Concert review
Barrowland, Glasgow - June 3, 2011
by Jen

What an adventure - it always is with T|E|X|A|S. The unpredictable little things that cause excitement on the way and make it all the more memorable!

It’s been five years since their last gig in Arundel. Sounds too long to be true, but I think it is because we knew they didn’t split up (despite cynics trying to make it sound like they did).
Also, the members’ individual projects kept us going through the years.
Most famously in the public eye of course, Sharleen’s turn as a solo artist with Melody and the Movie Songbook, with Michael and Johnny operating behind the scenes. Tony’s band Kizzy Star supported her on the tour and we got to enjoy his full talents.
But for me it was Ally’s work with Treasure Tones and his recent new band Red Sky July that were musical treats and with them being located in London it was a pleasure to see them develop their sound :) Am excited about their album release this autumn.
I don’t want to dwell on the horrendous experience of Ally’s brain hemorrhage in September 2009 but his miraculous recovery added to the emotional tensions of this evening and the support he received from the audience through ‘Ally, Ally, Ally’ choruses and massive applause and cheering is a testament to his vital role in T|E|X|A|S ! He was definitely the man of the evening.

Over the past decade T|E|X|A|S Tours have developed into family reunions for a bunch of us Texans. There is a core group of about ten of us that are very dear to me. I go to many concerts on my own, but I don’t think I could enjoy it if it was a T|E|X|A|S gig.
I should mention that due to getting home from an awesome k.d. lang concert past midnight and having to leave the house at 3 a.m. to catch my 6.30 a.m. flight to Glasgow I was operating somehow on one hour sleep - fuck knows how! Barrowland’s wall helped me stand upright most of the afternoon plus loads of coffee and red bull.

Vicky and I started queuing at around 2 p.m., but it wasn’t until 4.30 p.m. that there were about 30 die hard fans happily chatting amongst themselves and trying to catch up - it was such a brilliant atmosphere and the glorious sunshine that hit Glasgow on this special day made the hours of queuing go quickly. ‘Normal’ fans didn’t turn up until 6 p.m., which was very surprising to us. The local pub across the street sure was grateful when we went over and all of a sudden, Alison was left holding up the front of the queue on her own where as 30 of us were enjoying drinks in the beer garden! God, it was good seeing everyone, I was blissfully happy, while my brain slowly went to mush.

At some point during the afternoon, some of the guys came out to go for a wander. Seeing Ally and Eddie made me well up with tears and I had goosebumps all over.
Finally at 7pm the doors opened and to the chorus of security trying to tell us “no running”, we dashed to the front of stage. The initial plan was to drift towards Ally’s side, but somehow we were split. Though it was ok, at least we represented the entire front row :D Like it should be, like it has almost always been - those spots should really be reserved for us anyways haha. The barriers are shoulder high, it is quite comfortable, helped me stand upright that last hour of waiting until the support act.
Ramona are managed by Sharleen and Johnny from what I understood. They sounded great, but their stage presence was very uninspiring to me. Apparently the singer is channelling a young Blondie, she bored me to tears, so I watched the drummer or just danced to the music without paying attention to the band. I was glad they were upbeat, I was on the verge of a breakdown from exhaustion.
By 9 p.m. you could cut the tension in the audience with a knife, it was sizzling with anticipation. We figured by Ally’s set up of guitars that they would start with I don’t want a lover. Even writing this now, the goosebumps are coming back!
We were right, they went with the old original of IDWAL and it was beautiful. It was only Ally, Johnny, Eddie and Sharleen at first. (Joined by Ross on drums) The audience went crazy. I have never heard such noise in my entire life, not even 60.000 Bruce Springsteen fans sounded this awesome! During the first three songs, you could hardly hear Sharleen sing as she was drowned out by the crowd.
Everyday Now and So Called Friends received such ginormous reactions it should be proof enough for them to play more old classics!!! Alison and I were singing at each other and dancing along, the adrenalin pumping through us.
When HALO started (by now with the full line up including Tony and Michael) the entire front row went into a jump marathon and we went off into our own little T|E|X|A|S heaven. I wonder every time how I manage to keep this up as I am the most unfit person, but I guess it’s just contagious and you are carried by the music :) Pure happy joy!!! I was struggling through periods of slow songs (In Our Lifetime, Sleep, In Demand and When We Are Together) as there is only so much you can do to dance to them, felt like leaning on the barrier for a nap.
Texas debuted a new song called The Conversation. I loved Ally’s guitar bits in it, lost the lyrics after a couple of lines and wasn’t entirely sure about the sound of the song. I hope it changes or maybe it sounds better in the studio? Definitely keep building on Ally’s guitar :)

Ally McErlaine was outstanding and deservedly received numerous ‘Ally Ally Ally’ choruses and drowning applause! He seemed to enjoy himself, watching the audience and I for one have never paid so little attention to Sharleen. I absolutely adore his guitar playing and it was so emotional to watch and I swear even Sharleen had glistening eyes and was overwhelmed by it all!
Her and Ally had a little acoustic set in the middle playing two more oldies: Prayer For You & Tired Of Being Alone. The latter with Eddie on keyboard. It brought the house down! There was almost no need for Sharleen to sing :) Sharleen: “I fucking love my band!” Amazing!
So does Johnny, I have never seen him stand this close to the front of the stage and he was enthusiastically dancing and rocking his bass, it was fantastic :)
The rest of the set list was old favourites and we went mental dancing and jumping to Summer Son, Black Eyed Boy and Say What You Want. Waving across the front row, Alison and I loudly singing to each other and pointing up to Ally during Inner Smile. The security of Barrowland were very supportive, providing us with much appreciated water and we chewed loads of gum and mints to not pass out in the sauna - everyone was soaking!!! It was so fucking hot!
They stuck with their two encores, Sharleen did a solo acoustic performance of Put Your Arms Around Me, getting some shouty bloke up on stage. Although he was annoying right behind me shouting drunk shit up the stage, it was very touching to see him enjoy the song itself and T|E|X|A|S in general. He was wearing an old Southside T-shirt.
T|E|X|A|S finished off the set with Elvis’ Suspcious Minds!!!

It is safe to say that every single person in the room including the band had a great time! If someone tells you otherwise, they are most definitely lying!


back to Concerts 2011 page

If you dont see a toolbar on the left then please click here