Tom Jones review – powerful voice, bold artistry … and still getting knickers thrown at him
The Welsh “voice from the valleys” has spent the past 15 years moving away from the hip-swinging Vegas-playing performer of yore, whose gyrations and double entendres had grown women hurling their knickers at the stage. Instead, like Johnny Cash in his autumn years, the singer has become an elder statesman singing soulfully about maturity and mortality. He begins with Bobby Cole’s brutally frank I’m Growing Old, to which someone responds “Oh no you’re not!” When one lady dutifully throws her smalls during, of all things, Bob Dylan’s haunting One More Cup of Coffee, the singer doesn’t miss a note as they fall rather disconsolately into the orchestra pit.
He’s 83 now (“I can’t believe it!”) and visibly not as nimble, but that rich, full-bodied baritone is as stunning an instrument as ever. He sings with a smile on his face and looks genuinely thrilled at the crowd’s roared appreciation and “whoa whoa whoa”s, suggesting he loves performing as much as ever and is savouring every second he can.
The setlist spans 60 years in music. His 1960s and 90s hits have been throughly reinvented. It’s Not Unusual has become a bossa nova number with accordions and congas. Sex Bomb begins as a slow blues. He sings Green, Green Grass of Home so powerfully and emotionally it seems to take on a new meaning altogether, the hymnal rendition sounding like reflections at a journey’s end.
Songs from his 2021 No 1 album Surrounded By Time feature prominently. It’s refreshing that an arena show by an established star can include such startling left turns as the psychedelic monologues Lazarus Man and Talking Reality Television Blues, the latter performed with hurtling images from eventful decades (JFK, Trump, the moon landing) flashing all around him.
The set is almost two hours long and the audience are on their feet for the likes of Delilah, You Can Leave Your Hat On, Kiss (his Prince cover), a celebratory One Hell of a Life and a seasonal Run Rudolph Run. Someone yells: “You’ve still got it Tom!” The Welshman flashes a cheeky grin and quips: “I plan on holding on to it.”
• At Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, 16 December. Then touring