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

Prince @ Wembley Arena, March 1995

In the past, there have been a couple of instances where I missed a concert to which I had already bought a ticket. The worst case would have been that of The Bangles. I bought a ticket for a 1989 London gig (I think it was at The Town & Country Club in Kentish Town). Then the gig was cancelled. In fact I think the whole tour was cancelled. To add insult to injury a few weeks later The Bangles split up. I got my money back (I think it was only 10 pounds), but there was no chance of seeing them again, right? Fast forward 11 years later in 2000 in LA, and while I was eating my burger in a fast food joint on Sunset Boulevard, I notice a huge billboard on the other side of the road advertising The Bangles Reunion tour. I could not see them in the US (I was due to head back to London a couple of weeks later), but The Bangles were back together and that meant there was hope! I had a chance of finally seeing them! Well, that chance came 1 year later, when the came to London for a gig at The Sheperd's Bush Empire. After only 12 years I saw them live! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Five days later it was September the 11th and several other gigs were cancelled. Oh well...

The other instance of me missing a gig was in 1990. And this time, as you've guessed it, it was Prince. Back then there was no internet, so if you wanted to buy a ticket you either went to a box office (I was always going to one at Westminster opposite The Houses Of Parliament which was unfortunately closed when works for the Jubilee Line extension started), or you mailed your check and hoped for the best, receiving your ticket in the mail. I don't know why, but in this case I used the latter method. Demand for tickets was bound to be heavy, so I probably felt safer having had my check mailed. If it was sold out I thought I would get a refund. Now Prince had announced 3 gigs initially (if I remember correctly), around the 20th of June. I asked for one of them, knowing that if I didn't get one for the date I had chosen I would get one on one of the other two dates. The timing was right, just after the exams. Well what happened was this: All gigs were sold out, so Prince kept adding gigs which were also sold out. Seven gigs were eventually announced in London, all 7 were sold out, then he went to Birmingham for 3 gigs at the NEC and after Birmingham he added 2 more to London. I was eventually allocated a ticket to one of these two, I think it was for the 4th of July. I received the ticket in the mail. The problem was that I had no way of staying in the UK until that date. The college would be closed, I would not have anywhere to stay and I could not support myself for all these days leading to the 4th of July. So I went home, and never went to that concert.
4 and a half years later, in January 1995, when I returned to London from my Christmas holiday, upon entering Tower Records for one of my regular visits there, I saw Prince tickets being sold at its Box Office. Needless to say, I immediately grabbed one. It was either for the 21st or the 22nd of March.

 

Prince's situation was much different by then. As the day of the concert was approaching, Time Out magazine featured a Prince interview. A Prince interview? Now that was something extremely rare. Back in the 80's at the height of his popularity Prince would not give any interviews. I bought the magazine and from that interview I learned that he had declared war on his record company which would not let him release his latest album "The Gold Experience" and that's why he had written the word "Slave" on his cheek.

To get back at them he said, he would not play any of his biggest hits on that tour so that the record company would not profit from sales of these records. Now this would seem like a big disappointment probably, but Prince was Prince and he was funky, so I knew I was going to have a good time anyway. In fact, the company tried to cash in by releasing a limited edition "Purple Medley" single which I did buy, though he would not play any of these songs on the day.

I was lucky enough after all these years to find the complete interview on the internet and you can read it here: http://princetext.tripod.com/i_timeout95.html

It's funny how many little things I remember while I'm writing this. Upon entering the arena I saw that I had to go through a security check in case I was carrying any illegal items. There were several people doing these checks men and women, so naturally (!) I went to one of the women. Very kindly she instructed me to go to one of the guys. Apparently the men were checking the men and the women were checking the women. Well, it was worth a try (:LOL:).

I remember my security guy finding my Stephen King (or Dean Koontz) paperback and telling me "It can't be that boring, can it?". I explained that I had a long tube journey back home. You see, while both Wembley and my place were in North London, I would have to travel through Central London to change to the Piccadilly Line and get back to Wood Green.
Anyway, I was finally in and I realized that in fact "Purple Medley" could be heard at the gig but only through the speakers while we waited for the concert to start and while the single was being advertised at the video projectors. Finally Prince came on stage and launched into a very funky set which looked like this:

01. Endorphinmachine

02. The Jam
03. Shhh
04. Days Of Wild
05. Now
06. Funky Stuff
07. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
08. The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
09. P Control
10. Letitgo
11. Pink Cashmere
12. Loose!
13. I Love U In Me
14. Peach
15. 7
Encore:
16. Get Wild
17. Billy Jack Bitch
18. Eye Hate U
20. 319
21. Gold

So, who cared that he did not play the earlier hits, when in fact there were other hits like "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (#1 in the UK), "Peach" and "LetItGo", but most importantly, my favourite Prince song ever: "7"

Yes, my favourite Prince song is not from the 80's but from the 90's:

"All 7 and we'll watch them fall

They stand in the way of love but we will smoke them all

With an intellect, and a savoir-faire

No-one in the whole universe will ever compare

I am yours now and you are mine

And together we'll love through all space and time

So don't cry..."

There were also great b-sides like "Pink Cashmere", a cover of James Brown's "Sex Machine" and even a song from the album The New Power Generation (his backing band) released without him: "Get Wild". Oh and there was also "P. Control" the complete title of which was "Pussy Control". Prince introduced it as "a song about our favourite part of your anatomy ladies, which drives us crazy". He then proceeded to guiding all the women in the audience to sing along with him "Aaaaah, pussy control!". Priceless!

After the concert, on my way back to Wembley Park station, I found a guy selling posters on the street. I bought a Prince poster (of course) plus a laminated "Pulp Fiction" poster which was hanging for several years in my bedroom. Funny the things one remembers after 21 years... You will be missed Mr.Nelson...