Ronnie Scotts, London, 12 July 2005
from The Daily Record

IT may be two years since their last tour but Texas showed a select audience that they were very much still in business last night.

Previewing tracks from their forthcoming album, The New Book, Sharleen Spiteri and the boys showed300 special guests how to rock on a hot, steamy night in London.

Last week, the band played Live8 Edinburgh at Murrayfield, but yesterday they did a set at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in Soho and the Razz was there to hear the new material.

Sharleen had earlier posed for an exclusive Razz photo-shoot in London's Regent's Park.

The stunning Texas singer looked serene and happy as she relaxed in the brilliant sunshine.

At Ronnie Scott's, Sharleen, in typical high spirits, dared the band to take her mike if 'they think they're big enough to do the singing'. Kicking off with the new track Dallas (What About Us),the already sweltering crowd swayed and attempted to hum along to a song they didn't know.

The next track, Can't Resist, showed that Texas were still on top form as a guitar band.

Sharleen punched the air and danced, confident of her place fronting one of Scotland's favourite bands.

Dressed down in black trousers and a delicate black shirt, she laughed as she pushed her trademark fringe away from her eyes time and time again.

'It's gonna kill me. This hair is gonna kill me,' she laughed.

She took the mickey out of the band, saying one of them had tried to chat up some girls, which was very sad The classic Texas hits Halo and Summer Sun roused more cheers from the enthusiastic crowd.But the night was an opportunity for Sharleen to showcase her new songs from the album.

She played keyboards on the ballad Never Mind, followed by the lively Get Away, which is destined to be the first single from the album and is due out in mid-August.

Both Never Mind and Get Away are distinctive tales of love and the final song of the night, Sleep, a duet with Blue Nile frontman Paul Buchanan, was fuelled with so much emotion, I'm sure I could hear sobbing in the audience.

Tonight, the band are playing another exclusive show in Glasgow's King Tut's Wah Wah Hut.

If it goes down as well as the London show,you would be advised to get in early for a good view.

As one member of the audience at Ronnie Scott's said last night: 'It was amazing to see such a successful band in such a small venue


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