Tom Jones International

Moderator’s Note: It is, indeed, a sad week when the voices of Ted Kennedy, Dominick Dunne and Ellie Greenwich are stilled. May they rest in peace.

---

Outside Lands, held in San Francisco’s beautiful Golden Gate Park, begins tomorrow. The Outside Lands website page on Tom pretty much ignores his recent music. (On the other hand, if they don’t know about it, how can they write about it?)

One blog proclaims “Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder is the biggest star on Friday’s lineup. But guess who will have the most panties tossed in his direction?” (Of course, more mainstream press — as is expected — have lauded his presence, but I think this perspective is so interesting and am interested in seeing what they say after they watch him perform.)

And the cute Outside Lands Promo mentions Tom.

This, boys and girls, is the kind of crowd Tom Jones loves. It’s fair to say that to many of them his work is something they’ve only heard of, rather than something they’ve heard. So it’s a challenge and, if precedent is any judge, he’ll wow them. He is not on the most main stage but, rather, the second most important one. Pearl Jam, on the main stage, closes the festival’s first day right after Tom ends his set. But, since this is not a Tom Jones crowd, it’s great that he’ll be there. Just like his first time at Glastonbury, when he played to a crowd who mostly didn’t know him before and converted them to fans. Surely he’ll do it again.

Tickets, by the way, go for between $199.50 and $595 (VIP). Pricey, but Glastonbury tickets began at £175 ($283.58 at today’s exchange rate). It looks like some tickets are still available.

Youtube will be streaming the Outside Lands Festival live this weekend. Tom is on from 6:50 to 7:50 tomorrow night, but they haven’t said whose performance will be put on the live feed and there are at least two other bands performing at the same time.

To get a taste of TJ in Festival mode, come back here tomorrow for 50+ minutes of Tom Jones at Glastonbury 2009 — a newly put-together-as-one video that will be posted here.