Gig Review: Squeeze at the Royal Concert Hall, with Badly Drawn Boy

The day hadn’t begun well for Damon Gough. A nasty inflammation of Crohn’s Disease had almost put paid to his prestigious support slot leaving his fabled woolly hat on the dresser. Thankfully, the 55-year-old, better known as Badly Drawn Boy (above), rallied and was able to travel down to the East Midlands for the ninth performance of this 27-date tour.

He began with a tribute to One Direction singer Liam Payne after news of his tragic death in Argentina had dropped over night, before ushering in set opener, This Is That New Song, itself a homage to a friend who went missing 20 years ago – "it will get more upbeat as we go on," he wryly promised.

His gentle, but lyrically seething, take on the 2016 referendum, Appletree Boulevard, followed before The Time of Times was coupled with a mirthful yarn about how the Italian church used it for two years in a publicity campaign ("as a lapsed Catholic, I took the money without any of the Catholic guilt!").

Standing stock centre stage with just a guitar, mouth organ and electric piano for company, the Mancunian’s set was welcomed warmly by the healthy crowd in early enough to see it and his touching tribute to the late Factory Records boss, Tony Wilson Said, was both beautiful and heartfelt.

McCartney and Lennon famously met when the latter skiffled his way into the future Beatle’s heart on the back of a flatbed truck at a village fete, while Marr hunted down his wingman Morrissey at his Stretford home after reading a similar story about Lieber and Stoller’s genesis. The journey of another great British songwriting partnership began with an advert placed by the teenage Chris Difford in a sweet shop window. 

Spotted by the similarly adolescent Glen Tilbrook and his girlfriend at the time, Maxine, it proved to be the catalyst for one of music’s most enduring friendships. Fifty years later and the lynchpins for the South London new wavers arrived in the finest of fettle. Part of a nattily-dressed octet bedecked in a flurry of checks and stripes, Squeeze were on a mission to provide maximum bang for buck as they ripped into their 23-song set.

Black Coffee In Bed and Footprints were rattled out before the imperial Up The Junction ("She looked just like her mother, if there could be another". Goose bumps. Every. Single. Time.) was casually dropped before some ticket holders had even made it to their seats from the bar.

The Pink Floydian Departure Lounge gave us the opportunity for a blissed-out breather before the hitfest bandwagon rolled again. Pulling Mussels (From The Shell), Annie Get Your Gun and Goodbye Girl were all too much for the two blokes to my left. Stood up, hugging arm in arm and bellowing every single word, if ever there was a scene which encapsulated what this band has meant to people in the last five decades it was this. Heart-swelling stuff indeed.

By the time Tempted and the iconic Cool For Cats were aired, the pair were joined by the majority of the packed out crowd as the years were rolled back to a time of Vesta curries, hosepipe bans and Porridge on the telly.

Before rounding off with the propulsive Take Me I’m Yours, which gave the rest of the band their turn in the spotlight (including mesmerising solos by Tiggerish keyboardist Stephen Large and percussionist Steve Smith), Tilbrook took time to thank the crowd for donations made to foodbank charity, Trussell, showing they have lost none of their admirable socialist leanings.

There is seemingly no sign of the Squeeze train slowing down yet either. Two new albums are apparently almost in the can, one comprising of tracks first penned back in the year when Gifford placed that postcard in front of the strawberry bon bons. Life, like the music, always goes on.

Squeeze performed at the Royal Concert Hall on 17th October 2024, with support from Badly Drawn Boy.

@squeezeogram