TOM WAITS TOURING
 


 Concert Appearances


  • "Dead Man Walking - The Concert"
    Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
  • 1998 March 29 7:00 pm
    This benefit concert was formed to help the Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) and was hosted by Tim Robbins, director of "Dead Man Walking", Hope House and MVFR.

  • "Raven Theatre": Healdsburg, California
  • 1996 August 11 7:00 pm
    Tom appeared in the "Storming Heaven" Benefit, a further concert to help his friend Don Hyde pay legal and other bills. The concert featured Tom Waits, Charlie Sexton, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Tonio K and Alejandro Escovedo. Tickets cost $100. Stanley Mouse created this poster for the event

  • "Los Angeles Ballroom, Century Plaza Hotel": Los Angeles, California
  • 1996 February 16 7:00 pm
    He performed for the John Huston Award for Artists Rights honoring Martin Scorsese. Tom and Bonnie Raitt both performed short acoustic sets, not more than 15 minutes each. Tickets were either $250 or $500.

    The event was hosted by Anjelica Huston and the guest speakers included Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Winona Ryder, Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci.

  • "Paramount Theatre": Oakland, California
  • 1996 February 4 7:30 pm
    Benefit for Don Hyde's legal defense fund. Hyde is a Sonoma County theatre owner who has been targetted by the DEA and stands to go to prison and lose everything. Don owns the Raven Theater in Healdsburg and is much beloved by many Bay area and touring musicians.

    Tom Waits, Greg Cohen, Joe Gore, Ralph Carney, Kenny Wollesen and also Charlie Musselwhite will attend.

    Tickets went on sale on Sunday, 14th of January, at all Bay area BASS outlets. Tickets were about in the $50.00 area, but went as high as $300 at ticket agencies.

  • "Wiltern Theatre": Los Angeles, California
  • 1992 May 30
    Benefit for the riot victims of the Los Angeles unrest.
    Also Chuck E. Weiss and the Goddamn Liars, Fishbone, and Los Lobos (whom sang "Temptation" with Tom).

  • "Club Largo": Los Angeles, California
  • 1992
    Did this concert ever happen? The place located on Fairfax is now called "Largo Pub".

  • "Orpheum Theatre": San Francisco, California
  • 1990 December 31
    Tom Waits performs 'Heigh Ho Heigh Ho', 'Broken Bicycles', 'I Left My Heart in SF', 'Black Rider', and 'Auld Lang Syne' with a spotlight attached to his mic stand and swept it across the audience

  • "San Jose Center for the Performing Arts": San Jose, California
  • 1990 December 30

  • WNEW radio station - New York City, New York
  • 1988 - Interview (Take me Home, Pontiac)

  • "Wiltern Theatre": Los Angeles, California
  • 1988 December 31

  • End of BIG TIME Touring Period

  • "Freie Volksbuhne": Berlin, Germany
  • 1987 December 7-8

  • "Audimax": Hamburg, Germany
  • 1987 December 4-5

  • "Olympia Theatre": Paris, France
  • 1987 November 30-December 2

  • "Dragen Theatre": Stockholm, Sweden
  • 1987 November 25-27

  • "Hammersmith Odeon": London, England
  • 1987 November 19-22

  • "Olympia Theatre": Dublin, Ireland
  • 1987 November 15-17

  • "Edinburgh Playhouse": Edinburgh, Scotland
  • 1987 November 13

  • "Wiltern Theatre": Los Angeles, California
  • 1987 November 7-9

  • "Fox Warfield Theatre": San Francisco, California
  • 1987 November 6
    1987 November 5
    The "Big Time" video was filmed here.

