The Beatles - Tom Waits - Aquarius 07/04

Dana Anderson4 said:No, he's Russian (Russia borders Finland, check my avatar)😁

It’s just a short boat ride from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, and honestly, you can't tell which city has more heavy drinkers.😁

I'm coming!! ME!!! ME ME ME ME ME!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

dustyscout53 said:I'M coming!! ME!!! ME ME ME ME ME!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Man, are you Billy?

banderas said:It’s just a quick boat ride from St. Petersburg down to Helsinki, and honestly, you can't tell which city has the heavier drinkers.😁

If you want to get how deep the drinking culture goes in Russia, check out this book:
Moscow - Petushki
Venedikt Jerofejev

Most of it happens on a train ride between those two spots, and they’re basically drinking the whole way. It’s a weird one—I tried flipping through it randomly, and it feels like someone is grabbing a drink on literally every single page.

Easily the most booze-soaked book ever written (I mean, P. Lowry’s stuff isn't exactly dry, but still...)
and btw, it's a total masterpiece.

See you at the bar.

👋

The recording session just wrapped up—sounds incredible. If you show up, you won't regret it. 😁

What a killer show!!!! 🙏 🙏 🙏

"Moscow - Petushki" is basically an endless dive into alcoholism 😁
One could actually have a conversation about a masterpiece like this... 😉

Jessica Wright said:I'm gonna miss it 🙄 Dammit!

To those of you who didn't show up, along with everyone else who bailed: just go kill yourselves. 😁

The Blues Brothers.

After getting wasted with Billy last night at my place, I can only say that I am utterly captivated by the man. He is incredibly talented, remarkably down-to-earth, and genuinely kind-hearted. If there is any interest, I will recount his stories here on this thread because we spent hours talking through the night 😁
Regarding the concert, I can state with absolute certainty that it was the greatest show I have ever attended in my life, especially toward the end when we agreed he would make a certain move if he felt satisfied with the Audience 😁
Kudos to the Audience as well, as I have never heard such an ovation anywhere in Aquarius. All in all, I’m staying in touch with him, so we'll just have to screw over Banderas and Austin Doyle40 to get them to call him so we can enjoy ourselves again 😁

Wonderful. I am absolutely thrilled.

I think someone should just merge that initial thread about The Rolling Stones with this one so everything stays organized in one place.😍
Banderas and Austin Doyle40, I am incredibly grateful to you both.🙏

Yay, what a killer concert!!! 😍

I was at the concert and honestly... I went through some serious emotional waves—you know how it goes 😁.

Here is the breakdown of how it all went down:

😲

🙂

😁

😍

🙂

👋

They are phenomenal—just truly, genuinely phenomenal 🙂

Maybe I'm the only one who actually hated the show. Honestly, it was just kind of a letdown. It didn't feel like some gritty American Tom Waits vibe; it felt more like a group of guys just trying way too hard to *be* Tom Waits. There wasn't anything unique about their style—they just took his songs and gave them a slight twist. I was looking for a real, soulful blend of that raw Americana grit and something uniquely their own, but they were basically just cabaret impersonators. They’d be fine as background music at some imaginary lounge, but nothing more.

It's like saying, "Hey, here's a tribute to The Doors, or someone playing Leonard Cohen covers"...

And the guitarist? You could tell he just wanted to be in a hard rock band. He felt totally out of place, like he wandered in from a completely different movie...

Look, I know this might shock some of you, but this was easily the most underwhelming concert I've been to all year. And believe me, I'm not usually one to complain.😢

Dana Anderson4, you don't know what you're talking about. You think Berry killed it while everyone else flopped 😁

The concert was a complete train wreck. Total lunatics 🙏

Man... 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏
I feel like I spent most of my youth just wasting time trying to actually make it to shows. What a massive mistake that turned out to be. Honestly, I doubt The White Stripes could even come close to topping this 😁 🙏
Banderas, thanks for the tip 👍

Thomas Diaz6 said:All in all, I am staying in touch with him. We’re going to keep pushing Banderas and Austin Doyle40 until they finally give us a call, and then we can just sit back and enjoy the show. 😁

Law 👍 Only you guys need to maintain the connections. 😁

banderas said:Dana Anderson4, you aren't really an expert here—you thought Berry was great and these guys were bad.😁

That show was a mess, just a bunch of lunatics.🙏

They didn't play badly, and I’m not saying the concert sucked—clearly it didn't since so many people loved it. For me, it just felt off because they're basically a carbon copy of Tom Waits. Just a clone. I've never really cared about technical skill; if I did, I'd be listening to Yngwee Malmsteen or whatever his name is. That's a whole other thing. And Berry is something else entirely—a rock n' roll legend in his later years playing his own stuff that everyone knows by heart. You can't even compare them using those metrics.

A buddy asked me: "Why would you go see Bulat Okudžav?" I told him, well, why not? If I'm going to see someone from Russia, I don't want to hear about American tariffs... just kidding, obviously, but that's how I look at it.

And as for Banderas being the authority on ratings, you should've seen that coming. Neither of us is an authority. Not Glavan, not Dragaš, not Jozo from Špišić Bukovica, nor any of those guys like Raja, Gaj, or Vlaj... everyone builds their own standards. This isn't my personal playground, and honestly, if people enjoyed it, then good for them.😁

The vibe was just incredible, honestly. Between the musicianship and their whole stage presence, everything felt completely raw and genuine, even if Billy was the only one actually talking to the crowd. It was a hell of a time.
I doubt I’d have had half this much fun watching Tom Waits live; he usually brings a much heavier dose of melancholy to his sets.

As for the crowd... those ovations after the first few songs were loud enough to be heard all the way in Florida (we actually showed up late). I can only imagine how far that call for an encore carried 🙂

Bradley Fowler74 said:The guys were absolutely killer tonight. Between the actual music and just their overall presence on stage, they owned the room. Even though nobody really talked to the crowd except for Billy, everything felt incredibly raw and genuine. Honestly? A total blast.

Even the guitarist had his moment. They were playing this incredibly heavy, tragic song—you know the type—and right after they finished, the set just kept rolling. The guitarist looks out at everyone and says:

A tragic combination doesn't always lead to a funeral. 😁

Regarding that whole complaint about there not being enough Russians—look, I didn't show up expecting to see The Rolling Stones wearing hockey jerseys, sipping vodka, and spinning tall tales in Russian. Dammit, they aren't a "world music" act. 😁

The concert was pure genius; The Beatles absolutely crushed their set... My deepest thanks to the organizers 🙏 🙏 🙏 😁

By the way, I've posted some shots from the show on my blog... 🙂