Squeeze – 6 November 1999 – live at Basingstoke – The Anvil

One Response to "Squeeze – 6 November 1999 – live at Basingstoke – The Anvil"

KayJay says:

7 March 2010 at 4:38 pm

Review from the time….
Basingstoke…what a dump! A ‘modern’ town with a recently-rebuilt centre, it took some time to find the Anvil, after some fruitless rounding of countless roundabouts and following of signs which disappeared. We (hubby and I) got there at 6 – gig due to start at 7.45 – no sign of a queue, we went looking for food among the maze of shopping malls. Big joke, unless we fancied a McDonalds; back towards the venue, hoping for better luck in a different direction….success! The Anvil had a cafe bar where we could eat while waiting in comfort and warmth – and get close enough to the doors to bag a position right under Glenn’s nose when they opened!
The support, Dean Johnston, was familiar – he supported last winter’s tour too – and not bad for that. At just after 8.30 the lads took the stage; they were obviously in fine form, no signs of the tiredness one might expect after a gruelling American tour, thoroughly enjoying themselves throughout. (Sartorial aside….grey suit, lilac shirt, black shiny shoes- bet he’s back to the spotty shirt for the solo gigs next month!) Chris Holland’s place was ably filled by Chris Braide (keen on Chrises aren’t they!), Hilaire and Ash were superb (the best rhythm section yet I reckon), and as for Glenn, well……Guitar God doesn’t really sum it up adequately. He’s slipped effortlessly into the role of Frontman, blasts out far more guitar solos than he ever used to, keeps the chat going, loves every minute of it, infects us with his enthusiasm. During the now-obligatory acoustic spot he went truly unplugged and led us Pied Piper-like into the bar, where he stood shakily on a table and gave us Labelled With Love, followed by a rousing Ticket To Ride, then came back in for Temptation For Love, beautifully performed. The new song Interviewing Randy Newman shows much promise for the solo album next year, being lyrically every bit as quirky as a Chris song; the style must have rubbed off over the years! I forget the set list, but among the usual oldies it was good to hear a different selection of Domino songs, Without You Here being one of them, and the brilliant In The Morning a highlight, as well as Little King and of course Domino.
On the down side, I felt Chris’ second guitar was sorely missed at times, and its lack meant that some of my favourites (SFP, Walk Away) had been dropped from the set; also missing of course were the distinctive backing vocals, most noticeable on Take Me (though Hilaire’s wonderful bass made up for it). I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, it came to an end far too soon, and I couldn’t help feel it was the end of an era – the last proper Squeeze gig, perhaps for ever (I don’t count the Blondie thing; not their gigs, not their audience). One to treasure. Grateful thanks to Glenn and Chris and all the many band members who have given such pleasure (musically!) over the years, and here’s looking forward to the start of a new era and that solo album!

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