The sold out crowd at the Bournemouth International Centre has two amazing Scottish acts for the price of one in the shape of singer-songwriter KT Tunstall and legendary Glaswegian band Texas this week.
KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall was in formidable form captivating the audience from the first note. She kicked off proceedings with two of her most recent tracks ‘I Am The Pilot’ and the tender ‘Dear Shadow’ from 2022’s ‘Nut’.
The singer-songwriter displayed her trademark humour with the quip “A wise person once said ‘ play the new ones first’, so who’s ready to hear the old ones?!”
And she did! From a beautiful rendition of ‘Other Side of the World’ which then segued into a mash up with ‘America’ by English band ‘Razorlight’. KT played her black and white guitar (and at times used a loop pedal) but bass and drums were provided by multi-instrumentalist Andy Burrows who just so happens to be Razorlight’s drummer.
The duo delved into trading lyrics during the mash up, Andy sang segments of Razorlight hit ‘America’ whilst KT delivered lines from ‘Other Side of the World’
It seemed that mashing songs up was a strong favourite as KT then performed a rip-roaring rendition of fan favourite ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ fused with the intoxicating ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ by Eurythmics.
An uplifting rendition of ‘The River’ soon followed as well a rousing version of the brilliant ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ from KT’s stunning debut, 2004’s ‘Eye to the Telescope’
KT then asked the enraptured audience “Are you ready to time travel?!” and did another mash up, this time it was the Bangles ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and ‘Hold On’ with the latter being from 2007’s ‘Drastic Fantastic’
The talented musician closed her jam-packed set with fan favourite ‘Suddenly I See’ from the aforementioned ‘Eye to the Telescope’. Without a doubt, KT is a class act and could have easily filled the BIC by herself, but proved to be one of the best support acts I have ever seen.
Texas
I have never had the pleasure of seeing Texas live, but have always been a fan of their work, especially since ‘White on Blonde’. Tonight was a celebration of their career-spanning back catalogue.
The staging was fantastic with a vibrant backdrop alternating between live visuals of the band in action and clips of their music videos from over the years which for many was a real trip down memory lane. The audience having been warmed up by the brilliant KT Tunstall were on the edge of their seats and Sharleen and the band started as they meant to go on with the iconic ‘I Don’t Want A Lover’ from the band’s debut ‘Southside’
From the first invigorating bluesy notes, Texas had the crowd in the palm of their hands with frontwoman Sharleen quipping ‘“It’s never going to be an easy ride at a Texas concert!”
This was a joyous celebration of the band’s journey so far, as Sharleen said “Welcome to 35 years of Texas”. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 35 years since the band released their first single and whilst time certainly flies, their outstanding set was a stellar reminder of just how many hit songs they have had.
One brilliant example of that was the ebullient and uplifting ‘Halo’ which is a firm favourite of mine. This was followed up by a mixture of the old and new which included ‘Everyday Now’ from their debut album 1989’s ‘Southside’ and ‘The Conversation’ from Texas’ eighth studio album in 2013.
From ‘Hi’ to ‘In Our Lifetime’ from ‘The Hush’, Texas delivered song after song interspersed with funny anecdotes and witty wisecracks like “I’m definitely not posh, I’m Glaswegian!” She also talked of her vocal problems suffering from nodules and how she sadly lost her voice and was not allowed to speak for three months. It’s testament to her attitude and passion for music that she overcame this issue and throughout the set showed herself to be a charismatic and humourous front woman.
Like KT, there were a couple of covers in the set which include Al Green’s ‘So Tired Of Being Alone’ of which the band are renowned for their rendition having been a set list staple for many years.
The set showcased how very versatile the band are from the bluesy ‘I Don’t Want A Lover’ to to the sultry trip-hop beats of ‘Insane’ from ‘White on Blonde’
From the brilliant ‘Summer Son’ from ‘The Hush’ and the uplifting ‘‘When We Are Together’ to the impossibly beautiful ‘Put Your Arms Around Me’ from ‘White on Blonde’ which along with ‘Sleep’ and the stunning ‘In Demand’ was performed acoustically, this was a real slam dunk of a set.
The more pared-back segment was followed up with ‘Mr Haze’ 2021’s ‘Hi’, their tenth studio album and my own personal favourites ‘Black Eyed Boy’ and ‘Say What You Want’ from ‘White On Blonde’.
After a short encore, Texas were back with the gorgeous ‘Inner Smile’ from their ‘Greatest Hits’ album in 2001. They then finished with a cover of Elvis Presley’s ‘Suspicious Minds’ with Sharleen looking resplendent in her iconic 2001 leather suit.
It took me over 25 years to see this fantastic band and rest assured, I won’t be leaving it quite so long to see them again!
Photo Credit: rockstarimages.co.uk
