Before taking on a heartfelt rendition of Ry Cooder’s “Across the Borderline” on Thursday night, Tom Jones recalled how Willie Nelson himself asked him to perform it at his 90th birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl in 2023. And along with that story, the crooner acknowledged that he knows that he’s not too far behind the country legend—who turned 92 last week—in age.

“I’m gonna be 85 next month,” the Welshman reminded a sold-out Ruth Eckerd Hall, later name-dropping Dean Martin and Prince as his birthday twins. “I got to know them all very well, so I think I’m the only one left!”

In the age of TikTok, we’ve learned that certain people who had angelic voices when our grandparents were kids have taken to lip-syncing on seemingly never-ending nostalgia tours. Others in that age bracket that are still out playing may have lost it, but still sound natural enough and prove that they’re actually singing—and just human—by failing to hit some notes every now and then.

Then there’s the guy who killed Delilah.

Sir Tom, somewhat hobbled and rocking a navy blue button-down, had a chair behind him for the entirety of his nearly two-hour set, which he plopped himself right down in upon entering from stage-left a few minutes after 7 p.m. But the dramatic set opener that was “I’m Growing Old,” with accompaniment only from pianist Paddy Milner, was just one of many incoming examples of how Jones’ baritone is still as robust and booming as ever.

He partook in the ancient ritual of bringing a Bob Dylan song to life when his entire, five-piece band kicked in on “Not Dark Yet,” and again later with the Bard’s less-recent “One More Cup of Coffee” (Jones’ take didn’t replicate Emmylou Harris’ backing vocals on the 1975 track’s original chorus, but was still a welcome, bass-heavy addition).

It didn’t take long for Jones to remind fans what a big part of his schtick was back in the day. Surprisingly, no granny undies flew onstage during an island-esque rendition of “What’s New Pussycat,” nor did they as he swayed his way through “Sexbomb,” which he would chuckle at the end of. Traditionally, it’s weird as hell to hear a dude in his mid-80s go on about having a sexbomb of a bod. But let’s be real: There’s no question that Tom Jones walked so future hot crooners like Michael Bublé could run, and this was sure as hell better than hearing Smokey Robinson singing about eargasms a few years ago.

A lot of it was tongue-in-cheek, though. “Didn’t I ask you to wait in the car?” he joked after a someone in the crowd yelled something inaudible.

It wasn’t all sexy-sexy times with Mr. Jones, though. He took kind of a dystopian turn on “Talking Reality Television Blues,” which chronologically explained how television slowly but surely ruined everything, specifically culminating with “The Apprentice” and how reality was killed by a reality star. “An old man with a combover had sold us the moon. We stayed tuned in, now here we are,” Jones spoke-sang, which got a better reception than you would think a song of that sort would get at a boomerific show in Florida.

After a salsa-esque rendition of “Delilah” (with Milner on accordion), an ultra-electric “If I Only Knew” saw Jones let out a quick but passionate scream that made you ask why the hell Roger Daltrey has been faking his own howl on “Won’t Get Fooled Again” for 50 years. Later, he ended his main set by paying tribute to “the late, great genius” Prince with a version of the Purple One’s “Kiss,” which Jones did with Art Of Noise in the late ‘80s, making every girl in the room squeal during the “women and girls rule my world” line.

Jones would then shuffle offstage and on again for a three-song encore that included a “Strange Things Happening Every Day” tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a sentimental “Green Green Grass of Home,” and a feeling of humility on the emotional “One Hell of a Life.” “And you know something? I still have a hell of a life!” He told the packed-out room.

While the body inevitably diminishes with time, Jones remains living proof that the voice and spirit don’t always.

He plays The BayCare Sound in downtown Clearwater tonight for a charity event benefitting Ruth Eckerd Hall’s Marcia P. Hoffman School of the Arts.