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NEC, Birmingham - 15 May 2006 by Ralph It had been raining in this part of the world for 3 solid days before this gig, it was grey, misty, wet and damp....but guess what? As we walked towards the venue the sun came out and you just got the sense that this was going to be something special. I don't know if anyone was at T in the Park in 2000 (I think) when it rained all weekend and when Texas took to the stage to close the gig, the sun came out, and boy did they put on a show that day as well as last night (Must have something to do with the "Summer Sun" Got into the arena in time for a couple of beers and a look at the merchandise and was a bit disappointed that there were no Red Book Souvenir programmes :0( There was a good crowd in the Arena but I had the 2 village idiots next to me who decided to talk through the first 2 numbers and then remarked how surprised they were when Shar started to talk as they thought she was AMERICAN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I was just about to straddle 6 rows of seats and join some friends who were just in front of me when Laurel and Hardy next to me realised that they were listening to something quite special and bounced around like the rest of us for the rest of the concert. I spoke to Shar briefly after the concert and told her that like a bottle of fine wine she is improving with age and that her performance had been awesome so she gave me a wee hug and told me I was lovely (blush). I sincerely meant what I said though, this was an outstanding performance by Shar and the boys in all respects, musically, vocally and for pure entertainment value. I have been to some gigs where the lead singer of the band just isn't funny or rabbits on for hours when you actually went to see them sing. There was some great banter between Shar and Michael who gave as good as he got and even managed to sing 2 songs despite Shars disbelief that he knew the words to the Lion King despite the fact he did not have kids. The face off between Michael and Eddie is fantastic, Bowie Vs Elton with Michael being a huge Elton fan and Shar suggesting that if he continues to "Stalk" him he may end up getting a "Seeing to" in a dark alley one day (I cant imagine what she means ;p ) Michael sang Rocket Man in the Face off and Eddie sang a really good Bowie song but for the life of me I cant remember what it was. Shar decided that the Cheers for Eddie were louder (despite 2 re-counts) and Michael "threatening" a member of the audience who corrected Shar when she said it was now 3-1 to Eddie. I did not keep track of the Playlist but save to say they played all of their "biggies" and basically stuck to more or les the same playlist as Glasgow, Manchester and Cardiff although I noticed that Carnival Girl was played at one of them but not in Birmingham. 2 encores at the end with Shar in "that white suit", wow and some more banter with crowd where she suggested that men were no good at a couple of things, one of them being singing and the other.......ohh never mind....she was wrong on both counts :0) Left the concert feeling that I could have watched them on stage all night but happy that I had experienced the best gig that I have ever been to, it really was that good. And to top it all off Shar, Ally and Michael come out and talk to a handful of us who were still hanging around. Where else would you get a band of this class who are born musicians and entertainers, do not have huge egos, come out and talk to the fans, join in discussions on the TID message board and write a tour diary (Oh by the way, Michael is posting more when he gets the chance, he is rather busy at the moment :0) but says he is loving the feedback he is getting) LONG LIVE TEXAS AND ROLL ON NEWMARKET 4th AUGUST 2006 |