Following a brief European tour, Tom Waits has scheduled a lone U.S. concert date this year. The Oct. 18 show at Seattle’s Paramount Theater will be one of only two North American shows the artist has planned in 2004, the other coming Oct. 15 in Vancouver.
Because Waits has rarely toured in recent years, word of his performances has been met with overwhelming response from fans. The Vancouver show sold out in just nine minutes, according to a representative for the artist, while requests for tickets greatly outpaced availability for European theater stops in London, Antwerp and Berlin. Tickets for a Nov. 19-21 stand in Amsterdam will to on sale Saturday (Oct. 2).
Along with Waits’ new Anti- studio album, “Real Gone,” tickets for the Seattle show will go on sale as the clock strikes midnight on Oct. 5 at the city’s two Tower Records locations. Remaining tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. that day via Ticketmaster and the 2,800-capacity venue’s box office.
Waits, who will make a rare television appearance tomorrow (Sept. 28) on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman,” will be backed on the road by bassist Larry Taylor, guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Brain. All three appear on “Real Gone,” Waits’ 20th album and fourth for Epitaph Records imprint Anti-.
As previously reported, the album was recorded in an old Mississippi schoolhouse and boasts appearances by Primus founder Les Claypool, Shotgun Messiah’s Harry Cody (guitar, banjo), as well as Waits’ son, Casey. It was written and produced by Waits and his wife/longtime collaborator Kathleen Brennan.
A larger U.S. tour in support of the set is possible in 2005, although nothing is yet confirmed. Waits last toured the country in 1999 in support of his Anti- debut, “Mule Variations.”
Source billboard.com.
