AS CASUAL entrances go, Chris Difford’s arrival at the Bubble Club took the biscuit.
As befits the low-key, informal nature of the show, the Squeeze man ambled between the tables and chairs of Whitstable’s Horsebridge Centre and clambered onto the small stage with a lyric book under one arm and a raffish scarf wrapped round a sensible V-neck.
Rock and roll it wasn’t!
The night turned out to be a greatest hits package with short films and recollections. Most of the time Difford, accompanied by singer Dorie Jackson, made an amiable and amusing raconteur, although us old codgers at the back would have liked a slightly larger screen. Squeeze is still central to Difford’s life and work. He recalled his first meeting with co-founder Glenn Tilbrook in the early 1970s. The pair were brought together by a card in a newsagent’s window in south London.Together they wrote some of the most endearing and eccentric British pop music of the past 30 years such as Up The Junction and Cool For Cats.
“We’ve known each other for more than 40 years,” Difford said of Tilbrook, who himself played Whitstable last year, albeit at the rather grander Playhouse Theatre down the road. Difford cheekily adds, with his tongue in his cheek, “We’ve only spoken for one of them!” Difford produced a whistle-stop run through his three solo albums before telling the audience: “Don’t worry, we’ve almost got the solo stuff out of the way.”
He ended with two encores, closing the night with a knockabout Cool For Cats, Squeeze’s breakthrough hit accompanied by newsreel footage of a train journey from London to Brighton “in just four minutes.” A good evening was made even better when Difford confirmed Squeeze was back together, even if they now look like “five mini cab drivers.”
I bet they all go south of the river.
Jon Homer
For me that review about sums up my show, it was a delirious night, by the end of it i was all of a giggle, the films ran out of sync we sang all the wrong words and i swore a lot. Im sorry. Having Dorie back in the frame was lovely, i share her with Francis, he gets first dibs. I like the show on my own too, im so lucky to have both. On the night Chris Wood dropped by and we shared words and faces, i was in awe. He is a great writer and performer he comes from the left bank of songwriting with a bone set in folk, which i love. It was so great to see him. The snow fell and Lou and i drove home slowly up the M2. I loved this gig, it was like being 10 years old in the playground, that care a less attitude that warms the heart. Thats it.
Chris Difford.