Squeeze

In celebration of the superb back catalogue that Messrs Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford have amassed over their forty five years as the ever present backbone of Squeeze the pair came to the South-East coast to entertain a packed out Leas Cliff Hall. 'The Difford And Tilbrook Songbook 2019' tour sees them on great form, playing with a full, extremely accomplished, band and very special guests, Heaven 17. Poignantly, as we fast approach the general election and the festive period, the tour is supporting the UK's biggest food bank charity The Trussel Trust. (Donations at Glenn Tilbrook's solo gigs have exceeded 3.5 tonnes since they began in 2018).

With a wealth of songs to play and an enthusiastic crowd itching to hear them it was no wonder that the evening started a little earlier than most so that Heaven 17 could begin the night with a chic slice of Electronic nostalgia. Martyn Ware, attired in a neon green shirt, shimmering suit and sporting his customary slicked back hair and Glenn Gregory, dressed head to toe in black and having long since lost his golden locks, played out a succinct set of '80's floor fillers to the delight of the audience. In the eight track set they went from, 'Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry' into a politically charged, '(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang' and onto the biggest surprise of the night, 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling'. The "Heaven 17 version of The Human League's version" as Gregory put it, got the crowd singing along and helped to pump up the atmosphere. Ware and Gregory, aided by Kelly and Rachel on backing vocals, then delivered their biggest song; their number two in charts from 1983, 'Temptation'. Rather aptly, giving a further nod back to the hedonistic '80's, it was given an extended remix, with Kelly in particular hitting the high notes.

Squeeze took to the Leas Cliff stage equally, if not even more, elegantly dressed than their predecessors. Difford and Tilbrook were both in smart suits, Chris wearing some very snazzy two-tone spectator brogues that wouldn't have been out of place in The Great Gatsby.(Forty five years in he's obviously no longer the cheeky chappy he once was but now more of a regal cross between Martin Scorsese and Ronnie Barker) They were quickly about their work with two tracks from '87's 'Babylon And On', 'Footprints' and 'Hourglass' sandwiching 85's 'Big Beng'.

Continue reading: Squeeze - Leas Cliff Hall 19.11.2019 Live Review

It's got to the point now that I almost feel obliged to provide a bio when talking about Squeeze, the South London band who provided much of the new wave's most palatable moments. Formed in 1974 at the height of the pub rock era, childhood friends Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford had alongside them in their first incarnation one Jools Holland, and undoubtedly it was the period before his eventual departure in 1980 which saw most of their finest moments.

Continue reading: Squeeze, Spot The Difference Album Review