Texas, Roundhouse, London, gig review: Sharleen Spiteri was in exuberant form

While far from gamechangers, Texas have written enough decent songs that two hours rarely drag

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri

“London, you're sounding like shit,” Sharleen Spiteri cajoles in a Glaswegian accent seemingly unsoftened by 20 years living “round the corner” from this Camden cavern. The crowd soon buck up, so a night billed in comforting fashion as “Texas songs and stories from the last 25 years” becomes a raucous celebration that plays to the strengths of the Scottish outfit and their live-wire singer.

Spiteri is in exuberant form, the 48-year-old seeming not to have aged since her band's mid-nineties pomp, when Texas swam against the Britpop tide by mining American influences, chiefly classic Motown and glossy pop-soul.

While far from gamechangers, Texas have written enough decent songs that two hours rarely drag. Highlights range from the country twang of eighties outlier 'I Don't Want A Lover' through a thumping 'Halo' to a pulsing 'Summer Son' and 'Say What You Want', where the diminutive vocalist shows a sweeter, higher register beside her formidable blues-rock holler.

Surprises are few: a brief, yet winning snatch of TLC's 'Waterfalls' and a dedication to Serge Gainsbourg, but then tonight is about earthier virtues – the underdog stars (38 million sales and counting) that know how to party.