When Squeeze took to the stage at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre on Nov 5^th at 8.45pm – the first impression was wow, what a lot of them there are! It became obvious throughout the night that that was a brilliant part of the plan. 

The expansion to 8 on stage was a bit of a surprise as throughout their early years they had been a 4-piece or a 5-piece with a changing line-up. Chris Difford & Glen Tilbrook were always the constants with other well-known names like Jools Holland and Paul Carrack being part of the line-up at key points through the years. 

Squeeze were formed in the mid-1970s : so Difford and Tilbrook are now showing their age a little – as were some of the others. So three band members from the next generation down were able to add quite a bit of energy to the performance and helped to keep the momentum building as the night went along. This current line-up helps keep the performance fresh and energetic.

They all entered the stage and got straight into the strong and distinctive opening of ‘Black Coffee in Bed’ - a 1982 release which didn’t have massive commercial success, but was known by everyone in the Theatre it seemed.

We were treated to a seemingly never-ending list of familiar songs –though apparently only 3 of them had ever made the top 10! Overall they had 12 top 40 hits between 1978 and 1996, and a few in the outer reaches of the charts. 

Squeeze had a fanbase that made this night a sell out in the great venue of AWT, and it was clear that the room knew the catalogue so to speak: ‘Is That Love’, ‘Up The Junction’, ‘Pulling Muscles From A Shell’, ‘Another Nail In My Heart’, ‘Annie Get Your Gun’, and many more.

Squeeze have continued making music and writing songs – Difford writes the lyrics generally and Tilbrook the music – and we were offered two or three of their more recent songs – one inspired by a story of the love affair of 2 octogenarians in a care home, showing how far the influences on Squeeze have changed since their youthful 1970s and 80s. 

There’s something about their sound, not quite sure what, that is distinctively Squeeze. They are quite adventurous musically I feel and layer voices and instruments to create a complex and interwoven sound. On stage were 4 guitarists (1 on Bass), 2 drummers, 1 keyboardist (but with 4 Keyboards to dance between), a female vocalist and percussionist, and 3 of them were also the key male vocalists - but I think all 8 were miked for vocals (Mainly Difford & Tillbrook providing the distinctive Squeeze vocal sound though – and no less powerful and top quality than it was way back).

The musical complexity saw performers switching between instruments –one of the guitarists flipping between a lute, an electric guitar and I think an electric zither. 

During the rendition of ‘Goodbye Girl’ – which had seemingly been nominated as the nights main party tune – the keyboardist (Stephen Large) was prancing (is there any other way to describe it?) around the stage with masses of energy playing an accordion. Large had also brought a mad-cap showman style during ‘Slap and Tickle’ where his karate-chop keyboard playing was something to behold. He also went a bit crazy playing using his elbows for most of ‘Hourglass’.

As ‘Tempted’ led onto ‘Cool For Cats’ (one of their biggest hits, establishing from the early years their distinctive style) we really thought we were getting value for money – the quality, the energy, the showmanship, the inter-action, and the duration (over 1.5hrs) of their performance. But we weren’t finished yet – a softer moment with ‘Labelled with Love’ before the frantic ‘Hourglass’.

‘Take Me I’m Yours’ (their first single) was their grand finale on the night - loved by all : there was a bit of (Squeeze encouraged) dancing in the seats through various songs and certainly this one - and then as they bowed out, they did a weird thing bringing several of their instruments to lay on stage before us – as if to thank them for being played! Difford & Tilbrook were great in highlighting every band member and also the work of Trussel (Trust) a charity they have supported for many years and raised many thousands of pounds and tons of food for their food banks.

They’ve got several more UK dates, and will head to Western USA in Spring ’25 (where they enjoyed some success), returning for Pub in The Park in Marlow in May 2025. 

Reviewed by Bjarne Thelin for Trend Radio