  • "Orpheum Theater": Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • 1987 November 1

  • "Chicago Theatre": Chicago, Illinois
  • 1987 October 30-31

    Play list:
    

hang on St. christopher
16 shells from a thirty-ought six
down in the hole
gun St. girl
cold, cold ground
blind love
telephone call from Istanbul
straight to the top (vegas)
i wish i was in new orleans
xmas card from a hooker in mpls.
jitterbug boy
johnsburg,ill.
frank's wild years
innocent when you dream
midtown (instrumental)
underground
clap hands
more than rain
singapore
raindogs
straight to the top (rhumba)
walking spanish
yesterday is here
shoreleave

  • "Hanna Theatre": Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1987 October 29

  • "Power Center": Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • 1987 October 26-27

  • "State Theatre": Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • 1987 October 24

  • "Warner Theater": Washington, DC
  • 1987 October 21-22

  • "Orpheum Theater": Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1987 October 20

  • "Eugene O'Neill Theater": New York City, New York
  • 1987 October 13-18 or 19
    • Mark Ribot (guitars, banjo, trumpet)
    • Greg Cohen (electric bass, Basstarda, alto horn)
    • Ralph Carney (saxes, clarinets, baritone horn, violin
    • Michael Blair (percussions, bongos, brake drums)
    • Willy Schwarz (accordian, Hammond organ, Optigon, sitar, percussion)

  • "Outremont Theatre": Montreal, Quebec
  • 1987 October 10-11

  • "Massey Hall": Toronto, Ontario
  • 1987 October 6-8
    Played encore rendition of James Brown's "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" each night.

  • "Coconut Grove": Hollywood, California
  • 1987 September
    Roy Orbison's testimonial.
    Waits sings solo on 'Ooby Dooby'.

  • "Academy of Music": Northampton, Massachusetts
  • 1987 Spring

  • "Snap" on KCRW: Santa Monica, California
  • 1987 March 24

  • Begin of BIG TIME Touring Period

  • "Teatro Ariston": San Remo, Italy
  • 1986 November 22 - FM Broadcast, also on TV

  • Hamburg, Germany
  • 1986

  • End of RAIN DOGS Touring Period

  • "Concertgebouw": Holland
  • 1985 December 3

  • "Beacon Theatre": New York City, New York
  • 1985 November 20

  • "Folies Berghres": Paris, France
  • 1985 November 16

  • "Franfurt Kongresshalle": Germany
  • 1985 November 12

  • Rotterdam
  • 1985 November 8

  • Gothenburg
  • 1985 October 27

  • "Dominion": London, England
  • 1985 October 18 - six nights

  • "Edinburgh Playhouse": Scotland
  • 1985 October 14

  • Oslo, Norway
  • 1985

  • Ontario, Canada
  • 1985

  • Begin of RAIN DOGS Touring Period

  • "Guthrie Theater": Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Mothers Day (May 9th?) 1982
    2 shows in one day? He performed several songs that later appeared on the "One from the Heart" soundtrack. It was Waits on vocals, Teddy Edwards on sax, standup bassist Greg Cohen and someone? at the drums.

  • Ontario, Canada
  • 1982

  • "Montreal Jazz Festival": Montreal, Canada
  • 1982

  • "LA Sports Arena": Los Angeles, California
  • 1981 August 24
    Played "Jersey Girl" with Bruce Springsteen & The E. Street Band

  • "Apollo Theater": London, England
  • 1981 March 23

  • "New Victoria Theatre": England
  • 1981 March 21

  • Dublin, Ireland
  • 1981 March

  • Copenhagen
  • 1981

  • "Uptown Theatre": Kansas City, Kansas
  • 1981

  • "Auditorium Du Plateau": Montreal, Canada
  • 1980 November 21 This was just Tom and another player on acoustic bass. Waits alternated between acoustic guitar and piano.

  • "Palladium": New York City, New York
  • 1980 November 18
    John Hall opened for the show

  • "Capitol Theatre": Passaic, New Jersey
  • 1980 November 8

  • Chicago, Illinois
  • 1980

  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1980

  • Toronto, Canada
  • 1980

  • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
  • 1980

  • Wellington, New Zealand
  • 198?

  • "Beacon Theater": New York City, New York
  • 198? October? 15?

  • "Orpheum Theater": Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1979/1980
    Tom performed the concert with a stand-up bass player only. The set was a baby grand, the stand up bass, a big beat to shit armchair and an old black and white Motarola TV set. At one point in the concert he excused himself to the audience, kicked back in his arm chair and attempted to tune in something on the TV. He had a full length black rain coat, scully cap, sun glasses and a beat up umbrella. During the tune "The One That Got Away", he kept strutting and slinking about the stage poking at the air with the umbrella. He also played a couple of guitar tunes including Phantom 309.

