Squeeze - Keswick Theater (Glenside, PA) - Friday, August 22, 2008

Although I’ve seen GLENN TILBROOK play solo about half a dozen times over the last decade or so, I’d never seen SQUEEZE play live before. It was with this in mind, and after missing them last year when they first reunited, that we went ahead and bought the pricey tickets for their show at the Keswick, the first time they’d played in the area (not counting an appearance in Atlantic City last year) since they reunited. It also didn’t hurt that the setlists I saw included lots of deep cuts from the classic ‘79-’81 era.

Although the show ultimately didn’t have as many deep album cuts as I would’ve ideally liked, it was still sensational. And boy did it get off to great and unexpected start, too. They opened with “Strong in Reason”, a CHRIS DIFFORD lead vocal that’s also one of the better songs on their so-so debut, 1978’s UK Squeeze. From that point on, they played virtually all of 45s Singles and Under, their ubiquitous but utterly fantastic singles comp. In other words, all the hits from “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)” to “Tempted” (sung by Glenn) to “Black Coffee in Bed” (complete with audience backup vocals towards the end) were here along with others like “Is That Love,” “If I Didn’t Love You” and “Take Me, I’m Yours”. Thus, I think that any casual fan would’ve been satisfied with the show.

Although the show was a bit short on obscurities, the most notable exception was the focus on 1980’s Argybargy. Particularly, we not only got the previously aforementioned “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)” and “If I Didn’t Love You”, but “Another Nail in My Heart” and obscure but great tracks like “Separate Beds” and “I Think I’m Go-Go”. As they played, the video projector behind the stage showed images pertinent to each song. For example, during “Cool for Cats”, images depicting life in their native south London (such as lots of images of fish and chip shops) were shown and during “I Think I’m Go-Go”, the vast, deep expanse of the universe and the stars shown fit in absolutely perfectly with that song’s spacey, druggy feel.

In addition, we also got a great version of “Piccadilly” (complete with another audience sing-a-long during its great ending) and oddly, several cuts from 1989’s middling Frank album. Although these tracks, particularly “Melody Motel”, are ones they’d often included in their live sets in the ‘90s and with “Melody Motel” also being a stable of Glenn’s solo sets, it was still odd to hear these tracks alongside much more familiar and well-loved earlier material. With that said, Difford’s vocal on “Slaughtered, Gutted and Heartbroken” was much less of a croak than on the recorded version or the one on the live video/album A Round and a Bout from that same time period.

Overall, it was clear that the core of Tilbrook, Difford and bassist JOHN BENTLEY were having a blast up there. Tilbrook was, as always, a consummate showman, and some of his frequent guitar solos seemed to threaten to go into blues-rock mode at any moment. Fortunately, this impluse was contained, but the showmanship made it that much more of an entertaining show.