THE popular saying goes, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", but Welsh crooner Tom Jones possesses no ordinary bark.
Jones' performance on Tuesday night at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre wasn't the straight greatest hits set many would have expected.
We didn't experience the hip-shaking pop heart throb that's renown for having ladies underwear thrown at him.
Sure, fans were treated to his '60s standards like It's Not Unusual, Delilah, Green Green Grass Of Home and a cheeky rendition of What's New Pussycat?
There were also slices of his '90s mid-life comeback in a blues-rock reinvention of Sexbomb and If I Only Knew.
But Jones' Ages and Stages Tour wasn't a dose of nostalgia.
He presented his appreciative (mostly baby boomer) audience with a clear picture of where the 83-year-old finds himself in the closing chapters of his career and life. It was a reflection on a life lived and all its trials and tribulations.
While it was never stated, it felt like a farewell.
I'm Growing Old was a moving opener. As Jones crooned Bobby Cole's vulnerable lyrics, "I'm growing dimmer in the eyes/ I'm growing fainter in my talk," the emotion was palpable.
It was the first of nine songs taken from Jones' impressive and modern-sounding 2021 album Surrounded By Time, which he proudly noted made him the oldest person in Britain to record a No.1 album.
When Jones shuffled across the stage he appeared every bit the octogenarian, but when he opened his mouth and projected his rich baritone, he sounded like a man still in his prime.
Elton John, 77, and Paul McCartney, 81, have both been famous visitors to Newcastle in recent times, but neither could boast the vocal performance Jones delivered.
There were no backing singers covering weaker notes. No short cuts.
Almost as powerful as Jones' vocal, has always been his ability to choose and re-interpret songs.
Bob Dylan's melancholy lament Not Dark Yet, was given a sprightly reinvention by Jones' five-piece band. Alternately Dylan's One More Cup Of Coffee dialled up the melodrama of the original.
The performance suffered at times due to Jones' lack of mobility, but he proved he could still think swiftly on his feet.
Mid-set an amp short-circuited and gave off a loud bang.
Without skipping a beat, Jones jokingly said: "Are we being attacked? Am I still here? I'm not dreaming, am I?"
The main set finished with a cover of Prince's pop-funk classic Kiss, before Jones returned to the theme of his mortality with One Hell Of A Life in the encore.
From there Jones lifted the mood with the African-American gospel song Strange Things and Chuck Berry's '50s rock'n'roll classic Johnny B. Goode.
Finally as Jones ripped into the legendary chorus of, "Go Johnny, go, go", several bras and knickers were tossed onto the stage.
And with that Jones bowed and shuffled off the stage. The old sex bomb still has it.
