Tom Waits rejected by us?!?

This summer, Tom Waits is doing a European tour, which doesn't happen all too often. And Oslo was originally planned as one of his stops. But alas! he was rejected! How about that?! Isn't that just grand? One of the worlds most famous, and - in my opinion - greatest artists was rejected when he finally had us on his program. I want to cry.. The last time he held a concert in Norway was 23 years ago, in 1985.

Tom Waits is a bit particular about which venues he plays at. At his planned concert in Oslo, he wanted to play at the new opera building in Bjørvika, which he found suitable. But as the Opera needed to do some maintenance in preparation for Porgy and Bess, which will be on stage from August 9, and thus could not find any time for Waits to play.

The building of the opera has been criticized as a cultural elite-project which would only benefit a few. To its defense, the opera has as one of its objectives to focus on rock, jazz, and world music, particularly in the summer. In accordance with this objective it would have been appropriate to do everything possible for mr Waits to hold his concert at the opera. Waits is hugely popular in Norway, and him playing in Norway (after 23 years) would have been appreciated by many.

As a curiosity, I'd like to mention the "Tom Waits race". Every spring, hundreds of women aged 12 and up gather in the Frogner Park in Oslo to take part in the Grete Waitz-race, instigated by the Norwegian runner Grete Waitz. As a male alternative to this very healthy and wholesome race, the Tom Waits race was established. This race is mainly a pub-to-pub crawl in Oslo, taking part at the same time as the Grete Waitz race. During the race, the bars and pubs on the route will of course play mainly Tom Waits tunes.