Music review: Texas, Hydro, Glasgow

It took a while for Texas to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album Southside, but it was well worth the wait, writes Fiona Shepherd

Sharleen Spiteri of Texas

Texas, Hydro, Glasgow ****

For obvious reasons, Texas have been waiting for a while to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Southside (released in March 1989).

Packing out their hometown’s biggest venue, Sharleen Spiteri, Johnny McElhone and trusty crew have earned the right to play their own support band with an opening set which functioned as a belated birthday celebration of this roots-pop calling card, which was mature at birth and has only aged gracefully since then.

There was a songwriters’ powwow feel to the set-up of this first half with a beanie-hatted Spiteri seated, but not sedate, as she asked gleefully, “is it bringing back memories, this album? All the sh*tty boyfriends…”

Southside yielded debut hit I Don’t Want a Lover and little more of commercial note. Creatively, however, the propulsive twanging guitar and strategic electro funk organ bursts of Faith, tasty slide action and easy-going soul pop of Fight the Feeling and funky Stevie Wonder keys behind the smooth tune of One Choice were the sound of a band confident from infancy.

The natural roots-pop of Thrill Has Gone – straight in at number 67 back in the day – was enlivened here by Cat Myers drumming up a storm at the end, and there was a testifying fire kindled by Future Is Promises.

The second set was Texas as they are today, an all-singing all-bouncing, all-electric, no-messing hit-fest brazenly cribbing from disco pop forebears Abba, Chic and Donna Summer, plus a burst of Orange Juice’s Rip It Up adding some Glasgow class to Let’s Work It Out.

Spiteri threw off the occasionally overpowering recorded backing vocals to deliver the beseeching In Demand; luminous ballad Unbelievable was dedicated to the carers, and then it was back to the party with the pop rapture of Inner Smile.

I Don’t Want a Lover took its reprised place in the encore, alongside Black Eyed Boy and, gallus to the last, there was Glasgow karaoke standard Suspicious Minds.

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