Review: Chris Difford: Some Fantastic Place ****

Chris Difford and Boo Hewerdine at Assembly Checkpoint
1530 hrs

THE audience were all of a certain age as they queued up outside Assembly on Bristo Square. All Squeeze fans and all keen to see what Chris Difford had to play and say.

They were not disappointed as he played many of their favourite songs interspersed with great anecdotes from his days in one of Britain’s much loved bands.

The stories feature in his book “Some Fantastic Place: named after one of Squeeze’s greatest songs. Even that has a very poignant back story.

Accompanied by musician Boo Hewerdine, that a number will remember from the very fine The Bible, this is an hour spent in the company of a man who wrote many great songs but appears to have ended up skint. Chris Difford does provide clues, for example, he introduces Cool For Cats as a song that “paid for his first divorce”.

There is also the reference to being “26 years sober’ and as much as you loved the stories of Squeeze’s rise, there is more than a morbid fascination as why his career seems to be reflected on by Difford himself as one of relative failure.

Perhaps you look at his lyrics and think that he was and is one of England’s greatest ever lyricists (Funny how the missus always looks the bleeding’ same) and we feel he doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He may look at people like Tim Rice and feel he doesn’t get the filthy lucre he deserves.

A wonderful, spellbinding afternoon spent in Some Fantastic Place.