Concert review :
Le Zenith, Toulouse, France - 28 March 2001
by Dorine from TexasWeb

ELVIS IS ALIVE !!!

The doors opened at 18h40. After a great sprint ( like every time ! ), I managed to find a place in the first row, just in the middle of the stage.

20h20: the supporting act started its show. Reef is an English pop-rock band. It was cool, a little bit the same thing. Many songs look the same and it sounds more like US rock than English pop...one more story of labels !

During the preparation of Texas’s stage, the crowd started a tremendous “OLA” in the Toulouse’s Zenith. This was so funny, exciting and cool ! The crowd seems to be febrile, we started to shout some “TEX – AS” and a lot of “ohhh oohh ohhh”. The mood of the audience was getting hotter, a thin white curtain was hiding behind the stage...

21h15: the lights went out. The instrumental track “Zero Zero” resonated in the Zenith, Toulouse’s gig of the Greatest Hits Tour was started with an electric “In Demand”.

“Black Eyed Boy” was a real moment of happiness, the crowd exploded, we were jumping, singing, shouting ... end of course like every Texas’s crowd we succeeded the famous game of the “Tiiimme” which consists in shouting Tiiimme” when the music stops before Sharleen. This kind of game satisfies her every time.

Let’s report that Sharleen was wearing a bandage on the right forearm, but this doesn’t restrain her from playing the mystic black and white Telecaster, and proving that she has overflowing energy !

A similar game has become a use, when we hear the first chord of “So Called Friend”, the crowd have to shout “Yehhhhh”, so Sharleen can’t carry on with the song, and she asks us with a big smile: “Do you know this song ?”...crowd: “Yehhhh”.....Sharleen: “Naahhhhh” !!! Then she can start the song one more time !

“Guitar Song” which is a sample of “Je t’aime moi non plus” by Serge Gainsbourg, is stuggering in live ! Shar is using a Gibson Les Paul, color “wood” for this song.

“Insane” came after, this song can really thrill you. It proves the power and the extensive voice of Sharleen, she can go so high !!! As well as the cover of Al Green “tired of being alone” which was played with Sharleen at the keyboards. This song always touches me because of Sharleen ‘s voice and the song’s lyrics which are resounding inside me. It’s so powerful !!!

The innovation of the tour, is due to the fact that at this moment of the show, Sharleen decided to invite a guy on stage to make a kind of “Dirty Dancing” with him on “Pull up to the Bumper”, a Grace Jones cover !!! This evening, the lucky guy was called Frederic , he was 19 years old and he was coming from “Saint Godens”.
The crowd shouted him down because he was not from Toulouse, but I think it was more because all the other guys were very jealous !!!!
She asked him how old he was, and when he told her “19”, she made a very funny face and I shouted “He’s too young for you!” and she answered “In life, you are never too young !”....you’re right Sharleen !!!!! Sharleen started to explain to Frederic that he was on stage to dance ! But, he answered that he was a better singer than dancer, so she laughed at him and told us: “As you probably know, women can see as the way a man dance, how good he is in bed ! so...."
Nevertheless, Frederic has dance with Sharleen, very close to her, having what we can call “sexual positions”...it was the game ! I’m not a guy, but I can imagine that it was not a bad experience !!!! I think Sharleen found he was a good dancer because she told us : " Can I tell you something, he was very exiting, I can't lie to you !!!!! "

After this “dance”, Texas offered us two acoustic songs. “Put your arms around me”, with Sharleen alone on stage: just an acoustic guitar and her magical voice ! “Prayer for you” with Sharleen and Ally at the guitar ! Ally, shy as ever showed us the back of his trousers to let us see the letters “T E X A S” written on his “arse” !!!!

Three “hard” songs follow this event: “lover”, “When we are together” and “Summe son” !!! You have to practice if you want to jump, and sing during three song like this ! Very hard, but so cool ! Sharleen told us that “Summer Son” was the last song of the gig, and like every time we ask more, and Texas give us more !

Texas was back, the decor of “Inner Smile” video, was added to the stage. And, it’s a Sharleen-Elvis who came back dressed in her black leaver suit ! What a shock !!!! After a tremendous Inner Smile, we heard “Suspicous Mind” n Elvis cover ! During a small quiet moment, I shouted to Sharleen “Elvis is alive!!!”, she came near to me and told me: “It's not the first time we say that to me, but do you think that Elvis reincarnation is a woman "...and I answered “Why not !”
Nevertheless, when she’ s getting Elvis attitude, it’s really shattering !

The gig stops as usual with “Say what you want” !

During all the gig, the crowd was very active, we managed many times to restrain the band from playing music, by shouting a lot ! Sharleen told us that we were “UNBELIEVABLE”, it was my first concert in Toulouse, but I can tell you that people from Toulouse knows how to cheer a band !!!!

The gig was really TREMENDOUS !!!! Sharleen was very close to the crowd, she was overflowing of energy, she spoke a lot of French with a so cute accent !

Since my first Texas ‘s gig in 1994, I can tell you that I have never seen Texas and especially Sharleen having so much fun on stage !


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