Squeeze + The Lightning Seeds @ Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 30th November 2010

The Symphony Hall is rammed to the rafters (if such a high-tech building has such a thing). The brave audience has survived the perils of a British winter and there is not a spare seat in the theatre.

Having been a Squeeze fan since first holding an orange vinyl copy of ‘Cool For Cats’ in my hands in 1979, I am happy to see the packed auditorium of mainly forty-somethings, knowing this support is testament to the band’s undying ability to write and perform at the highest level.

Support tonight is The Lightning Seeds, a band I always felt were victims of their own success: too poppy to be taken seriously, too intellectual to be taken in large doses, so they ended up being a successful singles band with a long list of hummable songs that never really quite hit the spot with me. And my opinion does not really change with their lacklustre performance tonight. Ian Broudie and his young band seem in awe of the cavernous space that opens up in front of them and their thin sound does little to fill it. The songs are undoubtedly good but they plough through them with little obvious effort. “Sense”, “Pure”, “Lucky You”, “The Life of Riley” and “You Showed Me” are all included, as well as an atrocious acoustic version of “Be My baby” in the middle of the set, which frankly sticks out like a sore thumb — this one may have sounded good in your house Ian, but even the harmonizing backing vocals did nothing to lift it beyond the mediocre.

I guess my problem with Broudie’s bunch is that there is no spark: it is just good pop music. Most of the audience are enjoying it however, the rest just listen politely.

After a short interval and an ironic rap band introduction, Squeeze begin a set of such breathtaking quality, an entire audience is glued to its seats. There is something about the Symphony Hall that has this effect on people and rock bands should learn the lesson of either not playing there, or asking the audience to stand up right at the start of the set. As it is, Squeeze sweat blood and tears for over an hour before Chris Difford politely asks the theatre to be upstanding for his long-term song-writing partner Glenn Tilbrook; only at this point does the audience remain standing and what a difference it makes to the atmosphere!

Apart from a handful of killer songs early on in the set, I have the feeling that the band, and particularly Tilbrook are trying too hard to impress, over-compensating for the audience’s lack of movement. There are times when he looks as though he is wondering what he has to do to lift the crowd onto their feet. When the answer eventually comes, it is surprisingly simple: just ask. The final twenty minutes of their set is like a rollercoaster, with both band and crowd relaxed enough to just go with it.

The songs come thick and fast, and the music is loud and defined, much more powerful than The Lightening Seeds’ wishy washy mix. Tilbrook’s vocals are utterly timeless and soar over his engrossing arrangements. Difford’s lyrics have lost none of their power after 30 years and they still sound fresh and exciting, not dating at all. The songs where Difford takes over lead vocal duties also make a refreshing change, in his own understated way, as at times Tilbrook comes over too much as an over-exuberant solo artist instead of the ever cool frontman for Squeeze, with his shiny, violet suit and floppy fringe, ever blowing in the air from two fans positioned below him. This may however just be that his flair is generally in stark contrast with the band behind him, as they seem to prefer to keep a lower profile. That said, Tilbrook is a master guitar player, something I had not considered fully until seeing him play live, and an infallible performer. An added bonus to the proceedings is the wonderful Steve Nieve taking the place originally kept warm by Jools Holland. I never liked and still don’t like Jools, and alwaysloved Steve (his work with Elvis Costello is legendary), so this is a real Hootenanny
come early. With John Bentley and Simon Lavis on bass and drums respectively, the 2010 version of Squeeze is a tight-knit band, and arguably its finest incarnation.

Although I guess as long as Difford and Tilbrook are present that is Squeeze. Constantly compared to the likes of Lennon and McCartney, Marriott and Lane, Marr and Morrissey, Jagger and Richards et al, Chris and Glenn have to receive a special award for most under-rated. And if there is medal for warming the frozen hearts of the Symphony Hall tonight, there is only one nominee; certainly they raised the temperature by a few degrees leaving us feeling, well… cool.

Set included:

Take Me I’m Yours, Pulling Mussels (From the Shell), Is that Love?, Tempted, Labelled with Love, Cool for Cats, Annie Get Your Gun, Another Nail For My Heart, Black Coffee In Bed, Goodbye Girl, Hourglass, Tempted, Slap And Tickle and Up the Junction.

The CD ‘Spot The Difference’, a re-recording of Squeeze’s classic hits, was released in August 2010 to accompany this tour.

Review & Photos – Al Neilson

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