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By Jennifer Chancellor
World Scene Writer
It was a carnival-like revival of the surreal on the historic Brady Theater stage on Wednesday night at the Brady Theater, and Tom Waits was its swarthy-voiced ringleader.
The storied singer and spoken-word performer maneuvered between piano, guitar and maracas, and his band belted out tunes on clarinet, bass clarinet, doghouse bass, drums, keyboards, hand drums and more.
For this show, however, Waits’ trademark granulated voice was the ultimate instrument, from rumbling growls to falsettos and even beatboxing.
During “Rain Dogs,” he pulled his leg up and arms out, into a crane position and clapped his hands.
As he raven-cawed out the lyrics, “We sail tonight for Singapore,” the vivid blue, white, red and yellow spotlights blinked and burned against the crushed red velvet curtains behind him.
The near-capacity audience was set adrift into Waits’ intricate aural hallucination.
In between songs, he’d croak out salty monologues about the sound of corn growing to how sensitive eels are to alcohol.
Several times, he even gently shushed the amorous crowd, which often erupted into yells and chants for their favorite songs while he segued through his set — after all, it was Waits’ first time to perform in Tulsa. Ever.
It was also his first performance in the Sooner state since 1974, when he opened for Frank Zappa in Oklahoma City.
As if drunkenly running from a hell hound on his heels, he staggered into “Goin’ Out West,” claiming he had a devil on a leash.
Throughout the set, fog roiled forth in bursts as he stomped his feet on the stage. Sweat streaked his cheeks like tears and saturated his three-piece gray suit.He never faltered.
The two-plus hour set was as eclectic as his decades-long career, as he barked out poetry to tunes like “Lucinda,” “November,” “Black Market Baby,” “Innocent When You Dream,” “Cemetery Polka,” “Come on Up to the House,” “Rain Dogs” and “Lie to Me.”
During the encore, he donned a mirrored bowler hat and spun like a disco ball.
“So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips,” he sang along to his encore tune “Time.”
“I made a golden promise, that we would never part. I gave my love a locket, and then I broke her heart.”
“As the dish outside the window fills with rain / Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart / And pay the fiddler off till I come back again.”
Here’s a set list, submitted by fan Lisa Mackey of Tulsa:
Lucinda
Way Down In The Hole
Falling Down
All The World Is Green
November
Rain Dogs
Fannin Street
Trampled Rose
Black Market Baby
Anywhere I Lay My Head
Lie To Me
Invitation To The Blues
Lucky Day
Innocent When You Dream
Hoist That Rag
Get Behind The Mule
Jesus Gonna Be Here
Shore Leave
Goin’ Out West
Cemetery Polka
Come On Up To The House
Encore:
Make It Rain
Eyeball Kid
Time
