Tom Jones - 9:30 Club - Feb 25 2009

Tom Jones makes another appearance at the 9:30 club and I just had to revisit my youth and take this one in. None of my music friends made fun of me as there is a certain coolness and respect given to Tom Jones which is also given to Tony Bennett. There may be a few more, but most of the others probably play Branson and not the 9:30 Club.

Mr. Jones had an eleven piece band behind him--four brassmen, drums, bass, keys, guitar, three backup singers with the male doing some percussion. The brass and singers took some breaks so it was nice to hear some songs in a stripped down setting, although the full band never went over the top and instead kept a smooth solid backing with Tom Jones always in front of the sound. I always listen closely to the sixtyish singers and find they sing quite well, but don't quite hit some of the highs and do the screams in their older songs. I think Mr. Jones has a few limitations, but not many as he still had a great voice with some guts behind it. I was worried at first as the sound wasn't quite as good out of the gate as it eventually became.

The hits were there, of course, and some newer material. I give him a lot of credit as his recent album has a majority of songs where he was a co-writer. That takes some effort even for people that were prolific writers which he was not.

So a good night of fun with a near-sell out audience that was a bit younger than I thought it would be (Ray Davies still had the oldest crowd I've observed at the 9:30).

Quote of the night: Tom Jones talking about a Howling Wolf song he played--"it was recorded as 300 pounds, but I'm happy to say on a good day, I'm only 200 pounds" ...and more ladies underwear flew onto the stage.