2022 Yorkshire Dates For Sir Tom Jones
by Northern Life
Fresh from the success of his brilliant 2021 chart-topping album Surrounded By Time, Sir Tom Jones has confirmed he will be headlining at The Piece Hall in Halifax on Sunday 10 July and Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre for a third time on Tuesday 26 July.
Tickets for all shows go on general sale via www.ticketmaster.co.uk at 9am on Friday 10 December.
With a career that has seen him sell in excess of 100 million records, Sir Tom, who headlined Scarborough OAT in 2015 and 2017, has won countless accolades including a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and a Silver Clef Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Surrounded By Time, his 41st studio album, marked new territory with a sonic landscape of outstanding musicianship and a vocal delivery that re-imagines a diverse set of songs of personal importance for the music legend.
The singles Talking Reality Television Blues, No Hole in My Head, One More Cup of Coffee and Pop Star were radio hits around the globe and helped Sir Tom score another UK Number 1 album.
For an artist such as Sir Tom Jones, with over 100 million record sales to his name, certain milestones loom large over the horizon and with those milestones come certain expectations. A few years ago, Tom’s record label raised the topic of his 80th birthday in June 2020. When you’ve enjoyed 36 Top 40 hits spanning five decades, a new Greatest Hits collection, perhaps accompanied by a TV special, somewhat suggests itself.
People start to use the word ‘legacy’ a lot and not, in this case, without good reason. If you want to talk about ‘legacy’ and Tom Jones, it’s hard to know where to begin. Musical calling cards such as It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat, Delilah and Sex Bomb barely scratch the surface of a career in which also takes in networked prime time TV shows spanning over five decades both in America and the UK, countless Las Vegas residencies and a string of Grammy, Ivor Novello and Brit Awards. But, after a period of upheaval, which saw him come to terms with the loss of Linda his wife of 59 years and spend time in hospital with a bacterial infection, Tom’s instinct was not to reflect upon his legacy, but further extend it.
Having recorded three hugely acclaimed albums with producer Ethan Johns (Laura Marling, Paolo Nutini, Kings Of Leon, Ray Lamontagne), Tom was keen to continue what was already the longest musical association of his career. An avid record collector, there were songs he had set aside for decades, waiting to reach an age at which he would truly be able to do them justice.
He remembered a visit from revered jazz composer and singer Bobby Cole after one of his Vegas shows in 1972, in which Cole presented him with a song called I’m Growing Old. Cole figured the song needed a big, characterful voice to inhabit it. Tom agreed: “I told him I really loved it, the melody of it, the chords of it, but I was 33! I just didn’t feel like I was old enough to do it justice at that point. I remember Clint Eastwood saying something similar about The Unforgiven. He had that story as a young man, and he held onto that script until he was old enough to try and do it justice. Sometimes you just have to be patient.”
True to his word, the very first song that Tom recorded after reconvening with Ethan Johns, late in 2019, was the Bobby Cole song. What was meant to be a run-through for the benefit of keyboard player Neil Cowley resulted in an electrifying performance and ultimately the take that you hear on the record, preceded by an evocative archival extract from BBC historical almanac Scrapbook, in which the events of Tom’s birth year are recounted. “I think that performance caught both Neil and myself by surprise,” recalls Tom, “because I had never sung the song all the way through and Neil had never played it, but that’s the magic you’re always chasing in the studio.”
Scarborough OAT venue programmer Peter Taylor, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, said: “2022 just gets better and better here at Scarborough Open Air Theatre!We are delighted to announce Tom Jones will be joining our stellar list of headliners next summer.
“Sir Tom is a musical force of nature and someone the audiences here simply adore. What a night we have in prospect when he takes to the stage on July 26 for what will be his third headline appearance here.”
“What an absolute honour it is to reveal that the one and only Sir Tom Jones will be joining us here at The Piece Hall in 2022!” said Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Trust.
“Sir Tom is a true music legend, and we are so privileged that he has agreed to perform in our iconic Courtyard. Our Live at The Piece Hall 2022 series just keeps getting bigger and better.”
Live At The Piece Hall 2022 dates:
Tuesday 21 June, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Friday 24 June, Nile Rodgers & CHIC
Saturday 25 June, Nile Rodgers & CHIC
Sunday 26 June, Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra Ibiza Classics
Friday 1July, Tom Grennan
Saturday 2 July, Paloma Faith
Friday 8 July, Primal Scream
Sunday 10 July, Sir Tom Jones
* More artists and dates to be confirmed
Scarborough Open Air Theatre 2022 dates:
Thursday 26 May, The Wombats
Sunday 29 May, Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Werq The World
Saturday 11 June, Crowded House
Saturday 25 June, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Friday 1 July, Bryan Adams
Sunday 3 July, Lionel Richie
Saturday 9 July, Elbow
Thursday 14 July, The Script
Saturday 16 July, Tears For Fears
Friday 22 July, Simply Red
Saturday 23 July, Westlife
Tuesday 26 July, Sir Tom Jones
Thursday 11 August, Lewis Capaldi
Tickets for Sir Tom Jones go on general sale via www.ticketmaster.co.uk at 9am on Friday December 10.
