Squeeze – 8 October 2015 – live at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Squeeze – 8 October 2015 – live at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

“Squeeze, the enduring British pop act whose songs have tenderly and wittily chronicled life and love stretching across four decades, are to play an extensive UK tour in the autumn – their first, as a band, for three years.

As well as a vast catalogue including hits such as Cools For Cats, Up The Junction and Tempted, it will include songs from forthcoming album From The Cradle To The Grave, which marks their first collection of new tracks since 1998.

Squeeze have long been a captivating live act with an array of chart hits – which also includes the likes of Take Me I’m Yours, Slap And Tickle and Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) – but for this tour there is a further treat with new tracks which will appear on From The Cradle To The Grave.

Support on the tour will come from poet and punk godfather Dr John Cooper Clarke, the bard of Salford.”

Here’s a review from the Nottingham Post:

“Glenn Tilbrook can’t get enough of Nottingham. The baby-faced lead singer of Jools Holland’s old band Squeeze is hardly ever away. We have a long-standing relationship. Not so the band. Now featuring jus two of the original members – Glenn and songwriting partner, Chris Difford – you could say our love is more enduring.

And so it is tonight. The crowd queuing at the stalls door are conspicuously salt and pepper. There is one teen in a Nirvana tee-shirt, and it’s not her mum she’s come with tonight. I’m guessing it’s her gran, and I’m guessing little Kurt didn’t buy the tickets.

Well, grandma better be broadminded because first up is legendary punk poet, Dr John Cooper Clarke. And what serendipity to be here on National Poetry Day – a fact not lost on JCC.

A cross between the Childcatcher and Ron Wood he is almost supernaturally thin. Sipping from a glass of something clear with a slice of lemon, he says of the audience: “You look like a bunch of murderers. Or golfers.” He is well-aware that their shared average age is well over 50, and while referencing his classics – Evidently Chickentown, Beaseley Street etc – he reads poems that reflect the themes of ageing, most viciously Bed Blockers. Matrimony doesn’t escape that Manc drawl either: “Marriage is like a funeral where you can smell your own flowers.” It is hilariously dour. It is iambic stand-up with style.

It’s a tough act to follow, but with so much love in the room the ever affable Tilbrook isn’t phased. He apologises in advance for a croaky voice and asks that we sing along to some of the bigger choruses. It’s like a coach trip. And it’s a good job this charabanc has a loo because someone seems to be going every five minutes.

Nobody who has ever seen Squeeze can say that they don’t do a good show – Splendour being a case in point. [[Cool For Cats]], [[Up The Junction]], Take Me I’m Yours, [[Slap And Tickle]], [[Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)]] and [[Tempted]] – they’re all there, and good as ever, despite the awkwardness of a sitting down gig and a niggling sound issue that mics up the bass and drums way too high.

But, the reason why a festival gig absolutely smashes it is that you don’t have to sit through the ‘new stuff.’ And there was a lot of new stuff – even on the encore. That went down well.

To borrow a bake-off analogy, it was all a bit soggy in the middle. From the Cradle to the Grave is a stomper, but the rest is pure Americana. If you like that, it was a magical gig, if you don’t, there’s quite a lot of waiting around. And toilet breaks.”

Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Squeeze-John-Cooper-Clarke-Royal-Concert-Hall/story-27953545-detail/story.html#ixzz3oGmGkJkQ
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Hourglass
Is that love
Another Nail In My Heart
Electric Trains
Only Fifteen
Beautiful Game
Some Fantastic Place
The Truth
Nirvana
Elephant ride
Everything
Labelled With Love
Slap & Tickle
Black Coffee In Bed
Goodbye Girl
Open
Cradle To The Grave
Harper Valley PTA
I Don’t Wanna Grow
Tempted
Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)
Up The Junction

Snap, Crackle & Pop
Happy Days
Cool For Cats
Take Me I’m Yours