights shot up giant shadows against the curtain, drenched the place in color, and accentuated Waits' elbows and knees physical attack on his songs. So much from so little. Whoever designed the lighting, great job.

I've seen a lot of shows. By the time I was 24 I'd seen Hendrix, Joplin, The Band, The Dead, The Allman Brothers, and the Stones. Since then I've spent hundreds, maybe thousands of nights with the sound of amplifiers ringing in my ears.

This ranks in the top three shows I've ever seen, and unlike some -The Dead, The Allman Brothers - I expect I'll remember this one.

Go check out the fan's slideshow and see some of the other set lists for some of the other shows at Eyeball Kid's place.

To quote Dr. John, such a night.