I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 14, 2016] Squeeze

Squeeze’s 1982 Greatest Hits album 45s and Under is my favorite Greatest Hits record of all time.  And yet, I don’t actually own any other Squeeze records.

But over the last year or so my friend Amy has been posting pictures of all the Squeeze and Squeeze-related shows she’s been going to.  And I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  So when they announced they were playing The Keswick Theatre (which I’d never been to before, but which I knew was an intimate venue), I snatched up tickets.

And as their T-Shirt says (see bottom) I’d forgotten how much I like Squeeze.

I didn’t check songs on their setlists but I saw that they played a lot of stuff from their newest album and a whole bench of older stuff.  So I hoped they play a few songs from the Greatest Hits and then I listened to their newest album and I quite enjoyed it.  They played 7 of the 12 songs from Cradle to the Grave.  And they were great.  They fit in quite nicely with the other songs.  I especially loved the title song and “Nirvana.”  I was mesmerized by the video screen during the new song “Beautiful Game.”

The download of that album includes some covers of it and they played two of those as well “Harper Valley PTA” a strange and delightful cover of a song from my childhood that I completely forgot existed.  And “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,” a great Tom Waits song that is funny and sad.

The rest of the set (and I was tickled by this) included 11 of the 12 songs from 45s and Under.  All of my favorite songs in one show!  It was outstanding.  There were even a few songs that I love that came out after that disc, like the set opener “Hourglass” (the “take it to the bridge, throw it overboard...” song) which was so great to hear (and to hear everyone singing along).  There was also “Electric Trains” (sung by Chris Difford).

Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook are the only two original members of the band (but since most of the songs are written by Difford/Tilbrook, that’s okay).  Glenn Tilbrook sounded great–his voice has remained remarkably unchanged all this time–strong and powerful a instantly recognizable.  And his guitar playing was top-notch.  I’d never really thought of him as much of guitar player.  He’s not flashy at all.  But it turns out that his solos are understated and brilliant in the songs.  And he played them perfectly.  Further, in this live setting, he got a chance to wail and add a few extra solos and I was really impressed.

I joked recently that Squeeze is probably the band that I love the best whose lyrics I simply can’t figure out (even if I’ve sung my own words for decades).  Like  “Another Nail in My heart” a song I really like and I have virtually no idea what the words are.

They played The Easybeats’ song “Friday on My Mind” which I didn’t knowm although, man was it catchy (and the guy in front of me went absolutely berserk when they played it).

And then it was several classics in a row: “Cool for Cats,” and a great version of “Tempted.”  These songs got everyone to their feet.  For some reason, their rocking version of “Slap & Tickle” caused people to sit–that fast riff, those catchy sections??  Those great lyrics?  And people sat?   But everyone was back up for “Goodbye Girl,” and they flashed the lights for us to sing along to the chorus.

“Cradle to the Grave” saw Tillbrook play the ukulele (and bassist Lucy Shaw on upright).  The band kept that instrumentation for “Harper Valley PTA” and “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.”

Those slower songs were followed by a rocking “If I Didn’t Love You” and crowd favorite “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell).”  They ended the set with “Up the Junction.”  And we were on our feet from the start of that mini set.

I genuinely couldn’t guess what they’d play for an encore (of course once they played the songs, I said duh to myself for forgetting about them).  But I was a bit surprised that they came out with two more new songs–not exactly the crowd-pleasing encore we were expecting (in fact the standing people all sat down when they played, “Snap, Crackle and Pop.”  But as I said the new songs are good and this was a great introduction to them.  And then it was “Black Coffee” and the set-ender “Take Me I’m Yours.”

The show featured a lot of videos behind the group.  And they were some unusual videos.  Most were loops that were trippy or funny.  I enjoyed in “If I Didn’t Love You” all the footage of people in old Squeeze shirts.  Or the one where they showed all kinds of newspaper clips from Squeeze’s younger days (were they actually bad boys?)  And the video for Pulling Mussels was surreally wonderful.

The show opened with a video introduction of each of the band members.  I am dismayed to say that we had some late comers arrive which made me miss just what was going on until a few band members were left.  So I’ll have to look that up online.  And, the video made it quite clear that after the show you could buy stuff and have the band sign it–including a CD of that very night’s show–cool!  Sadly for us, we had a babysitter waiting  we couldn’t spare the extra time.  So, no meet and greet for us.

But what a great show.  And it was so much fun to see the audience so into it.  The audience was definitely on the older side, but they danced and sang along (one guy even got up on a chair).  It was a ton of fun.

Setlist

• Hourglass
• Nirvana
• Is That Love
• Another Nail in My Heart
• Electric Trains (Chris Difford lead vocals)
• Only 15
• Beautiful Game
• Friday on My Mind (The Easybeats cover)
• Cool for Cats (Chris Difford lead vocals)
• Tempted
• Slap and Tickle
• Goodbye Girl
• Open
• Cradle to the Grave
• Harper Valley PTA (Jeannie C. Riley cover) (Glenn Tilbrook on ukulele)
• I Don’t Wanna Grow Up (Tom Waits cover) (Chris Difford lead vocals)
• If I Didn’t Love You
• Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)
• Up the Junction
• Encore:
• Snap, Crackle and Pop
• Happy Days
• Black Coffee in Bed
  (followed by band introductions)
• Take Me I’m Yours