Concert review
Evening News Arena, Manchester, UK - 10 April 2001
by Philip Lawrence

This was my second ever Texas concert. I went to Manchester in February and was so impressed I had to go again. Getting into Manchester the traffic was bad but we got there at about 6.30 and went straight in. Thankfully this time I was standing and we managed to get pretty close to the left of the stage. I was so exited about being so close to the stage that Reef, the support band, were a distraction whilst waiting for Texas. I only knew one song, put your hands on, but it was ok. Then at about 9 o'clock a giant transparent screen came down in front of the stage with a strange watery projection on it.Zero texas Zero was playing and after waiting for 2 and a half hours the crowd werev going wild. Then all of a sudden the screen dropped and 'In Demand' began blasting out. It was incredible. I waited for two months to come back and the atmosphere was amazing. It was a lot better than last time.(Propbably because there were a lot of people like me who had come back to see them again). One thing I noticed is that not only are Texas a brilliant band who play superb music, but they also put on a real performance. A friend who was not a texas fan before he came to see them admitted that they put on a fantastic show. After a few more songs (Black eyed Boy, Halo) Shar started talking to the crowd. "Anyone here tonight who came in February?" she asked and a lot of cheering followed."Do you remember I told you that someone recognised me as Elvis, in Boots I think I said" Well for those of you who don't know shar told this story in lots of places.And she must of said she was in Boots at some other concert because I can remember she told Manchester she was in Selfridges. So I shouted out to her "You were in Selfridges!" and she looked up and said "Oh was I ok ok...whatever". So that was my first ever conversation with Sharleen. Not a very interesting conversation but still, I enjoyed it.

She pulled out three guys from the audience, an arrogant b*****d from Leeds who got on stage and threw his jacket on the floor and walked straight up to shar and grabbed hold of her, with a smarmy expression on his face. And no I'm not just saying that because I'm jealous. Honestly. The other two were called Simon and Aidrian. Adrian was overshadowed by the other two really. Simon looked so nervous. And talk about monosyllabic. The only words he grunted were "yes" and "no".The other two started dancing with the backing singers and shar danced with Simon. I say danced, what I mean is Shar danced and Simon stood there. Apart from when Shar pushed him onto his knees in front of her in a desperate attempt to get him to move.After they'd finished the audience had to decide who was the best dancer. The bloke from Leeds got booed an Simon got a slightly louder cheer than Adrian. It must have been a sympathy vote.As the bloke from Leeds left the stage Shar gave him a last piece of advice: "Youv'e learn't a valuable lesson tonight-nobody likes a smart arse!". How true.

After all the excitment Shar asked the audience to be quiet because she was going to play a "beautiful love song". And she did. 'So in Love with You' with the stage in complete darkness, only a single spotlight shining on Sharleen.That was definetely one highlight from an incredible show. Others included 'Prayer for You' 'Guitar song and 'Insane'. I didn't think Shar would be able to reach the high notes of 'Insane' live but her voice was better than CD quality. And it never faltered all night from the first to the last song. She must be the most outstanding vocalist of her generation.

Coming towards the end Shar promised that she would play a few more songs if we went mad for the next song. "Ill make it easy for you though....this is summer son" and the crowd did go wild. And for an encore Shar came back on dressed in leather to perform 'Suspicious Minds', Inner Smile and re-appeared for an amazing version of 'Say What You Want'. During 'inner smile' I looked up at Sharleen dressed in leather about 10 feet away from me singing a brilliant song and thought "it doesn't get better than this". Then finally the lights went up and we began making our way out. A friend of mine who wasn't really into Texas said to me she was so impressed in the car. It didn't surprise me. If you ever get a chance to see Texas live take it, you won't regret it.


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