Concert Review :
Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden - 15 March 2001
by Mats Yngwe
A night to remember
After a an awful 300 miles travelling on a slow bus (thanks to my best
friend Linda for coming along, I would have never made it without her, love
you girl), some sneaking around the tour buses, eavesdropping on the band
during sound check, barley surviving the annoying warm-up band Reef and
some really looooooong preparations, finally the band of bands entered the
stage. TEXAS!!
The first thing I noticed when Shar came out on stage was that she had a
bandage on her right hand, that didn't stop her from performing in anyway
though. And also how short she was. I was amazed. I had never thought of
that before. And as Shar pointed out in the beginning: "you should be lucky
Stockholm, you're the first stop in Europe", and believe me, we were
lucky.
During the first couple of songs I think I entered some kind of fantasy
state. I was paralysed, I just stood there, gazing at the stage. I don't
think I knew what went on. I felt like I was in a music video or something.
It was crazy. After a short while I snapped out of it. It was Texas, I
stood in the front row looking at my favourite band Texas. The following 90
minutes I totally lost it. I was so caught up with the whole experience
that I think my sanity left my body for about two hours or something. I
have never yelled, jumped or clapped that much in my entire 19 year old
life. It was great.
I was a bit disappointed at the audience at first. When Reef played, barley
60% of the venue was filled. And I thought "Oh no, poor Texas. They'll
never come back to Sweden if it's gonna be this poor". But then Texas came
on the stage, and it was nearly full. About 8.000 in the crowd. And the
atmosphere was great, I was really proud of the crowd. Everyone screaming
"TEXAS! TEXAS! TEXAS!", to get them back out on stage after the "last"
song.
It's hard to point out what was best about the concert. Off course the
entire gig was breathtaking. But for me it was when I got Sharleen's
attention. TWICE! The first was in the middle of I Don't Want A Lover when
she gazed at me with a laughter and pointing when I was waving my hands
like I was on fire (at least she noticed me). The second time was at the
end of the 2nd encore, Say What You Want (also the last song), when I got
eye contact with her once more. Then she had that "C'mon boy, you've
already had you moment to shine, give the others a chance" smile. I nearly
melted.
Other highlights was when Shar invited a guy from the audience that kept
screaming "I love you Sharleen" to do some dirty dancing till the sweet
sounds of Grace Jones' Pull Up To The Bumper. And also when she stood on a
pillar 2 meters from me singing "yeah, yeah, yeah, you make me feel wild",
during Inner Smile.
Another great thing was Shar's humour. She was so funny, hilarious in fact.
She laughed several times, and what a great laughter she has. She told the
audience about the day before when she came to Stockholm. She took a taxi
to buy some socks (!). And the taxi driver kept looking at her. And Shar
was like "Yeah...?", waiting for him to recognise her. Then Texas' Inner
Smile came on the radio. And the driver turned around and said "You're,
you're... ELVIS!".
And again, some people actually left after Inner Smile. How dumb are
people? Okay, maybe they didn't know Texas were gonna do a great cover of
Elvis' Suspicious Minds, but what about Say What You Want for God sake?
There's no concert without it. And off course you felt that this was a
Greatest Hits tour. All the hits from I Don't Want A Lover to the oh so
fresh Guitar Song. They were all in there.
All though the Swedish newspapers had very little good things to say about
the concert, as always, I off course will remember this night till the day
that I die. This was without a doubt one of the best nights in my life, if
not THE best. And if this was true happiness, I was the happiest bloke on
earth!
And I also made two new friends during the concert, Belinda and Sara (if
you guys are reading this. Hi guys, see you in the summer).
Only one word could sum up the gig last night. FANTASTIC!!!!
Mats Yngwe, 16/03/00
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