Tom Waits - Times-Union Performing Arts Center, Jacksonville 7-1-08

This was, for me, the greatest concert ever!

However, I can’t give this an unbiased review since Tom Waits quickly became my favorite entertainer since I first heard him back in 1988. So, after 20 years I finally had a chance to see him perform.

My friends probably think I’m crazy for driving by myself four hours from Tampa to Jacksonville, a city I’ve never been to, and laying out a ton of cash on a nearby hotel and gas money – not to mention the $106 ticket price, including taxes and convenience fees. To me it was worth every red cent.

In fact, a dialog often would arise about the costs of ticket prices when high-dollar acts would blow through Tampa. I remember someone wondering if they should pay $100-plus per ticket to see some tired old wreck of a band play on a reunion tour. I would always say I wouldn’t pay that much money to see anyone – except for Tom Waits. To see Tom Waits perform, I would probably be willing to pay up to around $1,000 – possibly as high as $1,500.

So, this go round I got off cheap.

I was not alone, however, in my love and appreciation for Waits. The couple that sat next to me had driven five hours from Lake Worth, Fla. Later I spoke to two women who had traveled from Cleveland and I later heard that some folks had flown from Canada to see the Jacksonville show. Apparently, the Columbus, Ohio show, the northernmost performance was sold out in seconds with fans from Maine and New York to Indiana and Illinois scarfing up the tickets.

Tom Waits isn’t for everyone. (When I was still living at home, my mother referred to him as “that drunk guy.”) For diehard fans - people like me who dug deep into their pockets and wells of time to travel - there is no greater live entertainment experience.

At the sold-out Moran Theatre of the Times-Union Performing Arts Center, Waits didn’t perform all the songs that people wanted to hear – that would be impossible. His catalog of music is vast – spanning about 30 years or more. His last recorded offering alone was the three-CD set “Orphans.”

Personally, I wanted to hear “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis,” “Hang on St. Christopher” or “Time.”

Was I disappointed? Not a bit. I’ve never been more satisfied by a performance. Waits delivered everything I could have asked and hoped for and more. Yet, I want to see him again – and again, as his set list varies from stop to stop.

Other than seeing the concert film “Big Time,” I’ve had to use my imagination to conjure up what the magic of a Tom Waits’ show would be like. I almost couldn’t believe I was sitting there. It was a dream to me, which is why I won’t even attempt to explain what I saw, heard and felt. I only hope you will have the opportunity to experience everything I did.