Texas wasn’t a band that was really on my radar to see live. But when I saw they were playing at my local racecourse and the weather forecast was looking good, I thought, why not? After the show, I was only sorry that I’d waited so long.
Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri is fantastic. At 57, her voice doesn’t seem to have aged at all, and unlike some younger performers I’ve seen, she has a brilliant line in chat and engagement with the audience. Of course, the Scot is as straight-talking as ever. She doesn’t hold back on swearing and she was happy to call out racegoers in the fancy balcony seats for not joining in the fun.
And fun it was. I’d forgotten just how many brilliant songs Texas have recorded. Right from the start, I was singing along and I didn’t stop. The set kicked off with I Don’t Want A Lover, quickly followed by Halo. Then came their excellent cover of the Northern Soul classic Keep On Talking. Dancing was strongly encouraged, though I may have been the only one busting out some old school Northern Soul moves!
Other hits included Summer Son, When We Are Together, Black Eyed Boy and an excellent audience participation version of Say What You Want. There was an encore too, but I won’t say what it was. A woman in the audience shouted it out as Spiteri was building up to the song. To say the singer was not impressed is putting it mildly!
As we made our way out, my friend and I both said it was one of the best gigs we’ve been to. And we’ve seen a host of big-name artists at venues like Wembley and the O2.
At the bus stop, we got chatting to a Dutch couple who had planned a week’s holiday in England around seeing Texas that night. We felt slightly embarrassed by our last-minute ticket purchase and five-minute bus ride to the venue! But we’ll definitely be looking for other occasions to see Texas live and will be prepared to travel much further.
Dates for future gigs are on the Texas website. There aren’t many currently listed, but hopefully there will be many more to come.
For more posts about music, theatre and other cultural activities, visit the Arts section of my blog.