Texas - Scottish Rock for Bath's Pub in the Park

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Texas enjoy the Summer sun

Texas **** Pub in the Park is starting to become a start of the summer fixture in the city, last year included acts such as Squeeze and this year did not disappoint either with Will Young and Basement Jaxx among the headliners. We managed to get along on the Saturday night to catch Texas, Ward Thomas and local support Broken Bones Matilda, we are pleased to announce that no Roald Dahl characters were injured during their set.   

Pub in the Park curated by Tom Kerridge is more than just about the bands though, the day a section of local gastro pubs (hence the name) take a pitch and sell samples of generally very nice food to the punters. This is alongside other food and drink related stall from cheese sellers to, apparently though I didn’t personally see him, the guy who plays Ian Beale in Eastenders selling his own gin. Though I can understand why having to watch lots of Eastenders there would be a need for strong booze, bartender get me a double.

For the headliners we had to travel a bit further north with Scotland’s own Texas closing the night, Sharleen Spiteri opening the proceedings with saying “There are kids present so I can’t swear, shit”. Unsurprisingly for what sort of comes across as a festival for people who shop at Waitrose, in a good way, it was a hit laden set opening with ‘Summer Son’ and ‘Halo’ both getting early plays.  You can tell they have been doing for a while as they instantly command the stage and the set goes seamlessly. 

In fact the civilised nature of the event was remarked on front the stage when security stopped somebody from sitting on shoulders, “look at their age, they aren’t going to crowd surf”. The hits kept coming from ‘Once in a Lifetime’ all the way back to their first ever hit from thirty years ago in ‘I don’t want a Lover’ it is not often you are at a festival and you know every song the band play, testament to the time they have been around and the ability to knock out the hits. 

They ended the main part of the set with a mass sing along of ‘Say what you Want’ before departing very briefly as they “only had three minutes until curfew” to start and even bigger sing along with a cover of ‘Suspicious Minds’ a Mark James cover made famous by The King himself Elvis Presley. I was worried I may find them a bit too Poppy but they know how to put on a show and they were the perfect act for a chilled summer evening with plenty of G and T and prosecco flowing. You need a band everybody knows the words to and they certainly fulfilled their brief there, look forward to see who is lined up for next year. 

Texas - Setlist
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Inner Smile
Summer Son
Halo
Let's work it Out
When we are Together
Once in a Lifetime
The Conversation
I don't want a Lover
Black eyed Boy
Say what you Want
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Suspicious Minds