I Never Thought It Would Happen
A rambling review of my first ever Squeeze gig
9th October 2024. Not just the day which would have been John Lennon’s 84th birthday, but the day of my first ever Squeeze gig, at the Edinburgh Usher Hall.
I became a fan of the band last Spring after watching a reaction video on YouTube of Tempted. I was aware of the band already, but watching that video reminded me that I really liked the song, and that actually there were quite a few Squeeze songs/singles I liked. So the next day, I found them on Spotify, put my headphones on and went on a walk as I listened to the album East Side Story. Then I spent the next couple of days listening to their back catalogue as I began to realise “Oh, I basically love all of these songs”, which led me back to YouTube to start watching their music videos, interviews, old concerts, and the rest is history.
Fast forward to autumn 2023 and the band’s 50th anniversary tour was announced. I vowed that if they played Edinburgh, I’d get myself a ticket. Low and behold, they were! Then I thought “I really want to be able to see them, but I’m small and don’t want to get stuck sitting behind someone tall/taller”, so I checked my finances and treated myself to a VIP ticket which included the opportunity to bag a front row seat.
Fast forward again to the day of the gig. The VIP package also included the opportunity to attend the soundcheck so that’s exactly what I did. Entering the venue, I picked up my VIP gifts (a tote bag, pin badges, signed tour list, and a VIP lanyard). No video recording was allowed at all, but we were permitted to take as many photos as we could.
There was to be a Q&A as well and we were told to try and think outside the box when it comes to questions and not things like “What’s your favourite song”. I did have a question (or two or three or four) ready but sadly due to some tech issues that delayed things slightly, they instead played an extra song. The band had already started the soundcheck before we were let in, so we walked into a nice rendition of Temptation of Love from the Ridiculous album, a duet between Glenn and Danica, the new female backing vocalist.
The songs they performed (that I can remember, I should made a note of them) were Tempted, Up the Junction, and Some Fantastic Place. After the first or second song, Glenn asked us what they should play next. Despite feeling anxious, I did suggest This Summer, also taken from the Ridiculous album, but unfortunately it fell on deaf ears and that’s when they played Up the Junction, someone else’s suggestion. Another person requested Nirvana, one of the highlights from the 2015 album, Cradle To The Grave, but Glenn confessed that it’s sometimes difficult to remember how to play songs they’ve not performed for so long (to be fair, I struggle with remember songs I wrote a couple of years ago, never mind a song that’s around a decade old).
One of the crew then stood at the front of the seating area and politely told us that it was time for us to leave. I think we were in there for around 30 minutes in total. I did find it a shame that the Q&A didn’t go ahead. Even one or two questions would have been interesting to hear the answers to, but never mind.
So back in the hotel room, I had something to eat and found myself going over my anxiety during the soundcheck. I wasn’t singing or mouthing the words. My eyes were darting to one band member to the next and I felt weirdly self-conscious. I did panic a little and considered not actually going to the gig, thinking that if I was to sit there like I did in the soundcheck (and in the front row this time, instead of a few rows back) it may come across like I wasn’t enjoying it. But I had a word with myself. Said that I’d been waiting for almost a year for this gig, that they were my favourite band, and I’d hugely regret it if I didn’t go.
I arrived at the venue around 7pm. There were already quite a lot of folk there, so I showed my ticket and headed for my seat. Badly Drawn Boy was due on at 7:30pm - I know some people don’t bother with support acts, and that’s fair enough, but I personally wouldn’t intentionally miss a support act. There was a woman called Nicola sitting in the seat to my left, there on her own, so we got chatting. This was her 20+ Squeeze gig and she’d even been invited up to play guitar at one of Glenn’s solo gigs years back - she showed me the video on her phone.
Sitting and looking up to where the mic was set up, I did worry a little that I’d get a sore neck as the seat was very close to the stage, but once the performances started, I didn't find it an issue.
If you read my Supporting the Support Act post from last month, you’ll probably have guessed by now that Badly Drawn Boy was the support act I was referring to. While I did listen to many of his songs, and liked a lot of them, I didn’t end up memorising them. Partly because despite being a fan of Squeeze for over a year now, I realised I didn’t actually know all the words to the songs they’d be performing (I checked setlist.fm to see what songs they were doing on the tour), so I spent the last couple of weeks, learning those off by heart as much as I could. I mean, in my defence, songs like Slap & Tickle and In Quintessence have a lot of words!
Badly Drawn Boy’s set was great. Just himself with acoustic, electric guitar, and keyboard (also with harmonica for A Minor Incident). He’s a very unassuming guy, talking quietly and humbly between the songs. He seemed blown away that Squeeze had asked him to join the tour. There was a moment with his vape (I think it fell off the little table nearby) that took him out of the moment briefly but it didn’t affect the overall performance. I sat there, marvelling at his fingerstyle playing on the guitar. It’s something I’m trying to improve at, myself.
Anyway, onto the main event of the night and the main event of this rambling post…
The band emerged on stage and everyone was glad to see Chris there (he wasn’t at the soundcheck earlier due to having not been feeling well), and I was pleased to see Steve Smith (Squeeze percussionist and one half of Dirty Vegas), too - he’d also been missing at the soundcheck.
The band launched into Black Coffee In Bed, Footprints (check out my other Squeeze post and learn more about the song), Is That Love and then Up the Junction. My nerves were being kept at bay by the pure rush I was getting seeing my favourite band play right in front of me (though I found myself not looking at Glenn directly much - you know that old thing where if you stare at your guitar heroes directly, you… something, something - so a weird thing happened where I instead focussed on his hands working the fretboard of his guitar.). I was staying in my seat but singing and bopping my heart out as no one else was up and dancing… yet.
