Make It Rain!

drove to asheville and saw Tom Waits last night, a concert i'd been so excited about that i kept thinking something was going to happen to prevent the whole thing from going off (you know, tickets not at will call, a flat tire on I-40, TW sees too many hippies from the tour bus window and splits town).
the concert did in fact take place and we were in the building, and it was fucking awesome. great setlist from all over the map, era-wise and album-wise, including three songs on piano in the middle that just killed -- Tango Til They're Sore / Invitation to the Blues / You Can Never Hold Back Spring (which i had to listen to first thing in the car today on the way home just to try to get it out of my head, what a beautiful song).
Waits tore it up and was funny and charming. liked the audience and wanted to take us with him, which he said would involve taking measurements & making a separate hardshell case for each audience member, "kinda risky but i'm willing to take the chance if you are" and i think we all would have.
except it might have gotten uncomfortable on the tour bus when i told him he needed fire his guitar player. ok, not fire, maybe just coach -- the guy (Duke Robillard -- i checked his website before the show and knew we were in trouble of the blues-y kind) may be a great blues guitar player, but it's just too fucking straight up for Waits' music, esp considering his predecessors in that chair. second show of the tour, so the band seemed kinda like it was playing not to fuck up, instead of truly 'fucking it up' but still, minor complaints when you're getting to hear songs like Blue Valentine, Make it Rain, and Clap Hands live... will be thinking about this one for awhile.