Squeeze at the Kool Haus
Picked up my heavily discounted ticket from a Craigslist poster at Yonge & Dundas. Then drove down to what used to be RPM/Warehouse and stood in line outside until the doors were opened just as the first drops of rain began to fall. Waited up front for the show to start, leaning against the fence barricading us like animals from the stage by four or five feet. My age was roughly the median for crowd and fortunately they had whiskey and beer for sale to make us at least a little frisky. Squeeze's performance was flawless and energetic and the setlist was packed with their best songs, nearly all from their first five albums. Quite similar to the set of songs they played at Canada's Wonderland on singer Glen Tilbrook's cake-in-the-face birthday concert in 1985 (Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti tour), or at Massey Hall in 1988 (Bablyon and On tour). A mere 20 years ago. Chris Difford's voice and presence certainly added to last night's performance, yet there was a lack of intimacy and spontaneity as compared to the Glen Tilbrook shows I'd seen more recently. The format of this concert was much more rigid; not even allowing for Aimee Mann (a huge fan and onetime collaborator) to join them for a song, much less to allow for Glen to come into the audience for a singalong.

  posted by John : 10:26 AM