Glitter And Doom

January 22, 2024 8:12 AM

Back in 2008, Tom Waits went out on a tour [Wikipedia]. Not related to an album, this was a tour all about the atmosphere. "Tom Waits - Glitter And Doom Concert Experience [1h46m] is a compilation of professional footage and fan films to reconstruct an entire Tom Waits concert from his "Glitter and Doom Tour" of 2008. I used all the released soundboard audio that had footage to accompany it to make a concert film that should make a good experience of what it would have been like being in the audience." Set list in video description.
posted by hippybear (19 comments total)

As a huge fan of both Tom Waits and massive video editing projects, my hat is off to those who worked on this labor of love.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:16 AM on January 22 [4 favorites]

Oh, this is amazing. I've always regretted not somehow being there. It must be amazing to see the great man live. Thanks for the post, hippybear!
posted by fight or flight at 9:27 AM on January 22

I was at that tour's Edinburgh gig. Looking forward to see if anything from that night makes the cut.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:36 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Tom Waits for no one.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 9:46 AM on January 22 [9 favorites]

Not sure if it's incorporated into this footage, but I've never forgotten the press conference that was used to advertise this tour.
posted by Gerald Bostock at 10:27 AM on January 22 [11 favorites]

I saw this show in El Paso & I wore out the t-shirt until it was threadbare & this was hands down the greatest show I'd ever seen.
posted by kylefreund at 11:03 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

I was at the Atlanta show. (Well, I was at two Atlanta shows within that time period. One at the Tabermacle,the other at the Fox.)
posted by Kitteh at 11:19 AM on January 22

This is awesome! I've also long regretted not seeing this live.
posted by chbrooks at 11:41 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

I don't understand how the live album of this tour skipped "Hoist that Rag" which highlights Marc Ribot making some Cuban guitar magic.
posted by zenon at 12:48 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

(a complete recording from the Fox is available at NPR)
posted by zenon at 12:50 PM on January 22

I was at the one in Houston and at the time it was the most I'd ever spent to see a show (we flew out from California) but it was worth every cent.
posted by deadbilly at 2:39 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

So he just used other people’s footage— did he credit those people?
Did he license or get permission? Is he licensing the music? YouTube makes money.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:07 PM on January 22

Thank you HB! Thank you so much! "Pin your ear to the wisdom post"

(Interesting post to follow the slow civil war thing. Waits is a prophet of the apocalypse!)
posted by kneecapped at 3:42 PM on January 22

That was a great show! Saw it in Oakland, CA...
posted by Chuffy at 3:54 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Drove 10 hours to Tulsa to catch this show. I think he deliberately booked dates in secondary cities so hard core fans would have an easier time seeing the show. So Tulsa and not Denver.
posted by Ansible at 10:50 PM on January 22

Oh, this is awesome. I was at the Edinburgh gig. Gonna book some time out to watch this uninterrupted.
posted by my-username at 11:41 PM on January 22

These shows were around the same time Leonard Cohen toured Europe for the first time in many years. In both cases, the tickets prices were unprecedentedly high, and I was down on my luck, so I decided to try to catch them next time. How stupid. Big, big regrets.
posted by cincinnatus c at 3:33 AM on January 23 [1 favorite]

In both cases, the tickets prices were unprecedentedly high, and I was down on my luck, so I decided to try to catch them next time. How stupid. Big, big regrets.

I never thought I'd see Tom Waits in my life. I fell in love with his music when I was sixteen; he was already legendary and since this was the days before the Internet, what tours I knew of were well before my time. I was 100% sure that I'd never see him live. When his first show was announced in Atlanta, I was making $8.00/hr as a barista at San Francisco Coffee Company (the coffee shop owner was originally from SF) and I scraped together as much as I could for a ticket. I had to use my best friend's credit card to purchase it as I did not have one. And I was at the same job when he came around again for the Glitter & Doom tour. I did the same thing. Both shows were amazing. I knew that no matter what happened in my life hereon out, I had gotten to see my patron saint on stage. I was broke as a joke, working for tips in addition to my meager wage, but I have never regretted the money I spent. Especially I feel confident Waits will not likely tour again in my lifetime.
posted by Kitteh at 3:52 AM on January 23

This is perfect for me, excellent timing -- I've been spending any time in my pickup listening to Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards. To see this show, with Waits singing live some of the songs, it's good as it gets.

I'm going to send this thread to a good friend, one of the purist artist I've ever known -- she never, ever stops creating. She can't. I've known only a few artitsts such as Amy, it's sortof amazing just to watch her be Amy. I've another friend who also cannot stop.

Anyways. Great show, thx for posting it.
posted by dancestoblue at 8:13 PM on January 23