Texas

This is Texas' 25^th anniversary year, where the hell have those years gone??

Tonight is a celebration of all those years. A back catalogue to die for, with 11'ish albums over the 25 year period, including recent release '25'. (Which, by the way does contain four new songs lol).

I wonder if Texas thought they would stand the test of time when they released first album 'Southside' back in 1989, 25 years is a long time in the music business, and to be honest they've come back with a vengeance.

The hiatus Texas had back in 2008, which lasted till 2013, which saw Spiteri go it alone with the release of 'Melody' and 'The Movie's Songbook' and saw Ally McErlaine suffer a brain aneurysm, but luckily he's back and fighting fit, a bit like 'Rocky'. (Not here tonight though he's in Skye on a walking holiday!).

2013 saw the reunion of Texas and the release of 'The Conversation', which peaked at number 4 on the UK album charts.

And here we are back to the present day, '25' is a milestone anywhere really, especially in one business, let alone the music business. The current offering is a celebration of their milestone, with 32 tracks on the deluxe version of the album. Quite a few of the songs have been reworked and re-recorded which gives the material a new twist and new edge to the 'Texas' sound.

Tonight is billed as an acoustic show with a Q&A thrown in the mix, Thursday saw the tour kick off in Glasgow at King Tuts, a Daily Mail exclusive, were tickets sold out in minutes.

38 dates, including festivals and Europe, but the UK leg is 15 dates.

No support tonight, good job we got there early as the show kicked off at 20.00 hours, (give or take ten mins) two segments of 45 minutes with a granny toilet beak in between.

Mostly over 40's in the audience, a maturer crowd, with quite a large proportion of Lesbian's in the audience, to which Spiteri plays up to. The gig looked sold out apart from a few odd seats dotted about here and there, and I guess people thought the kick would start at 21.00, this probably explains why people were coming in to the hall late, especially after song three and four, to which Spiteri picked up on, saying, "You've missed three songs already, was the traffic bad?"

Merchandise tonight was a bit paltry, if you're a die-hard Texas fan you'll have already bought everything with the release of the 25 limited edition box set. The only good value items were the T-shirts, just standard one's, reasonably good value at £16 each.

20.10 and Spiteri took to the no frills stage, just her and her acoustic guitar and the set began with current Texas single 'Start A Family', a truly wonderful rendition and it showcased her epic voice.

The rest of the band joined in thereafter to go back to 1989 and 'I Don't want a Lover' and the first Texas song that went in straight at No 7, when Spiteri was a mere kid. The first half of the set was about stripped back versions of the songs which was really cool and highlighted why the band have been around for 25 years.

Lots of heckles throughout the show, "Love you Sharleen", "How am Ya Bab", Spiteri just lapped it up all through the night.

Throughout the night we were treated to stories about the songs and why/how they were written, it was a breath of fresh air to be honest and bloody hilarious at times.

Classic Texas track 'Sleep' was a little gem and showed what vocal capability both Spiteri and lead guitarist Tony have, original version was released with Paul Buchanan and is one of Spiteri's favourite duets from the 25 year career.

Again heckling, rather loud, one women shouted can I come down the front and party like I have for the last twenty years, Spiteri replied "Yeah, come on", then we were treated to a story of how the women had loved Spiteri for twenty years and always been on the front row at every Birmingham gig and how she had been with Spiteri more years than her current girlfriend, hugs and kisses all round from Spiteri, but this seemed to open the flood gates for any waif and stay, even much so that a rather inebriated women on crutches, very worse for wear just stood there and waved one crutch in the air, Spiteri invited her on stage to sit at the side of the stage for the first section of the set, BIG MISTAKE!! Within minutes there was wine all over the stage and equipment, not mentioning all over Spiteri. That women was one lucky lady and she probably won't remember anything today!

After the hilarity of the drunken women Texas were on a flyer: 'Every Day Now', 'Superfly', 'In Our Lifetime' and the epic 'Guitar Song'.

Few questions from the floor – Which did Sharleen prefer - being Elvis or Richard Gere? She said she loved playing Elvis, but did love wearing the uniform when playing Gere.

Which song over the last 25 years do you wish you had written? 'Back to Black' by Amy Winehouse, Spiteri sang a few lines from the song which was very touching.

Back to the songs 'Gonna Make You wonder' and then a magical moment of Spiteri on the piano with a wonderful rendition of 'So Tired of Being Alone'.

Last song of the first set was 'In Demand' and a story of when they went to Miami to record, and how previously Spiteri had met Madonna on a night out in London only to be told that producer Dallas Green was always late or never turned up to recording sessions. This came true as Green was three hours late, much to Spiteri's disgust and the Scot let rip, subsequently they remain very good friends all these years after.

After the loo break we were treated to another ten songs, but with the brass section, it was immense and Texas went from hit after hit, the audience lapping it all up. Spiteri was on form and seemed in her element al through the night, happy to pose for selfies and hug fans which was a nice touch.

A rendition of Stevie Wonders Happy Birthday for a couple of fans on the front row, which was stupendous, then straight into 'Halo', 'When We Are Together' and then a couple of songs from Spiteri's solo album Melody. 'All The Times I've Cried', which I still have ringing around my head this morning, which means it was bloody good and then 'Stop'. Epic versions. You realise how good the band are together and how amazing Spiteri's voice is and how it's stood the test of time over the last 25 years.

The classics were coming thick and fast now, the audience where hardly off their feet, boogying on down. 'Say What You Want', 'Summer Son' and the seriously amazing 'Black Eyed Boy'.

Tonight was one of the funniest gigs I've ever been too, I have never laughed so much in my life. I wouldn't have missed this gig for the world, a true reflection of how good Texas are live and how epic Spiteri's voice is.

Definitely one show not to be missed.