On a Glitter and Doom stop in Phoenix, he finds ways to freshen his considerable songbook.
The sprawling, brawling concert Tom Waits gave here Tuesday, opening his Glitter and Doom tour with two nights at the city's grand old Orpheum, found its central image, unsurprisingly, in a hat. This wasn't just any of the countless porkpies and fedoras that have sat upon the head of rock's great junkman chorister. It was a mirrored bowler that Waits donned while performing the psychedelic circus tale “Eyeball Kid." The shards of glass made the light in the room bend and sparkle, momentarily turning this baroque revival theater into a steampunk Laserium.
The magic hat was a visual metaphor for what Waits does so well in music: refiguring old or even obsolete musical forms in his own hyper-dramatic style until they dazzle in new, often disconcerting ways. This show, the first of a journey that will take Waits south and east to cities he hasn't visited in decades (like Phoenix), offered ample evidence of his core techniques in a fan-pleasing set that also had a few surprises.
The sprawling, brawling concert Tom Waits gave here Tuesday, opening his Glitter and Doom tour with two nights at the city's grand old Orpheum, found its central image, unsurprisingly, in a hat. This wasn't just any of the countless porkpies and fedoras that have sat upon the head of rock's great junkman chorister. It was a mirrored bowler that Waits donned while performing the psychedelic circus tale “Eyeball Kid." The shards of glass made the light in the room bend and sparkle, momentarily turning this baroque revival theater into a steampunk Laserium.
The magic hat was a visual metaphor for what Waits does so well in music: refiguring old or even obsolete musical forms in his own hyper-dramatic style until they dazzle in new, often disconcerting ways. This show, the first of a journey that will take Waits south and east to cities he hasn't visited in decades (like Phoenix), offered ample evidence of his core techniques in a fan-pleasing set that also had a few surprises.
