Show & Venue Reviews, What's New, Pussycat?
Please share your Tom Jones shows with other fans. Setlist? Audience? Energy? What was it like being there? We’d love to hear from you.
And, while you’re telling us about the shows, please let us know what you think of the venues where Tom plays. Clubs, theaters, casinos — Tom Jones performs in all of them. Which venue do you think is the best? The worst?
So that other fans will know what’s in store when they buy their tickets, please tell us a little bit about the venues you know. If possible, try to use the format below so others can tell at a glance what you think. The best venue will merit ****. More than one review of a venue is welcome.
Tom Jones At Terminal 5: A Nice Review From A Prestegious Paper & Great Photo Of Some Good Friends
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009There’s lots of video posted below on this page, including some posted earlier Wednesday. Be sure to check it out.
Jon Pareles — first string music writer for The New York Times — reviewed the show at Terminal 5 last night and he clearly got it right. The photo on the top, captioned “Fans of all ages turned out to see Tom Jones perform at Terminal 5 on Tuesday” is of three of the greatest fans (from left) Mary, Patti and Ilona. Both photos are by Nicholas Roberts for The New York Times.
Music Review
A One-Man Variety Show Who Can Still Get the Fans Screaming
By JON PARELES/Published: February 25, 2009/New York Times
Silver-haired and 68, Tom Jones was still the target of flying undergarments when he performed at Terminal 5 on Tuesday night. He drew happy screams when he ran a hand along his thigh, tossed away his jacket or widened his eyes as he delivered a risqué lyric.
Tom Jones sang selections from his latest album, 24 Hours, as well as hits like It’s Not Unusual and Delilah at Terminal 5 on Tuesday night.
Mr. Jones has sung pop hits, swiveled his hips and faced squealing crowds since the 1960s, when he emerged as a Welsh successor to Elvis Presley. After years on the casino circuit — and a knighthood in 2006 — he plays the sex symbol with ease and amusement for crowds that may still feel a tingle or two. Later generations of bands and producers, particularly in Britain, have periodically modernized his music, savoring his voice as both a vigorous baritone and an artifact of the 1960s.
Last year Mr. Jones became a singer-songwriter with the album 24 Hours (S-Curve), his first United States release in 15 years and the first of his albums on which he collaborated on writing most of the songs. He also joined the British wave of retro soul, using producers who programmed vintage samples into tracks that wrap some old-fashioned ambience around the mechanization of hip-hop. On the album he sings about love, lust and — in songs like I’m Alive, which opened the Terminal 5 set, and Seasons — the perseverance of a trouper who still has his old gusto.
His set at Terminal 5 was a one-man variety show, divided among the new album, old hits and songs borrowed from Frank Sinatra and Howlin’ Wolf. He brought a full band — with a horn section and shimmying backup singers — that hopscotched through eras and styles: big-band swing, 1960s soul, disco, waltzes. His repertory is one Welshman’s grab bag of American music, connected by his attentiveness to the ladies and the way he sings.
Mr. Jones’s strategic secret is that while he has a big voice, he applies it lightly, even glancingly, opening it up only at peak moments. It makes him sound fondly flirtatious rather than blustery, secure but not overbearing.
The songs that became his hits are an unlikely assortment. Some proffer romance, like It’s Not Unusual, Help Yourself” — a polka! — and She’s a Lady. Some revel in desire, like What’s New, Pussycat? and his 2000 British hit Sex Bomb. And some are fascinatingly morbid, like The Green, Green Grass of Home, a jailbird’s countryish daydream about the idyllic hometown where he’ll be buried, and Delilah, an exuberant waltz about a cheating lover and what may be a knifepoint murder.
Mr. Jones sang them all with knowing smiles and rakish aplomb. When he got to Prince’s Kiss, from the comeback Mr. Jones made in 1988, and the line “I know how to undress me,” he pulled up his shirt to bare his tummy. The crowd whooped its approval, ironic or not.
