sir tom

An unexpectedly awesome time last night...saw Tom Jones at the Mountain Winery with Will and some good friends. Dinner at Pasta Armellino, dessert of some sinfully good chocolates from Plumed Horse Chocolaterie, then off to the show (after a quick detour back home to pick up the tickets that Stacey left on the counter <blush> ).

This is now the fourth time I've seen Sir Tom in concert (including once in Vegas, which was the best), and he is still rocking it. I had originally gotten the tickets back in June of last year, with the show being scheduled for September. But sadly, Sir Tom fell ill and the show was postponed until almost a year later.

It was worth the wait. It had the obligatory cheesy bits ("What's New, Pussycat?" ranks highest), but also some soulful and powerful moments (hardest for me was him singing "Green, Green Grass of Home"...that was one of the songs Dad had me play at his funeral).

The only downside to the evening was that it was frickin' FREEZING. Well, freezing for the Bay Area, which means windy and in the 40s. But when you are sitting on plastic seats at an outdoor venue on a windy peak after sundown, it gets quite chilly. Even the Welsh boys on stage were shivering and talking about the cold, which is saying something. We were saved by our buddy and his quick-thinking purchase of sweatshirts and blankets...he managed to snag the last two blankets they had. <grin>

Good night, good music, good friends.

The man is turning 78 next month...and he can still belt out a song.

It was a packed house. Even with the eight-month
postponement, the venue was sold out.

Yup, that's a sousaphone. Unexpected, and weirdly, it worked.

The opening act was "Into the Ark", his mentees from
The Voice UK, who also joined him onstage for a few songs.

Sir Tom flanked by Into the Ark.