Thirty years later, coincidentally, I revisited the same sky having picked it up cheaply on CD from Music Magpie, again finding enjoyment from listening to it over and over. When Regular Music announced Horse was playing an anniversary show in Glasgow to celebrate the album, it was a no-brainer to get tickets. Then along with everything else, it got rescheduled.
After the pomp and spectacle of Queen and Adam Lambert, this was always going to be a more low-key kind of show. It was in a posh theatre, there was no stage set to speak of except a dark backdrop with her seahorse logo (which at times reminded me of the tail of a chest buster from Alien) plus a few lights. Mostly, it was about the music.
With the theatre half empty at first, the first act, Terry Logan, came on and introduced the evening, playing two numbers, neither of which were particularly bad. She then introduced the main support, The Eves, who played as a duo tonight. The pair reminded me of two musically-talented Primary School teachers putting on a show for the kids. Pleasant tunes, pleasant costumes, pleasant songs. Marissa reminded me of Sara from Sara n Junbug in voice but without the tattoos or the rapping. During their last song, Horse and her band paraded on stage behind them for a lark, wearing face masks depicting the duo.
During the interval, the place filled more completely as the Horse faithful took to their seats. And Horse delivered for them in spades. If anything, her voice is even better now than it was all these years ago. She is so comfortable on stage and creates a cosy atmosphere. Everyone is enjoying themselves, both on stage and in the audience. She plays through the album in the correct order (she doesn't like the shuffle function - she put effort into thinking about how the album should flow), with Careful, accompanied by the string section being particularly good. She also reads dedications to some of her most devoted fans.
Having played the entire album in full, she moved on to other material, covering a Glen Campbell song and "Could it be Magic" by Barry Manilow, playing her favourite songs from her other work. She even went live on Facebook to share the night with her fans who couldn't make it.
At the end, the other acts came back on to singalong and they finished lining up and kicking their legs to what I thought was the This is Your Life theme (correct me if I'm wrong).
The only fan to stick out tonight was the one being wafted by the woman sitting to my wife's left, a proper Southern belle if ever I did see one. My, she waved that thing like she was having continuous hot flushes (which wouldn't have been possible given her age, unless she'd really gone to town on the HRT).
Sorry, I don't have a setlist.
Not a lot of photos as it didn't seem appropriate to go overboard in such a venue.
Ticket Price £34 each
(booking fee £7.80, transaction fee £2.85)
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| Terry Logan |
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| The Eves |
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| Horse showing off her Lifetime Achievement Award. |
