A Friday night trip to a venue in my hometown Sheffield City Hall for a sold out Squeeze show.
Arriving just in time for what was an interesting support choice in Dr John Cooper Clarke, described as a ‘punk poet.’ The Dr has performed since the 70’s supporting lots of well known bands along with releasing his albums. Notably, he has collaborated with Sheffield bands Arctic Monkeys and Reverend and The Makers so the local connection was strong tonight. A very entertaining funny set and a larger than life character, great start to the show.
So onto Squeeze who visited the City Hall partway through their ‘Food For Thought’ UK tour. The band support the Trussell Trust charity and food donations were invited on the night, plenty of people had taken that up judging by a large amount of bags and boxes evident as I entered the venue. An important charity in these difficult times, hats off to the band for this.
Opening with ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ and then straight into huge hits ‘Hour Glass’ and ‘Up the Junction’ the crowd were instantly engaged and subsequently taken on a journey through the band’s back catalogue with newer material sprinkled in.
Singer Glenn Tilbrook held the audience in his hands, a great voice and personality. The venue’s excellent security team struggled to enforce the ‘no dancing’ policy early on in the show, as people were itching to get into party mode. It’s a little controversial but I do understand the need for this as people don’t always want their view of the band blocking straight away, after paying for premium seats. However later in the show, the whole crowd ended up on their feet, so in the end, everyone was happy.
Announcing Guitarist Chris Difford’s birthday the entire City Hall sang it back to him. A nice touch and a testament to the loyal following this band still has.
Highlights were a semi acoustic version of ‘Tempted’ which had the crowd singing along again, with my personal fave ‘Labelled With Love’ raising the roof. A fantastic band musically, excellent front of house sound and a packed venue, Squeeze delivered everything I expected and more tonight.
If you haven’t seen them live I would urge you to buy a ticket for one of the remaining shows, the band really have stood the test of time, up there with the very best live acts in the UK.
Check out the latest EP ‘ Food For Thought’ on all major streaming platforms which also includes a couple of live tracks.
