Squeeze – 26 November 2007 – live at University of East Anglia Norwich

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packetofthree says:

25 April 2010 at 5:09 pm

Review: Squeeze
By Simon Clough

It seems like they’ve been around forever, but the passage of time hasn’t dented any of Squeeze’s fervour. In Norwich, the band – with its backbone of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook – packed their set list with a continuous fill of classics.

Squeeze are one of those bands that seem to exist outside of time – you know, the they’ll-never-go-out-of-fashion-because-they’ve-never-been-in-it sort.
Maybe not following fads explains how they’ve been going since 1974, though numerous personnel have come and gone over the years – most notably Jools Holland, who left fairly early on to go and play boogie-woogie with, well, absolutely anybody!
I mentioned to some friends that I was going to see Squeeze.
“Who?” was the reply. A shame considering if I sat them down and played them Essential Squeeze – a compilation of their hits released this year – they’d say, “Oh, I really like this one, who’s it by again?” to more than a few.

Chris Difford during the UK tour opener

Not wishing to bemoan our culturally-malnourished youth any further, I now wish to bemoan the older generation, of whom the majority of tonight’s crowd consisted. For the first time in a while, I actually felt young at a gig.
Another reunion
Despite the band’s best efforts, their audience was largely lifeless – not very encouraging for a band playing the first UK gig of their latest reunion tour.
Still, Chris Difford seemed happy enough and Glenn Tilbrook looked positively Slash-esque at times, with his hair wafting in the fan-assisted breeze and clouds blowing by on the screen backdrop.
The only two constants in Squeeze, it was a pleasure to see the naturalness of their partnership – with Difford’s lyrics and deep voice and Tilbrook’s music, hard-to-match vocal as well as his fine guitar-playing – at work on stage.
With the return of pony-tailed John Bentley on bass, and some hat-wearing nattiness from keyboardist Stephen Large and drummer Simon Hanson, it would have been a case musically, if not stylistically of showing the kids how it’s done – had any kids been there.

Squeeze played a tight show

Gig highlights
Nearly every song was a classic, but stand-out tracks included Up The Junction, Tempted – with Tilbrook effortlessly stepping in for Paul Carrack’s celebrated vocal – Cool For Cats and Hourglass.
Live, Love Circles revealed charms that are absent on the studio recording and an extended pub sing-a-long version of Black Coffee In Bed made for a fitting end to a highly entertaining set: recent live release 5 Live might well be worth a look-in.
Isn’t it nice when old friends get together?

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1. Paul Bradley says:
  
  26 November 2015 at 10:47 pm
  
  It’s interesting how a gig can be perceived differently by people in the same audience. This was one of my most enjoyable and memorable Squeeze gigs. I was really looking forward to the reunion as this would be the first time I had seen Squeeze since 1999 at Southend ( warm up to the Blondie Tour) but had seen plenty of Glenn’s solo tours and with The Fluffers over the previous 8 years but Squeeze were back and I’d missed the Difford shuffle!! Also I had never seen John Bentley play live with Squeeze as I was 12 when he left.
  
  Funnily enough I had seen James Taylor’s One Man Band Show at Brighton 7 months earlier and had seen Chris in the foyer at the concert and told him how much I was looking forward to the upcoming tour. Chris was great and took the time to chat to me even though he probably wanted to take his seat- even asking me where I had travelled from- thanks Chris!
  
  So i was pretty excited about the Norwich gig, took 2 days off work, drove up to Norwich on the Monday from Ramsgate and stayed in a B&B. Took the opportunity to have a few drinks in Norwich & at The Union Bar and had a great time singing along whilst trying to perfect my slightly more manic than Mr Diffords Difford shuffle- Was great to hear Slightly Drunk and Piccadilly live Afterwards the band signed the new CD and programme at the stage door- or some door – it was perfect. I then came out to a totally deserted UEA thinking how the hell do I get back to Norwich city centre! Thanks guys great memories!!
  
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Squeeze – 26 November 2007 – live at University of East Anglia Norwich

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