Yeah, that's right. I'm not proud...but I'm certainly not ashamed. A friend of mine came to town last weekend and TJ just happened to be playing only 20 miles away at Mystic Lake Casino. In an effort to make the visit memorable, I grabbed us some fairly-priced-but-possibly-lame tickets. Let's just say it turned out to be a combination of both.
Mystic (whose vibe the website doesn't even come close to...casinos are weird places) is an experience. It's essentially the biggest (and therefore only) casino in the entire Twin Cities and it's a crazy place to witness. I'll just let Doctor Gonzo sum it up:
This was Bob Hope's turf. Frank Sinatra's. Spiro Agnew's. The place fairly reeked of high-grade Formica and plastic palm trees. Clearly, a high-class refuge for Big Spenders.
...not exactly true (i.e. not Vegas high rollers) but the spirit of weirdness that exists in one of the only smokers' refuges left in the state is there. I forgot what that smelled like. It was just weird.
So, it's not like it was the most glamorous place to see a 60s icon. He wasn't as good of a performer as he probably used to be but, in his case, that didn't matter. His pre-show PowerPoint-esque presentation summed it up. It stated, simply, this:
The Voice: Imminent
His voice is what makes him an icon and, from this knowledgeable singer's standpoint, it's actually a fairly unique instrument. He didn't really have to be a good dancer or sing the latest, greatest hit or be an electric circa-1970s-Robert-Plant performer. TJ just had to throw down a few songs for sure:
-She's a Lady (listen to it if you don't know it...because you do already)
-What's New, Pussycat? (I can't believe this song hasn't been covered recently by Prince or something)
-It's Not Unusual (same as the first one...you know it even if you don't)
He sang some other stuff really well but that doesn't really matter. For good measure, here's the stage.
I didn't' know this was going to happen but, apparently, during a Tom Jones concert, women just throw their underwear up onto the stage. Seriously, there were like 2 dozen pairs up there by the end. Granny pants (huge, in this case), etc. Some guy even took his wife/mother/sister/girlfriend-or-whatever up to the stage in a wheelchair so she could toss hers on stage. It was crazy!
I feel like it would be flattering for a while and then just disgusting very soon after that. To be honest, when they threw them towards him he would feign surprise and then just dodge them (I wonder why!). Who has/gets to sweep them all up at the end of the concert, by the way? Does he store them somewhere?
Either way, not bad for a blog entry. At least it's exciting, right? He was no David Lee Roth but, damn, the guy can sing the hell out of about anything he sets his voice on. And his band (drums, bass, guitar, piano, 3 backup singers, 2 trumpets, sax and trombone) was amazing. I would imagine they're probably paid really well...
So, that's what I did with my Saturday night: I had a great time.
1 comment:
When people start throwing granny panties onstage at you, it's time to get out of show business...whoa.
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