Squeeze + John Cooper Clarke

The Gov

30 April 2018

by Jason Leigh

The Dragnet 50s TV show theme heralds the arrival of the rake thin Dr John Cooper Clarke. At 69 years he continues to maintain the energetic wit of his prime by beginning with a preamble about being too late to have submitted his guest list (note that it is still only 7:45pm) and recites said Official Guest List, the audience immediately realising that it is unlikely that any of the cultural icons named, living or dead, will be in attendance for tonight’s performances. The spoken word set that follows is an eclectic combination of poetry recital from a selection of three notebooks and the comedy of his between “song” banter. Not having released any new albums of original material since 1982, John Cooper Clarke has continued write and announces his forthcoming book, The Luckiest Guy Alive while self-deprecatingly spruiking merchandise (“You could pay less for a shirt”) during a string of faux commercials. He introduces Beasley Street by surmising that although it has long been thought to have been about Thatcher’s Britain, it came out before she was in power and hopes that he hadn’t give her any ideas. This is followed by the sequel Beasley Boulevard a modern day update relating to Urban Splash regeneration. Coming up to twenty years with his second wife, he jokes, “A wedding is a funeral where you can smell the flowers”, before his penultimate poem, I’ve fallen in Love With My Wife. The profanity laden Evidently Chickentown, used in an episode of The Sopranos, raises the question, was a white man from Salford, Lancashire, England performing rap in 1980? There’s a moment backstage before an encore with two contrasting odes to Valentine’s Day, Twat and then I Wanna Be Yours, and he praises the mutually appreciative Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys for having covered this song on their album AM.

Unlike “cover” bands masquerading as the originals and backing sole original members touring simply for nostalgic, and perhaps financial reasons, Squeeze can be seen as one whose reconfiguration has been a reinvigoration. Frontman Glenn Tillbrook’s longterm partner Chris Difford continues to be an official member and co-writes, he just isn’t here (and for good reasons) but that didn’t matter to an audience who are grateful after having have waited so long. 

Without a word, the almost lyrically autobiography of Please Be Upstanding, is almost an audience call to arms. Tillbrook manages, “Good evening”, during barely enough time for the applause before diving back in history for second song Pulling Mussels (From The Shell). Gradually the other four members of the band are introduced. Stephen Large’s performance on variations of keyboards, karate chop piano technique, and front of stage melodica soloing are visual drawcards throughout the set. Newest member by a couple of years, experienced bassist Yolanda Charles was apparently headhunted after a spell playing with Paul Weller’s band and suited tonight dressed in a style that brings to mind several late 1980s iconic Robert Palmer video clips. Simon Hanson is described as being “on drums and magical triangle”. Mainly on percussion, the versatile Steve Smith moves front of stage a couple of times to play acoustic and take lead vocal, the first being for country song Labelled With Love.

The 1982 12 track compilation Singles 45’s And Under is played in entirety during the set, there’s a couple of post 1982 songs but the remainder consists of over half of last year’s The Knowledge and a couple from previous album, Cradle to the Grave, their first album of originals since 1998. 

Rough Ride is an example of the band successfully stretching musical boundaries. With a backing tape used for the absent opera singer, choir and horns, this is potentially an excerpt from an epic musical in the making. Departure is a significant diversion from the rest of the set with an extended prog rock introduction during which Simon Hanson stands upright to deliver subtle beats and Stephen Large contributes vocoder and minimoog. Tempted is updated with a tight robotnik groove over which Tillbrook adds his human vocal. The dual percussion segues into the next song, the rhythmic Wicked which almost has a machine-like quality and is almost less a song and more a groove. The sequence of robotic percussive grooves continues into the following Goodbye Girl, with Simon Hanson and Steve Smith even acting out stilted clockwork dance moves while duetting on cowbells. Up the Junction has a more traditional pop song-based structure before the set ends with a suitably deliberately chaotic performance of Slap and Tickle, Stephen Large karate chopping away at his minimoog, a contrast to the discipline shown in the material just prior.   

For the encore, Steve Smith again ventures to the front of stage to play acoustic guitar and fill the gap at the third microphone, accurately approximating the absent Chris Difford’s lead vocal on Cool For Cats. The jazz-like improvised mid-section is another display of the current band’s musical versatility. Black Coffee in Bed is the final song of the night and Tillbrook acknowledges his partner Chris Difford’s absence, motioning to the place at the empty microphone stand beside him before repeating the introductions of bandmates which Stephen Large follows with a vocodered “Thank you, Adelaide”’ and the band deservedly bow to take in the applause that the Gov’s audience gives them.