Tom Jones in Vegas 01/23/07
I have a confession to make.
I’m married to a huge Tom Jones fan.
We were in Vegas last week for the snowboard industry trade show (well my husband was—I was there to relax and take some pictures), and we decided to try to take in a show while we were there. As luck would have it, one of my husband’s favorite singers was performing. Tom Jones!
His love for Tom Jones developed when he was working in a snowboard factory where they constantly blasted hardcore music all day. Finally someone would say “Put something else on!” and since the only other album laying around was a Tom Jones cassette, that’s what they’d put on.
We were in the 5th row. The theater included tables for each row to order drinks, so 5th row isn’t quite as close as it sounds, but it was close enough for us to be thrilled. I thought to myself, “I’ll probably never be this close to this caliber a singer ever again.”
He is so spot on. And he does such a wide range of music. I think my favorite song was one he said he recently recorded as a duet with Van Morrison (Van wrote it). My other favorite was one he said was on a recent release he did with a dance band, but I can’t remember the name of it. I’m hoping I can pick up the album, though, I liked it that much.
And of course, he did all the old stand bys. She’s a Lady, It’s Not Unusual, Green, Green Grass of Home, What’s New Pussycat?, and he closed out the show with Kiss. Yeah baby!
He’s getting old, but you’d never guess it. I think he actually has more sex appeal now then he did when he was younger, which is kinda scary because he’s 67 years old! (I don’t really go for the overt stuff, I guess.) He made some suggestive moves (with a smile that was almost like a roll of the eyes), which was to be expected, but I wasn’t really expecting him to dance as much as he did. At one point someone threw a gigantic purple bra on the stage, which was pretty funny.
A big highlight of the show was a blues number he did, “Git Me Some,” which was very suggestive, and highly entertaining. Unfortunately, the next song was a gospel tune called “Grandma’s Hands” that totally creeped me out.
Biggest surprise? How many young people were there, dancing and singing along with every word.
Posted on February 2, 2007, in Music, Radio.blog, Reviews. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
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I’m more of a Neil Diamond fan myself, but I’ve got Tom Jones’s album with Kiss. Sounds like an awesome show.
Tom Jones is very underrated.
Have you heard his early British stuff before he became kind of a 70′s parody of Sinatra? He was actually a big blues guy.
A few years ago Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese of all people made a show on the blues for PBS. They had all these famous British blues guys in the same room reminiscing about the old days and doing a bit of jamming. Until that moment I had never realized what Tom Jones had done in his past nor what he was capable of. My respect and interest in his music went way up.
I should add that Tom Jones was the best thing about Mars Attacks…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn8WX2ThvHA%5D
Tom Jones in Mars Attacks
Haha. I never made it that far into Mars Attacks to see that scene.
The end is even better. It has Tom Jones and Annette Benning singing with all these animals “It’s Not Unusual” as if it was bizarre music video directed by Walt Disney.
Crappy movie with a few great scenes.
i’m trying to remember my tom jones connection… my great-aunt in wales is (was?) friends with his mum? something like that…
sounds similar to the neil concerts we’ve attended. same ol’ cheesy sparkly shirts, but can that man move and sing! tom would definitely be fun to catch.
I like Tom Jones and Neil Diamond. Well, maybe “like” isn’t quite the right word, but I can’t listen to either of them without smiling.
Susan, I would have thought Mars Attacks would be one of your favorite movies ever. It’s just so very good.
Allison, I thought I was the only person in the world who really loved Mars Attacks!. I think Clark’s “Crappy movie with a few great scenes” is the general consensus on that one.
I’m weird about movies. But my lack of enthusiasm may have something to do with my son puking during it.
I haven’t heard any of Tom’s early blues stuff, Clark, do you have any I could post to the radio.blog?
Tom Jones is good. Reminds me of my childhood. The closest I can say to seeing Tom Jones is when I was a kid we saw Liberace in Tahoe. Ooohhhh.
I think I remember telling Allison once before that I thought I was the only person in the world who really loved Mars Attacks!.
You know, the second button is the key button. It literally makes or breaks the shirt.
Well, I love Mars Attacks!, too. Which might explain part of the reason that Allison and I ended up together.
It’s definitely the best based-on-trading-cards movie I’ve ever seen.