Live Review: Texas – 5th September 2024 – O2 Arena, London, UK
5 min read
At over 30 years into a career that is littered with hit records and sold-out tours, you would think there was little left for Glaswegian pop/rock goliath Texas to accomplish. With the unapologetic and charmingly foul-mouthed icon that is Sharleen Spiteri at the helm, Texas continue to be one of the most celebrated outfits to emerge from the UK pop/rock scene, and the frontwoman’s effortless ability to entertain such enormous crowds was on full and radiant display last night as the band took their rightful place on stage at London’s O2 Arena – a first in their career as Spiteri would draw attention to during the set as she belted out non-stop hits behind her glistening lime-green acoustic guitar.
Following a 30 minute opening set by KT Tunstall, a spoken word moment (an excerpt from the film Paris Texas, which the bands name derives from) opened last night Very Best Of Texas show in the capital. As a massive stage curtain drops, the band are positioned in front of a Texas canyon range being displayed across the enormous O2 screens and the familiar guitar pickings of breakthrough 1989 hit, I Don’t Want A Lover, flood the venue; Spiteri emerging from the side of the stage in a glittery black suit to belt through one of the bands most successful and distinctive career notables.
“Do you like my sparkles”, Spiteri would ask the crowd following a stellar rendition of White on Blonde’s Halo, drawing attention to her sparkling black suite, and telling the crowd “We’ve got 35 years of music to get through” before delivering a set that – with the unfortunate exception of 2003’s Careful What You Wish For (an underrated gem in the bands catalogue) and 1991’s Mothers Heaven – touched on each of the bands incredible studio albums…and then some. It was a night that would bring a joyful tear to even the staunchest listener and certainly struck a chord (or several) for this reviewer who has been a long time fan of the band from their first record.
More recent numbers including Hi and Mr Haze, from the band most recent record (also called Hi), and Let’s Work It Out from 2017’s Jump On Board sat confidently within the more nostalgic songs like the beautiful, piano-dressed cover of Al Green’s Tired Of Being Alone, Every Day Now, a rare appearance of Insane, which showed off Spiteri’s spectacular range, and a gold-glistening visual performance of The Hush’s (and my personal favourite), Once In A Lifetime.
As her talented band provided a tight backbone of instrumentation, guitarist Tony McGovern delivered a touching acoustic duet with Red Book’s Sleep, taking over the role that Paul Buchanan provided on the original recording. Spiteri was also keen to dish Tony up to the crowd through various anecdotes during the set including the story of spending time recently with The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins and a game involving kicking and catching a guitar pic. Challenging the seemingly shy guitarist to do the trick for the O2 crowd, it was Spiteri herself that managed to achieve this on 3rd attempt and getting a rapturous applause for the feat.
The gentle acoustic section of the night also included offerings of In Demand, which showed an image of Spiteri with the late Alan Rickman on the giant screens as a tribute to the actor who featured in the songs video, as well as a gorgeous solo moment for the singer who, sat centre stage with her guitar and following a story of losing her voice when once performing the hit in 2002 and being scared to perform it live again, drove through a pitch-perfect performance of White on Blonde ballad, Put Your Arms Around Me.
Always encouraging the crowd to take it up to the next level and to dance, her many stories that detailed moments in the band career provided nostalgia and sentiment to each of the songs dished up during last night’s set. It was the more up-tempo classics that really had the crowd working up a sweat as they belted back lyrics to the likes of When We Are Together and a black and white visual display for Black Eyed Boy; both easily the highlights of the night, alongside the bands mammoth signature hit, Say What You Want which showed the iconic songs video draped over the huge O2 screens.
As the night drew to an unfortunate end (I don’t think anyone at the O2 was ready to leave anytime soon), the encore came around, and as Spiteri re-emerged on stage wearing the famous leather suit worn in the video for the song, the band dove straight into the supercharged Inner Smile as images of the band over the years were cast up on the screen before the crowd was treated to a closing cover of the appropriately placed Mark James/Elvis hit, Suspicious Minds.
Firing f-bombs left, right and centre throughout the night, and with a reluctance to be heralded as a legend by a front row punter when comparing herself to the likes of Al Green and other musical icons showed fans just how down to earth, humble and real Spiteri is. This is a performer who is in an unfiltered league of her very own and with a talent both vocally and instrumentally that is unmatched by many – and a talent that sounds as strong today as it did the first time we got to see the band over 20 years ago. She is a performer of and for the people and doesn’t rely on flashy theatrics or over the top costume changes to propel her show. She can sing and, as she told last night audience, she has “a great haircut and that’s the most important thing”.
While we missed a couple of our favourites from showing up in the meaty two hour Very Best Of set (Getaway and Can’t Resist, you were solely missed), the night was an epic journey over 35 years of one of the single greatest musical outfits that the UK, and the world, has ever produced.
Setlist:
I Don’t Want a Lover
Halo
Everyday Now
The Conversation
Hi
In Our Lifetime
Tired of Being Alone (Al Green cover)
Keep on Talking (James Barnett cover)
Summer Son
Insane
Let’s Work It Out
When We Are Together
Put Your Arms Around Me
Sleep
In Demand
Mr Haze
Black Eyed Boy
Say What You Want
Encore:
Inner Smile
Suspicious Minds
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
