Texas live in London February 2001

So far this year, I've posted about a gig from 1981 (my first ever, with City), one from 1991 (Pet Shop Boys - Performance), so now I'm going to post about a gig from 2001 when I went to see Texas at Wembley Arena in London. The first Texas single I had bought was their very first, "I Don't Want A Lover" back in 1989. They didn't have much luck with their next two albums, but they were back in the charts with their fourth one. This time was different, however because they had just issued their Greatest Hits album and they had embarked on a Greatest Hits tour? What better chance to see them, then, eh?|
I arrived at Wembley (the arena, not the stadium) just in time to see the support act Semisonic which were actually very good. They had already had a hit with "Secret Smile", but their new - at that time - single, "Chemistry" was even better!
Texas came up next, with, as expected a Greatest Hits setlist. This included all three new songs from the compilation album, because, yes, even though it was a Greatest Hits album, it contained three new songs: "In Demand" which had been released as a single before the album, "Inner Smile" which was being released just as their UK tour was taking place, and "Guitar Song" which featured a sample of "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)" and was never released as a single, the record company preferring to release a remix of "I Don't Want A Lover" instead. "Inner Smile" in particular featured Sharleen dressed as Elvis in the video, and that's how she appeared on stage for the first encore to perform it. And she kept her Elvis gear on for the next song which was a cover of "Suspicious Minds".
Finally, although the year was 2001, it featured a very 2010's moment. Sharleen invited one fan from the first rows on stage with the band and what was the first thing he did? He took a camera out and took a selfie with her! It wasn't even a digital camera, so he'd probably have to wait until the following day to see if the photo had come out alright.
Meanwhile, while doing my research for this gig, I only managed to find a single tiny photo from Wembley, and even that is from the previous day's gig. However one day while going through things in a drawer I discovered my ticket! And although there aren't any videos from that gig, a few months later they filmed their gig in Paris and along with their music videos they released it as a DVD calling it "Texas Paris" (as in the movie "Paris Texas", get it?). They even released a new album this year, 2021, so it seems that there is actually a future for them. Let's hope so...

SETLIST:
01. In Demand
02. Black Eyed Boy
03. Halo
04. In Our Lifetime
05. Guitar Song
06. Insane
07. Tired Of Being Alone
08. Pull Up To The Bumper
09. Put Your Arms Around Me
10. Prayer For You
11. I Don't Want A Lover
12. When We Are Together
13. Summer Son
Encore 1:
14. Inner Smile
15. Suspicious Mind (Elvis Presley cover, lyrics)
Encore 2:
16. Say What You Want

Performance - Pet Shop Boys live in Birmingham, June 1991

 

In a previous post this year, I had written about my first concert, City in Athens back in 1981, 40 years ago. Today I'm going to remember a concert I attended ten years later, in 1991, 30 years ago...
Back then, I was studying in the UK. When, in late April, I came back from my Easter holidays in Greece (said holidays included a lot of clubbing, but that's another story), I decided that I would go to a gig. My choices were two: Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode. The Depeche Mode gig was sold out, so I bought a ticket to see the Pet Shop Boys at the Birmingham NEC on the 1st of June. Two days later I was in the hospital with an extremely serious condition: I had to have brain surgery.
I had my operation on the 1st of May, I pulled through and three weeks later I was out of the hospital. I had started looking for a fellow student to sell my ticket to, (and my mum insisted I do that), when my doctor (not just any doctor, but the one who had operated on me) came to my rescue: "Let the boy go", he told my mum, "he needs to have some fun and go out a bit after all he's been through".
And so it was that on the evening of June 1 I got on the train to the NEC as it was then known (now I think it's called LG Arena, where I saw Bryan Adams 23 years later). Little did I know that I was about to witness a piece of music history. For that was where the video (a VHS tape back then, a DVD now) of  "Performance" was filmed. And that's exactly what it was: Not a gig, but a performance: Everything was directed and choreographed beforehand. It was something that you could watch while sitting down, and that's exactly what I had to do because of my condition. I also had to wear a patch over the left lens of my glasses, because that particular eye couldn't focus properly yet. But the funny thing about my appearance was something else: They had shaved my head at the hospital in order to facilitate the operation, so I had asked my friends to do me a favour: "Because I will come out of this looking like Sinead O'Connor" (ie bald) "could you buy me a hat with a band's name on it? Any band..." And so they did. Only the band's name was Iron Maiden. I believe that to this day I must be the only person who has ever watched a Pet Shop Boys gig wearing an Iron Maiden hat.
And so the Pet Shop Boys played the songs they had chosen for this particular tour (the same every night as this was a "Performance" (you can see them in the setlist further down the post) while I was enjoying the show feeling lucky and glad to be alive. You can say that this was my reward after what I had been through. And these songs were not always the obvious hits. Sure, the set relied heavily on "Behaviour", but there were also b-sides, like "We All Feel Better In The Dark" with Chris taking his clothes off, and one of the best PSB songs in my opinion "Your Funny Uncle", the very last song of the night, ending the encore on a somewhat sad note, but with a hint of optimism: "Another life begins today" (this certainly applied to me). There were also songs they had written for other artists "So Sorry I Said", "I'm Not Scared".