  • "Tomorrow Club": Youngstown, Ohio
  • 197? late 70s

  • Kent State University, Ohio
  • 197? late 70s

  • Squaw Valley Ski Resort, ?????
  • 197? late 70s

    mostly songs from Small Change --lamp post on stage--great sax drummer and bass player.

  • Begin of HEARTATTACK AND VINE Touring Period
    (The stage was set with a street lamp which he leaned against during the first numbers)

  • "Theatre Saint-Denis": Montreal, Canada
  • 1979 October 31
    With a band and props

  • Carbondale, IL
  • 1979 October

  • Long Island?, New York
  • 1979 October 17

  • Sydney, Australia
  • 1979 March

  • "Eisenhower Auditorium": Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania
  • 1979 February
    Performed a very jazzy version of "Pasties and a G-String" among others.

    Tom came onto the stage the first time wearing a bathrobe. He sat down in an easychair and started to watch a television that was on the stage.Obviously,there was no picture on the TV. The stage was dimly lit. It was hilarious and the show just got better!

  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • 1979
    Sang quite a few from Foreign Affair (including I Never Talk to Strangers), some from Heart of Saturday Night, and Small Change, and at least one from Closing Time.

  • "Austin City Limits": Austin, Texas
  • 1979
    Tom Waits opened with "Summertime/Burma Shave" and did this great bit onstage with a lone spotlight illuminating some gas pumps and Tom smoking and sitting on an old tire.

  • "Tulagi's on the Hill": Boulder, Colorado
  • 1978/1979 February (around Valentine's)
    Tickets were playing cards that had Tom as the King of Hearts.

  • "Shaboo": Storrs, Conneticut - near Hartford
  • 1978 May

  • "Harvard Square Theatre": Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • 1978 or 1979
    Mink deVille opened for him and was booed off stage, Tom Waits came out and expressed his displeasure and said he wasn't coming out any earlier, folks could just sit and wait.
    The stage did have a lamppost setup as a prop.

  • "Park West Theatre": Chicago, Illinois
  • 1978 October 20 - Leon Redbone opened
    (a 2-drink minimum nightclub-type of place)

  • "Paramount Theatre": Seattle, Washington
  • 1978 October 7
    Leon Redbone was the other act at this show. I seem to remember hearing that Waits and Redbone alternated opening and closing the show. This night, Waits opened.

  • Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • 1978 - Leon Redbone opened

  • Montreal, Canada
  • 1978

  • Toronto, Canada
  • 1978
    Tom instantly composed a song (and sang it of course) out of the Toronto Star (one of the newspapers).

  • Begin of BLUE VALENTINE Touring Period
    (With gas pumps)

  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1977 October 25

  • "Bogart's": Cincinnati, Ohio
  • 1977 October 22
    Back when Bogart's was a lovely hole in the wall. Waits was swiggin' from a whiskey bottle handed to him by someone from the audience.

  • "My Fathers Place": Roslyn Long Island, NY
  • 1977 October 10

  • "Paradise": Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1977 October 5

  • "Agora Ballroom": Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1977 August 25

  • KPFK Studios: Los Angeles, California
  • 1977 June

  • "Paramount Theatre": Seattle, Washington
  • 1977 May 14
    Theme for the show: A concert for Small Change (the ticket price was only $2.98).

  • "Post Aula": Bremen, Germany
  • 1977 April, 2 or 26

  • RockPalast, Germany
  • 1977

  • Hamburg, Germany
  • 1977

  • Toronto, Canada
  • 1977
    The highlight was his handling of hecklers. It was a small, old grubby theatre that the concert was held in, but it was sold out!!

  • Begin of FOREIGN AFFAIRS Touring Period

  • "Agora": Cleveland, Ohio
  • 1976 December 3

  • "Bottom Line": New York City, New York
  • 1976 December

  • "Royal Oak Theater": Detroit, Michigan
  • 1976 November 14

  • "Erikson Kiva" (campus of Michigan State): East Lansing, Michigan
  • 1976 November

  • "Faces Club": Dallas, Texas
  • 1976 October 24
    He was driving to the shows in an old Cadillac, and apparently at each date he'd hire a local stripper to perform while he played "Pasties & A G-String."

