Tom Jones can still deliver a sexy show
Sex-bomb Tom shared his hits — and his pheromones — with 2,000 screaming fans at Red Deer’s Centrium on Wednesday, proving that age is just a state of mind.
At nearly 68 (his birthday is on Saturday), Tom Jones gyrated across the stage like a young hipster singing “Just help yourself to my lips, to my arms, just say the word and they’re yours...”
He slid his hands down his still-svelte torso stopping south of his belt-line, and his largely female audience members shrieked their approval.
A few excited fans even twirled panties in the air as a prelude of what was to come.
But Jones knew from the moment he pronounced “Red Deer” in his cute Welsh accent, that he had the older crowd in his very experienced hands.
Before fully uncorking his Las Vegas-style sex-appeal, Jones ripped into songs such as He Stopped Loving Her Today, showing he’s retained that familiar resonant voice with its considerable vibrato.
His performance of this country standard proved that Jones is the absolute master of wringing every last bit of pathos out of his material.
He also did this to great effect on his own classics such Green, Green Grass of Home, the tear-jerker Here’s That Rainy Day (from Jones’s 1970s TV show), and most notably his over-wrought hit I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.
Jones even put a tearful catch in his voice for that hurtin’ song, proving he’s never more effective than when portraying a man wronged.
Which brings us to his other considerable talent — Jones is actually an emotive actor who can sing.
Like his ’60s counterpart William Shatner, he has a pure ham-bone talent for melodrama, which was amply evident during his performance of the iconic Delilah, about a murder over jealousy, and his steamy version of You Can Leave Your Hat On, which was popularized by the movie The Full Monty.
Jones coyly took his white blazer off for that song to still more shrieks and cheers.
This led to the flinging of the first of three pair of silky panties, which landed colourfully at his feet.
(Sorry Bill. Only in Shatner’s wildest dreams could he pull off Jones’s over-the-top emotion, his spot-on musicality and this kind of female adulation.)
Jones nearly brought the house down with his What’s New Pussy Cat? which was clearly a crowd favourite.
The infectious song was performed during a kitchy 1960s light show, and it spotlighted yet another of Jones’s strengths — no matter how often he has performed one of his hits, he continues to sing it like he means it.
Before launching into an extended encore for the wildly appreciative audience, Jones pulled out all the stops for It’s Not Unusual, throwing in a throaty growl and extending the whoa-whoa-whoa chorus.
That’s when the last pair of what looked like extra-large white underwear hit him squarely in the chest.
Being the pro he is, Jones never skipped a beat — he used the gotch to wipe off his sweat and then nonchalantly tossed it back into the crowd.
Now that, my friends, is a class act.
Contact Lana Michelin at lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
