Squeeze – 31 July 2010 – live at Uptown Theatre, Napa, CA

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Chris Handling says:

1 August 2010 at 11:06 pm

Saw the show last night at the Uptown Theatre in Napa. It was the first time I had ever seen them, and all I can say is… WOW! Excellent set list, the band was really tight, and the staging and backdrop really complemented everything really nicely. Can’t say enough good things about the show. I hope someone posts a set list! I was in the front row, and was going to take Chris’ copy of the set list for a souvenir, but others more eager than I jumped in before I could get it. The theatre was a really nice venue. Only bad thing was that the new CD wasn’t on sale yet. Thanks guys for a tremendous show!

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ed_in_sf says:

2 August 2010 at 2:08 am

My wife (Pam) and I had not been to Napa for concert before, so we were pretty excited about seeing Squeeze in a new venue. The Uptown Theater is near the heart of downtown Napa, so after finding a parking spot just one block for the theater, we started looking for a place for coffee (being kinda groggy from the Saratoga show the night before), and ran into our friend Melinda from the night before, and her friend Jennifer.

The theater itself was impressive – it seats about 800, and most of the seats were filled, which I thought was pretty impressive. Who new they had that strong of a fan base in those parts? I recall going to a solo Glenn show a few years ago in Petaluma — there were not more that 20 people in the audience.

The English Beat opened the show, and were even better than the previous night – the medley of “Ranking Full Stop” into “Mirror In The Bathroom” had everyone around us up, dancing, and sweaty. They didn’t play an encore (the previous night it was “The Love You Give Lasts Forever”), though the crowd loved them (I may have to spend my iTunes giftcard them). We had seats in the 5th row, as opposed to the previous night’s 24th row (the furthest I’ve ever been for a Squeeze show!), so we could see how hard Dave Wakeling was working, and how much fun he was having. The band was tight; it didn’t bug me too much that no one other that Dave was from the original Beat.

Between sets, I got to talk to a few people I met at the Saratoga show (Andy and his wife, Chris), and Laurie S., another Squeezefan list-er. Turns out Laurie & I both got into Squeeze about the same time (’82). I wondered where she was during the English Beat’s opening set (I noticed her empty seat in the row in front of us); she replied that she happened to run into Glenn and Simon out in the lobby, and was talking to them the whole time – what luck, Laurie!!

Finally about 9:30PM, the lights dimmed, and Squeeze’s walk-on music started playing (a kinda techno mash-up of some Squeeze hits – think “Squabs on Forty Fab”). Next thing I saw was Simon, then Stephen, then the rest of the band, casually strolling up to the stage down the left aisle, not more than a few feet from me, slapping hands with everyone along the way – how frakkin’ cool!

After everyone took their places onstage, they started their set, which was identical to the one from the night before (I didn’t even write the songs down)…but hey! We (Pam, me, and our good friend Kimberley) were sitting 20 rows closer, so it was like listening to an entirely new set :-) Glenn’s solos ripped more (especially “It’s So Dirty”); Simon’s drums were more Gilson-like; I could see the polka dots on Chris’ guitar that matched the new album’s cover art; we could see Steven sticking his tongue as he gingerly played his iPad solo on “Cool for Cats”; and I could see the looks John was giving the other guys through the set.

I loved hearing the non-hits – “If It’s Love”, “Hope Fell Down”, “Someone Else’s Heart” my personal highlights – unfortunately (for nitpicky me), it seems they’ve streamlined the list down to the 19 songs they’ve been playing for the last few weeks. When gbunnn posted them playing “Last Time Forever” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfdIkV-V0Ho), I had high hopes (okay, I was giddy! “King George Street” perhaps?). But I will refrain from hinting anything remotely critical about the boys from Deptford (for the moment — ha); They schedule 3 shows in the Bay Area – when has that ever happened?

Just some random notes:
Glenn wore white shoes last night, and Chris wore shiny black – thinking about their at-times rocky relationship over the last 3 decades, LOST came to mind (‘Two players, two sides; one is light, one is dark”)

In Saratoga, Chris remarked that it was so cold, his “nipples were erect”; last night, it was so warm, he was “roasting like a pig” — welcome to the Bay Area, Chris – home of 23 micro-climates!

Talking to John after the Saratoga show, he said the song he had the hardest time re-recording for “Spot the Difference” was “Labeled With Love” (he thought it was going to be the easiest… it took him about 45 minutes). Also regarding “Spot”: Simon said they had to record the songs “without a click”, since the original versions of the songs all “wavered in tempo”.

Steven said he’s been aware of some of the on-line criticism of playing the iPad on Fallon, but that it was good thing overall, bringing some notoriety to Squeeze. He confirmed that he was leaving after the end of the tour, to work with Duffy.

The SF Fillmore show starts in a few hours – gotta make dinner now…

-Ed

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Squeeze – 31 July 2010 – live at Uptown Theatre, Napa, CA

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