If Victoria's Secret Is Crowded Today, You'll Know Why

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 23, 2004 4:27PM

The man, the voice, the panties: the spectacle that is Tom Jones descends on the House of Blues tomorrow night. Mr. Jones will be swinging the lead for four nights over the holiday weekend but taking a day off for a Thanksgiving feast (so if you want to see those leather pants look a wee bit tighter then Friday's your night, folks).

Now we (and pretty much everyone else) make our little jokes about Tom Jones and panty throwing and that "evil Spock" goatee he's sporting lately isn't doing him any favors, but in truth the man rarely disappoints onstage even after a forty-year career. While most of his 60s pop cohorts can be found playing the Star Plaza Theatre on the weakening backs of albums they made thirty-some years ago, Jones has remained relevant over the last ten years by recording with artists like Portishead and the Stereophonics and producers like Mousse T. (Few artists could walk the line of self-parody so delicately by uttering a line like "Sexbomb, sexbomb, I'm your sexbomb"). His most recent effort is a "roots" album with former Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland though it's only available as an import.

Of course, like Neil Diamond, the chops come with a healthy slice of cheese. Yes, there are more than a few pairs of panties thrown at every show but these days they're usually chastely tossed at the stage with the tags still on rather than extemporaneously removed from one's person in a mad frenzy of uncontrolled lust for the Welshman singing about a "cute little pussycat nose." Unfortunately, the steep $65 ticket price means that Chicagoist will have to console ourselves with a stylish Tom Jones light switch cover instead and hope we catch him the next time we're in Vegas.

By the way, does anybody know what it is about the Sunday show that has it completely sold out while the others remain available?