But the absolute highlight for me was "Jealousy", the last song of the normal set, before the encore. It was my favourite track from "Behaviour", an album which, believe it or not, I didn't much like at first (Most of the songs were "too slow" I thought at first. Not surprising if you knew me back then, since I used to indulge in a lot of nightclubbing in those days). On top of that, "Jealousy" actually came out as a single that very week. It was the last CD I bought before I went back to Athens for what would now be my summer holiday...

SETLIST:
01. This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave
02. It's a Sin
03. Losing My Mind
04. What Have I Done to Deserve This?
05. My October Symphony
06. I'm Not Scared
07. We All Feel Better in the Dark
08. So Sorry, I Said
09. Suburbia
10. So Hard
11. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
12. How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?
13. Rent
14. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)
15. West End Girls
16. Jealousy
Encore:
17. Always on My Mind
18. Your Funny Uncle

 

Pavlov's Dog live in Athens November 2010

Pavlov's Dog were popular in Greece back in the late 70's and most people believe that was due to the presence of an "unusual" (by rock'n'roll standards) instrument in their line up: The violin. (The same thing that had happened with City). That's when I first heard of them, their most popular song back then being "Julia" and they had only released two albums.  Anyway, Pavlov's Dog reformed at some point and they started coming to Greece. In November 2010 they appeared at Zygos in the Plaka district and this was, if I am not mistaken, their 3rd appearance in this country (but the first I had attended). I learned about that gig while waiting outside the Peace And Friendship Stadium for the Scorpions concert a few days earlier. There were older (like the singer's wife), and also newer members in their line-up (like the bass player and the obligatory... violin player). They had finally released a new album, plus a live one that was only available at their gigs. They played old, new, and even older but unreleased songs (because, as their singer told us, they could only fit 36 minutes of music on a vinyl record. I thought it was 45, but never mind).

They finished their set with "Julia" and then came out again to sign tickets, CD's, posters and books. That's how I managed to have a chat with them where they told me that although they might want to come every year, this was not up to them but up to the promoters. And the promoters of their previous gig in Greece had cheated them out of their earnings as they claimed, and that's why they had chosen Zygos this time around. Meanwhile, the two girls (violin and bass player) grabbed the chance to wear souvenir t-shirts for tourists with "Hellas" inscriptions. The gig was opened by "Rock & Lace" from the town of Trikala who also played "Because The Night", a song written by Bruce Springsteen and made famous by Patti Smith.

SETLIST:
01. Natchez Trace
02. Late November
03. Angeline
04. I Don't Need Magic Anymore
05. Fast Gun
06. Episode

07. Lost In America
08. I Love You Still
09. I Don't Do So Good Without You
10. Suzanne, I Love You
11. Don't Rain On Me
12. Ava Gardner's Bust
13. Only You
14. Brown Eyes
15. Theme From Subway Sue
16. Standing Here With You (Megan's Song)
17. Angel's Twilight Jump
18. Valkerie
19. Song Dance
Encore:
20. Breaking Ice
21. Julia