Texas In Cape Town

Source: pinterest.com

On 8 December 2017, Scottish band, Texas, played at Kirstenbosch gardens here in Cape Town as part of a tour to promote their new album, Jump on Board.  I have been a fan of theirs since their Southside album which launched them into the spotlight and gave rise to many loyal South African fans.  In fact, the album remains one of my favourite albums from the 80s.  They have produced some truly incredible music in past three decades and their new album is equally impressive.  Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I heard they would be performing in Cape Town at what must be one of the most beautiful concert venues in the world – 23 years after they last performed in South Africa!

The audience was treated to two top class opening acts, namely Emily Capell and Henry Ate.  Since Emily, a singer-songwriter from North West London, was unknown to the audience she had a fairly tough job of warming the crowd up and getting them into a party mood.  She rose to the occasion with her quirky and catchy songs, not to mention her fantastic voice (think Lily Allen meets Amy Winehouse).  She was followed by the beloved South African band, Henry Ate (led by Karma-Anne Swanepoel, who is now based in the US).  Karma-Anne got a little emotional  when talking about her feelings about performing at Kirstenbosch after so many years of dreaming of the honour.  The band performed several of their biggest hits which had many audience members on their feet and singing along with nostalgic enthusiasm.

And then, the lights went down, the entire audience got to their feet (well, those who weren’t already on their feet) and Texas walked onto stage to cheering and thunderous applause.  Lead singer, Sharleen Spiteri, had a great rapport with the audience  and shared some hilarious stories, dotted with plenty of colourful language.  She was not impressed that there were some issues with the sound, causing fans near the front of the stage not to hear her vocals clearly.  She proceeded to “put the fear of God” into the sound crew (who she made sure to mention were not her own).  Fortunately for the audience (and the crew) the issue was resolved and the band proceeded to rock the gardens with an incredible show.  Sharleen sounded amazing and seemed to be having a good time as well. 

It was everything I’d hoped for although we did not get the “full two hour Texas experience” it seems because of a 10 p.m. venue curfew.  Sadly, they did not perform as many of the brilliant songs from Jump on Board, such as Midnight and Tell That Girl.  Nevertheless, all of my favourites were on the setlist including I don’t want a lover, Summer Son, Say What You Want and The Conversation.  Pushing the 10 p.m. curfew, the band did two songs as an en core, namely Inner Smile and a kickass version of Suspicious Minds.  The audience was left wanting more but also on a high and with the biggest “inner smile”.