Sir Tom In the News, What's New, Pussycat?
Here’s our news page. This is the place for articles and, we pledge, we’ll try not to post the stupid stuff we all run across once in awhile.
Another Story on “Backstage Concert Demands,” Another Mention Of TJI.com
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010Correction: When I wrote about Tom playing Korea, I said it was his first time. In fact, it isn’t. He played there 27 years ago. I stand corrected.
The makeup in the 70s glam days / © Lois Gooding
Tom Jones’ backstage concert demands revealed
Feb 21 2010 by Nathan Bevan, Wales On Sunday
SEVEN dwarves, submachine guns, a Bob Hope impersonator and a huge bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones taken out — it’s not unusual for rock bands to make the occasional odd request while out on tour.
But in the case of Tom Jones’ recent appearance at a music festival in Chile it seems the 69-year-old Ponty Sex Bomb’s backstage needs are far from the wild excess of his musical peers these days.
According to a South American newspaper, the Valleys singing legend is quite content to perform providing there’s two people on standby to iron his clothes and plenty of black towels to wipe up the sweat and ensure “the audience does not see anything dirty”.
The story in Estrella Norte revealed Jones, who they dubbed The Tiger Of Wales, requested that promoters for Festival Antofagasta supply him with specific French white wines, including a bottle of Chassagne-Montrachet 2008 exclusively from the vineyard Domaine Paul Pillot, a van actor Daniel Craig used while filming the 22nd Bond movie Quantum of Solace nearby, a shower in his dressing room at the side of the stage and a safe.
“Compared to the most mythical of documents that was the Van Halen tour rider of 1982 — a 52-pager asking for such things as herring in sour cream, malt liquor, K-Y Jelly and, most famous of all, a dish of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed — Tom’s requests are downright dull,” said Ellen Stirling, a US journalist who runs tomjonesintl.com, the web’s largest fan site dedicated to The Voice.
Meanwhile, one of the site’s subscribers posted her thoughts on the mystery of the black towels.
Click here to
“I think he requests these so they don’t show the stage makeup, not dirt,” posted Sharon.
But Tom’s whims are leagues apart from those of another rocking sexagenarian, the notorious granddaddy of punk rock, Iggy Pop. On one tour with his band The Stooges his bizarre requests included seven dwarves, someone dressed as legendary Hollywood comic Bob Hope and broccoli – lots of it, cut into identically sized florets and then thrown into the bin “because I hate that stuff”.
However, not even Foo Fighters’ tongue-in-cheek requirement for the dressing rooms on their 2008 Canadian tour to feature “cornish game hens” and “pirate booty”, could top Motley Crue’s backstage deal breaker.
LA’s wild men of hairspray heavy metal once made it clear there would be no show unless they were provided with a 12ft boa constrictor, semi-automatic weapons and, perhaps most tellingly, the details of nearby AA meetings.
But Dafydd Ieuan, drummer with Cardiff’s Super Furry Animals and sometime guitarist with Rhys Ifans-fronted rockers The Peth, reckons most bands’ riders are, like Tom’s, pretty mundane.
“They’re usually quite boring, most of the time it’s largely just alcohol themed,” he said.
“A couple of bottles of vodka, eight bottles of wine, 20 cans of cider. Oh, and bananas, you know, for energy. We always ask for a dartboard, but it never turns up.”
And former Stereophonics sticks man Stuart Cable debunked the rock myth still further.
“One that springs to mind was how Skunk Anansie used to ask for socks to wear in the showers afterwards so they wouldn’t get verucas,” he laughed.
“At the end of the day though, unless you’re superstars like U2 and it’s all laid on for you by the venue, it’s the band that has to foot the bill for all that stuff.
“People think it’s free but it’s not, it comes off the band’s fee — so stick a crate of Dom Pérignon on that list at your peril, my boy.”
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:49 am
Sorry Ellen, are you sure Tom does not wear any stagemakeup? I remember the first thing I thought when I saw him in Budapest was “OMG that´s too much makeup”. It seemed he had a lot of eye-shadow.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:06 am
Like I said before…I love these rock star whims!!! I don’t know why but there is nothing like this stuff to recognize a real star!!! Tom is a mega star and for me he should ask more and more!!! Too much humble!!!…well…I like him anyway!!!
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:21 am
The fact Tom is the only the most grounded, down to earth person in music industry who IS a megastar, suprises me that they can even make this a journalistic story?
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:44 am
S@ndr@: Yes, I’d even bet on it. No makeup, especially no eye shadow. Could have been the lights or fatigue. But no eye shadow. Pretty positive of that.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:57 am
I’ve seen old Tommy many times from the front row at the MGM and can vouch that he wears NO makeup. He sweats so much none would stay on anyway. LOL
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:05 am
He always looks well think he might wear a bit of make-up during interviews and tv shows. Anyway its the voice that matter and no make-up can hide that, ha.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
To change the topic a little now as I’m watching American Idol. I wonder if someone can get videos of Tom singing when he was twelve thirteen etc. It would be such fun to see if he was a star then! Thanks.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I also read that when Tom eats he gets what ever color napkins that matches his clothing . Black for black, white for white,
Thank you.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
I think that he would win at sixteen on American Idol!