  • "Cafe American": Amsterdam
  • 1976 May 26

  • "Soundstage": Chicago, Illinois
  • 1976 January 9

  • "Palladium": Dallas, Texas
  • 1976 with Martin Mull

  • "Palladium": Dallas, Texas
  • 1976 with Martin Mull

  • "Ronnie Scott's Club" (co-owner is Pete King) : Soho - British debut
  • 1976

  • "Pipe Room": Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California
  • 1976
    He was playing in the basement of one of the dorm buildings there, a venue that held about 200 people. Tickets were $1 apiece. The place was packed, smoky, and dimly lit. The stage was dark then all of a sudden, we heard the strike of a match followed by the mournful sax lead-in of "Small Change." And there was Waits, in his usual bedgraggled dress, and puffing on a cigarette (an Old Gold or Chesterfield, probably). It was absolutely perfect.

  • "Capitol Theatre": Passaic, New Jersey
  • 1975 November 14

  • Begin of SMALL CHANGE Touring Period

  • "Troubador": Los Angeles, California
  • 1975/6?

  • WNEW radio station - New York City, New York
  • 1975/6? - "Nighthawks in the Studio"

  • "The Main Point": Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
  • 1975 September 25

  • "Craig Hospital": Denver, Colorado
  • 1975 fall - free concert for 2 1/2 hours

  • East Lansing, Michigan
  • 1975 - Jazz club opening up for Martha Reeves of the Vandellas

  • "Ebbet's Field?": Denver, Colorado
  • 197?
    Tom sat down at the piano with a rumpled piece of paper of a song that he obviously had just written which turned out to be an early version of Nighthawk Postcards which was filled with local references.

  • "Ebbet's Field?": Denver, Colorado
  • 1975?
    Dingy little coffeehouse with Tom and a Piano. Tom kept dedicating songs to a guy in the front row who was passed out leaning against the person next to him.

    (This could be another concert or same as above)...
    Opened for Roger (Jim) McGuinn. He was Solo playing either guitar or piano. He did almost a monologue between songs which were laced with references to Denver's skid row which was only a few blocks away.

  • WAMU radio station - acoustic
  • 1975 April 18

  • (studio): New York City (Nighthawks in the Studio)
  • 1975

  • "Ebbet's Field"
  • 1975 February 19

  • "Passim's": Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • 1974 November 10

  • "Orpheum Theater": Boston, Massachusetts
  • 1974 November 9 with Frank Zappa

  • Ebbet's Field
  • 1974 October 18

  • Cambridge
  • 1974 October 11

  • Speakeasy radio show
  • 1974 September 7

  • "Castle Creek": Austin, Texas
  • 1974?

  • "Venice Fox Theatre" - Lincoln Blvd (no longer open): Venice, California
  • 1974?
    Performed mostly Nighthawk songs. Opened for Bonnie Raitt.

  • "Circle Star Theater": San Carlos, California
  • 1974?
    Opened for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
    At the end of his set he invited anyone who cared to, to buy him a drink in the lounge.

  • "Kiel Auditorium": St. Louis, Missouri
  • 1974?
    Opened for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.

  • St. Petersburg, Florida
  • 1974
    Opened for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention several times during their 1974 tour. Tom Waits was solo with his acoustic guitar and maybe his piano.

  • Begin of THE HEART OF SATURDAY NIGHT Touring Period

  • Los Angeles, California
  • 1973 October 11

  • "The Boarding House": 960 Bush St. San Francisco, California
  • 1973 May 29-June 3
    Opening for John Hammond two/three shows a night.
    Admission $2.00 weeknights, $2.50 weekends

  • San Diego, California
  • 1973

  • In the French Quarter: New Orleans, Louisiana
  • 197? - Night before Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Review played.
    Members from the Rolling Thunder Review played between sets - Joan Baez, Roger McGuin, Kinky Friedman. Dylan was there but left when the others began playing.

  • CLOSING TIME Touring Period
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