09/27/2024

Tom Jones still has swing in sold-out Las Vegas Strip performance

Tom Jones walked to the stage gingerly, at age 84. Then he sang about what he feels like to be that age. “Well, my friends are gone and my hair is gray. I ache in the places where I used to play,” Jones called out Saturday night to the capacity crowd at Encore Theater. “I said to Hank Williams, ‘How lonely does it get?’ Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet.” A swell of a cheer went up, as Jones intoned, “I was born like this, I had no choice. I was born with the gift of a golden voice.” You know it. The song is Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song,” recorded in 1948, covered by Jones in 2014. The song, and its message lives on during Jones’ two-night stand on the Strip. The lyrics about Jones’ bushy, white mane hair are right. So is the line about him aching. The “What’s New Pussycat?” singer had been seated in his shows two years ago at the same venue.

“One night, Elvis said to me — heh, heh, heh — ‘You know, Chuck Berry’s in the lounge, ya wanna go see him?’ ’’ Jones recalled. “I said, ‘Yes!’ So we went to see Chuck Berry. We’re listening to him and watching him, and Elvis turns to me and says, ‘You know something? There’s the real King of Rock ’n’ Roll up there, right now.’ ”

Those in the crowd wondered what version we’d see, if there was any swivel left in those hips. Both have been replaced in the past seven years.

But Jones stood for much of Saturday’s show. His feet were planted, and the headliner held his place like a redwood with centuries-old roots, just swaying in the breeze.

Jones sang what he wanted, how he wanted, in his uncannily resonant voice. He was backed by a five-piece band of rockers, led by his longtime drummer-music director, Gary Wallis.

The Welsh superstar had been selling out Strip venues for decades, beginning with the Flamingo in 1968 and later MGM Grand, before breaking from 2011 until ‘22. But his time here even predates his first booking.

“It is great to be back here … In Las Vegas!” Jones shouted. “I came here in 1965 — to have a look!” That look lasted through several generations, a stack of hits as high as the sky and a mountain of undergarments.

Jones performed most, but not all, of his greatest hits.

He boldly refashioned “It’s Not Unusual” and “Delilah,” a fresh R&B-style take that strayed from the horn-driven originals. “Sexbomb” started as an idling ballad before Jones geared up to charge up the audience. He revived what he called “A tribute to the genius of Prince,” his cover of “Kiss.”

Jones also produced his tight rap on “If I Only Knew,” covering the ’90s hip-hop act Rise Robots Rise, another age-defying moment of verbal gymnastics.

 

Absent was “She’s A Lady,” his top-selling single ever in the U.S. at No. 5, in 1971. But the crowd couldn’t have minded.

Women still tossed unmentionables to the stage, three times by my count. Even at 84, Jones can’t seem to make it through a performance without a cameo from Victoria’s Secret.

Early in the show, the man seated next to me, the venerable hospitality exec and onetime manager of Muhammad Ali, Gene Kilroy, leaned in and said, “Can you believe he’s not in the It’s Rock &Roll Hall of Fame?”

I’d not thought of that until that moment, but the Elvis of the U.K. is a rock star who belongs in that hall.

Jones closed with a vintage Vegas story, from the lounge scene of a bygone era. Elvis had asked him to come over to the Hilton after Jones finished at the Flamingo.

“One night, Elvis said to me — heh, heh, heh — ‘You know, Chuck Berry’s in the lounge, ya wanna go see him?’ ’’ Jones recalled. “I said, ‘Yes!’ So we went to see Chuck Berry. We’re listening to him and watching him, and Elvis turns to me and says, ‘You know something? There’s the real King of Rock ’n’ Roll up there, right now.’ ”

With all of his own hits available, and even an Elvis classic on the table, Jones closed the night with Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” It was a rowdy performance, inspired by two kings, and a gift from Sir Tom Jones.