As The World Burns Tour Riverboat Gamblers/Rollins Band/X Theater of Living Arts Philadelphia, PA 8/18/06 ”…a thousand kids, buried their parents…” — X BlahBlahBlahBlah… I could go on and on about how fantastic last night’s show was, how unbelievably on-point the bands were, how great the set list was…eee tee cee. But, I’m not going to. Last night, to me, was more depressing than it should have been despite the fact that I was immersed in ultra-rock the likes of which this century has yet to know in its newest musical offerings. It was like a requiem for the new millennium. You’ll understand why in a moment. Rollins Band , bringing back its line-up of 1993, (the first line-up I ever saw might I add), was the full-on rock machine I’ve known and loved for many years. Rollins , somehow looking five years younger than the last time I saw him, was pulsing with face-rouging blood and energy, savagely attacking the crowd like we all owed him money. Sim Cain , annihilating his drum kit, ...

Tom Waits Palace Theater Louisville, KY 8/7/06 Personnel: Tom Waits – Lead Vocal, Guitar, Piano Larry Taylor – Acoustic Bass Duke Robillard – Lead Guitar Casey Waits – Drums, Beat Box Bent Clausen – Keyboards, Percussion, Banjo Beat Boxing / Blues / Many Applause for the “Day After Tomorrow” It was probably an hour or so into the set by the time the piano was escorted off the stage, but it felt like five minutes. At one point, I leaned over to my fiancé and said, “Can this just go on forever?” Tom was now standing back up, ragged and awkward. At times, he would take his hat off and bow to the crowd, revealing a struggling peninsula of bushy hair that cut a path through his sweaty forehead. The red shirt he wore underneath his jacket had long turned a darker color, but the warmth didn’t seem to affect him. He would put on his toothy smile, under bite in full glory, and shake like a diabetic seizure. Once his feet were back to the stand, “Lucky Day” was next and then he went int...

Tom Waits Palace Theater Louisville, KY 8/7/06 Personnel: Tom Waits – Lead Vocal, Guitar, Piano Larry Taylor – Acoustic Bass Duke Robillard – Lead Guitar Casey Waits – Drums, Beat Box Bent Clausen – Keyboards, Percussion, Banjo Sweating Lines / Assault at the Hands of a Beer Binger / The Scarecrow Emerges The Louisville sun was oppressive. We were all lined up under its tyrannical blaze, victims of the unmoving, long as fuck, “M through S” line we were thrown into thanks to the last initials we were born with. Will-call tickets require a human filing system. Needless to say, I was quite jealous of anyone whose last name started with “Z”. I was however not jealous of all the Sooooo-phisticated cats dressed head-to-toe in suit wear. A t-shirt was too much clothing for me. A suit would’ve been a health hazard. So, my gang and I tried to keep our minds off the warmth by occupying ourselves with the next couple hours. We were seeing Tom Waits . HOLY SHIT!!!! What songs would h...

To Whom It May Interest, Due to an onslaught of obligations lately, and a dramatic decrease in free time, Letters From A Tapehead is going to go on hiatus for a little while. I should be back relatively soon though with some new reviews and essays. On tap are reviews for Sonic Youth 's Rather Ripped , Johnny Cash 's American V: A Hundred Highways and Helmet 's Monochrome . Also, I will be submitting my first concert review after I have the incredible pleasure of seeing Tom Waits on August 7th at the Palace Theater in Louisville, Kentucky. Soon after, Rollins Band and X are playing at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. In the meantime, to anyone who visits, thanks a lot for reading. I'll be back soon. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead