Tom Jones’ fans expressed their nostalgia on Saturday as they took a trip down memory lane watching several of the star’s most iconic performances in honour of his 84th birthday.
The Welsh icon, 84, who has performed on Later… With Jools Holland several times over the past two decades – seemed in high spirits as he appeared on the show once again in celebration of his birthday.
During the show, viewers at home got to see several of his best performances over the years and some took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their joy.
One fan penned: ‘Fantastic set from Tom Jones, on Jools Holland to celebrate Tom’s birthday. Wonderful!’;
‘Thourougly enjoying the programmes on Tom Jones the evening on BBC2. #TomJones’;
Tom Jones fans expressed their nostalgia on Saturday as they took a trip down memory lane watching several of the star’s most iconic performances
The Welsh icon, 84, – who has performed on Later… With Jools Holland, several times over the past two decades – seemed in high spirits as he appeared on the show once again
‘#tomjones what a fu**in legend.’;
‘Me watching Tom Jones: Later…with Jools Holland (heart eyes)’;
‘Wow … Tom Jones with Jools Holland over the years #BBC2 what a voice even in his 80’s’
Tom Jones has performed on the show several times over the past two decades, from sharing his love of Jerry Lee Lewis with Jools at the piano in 2001 to performing with his band on songs like Black Betty in 2002, Give A Little Love in 2008 and Elvis Presley Blues in 2015.
Sir Tom also joined Jools, 66, and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra to sing in the new year at Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, performing with fellow legends such as Solomon Burke, Robert Plant and Jeff Beck to accompanying new female voices like Rhiannon Giddens and Celeste.
During the show, Jools also took a look back at Tom’s most recent performance in 2021 where he sang the track I’m Growing Old from his first-ever UK No 1 album.
It comes after Jools took to Instagram earlier on in the day to wish his pal a happy birthday.
Posting a couple of sweet snaps of himself and Tom on the show, Jools said: ‘Happy birthday this week to my dear old Friend @realsirtomjones.’
During the show, viewers at home got to see several of his best performances over the years including his most recent one in 2021 and some took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express their joy
‘To celebrate his birthday there is a Later special on at 8.30pm tonight and then Later… ep 4 is on 10.25pm all on @bbctwo then on @bbciplayer.’
Fans of the It’s Not Unusual hitmaker then flocked to the comment section to wish the star a happy birthday.
It comes after Tom said he ‘can’t believe’ his voice is ‘still working’ in April as he continued his mammoth world tour.
The legendary singer admitted that even he is amazed he is still performing after celebrating six decades in the music industry.
Tom, who kicked off his Ages and Stages World Tour last year, is set to perform in Dublin, Ireland on 9 June before heading off to Surrey, Plymouth, Southampton, Madrid and plenty more places.
Speaking to The Mirror in April, he joked: ‘Well, thank God my voice is still working. I am 83 years old.
‘I mean I can’t believe it, but it is true. When I am singing I am like, “How the hell is this coming out of me?” Honestly.’
He added: ‘If the voice was not there I am sure I would be going “Urgh, I don’t want to do so many shows” but I love it as the voice is still working!’
In April, Tom played at The Byron Bay Bluesfest, which attracted more than 100,000 music lovers.
He then performed at A Day On The Green in NSW before playing shows in Adelaide and Melbourne.
It comes after Jools took to Instagram earlier on in the day to wish his pal a happy birthday and posted several sweet snaps of the pair on the show
The Sex Bomb hitmaker continued to Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico before heading back to the UK in June.
Last year, Tom insisted he has no plans to retire from performing anytime soon.
The music legend admitted while he can’t dance around the stage as much as he did in past shows, he’ll only retire if his voice starts to fail.
In 2022, Tom revealed he’d had his second hip replacement surgery after having his first done back in 2017.
It came after he admitted he had to sit down during a majority of his shows, and could only perform around four of his songs while standing up.
‘The only way [I would retire] is if I couldn’t sing any more. If something went wrong with my vocal ability, I wouldn’t want to go on not in full strength. I wouldn’t like to shortchange an audience,’ he told Metro.
‘Being old, you can’t do what you used to do. I mean, I can’t walk around like I used to but I wouldn’t want to now. When you’re young you’re full of p*** and vinegar and you’re giving it plenty. Now I concentrate more on singing than I do anything else.
‘I’m still able to get up there and do it live. I don’t know, it’s a good question because I’ve never really thought about that … If people want to go and see that then fine.’
Tom added that if he was ever unable to perform in the future, he’d be open to the idea of a hologram to replace him, though he hopes that’s ‘nowhere near.’
