Gig Review: Chris Difford And Glen Tilbrook Of Squeeze - Grand Opera House, York

Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook together wrote most of Squeeze's big hits: they were often referred to as the Lennon and McCartney of the early 1980's.

On their current UK tour they have decided to go back to basics and to go out on the road just by themselves with the tour billed as The Odd Couple.

The stage set resembles a bed sit with the gig starting with the two of them getting out of a bed at the back of their stage in their pyjamas! Not your typical gig. What follows is a musical history of the duo. A large video screen behind them shows old footage of Squeeze right from the early days in 1973 and when Chris Difford put an advert in the window of the local sweet shop advertising for a guitarist.

Tilbrook sings Black Coffee in Bed, fittingly still in his pyjamas whilst playing his Rhodes piano. The evening flows between duets, solo spots and questions from the audience. I pose the question to them what was the idea behind the tour? "We thought we would try a theatrical version of our songs" Difford shares "the stage set is a fictional version of our house."

Now in their day time wear the track Is That Love? still sounds as fresh as it did when you first heard it.

It is not all about nostalgia though, a new song is premiered entitled The Beautiful Game, which is off the new Squeeze album due next spring. Difford sings Fat as a Fiddle about his battle with gaining weight. "I went to have a recce at the local gym and saw all these sweaty bodies, out of the corner I could see the bakers, the bakers won in the end" he laughs as he shares the joke with the audience.

The drum parts of Up the Junction are supplied by the crowd with their handclaps.

With such a string back catalogue the night ends with Annie Get Your Gun, Tempted and of course, Cool for Cats. It was an easy going night and like re-visiting two old friends.

It had been a night in the company of two cool cats who are still masters of their game.