Tom Jones International

Monday in the USA: 3rd Review Added! See below.

Below are two reviews from Tom’s show at Villa Maria Estate winery. It is, apparently, a lovely setting and the outdoor show was very, very well-received. They’re both very good, quite appreciative, but they both have all sorts of factual errors and I cannot understand why. Just sloppy work.

Review: Tom Jones at Villa Maria Estate

By Jacqueline Smith/4:00 PM Monday Feb 22, 2010/New Zealand Herald

It’s an old joke, but ladies are still flinging their undies at the king of love and soul, Sir Tom Jones.

Looking as nimble as his fresh-faced ten-piece band, Jones shimmied about the stage, throwing in some cheeky pelvic thrusts and Welsh quips along the way.

Opening with a saucy little number, Sugar Daddy, his famously resonant voice shook the vines with songs from his new album 24 Hours and nostalgic hits Delilah, What’s New Pussycat and She’s a Lady.

As daylight faded, the set took a moodier turn as he showed his introspective side: “I tried to write a song that would explain what music had done for my life, and to thank God for giving me this voice,” he said, before launching into a heart-wrenching tribute to everything his career had given him.

He stopped grooving and clutched the microphone as he sang his stirring promise to never fall in love again.

His elaborate band was stripped back to acoustic guitars for the third installment of Sir Tom’s performance – a seductive return to the old pub-singing days.

The crowd swayed along to He’ll have to go, Green Green Grass of Home, and Save the Last Dance for Me. These sing-alongs led into the strobe-lit disco finale, which built to a crescendo in a pulsing version of Sex Bomb and ended with the banger It’s Not Unusual.

And, with the mesmerised crowd left wondering what Sir Tom’s secret to life-long party charm could possibly be, he returned, still twinkle-eyes and twinkle-toes for a stage-show encore – Take Me Back to the Party and his version of Prince’s You Don’t Have to be Rich.

He thanked his fans and said he had had a ball, and their squeals and kisses — and the odd pair of knickers – said they had too.

For two more reviews (one from Monday night), a good photo and some video, click here to

Gig review: Tom Jones in Manukau

Where: Villa Maria Estate Winery — When: Saturday, February 20

By ROBYN DOWNEY/Stuff.co.nz

While attending a Tom Jones concert you could be forgiven for thinking you’d entered an arena of a hard and fast knicker-throwing contest.

The veteran Welsh singer rocked the Villa Maria Estate Winery last night to a loud, appreciative audience.

After a slight technical hitch initially, where the usually vocally-strong rocker and his backup singers seemed to be a bit drowned out by the musical accompaniment, Jones went on to literally burn down the house.

Starting with some of his perhaps less-known songs, the vocals soon won out over the accompaniment with the first of his signature numbers, Delilah, got punters on their feet swaying.

As he sang the last few words of the song, “Forgive me Delilah I just couldn’t take anymore,” Jones held the microphone out to the audience for it to do its version of those words.

Another crowd warmer was the rousing Mama Told Me Not To Come.

A young couple sitting in the second row were asked what they were doing at the concert, being so young.

The answer: “Because it’s Tom Jones, you know.” The girl said she had grown up with the music.

Other rocking numbers including Mama I’m So Hard To Handle, Help Yourself, She’s a Lady, Sex Bomb, Kiss and lastly Take Me Back To The Party, accompanied by pelvic thrusts, which were also acted out by the backing group, brought wild whoops and whistles from the audience.

Before singing Never Going To Give You Up, Jones dedicated the song to “the effect music has had on my life”.

He said: “I tried to write a song about thanking God for giving me this voice.”

Jones whipped up the crowd even more, getting punters to participate by shouting the question: “Oh yeah?” “Oh yeah?” “Oh yeah?” while flashing his eyes at them and swooning his female fans with: “Oh ladies, please!”

Media photographing in front of the stage found themselves dodging undergarments of varying colours being thrown to the rocker — first there was a pink pair that didn’t quite make it to its destination, then a blue pair. They were obviously brought along for the occasion because of Jones’ widely-known reputation, as they were not of today’s fashionable styles.

One young concert-goer, 22-year-old Ashleigh Marshall from Pukekohe, said she had seen the veteran pop star ten years ago at the North Harbour Events Centre in Albany and again in Las Vegas in 2008.

At least twice, Jones thanked the audience in his original Welsh tongue, saying “diolch yn fawr (thank you very much)”.

He was encored hard at the end, after his large back-up group also left the stage shortly after him.

Jones returned to sock it to the audience twice more with the incomparable hit Kiss and Take Me Back To The Party.

With his 70th birthday looming in June, the singer has “still got it”, both musically and personally, according to his wide age ranging fan base.

Here’s a review from Tom’s show on Monday, February 22 (remember, in that part of the world they’re almost a day ahead of most of us)

Tom Jones Michael Fowler Centre, Monday February 22

By SIMON SWEETMAN/Stuff.co.nz/2:23/10
Tom Jones comes from Wales. And Tom Jones wails. He is 69 but does not look a day over 67. He has a one-size-fits-all approach to dance; that is to say one dance move fits (almost) every song.

Imagine tagging both sides of an escalator that never makes it to the top – that is the move. An imaginary treadmill with Jones stopping at every chorus for a double fist pump; periodically pausing to ponder if he might like to lay an egg – the audience loves it, reacting as if it is a new move every time.

Jones is a born showman: knowing that Mama Told Me Not To Come and Hard To Handle are essentially the same song when they come from his lungs, he simply performs them back to back. By this point the crowd is eating out of his palm, you see Tom had played Delilah. A good portion of the audience would have been happy with a 90-minute version of this most tragic waltz, arms up swinging left to right, Telethon-style. Or at least an endless medley of that, cut with The Green, Green Grass Of Home and What’s New Pussycat.

Those songs did arrive, separately, in and around several songs (possibly two too many) from his most recent album, 24 Hours. But Jones squeezed in plenty of hits, also squeezing out a grin and a wink and several near-septuagenarian pelvic thrusts; or should they be called pelvic trusses?

It is impossible to laugh at Jones; you have to laugh with him as he moves through his versions of country, pop, dance and soul, very much making every song his own.

He is the Vegas version of Joe Cocker, you don’t need to own the albums but you cannot argue with the live performance. And the green, green lights really brought out the orange in his spray tan.

You Can Leave Your Hat On, Sex Bomb and of course It’s Not Unusual were all major highlights and there was a return for Jones’ cover of Prince’s Kiss.

The only thing unusual would have been to not enjoy at least some of this concert.

To see the video of Tom singing I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, click here here. It doesn’t begin to compare in quality to the last one posted. Hopefully, we’ll get more, better video. But, still, it’s nice to have it.

As usual, if you cannot play it, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.