Squeeze – August 1980 – live at The Albany X3

Photographs by Harry.

3 Responses to "Squeeze – August 1980 – live at The Albany X3"

ruislipdave says:

1 April 2010 at 11:15 pm

IT’S NOT CRICKET
Back in 1980 I was working in Shepherds Bush, West London and one of my customers at the time was Pete Thomas (drummer with Elvis Costello and eventually Squeeze).Pete told me that Squeeze were playing 3 farewell to Jools Holland gigs on their home turf in Deptford and that Elvis was supporting on all 3 nights. Unfortunately due to the relatively small size of the venue and that it was a Squeeze gig there would be no guest list passes available and tickets went on sale that day. Due to the huge popularity of Squeeze at the time the gig was advertised by only a few posters in the Deptford area. As I was stuck in the office, I made a quick call to my good friend Angelo who was a poor student at the time and he rushed to Shepherds Bush whereupon I furnished him with the required cash and off he went to Deptford – unknown South London territory to us in those days.We only bought tickets for the first 2 nights because on the 3rd we had tickets to see the first ever floodlit cricket match at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. What a great venue it was, fairly similar to the layout of the present Albany and we fought our way to the front of the stage both nights. First on each evening were various alternative acts and comedians from the newly opened Comedy Store. We had Keith Allen (Lily’s dad) and Alexei Sayle performing his bizarre ‘ello John gotta new motor?. Then on came Elvis under the pseudonym of Otis Westinghouse & The Lifts. Elvis was at that time at the peak of his commercial powers and they delivered a blistering set each night. Then on came Squeeze, cheered on by their home crowd played a long set and joined by Elvis and various Attractions for several encores. Despite having seen Squeeze several times before these 2 gigs I think these nights put them up with my then favourite acts, and these gigs are still 2 of the best gigs I have ever seen. However, we were choked that, instead of coming for the 3rd and final night, which would probably be the best night of all we were going to see a poor excuse of a cricket match which seemed a good idea at the time. During the match we kept saying to each other we should have gone to Deptford. It’s was definitely not cricket!

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Alex says:

3 October 2019 at 11:40 pm

Met another person on a jolly a couple of summers ago who also remembered being there THAT night, as was I! The old Albany atmosphere never matched by the new building. I’ve been remembering the pseudonym as Otis & The Elevators! Wonder which one of us is right!

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Mike says:

23 March 2024 at 2:59 pm

I was there … and can definitely remember Elvis Costello being billed as Edgar J Hoover and the Frigidaires (it was even chalked on a board near the entrance). I have no recall of the name Otis etc but perhaps that was a different night? I was a regular at the bar and the barmaid (excuse the old fashioned word) was happy to sell me 12 tickets. So, several of my friends also got to enjoy that fantastic last night. It was a privilege.

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Squeeze – August 1980 – live at The Albany X3

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