It’s hard to describe the awesome of Tom Jones.

At 72 years old, in a Nehru jacket and a George Hamiltan, hair no longer dyed but an elegant white, he’s still THE (sex) BOMB. Why? It’s in the voice, certainly. That voice! The belter that comes with a Welsh tilt. Of course it’s the voice. Tom Jones earned an OBE for it.  But the brilliance also comes also in the twinkle and smile of those baby blues, the way he looks up and down his female backup singers and churns up the charm. He’s just the right side of flirty for and old guy. It’s amazing but it works. Tom Jones is a DUDE.

It’s also the fact that even though some of the people at Flanders, Belgium‘s lovely festival-for-old-people Rimpelrock (translation: WRINKLE ROCK) were probably there the first time ’round for Tom Jones, he’s still RELEVANT to those of us who remember his collaborations with current popstars. Because Tom Jones is a star of a different era, but who still matters in this one.

Whether he’s doing great covers (Mickey Newbery’s “Just Dropped In” or Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song), or leading enormous sing-songs through “Delilah” and “Green Grass of Home”, or giggling deep and long when a single pair of underwear flies over my head in the photo pit and lands on stage as the final bars of “Sex Bomb” wrap, Tom Jones just keeps on keepin’ on. And for that we are thankful. \m/

For a full photo diary on Rimpelrock, click this very link.

Also thanks to Tourism Flanders/Brussels for my great day out at Rimpelrock and for my Belgium Flanders is a Festival adventure. For more information on Flanders, please visit VisitFlanders.com and to check out Flanders pics from bloggers including me, visit Instagram.