Glenn Tillbrook - Glenn takes a quick Bath, on solo tour

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Glenn Tillbrook Squueze's in the hits 

Glenn Tilbrook is the frontman of Squeeze, who along with Chris Difford also wrote most of their iconic tunes. It says something for their song writing that fourty five years after they first formed they are still packing out venues of people wanting to hear them. Tonight it is just Glenn Tilbrook, well except for twoo guitars and a table... the stage is his alone. ‘Take me I’m Yours’ is one of the early well known numbers, you get a real essence for the songs when it just one person singing them.

These gigs have been doing good, as well as giving people a great night out he is also realising money and supplies for the foodbank charity the Trussel Trust. Merchandise profits were also being donated to the very worthy cause. Food and money for good causes was not the only donations of the evening. As well as his own tunes he also played one written by his sixteen year old son for his girlfriend, which is now his ex-girlfriend so he happily donated it to his father.

One song that was added to in a sense was ‘Up the Junction’ you can really hear every word of what turns out to be a tragic tale. It really does grip your attention for that short time and draw you into the story even more than usual. A nice cover of ‘Always something there to remind Me’ made famous by Sandy Shaw amongst others lit up the room shortly afterwards. At one point he asks for requests and ‘Cool for Cats’ is suugested, he points out that Chris Difford sung that but any (not too drunk) volunteers are welcome to have a go, sadly there were no takers.

It easy to forget just how many tunes Squeeze had that still stand the test of time, of course we were treated to a number of them including ‘Pulling muscles from a Shell’ and ‘Tempted’. Nothing to do with Glenn per se but I was amazed by the number of people viewing the gig through their phone, OkI take the odd picture but surely all you get for your £20 is a grainy tinny video of a gig you could have seen in person. Oh well their choice, but they certainly missed out.

All too soon it was the encore and the final two songs of the evening ‘Is that Love’ and ‘Goodbye Girl’ a couple more songs originally by Squeeze, the latter of which got a rousing reception. It was a wonderful evening with a wonderful entertainer who engaged with the audience throughout and the perfect mix of songs including the classics people wanted to hear. The full band are touring later in the year but I was privileged to have seen the stripped back version too.  

Review by Jon Cooper and Photo's by Steve Owen

Listen! to the Track 'Everybody Sometimes' Below...