Sir Tom Jones to perform at famed independent venue in Leeds

In the past 50 years music legend Sir Tom Jones might have become more used to performing in the glitzy surroundings of Las Vegas casino hotels than indie venues in the heart of Leeds’s student community.
Sir Tom JonesSir Tom Jones
Sir Tom Jones

But on August 31 the 80-year-old singer is to play a special launch show for his new album Surrounded By Time at the Brudenell Social Club in the city suburb of Hyde Park.

With a capacity of 400, the venue is thought to be the most intimate that Sir Tom has performed at in the region since he sang at the Batley Variety Club more than five decades ago.

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The show has been organised by Leeds independent store Crash Records, whose owner Ian De-Whytell hailed it as a “real coup for us to be asked to set up a show by such a major star in a venue of this size”.

“He is somebody that’s been at the top of the showbiz tree for 60 years,” he added. “The idea of him playing such a small and intimate venue is a very exciting thing, I think, for us to be offering people a chance to attend. It’s something that we imagine will go very quickly.”

Tickets will be available to order from Crash as part of a bundle that includes a copy of Sir Tom’s much acclaimed new album. Mr De-Whytell said that full details regarding Covid precautions will be dependent on Government guidance, but he added: “We are as optimistic as anybody could be that if the Government says that social distancing rules are going to disappear in June this is going to be do-able for that time. Hopefully we will be living in a bit of a different world by then.”

In recent years the Brudenell Social Club has played host to a number of well-known names including Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand, The Wedding Present and Johnny Marr. Sir Tom, however, is the biggest star to have yet played there.

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“We’ve built up a bit of a reputation over the last couple of years for putting big artists in small venues for these album launch gigs,” said Mr De-Whytell. “We are one of only two events in the country that Sir Tom is playing. The record company has come to us. It’s the fact that we can facilitate these things and the labels know about the venues. Everybody seems to love the Brudenell Social Club, it’s got such a fantastic reputation right around the country.

“We have record companies trying to put a few things in there, whether it’s Elbow or Suede or Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott. I would say that this is possibly the most spectacular, eye-catching event that we’ve put on, and without doubt the most legendary performer that we’ve done an album launch gig with so far.”

For further details visit www.crashrecords.co.uk.

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