Tom Jones will be at the Palace Theater in Albany on Thursday and the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, N.J., on Friday; tomjones.com.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I attended Tom’s concert last night at Terminal 5 in New York City. Though a fan from the sixties, I had seen him perform live, only once before in November of 2007 at the Hilton Hotel in Atlantic City. That experience was somewhat disappointing because the venue was not ideal and Tom seemed not completely at his best.
Last night was very different. The venue, though not ideal, was good and Tom was fantastic. He said he loved the new album and seemed invigorated. He sang nine out of the twelve songs of 24 Hours, leaving out only Sugar Daddy, Seen That Face and The Hitter. He looked like a European count and he moved much better than he had the last time. His voice, energy and enthusiasm were very strong and the audience was very responsive. The rock club, which consisted of a large open space surrounded by two levels of balconies, was full. The audience consisted of many men and couples as well as women. Next to us was an older man with his adult son who mentioned that he had taken his son to Tom’s concerts since his son was 13 years old.
My husband and I had attended a performance where we had to stand the whole time only once before and we were not especially looking forward to that. We came at opening time and even though it was a very cold night, there were already hundreds of people waiting to get in. Inside, we stood in the tightly gathering crowd for an hour and a half and an hour and a half during the performance. It was cold. My feet hurt a lot but when Tom performed, he transported me with his warmth and sheer enthusiasm and playfulness as well as his amazing talent. He worked very hard to express the range of human emotion and sensuality in particular. As Tom demonstrates, sensuality is the right of every age, “pensioners” included.
After the concert, when the lights were turned on, I noticed the stage as the equipment was being removed. I realized how the space had been transformed from a plain empty warehouse, using only light, musicians, singers and the art and power of a singular voice and life force.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I love the way you ran the photos moderator. They deserve to be large because that does them justice. The fan shot is great and so is the one of Tom (that goes without saying). And you set the article up right also. Thank you. That’s why I enjoy this site so much.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I attended the show at Terminal 5. It was the 2nd time I’d seen Tom. The first was at Westbury Music Fair. I wasn’t impressed by the Westbury show at all. I heard about this show and that it was at a different kind of venue. I had been at one other general admission type show and was not looking forward to standing all night. Something told me that this type of venue would make the show more personal. I had the time of my life! I went alone.
I arrived there at 4:30. thinking I would eat out in the area. The line had already started. I saw other friendly women online, one I knew from the Peter Noone fan Club. I decided to join the line, knowing I would have a ringside place at the stage, unbelievable. We stood in the freezing cold till 7 PM, when they let us in. We kept each other company, and strategized our plan to get that front and center place. We did! I was surprised to see Tom with white hair, and that he has aged. I would love to get him into the gym and on a healthy eating and supplement program to de-age him (thats’ what I do). That lasted a few seconds. His voice, his presence… amazing! His body may have aged, but he is still sexy and makes every woman in the room want him. I was standing next to a 21 year-old girl who also was into him. He was full of energy, enthusiasm, sexuality, passion. The crowd loved him, and he loved the crowd back. I felt no pain standing there. I feel incredibly lucky to have had this experience.
The look in his blue eyes, his expressions.. he is the Tom Jones of the 60s and 70s. He made contact with each of us ladies in that first row; taking a note from the eldest lady. I am still walking on air. He makes you feel good. The venue was great. Tom was better than ever. His new music is just as amazing as his old hits. For me, this venue made Tom accessible. I was 3 feet from him. He is NOT an oldies concert. So, today, to my surprise, I found myself buying a ticket to his next show in NY at the Beacon Theater. 2nd row!! I CAN”T WAIT!! I always liked him, but now, I am now an official fan of Tom Jones. Age is only a number.
February 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Carol: Thanks so much for taking the time to post and for your terrific review! If I’d known you were going to see Kathy there, I would have asked you to say hi for me.
—Ellen
February 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Great review, Carol—I can tell you are still on cloud 9–wish I had been there with you! Sandy B.