UP close and personal is how to describe the latest tour offering from Texas.

An Evening With Texas at The Hexagon in Reading on May 6 really was just that.

There were little anecdotes from Sharleen Spiteri about the origins of each hit and song performed and great interaction with the audience....even those absent in our case as four empty seats at the front took a grilling from the front woman in a most comical and amusing way.

It took a couple of hits to get the audience up and dancing in the aisles, but once they were there was no stopping them.

With a career spanning 25 years Texas performed hits from their multi-million selling catalogue including “I Don’t Want A Lover”, “Say What You Want”, “Summer Son”, “Inner Smile” and new material which was equally as stunning.

It sometimes takes a couple of times to get used to a song, but the new material seemed to gel quite easily.

The Hexagon gig was the last in their 25th anniversary tour and definitely left audiences wanting more.

To celebrate their anniversay Texas has released their latest album Texas 25 containing four brand new songs and highlights from the band’s greatist hits completely re-recorded and re-worked for 2015 with acclaimed NYC soul outfit Truth & Soul (Amy Winehouse, Adele).

Recorded in the Queens studio of Truth & Soul and mixed at The Black Key’s Dan Auerbach’s Nashville studios, working on ‘Texas 25’ was a chance for Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri and band mate Johnny McElhone to hear Black Eyed Boy, Halo, I Don’t Want a Lover, Say What You Want, Summer Son, The Conversation with new ears. ‘It’s almost like we’ve got who we are, 25 years later,’ says Sharleen.

Clive Young