Doom & Glitter: A Tribute to Tom Waits
Down in the candlelit crypts of @paradisegreenuk, ‘Doom & Glitter: A Tribute to Tom Waits’ feels less like a gig, more like a séance, as @mrbrakedown conjures the Prince of Melancholy with drag-king swagger & a smoky drawl… 🕯️
Flanked by a fedora’d bard of the bizarre and a raven-haired burlesque goddess, the atmos is pure, uncut #fringe—with nowhere to hide but front-row centre. Waits newbies needn’t fear being outed; Mr. Brake Down’s off-kilter warmth pulls everyone into a hug of campy escapism…
It’s the #edfringe show’s first incarnation with a sumptuous live band— @the.madness.of.frills on the bluesy, boozy keyboard, @stevelincoln42 drumming a TellTale heartbeat, in sultry arrangements by @sianp78 & Mr. Brake Down himself, all gravel & grin—a dead ringer for Waits’ raspy, wry snarl on fan favourites like #ChocolateJesus & ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’…
It’s sweaty, swarthy & then there’s the #glitter: guest burlesque cameos that change nightly. Tonight it’s @tsarina_hellfire, the towering raven from New Orleans who glides from feather-fan tease into a duet with Brake Down, vibrating to ‘Pasties and a G-String’ like it’s scripture. Together they conjure something deliciously decadent, gothic & #glamorous…🪩
Keeping the ritual communal, a black bag of instruments gets passed around; what could easily slip into a #SesameStreet show-and-tell gimmick instead builds into something cooler: an absurdist, paranoid soundscape for “What’s He Building in There?” that actually slaps. Everyone ‘zeebas’ their own ‘zabbas,’ beating (in true Waits fashion) to their own drum…
‘Doom & Glitter’ (a cheeky inversion of Waits’ Glitter & Doom) flips the hyper-masculine underworld into a love letter to the strange & soulful, touchingly embodied in a cover of Somewhere from #WestSideStory. Somewhere there’s a place for us still…🥹
You don’t need to know your #RainDogs from your #MuleVariations. ‘Doom & Glitter’ works because it’s less about worshipping #TomWaits than baptising us in the weird joy of his world. Consider us converts. 5/5
#theatre #music #edinburgh #festival #review