ALL TIGHT ON THE NIGHT SQUEEZE

(Olympia, Dublin)

Review by Siobhán Long, for Hot Press 

Okay, so Tilbrook's baby paunch renders the shirt un-tuck-inable. And Chris Difford looks more like a barrister than a manic pop preacher. And there are more balding pates in the circle than you'd spot at a bumper edition of Mart & Market. But there was no sweat spared in the tightest Squeeze we'd ever dreamt of.
Difford and Tilbrook coloured in the early '80s with finer brush strokes than anyone else in their drawing class. And they're still painting the backdrop with as much vim and vigour as they did when they started pooling copybooks all of, wait for it, 22 years ago!

It's not often that a band pleads an encore from its audience, but tonight they did, because they'd managed to siphon every last negative from the memory banks. And every photo opportunity distilled a mountain of teenage recollections from those of us who were anxious to relive a decade of perfect popfulness. 

Everything was there, pristine, wearing, certainly a whole lot better than the audience. From the wistful innocence of 'Annie Get Your Gun' to the streetwise sass of 'Cool For Cats' and the sublime 'Labelled With Love', a perfect forerunner of new country if ever there was one. As the hits poured out our braincells were regenerated to relive each scene - acne and all.

Tilbrook plays a mean lead guitar and miraculously, that inimitable voice is as it was, crisp and crackling with energy. Difford is the ultimate foil, his old world conservatism (at least in matters sartorial) an exquisite antidote to Tilbrook's boyish nonchalance. 

And, of course there was more, oodles more. The new album, Ridiculous, was given a fair airing, and from the sounds of 'Grouch Of The Day' and 'This Summer', they're hardly in danger of losing their pop sensibilities for a while yet. 

When all you want to do after the gig is rush out to buy the albums it's a safe bet that the band are doing the job right. Squeeze are cool cats on their ninth life. And they've left a barnful of purring apostles in their wake. Miaow!