It’s a tribute to the virtue of good songwriting and refusing to follow fashion that Squeeze have joined the select group of bands to be celebrating their 50th birthday (albeit with a few breaks apart). And yet, as Glenn Tilbrook said from the stage, their popularity now is as high as ever. On an extensive UK tour to mark the occasion, this was one of two London sellouts, the other at the Albert Hall.

Support act Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) has been around some while since winning one of the earliest Mercury Music Prize awards around the turn of the millennium. Still sporting his woolly hat, and mainly on acoustic guitar with occasional piano or harmonica, I thought his low-key demeanour and almost mumbled vocal style ill-suited to a big show like this, and the low hum of chatter you could hear around the place summed things up. He did though have a nice line in dry humour, down to a song in honour of the Manchester music mogul being called ‘Tony Wilson Said’.

Squeeze also brought a simple stage show and left the songs left to speak for themselves, but the band do have a flamboyant sense of showmanship and there was no mistaking the loudly checked suits of Glenn and Chris Difford and new backing singer Danica Dora. Much of the set was similar to my last couple of sightings of them, but not in the same order, with ‘Black Coffee in Bed’ moved from encore status to set opener, giving proof that Glenn has a great white soul voice as well as delivering a jazzy guitar solo.

‘Footprints’ had a slightly funky feel and the spiky power pop of ‘Is That Love’ flew straight into Steven Large playing the Moog intro to ‘Up The Junction’, where I was torn between observing the crowd reaction from a perfect vantage point in the balcony, and listening to those story song lyrics, that are a work of genius from the main pair considering they were still in their early twenties.

However, they have not lost the knack of finding songwriting inspiration in a variety of unlikely places as evidenced by a new song, ‘One Beautiful Summer’, inspired by two care home residents discovering new love. (A scenario looming closer to many in the crowd than they cared to admit!). It wasn’t just hits, but some choice early album cuts including ‘Someone Else’s House’, Chris doing the majority of the singing, and ‘In Quintessence’, both supported by the harmony vocals that were a strength throughout the set. The music was also varied with Glenn admitting recent song ‘Departure Lounge owed something to Pink Floyd.

Other than a speed limit style ‘50’ on Simon Hanson’s drum kit, there was no visual reminder of the anniversary but when Chris told the story of the band’s birth when he placed a small ad in the sweetshop window, dedicated ‘Some Fantastic Place’ to Glenn’s girlfriend of the time Maxine, and it was a gorgeous piece of very English pop.

After ‘If I Didn’t Love You’ we were spoiled as there was a series of their classic early eighties singles, that all should have charted higher than they did, and I could spot more movement on the crowd during ‘Pulling Mussels From the Shell’ (with an unexpectedly rocky solo from Glenn who is a more than decent guitarist), ‘Another Nail In My Heart’ with the keener fans adding handclaps in the right places, and ‘Annie Get Your Gun’.

They have apparently recorded an album with some of the songs from that four year apprenticeship before getting a record deal and played a couple: ‘You Get The Feeling’ was a surprisingly subdued song with an American country rock feel, but ‘Trixie’s Hell On Earth’ had a lot going on, showing off the interplay in a band that has now expanded to an eight piece.

‘Goodbye Girl’ was a highlight, not least the flamboyant Stephen sidling across the stage with his accordion and interrupting the other band members. After ‘Cradle To The Grave’, another with those great vocal harmonies, brought back memories of the eponymous series based on the memoirs of fellow Deptfordian Danny Baker, it was then hits all the way.

Yet rather than lazily phone them in, each sounded fresh, with ‘Slap & Tickle’ and those sounds that appeared so futuristic back in 79 augmented by some heavy guitar work courtesy of Glenn’s pedal board, and Stephen’s strange hand chopping movements as he attacked his keyboards. ‘Tempted’ began with a guitar intro from Glenn and he got the crowd to sing large parts alone, warming the atmosphere nicely for Chris to take centre stage and deadpan his way through ‘Cool For Cats’, though even that had a different middle section.

They could easily have ended it there, but there were more hits to follow, starting with ‘Labelled With Love’ and a massive crowd swaying and fine work on the pedal steel by multi instrumentalist Melvin Duffy, and ‘Hourglass’, those harmonies wrapping their tongues round the rapid words of the chorus, accompanied by some lively organ work.

They may have formed in ‘74 but it was ‘78 when they finally broke through into the wider consciousness with ‘Take Me I’m Yours’, so it was fitting that song should end the set, instead of its more usual position at the start. The pacing was a little odd however, especially considering there was no encore as such, as midway through came a lengthy round of band introductions and mini solo slots without ever coming back to the song.

Nevertheless, this was a perfectly balanced set of classic songs, mixing hits, album cuts and old and new (even in the same songs), and done with such panache. It looked as if it was being filmed, preserving for posterity that these great and enduring British treasures fully deserve the Indian summer of popularity they are enjoying.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)