Squeeze, Usher Hall: 50 years on and still cool for cats

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Fifty years after they first formed, Squeeze are bouncing with glee on the stage at the Usher Hall as they wrap a 23-song set which was so much more than a stroll down memory lane.

Suited and booted, and razor sharp, this expanded eight-piece line-up played with a genuine zest in front of a full house. 


Badly Drawn Boy’s opening set was as mellow and meandering as this was punchy and damn near perfect.


The audience may have been of a certain vintage, but that didn’t stop the first of them getting  up and dancing within a handful of songs, only to be told to sit back down. Welcome to Edinburgh.


It took a  “stand up if you want” invite from Chris Difford to instantly transform the room. From there it was a blast. The guy standing in the aisle shook his middle-aged booty like there was no tomorrow - lost in them music and moment, and deliriously happy.


It reminded me of the old fella at Hyde Park who burst into life the moment The Who took to the stage. As he played his air guitar with the same intensity as Pete Townsend on stage, his wife tugged at his t-shirt and told him to stop making a show of himself. He just cranked it up with full windmill tilts for the next half hour. 


The joy that sits at the very heart of Squeeze’s remarkable back catalogue poured from the stage.


Three songs in and we’d had Black Coffee In Bed, Footprints and Is That Love before they rattled off Up The Junction - one of the many Difford-Tilbrook compositions that tells such a vivid story it could become a stage play or TV drama.


There was a new song, One Beautiful Summer - about two 80 year olds falling in love in a care home - and a retracing of their steps all the way back to ‘74 for Trixie's Hell on Earth from the first album that was never released. It was a fascinating glimpse into the songwriting style that made them stand head and shoulders about everyone else.


Cool For Cats remains a timeless masterpiece, and as the big hits rolled out this became one glorious, joyous sing-a-long, propelled by a band in fine form.


The musicianship was also top notch with Tilbrook demonstrating once again what a maestro he is on the guitar - I genuinely had no idea how electrifying he was until I watched him at the Woodside Hotel in Aberdour and that was with just an acoustic guitar!


It was hard to pick any particular gem given the sheer number of classics in the set.


Five decades on and Squeeze are still packing them in, and having a blast. So good, no-one even minded there was no encore.

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