THE RESIDENTS of Áras an Uachtaráin and Farmleigh had an unlikely new neighbour last night, as Tom Waits came to town with his Ratcellar Theatre, the first of three keenly anticipated performances in Dublin.
The shows are the last stop on the seven-city European leg of his Glitter and Doom tour, and come more than 20 years after the Californian last brought his inimitable growl and dirty, bluesy tunes to Ireland.
True to his name, Waits made the crowd wait, but upon finally taking the stage he was rapturously received.
His gravelly vocals and theatrical stage presence were perfectly complemented by his tight band, which featured two of his sons, Casey and Sullivan.
Standing on a slightly raised platform coated with dust, and with old public-address speakers behind him, Waits managed to straddle the line between vaudeville and performance art, playing a choice selection from his 30-year back catalogue
For this tour, Waits devised rather extreme anti-touting measures, requiring ticketholders to present photo ID - either a passport or a driving licence - matching the name of the purchaser printed on the ticket.
The tickets cost €131.25 each, with a €6.35 booking fee, and the stringent measures came in for strong criticism from some fans.
Callers to RTÉ radio's Liveline programme yesterday said they believed they would be unable to use tickets that had been bought for them because of the measures, while others who had bought tickets but were unable to go understood they could not give them away or sell them on.
One caller, Gary, told the programme he had bought tickets at face value from a friend who was on holiday and feared he would be unable to use them. He said it was yesterday morning as he was preparing to go to last night's gig that he saw on the Ticketmaster website that only his friend, now on holiday, would be able to go.
Another caller, Olwyn, said her partner had bought a pair of tickets for her and her father. She later realised her partner would have to attend the concert as his name was printed on the tickets. "He doesn't want to go. They were a gift."
She had been in contact with Aiken Promotions and Ticketmaster about her predicament and was told that only she and her partner or her father and her partner could attend, as his name was on the tickets.
A third caller, John Fitzgerald, said he was a "huge fan of Tom Waits" for 20 years and had bought tickets "in good faith" in May. Since then, a friend announced he was marrying the day after he was to see the singer. Living outside Dublin, he could not now go to the gig as he had to go to the wedding.
He said he had been told the only way he could get a refund was if the concert was cancelled or postponed. He said the tickets were "like gold" and he would be "delighted" to hand them over to another fan. "I'd say there are thousands of people up and down the country who would love to go."
Aiken Promotions has said the anti-touting measures were insisted on by Waits and they had worked well in preventing touting.
Further tickets for the "sold out" shows were released last weekend.