Live DC: Squeeze @ 9:30 Klub

August 25, 2008 by Lil E  Send to a Friend

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with Squeeze. In my mind, I picture my introduction to the band much like one would picture a Norman Rockwell-esque painting featuring my parents and I, sitting aside the gramophone whilst the sweet, lilting strains of  Singles – 45s and Under first entered my brain and rocked my world. Only in MY painting, rather than a scene swathed in 40s Americana, the furniture distinctly screams 1983, the gramophone is a Technics 1200, and I had a perm, braces, and some god-awful outfit that my 9 year old brain thought made me look like Madonna. It didn’t.  

So, when I found out in 2007 that Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook were getting the gang back together for a tour to support both a best-of album tilted Essential Squeeze, as well as a live album called Five Live, I was pretty excited about the prospect of the band coming to the states at some point this year, if for no other reason than to ride the coattails of the other successful 80s band tours that have been happening of late – Howard Jones, George Michael, The Human League, Wang Chung, the list goes on.  

Of course, I had to bring my parents, who adorably fit in with the other… erm… older folks in attendance. More on that in a second.  

The band’s lineup for this tour absolutely did not disappoint. In addition to original members Difford and Tilbrook, bass player John Bentley (in the band from ’82-’85), and drummer Simon Hanson along with keyboardist Stephen Large (from Tilbrook’s other band The Fluffers) have been onboard for the duration of the tour. The band was dressed in sharp suits, and outfitted with what could easily be described as a shit-ton of gorgeous vintage gear – and you’ll have to forgive me here, because I’m more about aesthetics than I am about brands when it comes to instruments. I just thought it all looked lovely and old school - especially the drummer’s silver sparkle kit, and this funky, old victrola-looking spinny amp thing, which my husband Andy outed for me by literally screaming, “holy shit, a Leslie Amp”. Whatever the flavor, across the board the gear sounded amazing - easy to do in a room that sounds as good as the 9:30 Club.

I did not see the opening band (thank you Vinoteca, for not only sucking royally, but taking WAY too long to excecute my dining experience…) But, the only way I can appropriately describe experiencing the 90 minutes Squeeze were onstage is that it was like eating from a buffet of Girl Scout cookies; you know that you will love 90% of them, like half of the remaining ones pretty well, and realize that the ones left over are just crappy Trefoils. The set kicked off with “Strong In Reason” – one of the Trefoils, as I saw it, but quickly jumped into a retrospective of all their hits, from “If I Didn’t Love You”, to “Up the Junction” to “Black Coffee In Bed”. In fact, of the nineteen songs that made up the main part of the set there were only five Trefoils, including an unfortunate 10 minutes midway through, during which time Chris Difford busted into “I Think I’m Go Go”, a sort-of oddball, trippy jazz… “thing”, which frankly made my husband and I think of the line from Spinal Tap: “You CAN’T do a freeform jazz odyssey in front of a festival crowd!” But then my stepfather pointed out that even Ringo got a song on every album, so I gave it a wary pass, and took the opportunity to check out the merch (nothing to write home about…) and go to the bar and grab a drink with the rest of the haters.

To their credit, overall Squeeze sounded amazing. Aside from the aforementioned trippy jazz thing, the musicians were exceptionally tight, and fun to watch - including one keyboard solo during which Stephen Large did some wacky chopping kung fu maneuver and was able to pound out a few staccato beats with his right heel. Both Glenn Tilbrook’s and Chris Difford’s vocals were clear, and quite frankly stunning, which can only be attributed to continued singing by way of solo careers outside of Squeeze. There was very little quipping between songs, and the band’s ability to stay true to the spirit of their hits while throwing in some rockabilly-esque riffs here and there served as a consistent reminder of their distinct place in musical time.

The crowd was exactly what you’d expect for a band whose first hit was on the charts in 1978; a mix of people like myself; 30-whatevers who still actively collect and worship the bands of our childhood, and people like my parents (and actually, that’s not entirely fair, since my parents regularly come out to shows and my dance parties, and are never against going on a bender and getting up for work the next morning – so let’s say people like my parents’ suburban neighbors, for the sake of this example). The latter were typical for their demographic – they were all dressed in their “going out” uniforms – for the men, Hawaiian and/or golf shirts and Chinos, and for the ladies, capri pants and sleeveless blouses. I decided that if Squeeze set a margarita and a comfy chair at the front of the stage, they’d get bum-rushed, Public Enemy-style by these people. One bartender I spoke to told me that the staff were shocked at the amount of trouble they had with the older sect at the show; apparently a handful were trying to party like it was 1979, and several drunken fights ensued between the neighbors of my parents and some allegedly-disrespectful 30-something whippersnappers.

The main part of the show wrapped up with a veritable bevy of hits, including “Is That Love”, “Cool for Cats”, “Another Nail in My Heart”, and “Hourglass”. There had been so many hits before, I couldn’t possibly imagine what they’d play for an encore. It ended up being one encore consisting of a Trefoil and two Thin Mints - “Some Fantastic Place”, “Slap and Tickle”, and “Pulling Muscles (From the Shell)”.

For the first tour since 1999, over all it was a delight to fans who love the band and their hits – plus, at the end of the day, no blood was spilt; probably just some wine spritzers.

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