Tom Jones / Into The Ark @ Powderham Castle, Sunday July 15th 2018

It’s been a while since I’ve done a ‘big gig’ and this was probably the first time I’ve ever attended one of those increasingly popular ‘mega names in a posh place’ shows. A number of performers (often those with a history that dates back almost as far as the stately homes that host quite a few of these gigs) hit the road (or air I’m guessing) these days and with tickets at £40+ a pop and a capacity of several thousand punters (plus a cut of the bar no doubt) you can see why.

Tonight’s show was standing at the rear and seated at the front, separated by a barrier which created a kind of ‘them and us’ divide that I’m not used to/in favour of. Plus, of course, the 'standers' (including us this evening) were some way from the stage with no chance of getting closer meaning that you end up watching the action on giant screens. I’ll be honest it’s not my bag but after a pleasant enough set from Into The Ark (the legend himself picked them during a recent series of The Voice and had apparently taken ‘em on tour across the States) Sir Tom delivered the kind of classic hits littered set that few performers left on planet earth could match.

For many of us the songs that made up the bulk of tonight’s set are practically in our DNA, What’s New Pussycat?, It’s Not Unusual, Delilah, Mama Told Me Not To Come, Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay, Green Green Grass Of Home, Ring of Fire, Kiss...not all Tom originals but he pretty much makes everything he sings his own. At 78 and a bit that voice is seemingly as powerful as ever but with an added richness that comes from decades (six and counting) of performing. Of course as well as being one of the greats this dude’s sung with pretty much all of them too, what I wouldn’t have given to have been a fly on the wall when he used to sing gospel with Elvis after shows in Vegas, just one of the little anecdotes casually dropped into tonight’s set.

Thanks to GWR, who stop running trains from Exeter to Dawlish at 10pm...cos, you know, why would anyone actually want to go out in the evening eh?...we had to leave before the show ended...but we saw most of the set along with the ‘entertaining’ sight of a number of ladies of a certain age off their tits on Prosecco (£15 for half a bottle) flinging their thongs around in the air. As you'd expect the hits all went down a storm but for me the highlight was a fine rendition of Cohen’s Tower Of Song, lyrics and performer in perfect harmony. Great to hear another relatively modern Tom track (well, 1995's pretty recent to me)If I Only Knew too, I'd forgotten how good this was and the pace he knocked this one out at tonight was mightily impressive. YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



All in all the boy(o) done good.