There were a few new songs added to the setlist. The first of which was One Beautiful Summer, a track that’ll feature on one of the two new albums out next year. Glenn told us that it was based on a true story he’d read where two 80 year olds in a care home, both widowed, had become a couple and had started “going at it” in each other’ rooms. It’s a really good song, so I can’t wait to hear the studio version.
Then we were back into classic Squeeze territory with Chris taking lead on the East Side Story album track, Someone Else’s Heart. I wish Chris got more chances at lead. He’d probably be the first to admit he doesn’t have the strongest voice, but I feel that when he relaxes and doesn’t over-sing, he sounds really good. So it was lovely to have him take lead on something more than just Cool For Cats. Next up it was shared lead vocals between the two Squeeze stalwarts with In Quintessence before Departure Lounge from their 2017 album, The Knowledge. Played live, it’s delightfully atmospheric.
After that was Some Fantastic Place, a song very personal to both Chris and Glenn. Chris introduced it and thanked Glenn and then-girlfriend Maxine (who the song is about) for answering his ad looking for a band, fifty years ago. After the song ended, a man sitting a couple of rows back stood up and earnestly thanked the band for playing it. I know it’s a song that a lot of people who have lost someone take comfort in, so I think it was the case for this man, too.
Next up was three bangers from the 1980 Argy Bargy album: If I Didn’t Love You, Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) and Another Nail In My Heart, which is when, I think, Chris told us that “those who want to stand up, stand up, those who want to sit, sit”. I looked along the front row and a couple of people were tentatively standing up. I checked with the lady sitting behind me if she minded if I stood but she told me to go for it, so I did.
So the song after that, Annie Get Your Gun, was the first one I stood up for and danced to, really going for it, singing-wise. It’s such a gloriously brilliant song, anyway. How could I resist? The following two songs which were new and not so new, I enjoyed a heck of a lot. First, You Get A Feeling, which Glenn informed us is a song about getting a feeling that someone you’ve just met will become important. It’s a gorgeous piece with some lovely backing vocals. Second was new/old song, Trixie’s Hell on Earth, a song written by Chris and Glenn fifty years ago but never properly recorded (a rough version of the song exists on one of the Squeeze demo albums Glenn released between 2009-2016). But the version they played live was brilliant. A little Beatlesque with the backing vocals, and definitely had that classic Squeeze sound.
Next up was Goodbye Girl, complete with keyboardist, Stephen “Lord” Large on accordian. The man’s face is very expressive when he’s on stage. You can tell he’s having a whale of a time. After that, the band played Cradle To The Grave, the title track from the 2015 album. It’s a great album and the song itself is one you can’t help singing along to. Then it was time for the wordy Slap and Tickle, I think I just about managed to keep up with the singing!
A glorious moment came next with Tempted. The majority of the performance features just Glenn on guitar and vocals but we were all invited to sing the first chorus and by the gods, we did.
The spotlight was back on Chris for possibly the most famous song known to non-Squeeze fans - Cool For Cats. I did notice at this point he was struggling a little bit vocally, and touching his throat a few times throughout. Possibly still not completely recovered from being unwell. I hope he’s well enough for the remainder of the tour.
Labelled With Love was next. It’s a song I confidently know the words of only the first verse and the chorus, so I sang what I could and just enjoyed it.
When they launched into Hourglass, I’d almost forgot that they were playing it on the tour. I practically jumped to my feet, not caring if anyone else in the row was standing (a few were) and had a blast. Such a bloody good song!
And then the saddest moment of the night arrived. The last song. Take Me I’m Yours saw Glenn introduce the members of the band, starting with newest member, Danica Dora on backing vocals - she sang a short solo of a song I think was her own - and then bassist Owen Biddle had a bit of a bass solo going on. Stephen Large went wild on the keyboards for his spot, before it was the turn of Melvin Duffy across on the far left of the stage, who played a bit of the slide guitar. Next, the focus was given to Steve Smith and Simon Hanson on the percussion and drums. I did think Glenn would ‘introduce’ Chris and vice versa, but it wasn’t to be. Before a brief bow and wave they were off, and thus my first experience at a Squeeze gig was coming to a close.
As everyone was gathering their things and filing out of the hall, I noticed someone asking the stage crew for a setlist. Nicola encouraged me to ask for one, too, so I did. offered it to her but she very graciously told me I could keep it since this was my first Squeeze concert.
We headed out the venue both very happy with how the gig had gone. She was going to see them again on this tour. I can’t remember which venue, though. I headed back to the hotel on a high. Couldn’t stop smiling and singing the songs in my head. I think I spent the next hour still singing as I got ready for bed.
Having thought it over, I have only three regrets:
I didn’t drink anything at the venue. Singing when you have a dry throat and mouth is not ideal.
The stall seats in the venue weren’t on an incline so I felt obliged to stay seated more than I wanted to - next time I might not be so accommodating!
I didn’t become a Squeeze fan much, much earlier (all those gigs I could have went to!). But better late than never, eh?
The show I attended here in Orlando, Florida was on full-speed and the last show of the US tour. It was technically a double-bill with Boy George (who I didn't mention in my review here seemed to be the bigger draw) and was slightly shorter than a normal gig. But I will always put Squeeze on top having been a fan for 40 years.
'Take Me I'm Yours. was the first punk/new wave single I bought at the tender age of 14, the band wrote so many fine songs, I consider 'Up The Junction' to be one of the greatest pop songs of all time!