TUESDAY UPDATES….

UPDATE 13: Leona Lewis, good production seats released for the shows at The O2, London for June 2010, onsale from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 12: Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, good production seats released for the shows at The O2, London for Feb 2010, onsale from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 11: Peter Kay, extra tickets released for his following shows, and with front block tickets for the latter shows,

The O2, London, Sun 7th Nov 2010
The O2, London, Mon 8th Nov 2010
The O2, London, Thu 31st Mar 2011
The O2, London, Fri 1st Apr 2011
The O2, London, Sat 2nd Apr 2011
The O2, London, Sun 3rd Apr 2011
The O2, London, Mon 4th Apr 2011

Be quick from Ticketmaster

Also try other shows from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 10: X Factor Live, more christmas treats as front block tickets are released for most shows for the 2010 tour, onsale from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 9: Bon Jovi, front block tickets released for their O2 residency in London in summer 2010, onsale from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 8: Diversity add a ‘Bringing a Toy Story to Life’ show for Bradford St Georges Hall for Sun 25th Apr 2010, onsale from 3.30pm from Ticketmaster

UPDATE 7: Daniel Kitson announces a date at Union Chapel, London for Wed 6th Jan 2010, just onsale from Seetickets

UPDATE 6: The Maccabees announced for the Irish Shockwaves NME Awards Shows, with support from Two Door Cinema Club and The Funeral Suits

The Academy, Dublin, Sunday 21 February 2010
Mandela Hall Belfast, Monday 22 February 2010

Tickets just onsale from Ticketmater

UPDATE 5: Spunge announce a date at O2 Academy2 Islington, London for Sun 21st March 2010, on PRESALE from Ticketweb

UPDATE 4: Black Eyed Peas add a 2nd show for The O2, Dublin for Sun 2nd May 2010, tickets onsale from Ticketmater

UPDATE 3: Whitney Houston, front block tickets released for her arena shows in April 2010, onsale from Ticketmater

UPDATE 2: Babyshambles announce a last minute show for tonight at London Dirty South, onsale from Seetickets

UPDATE 1: Miike Snow announce a show for Stereo, Glasgow for Thurs 4th Feb 2010, onsale from Ticketweb, Seetickets

Black Eyed Peas are to play The O2, Dublin for Sat 1st May 2010, tickets onsale from 9am from Ticketmater

Diana Vickers, the bare footed X Factor singer heads out for a short tour in early 2010,

The Cooler, Bristol SAT 20/03/2010
Glee Club, B’ham Birmingham MON 22/03/2010
Monto Water Rats Kings Cross London TUE 23/03/2010
The Deaf Institute Manchester THU 25/03/2010
King Georges Hall Blackburn SAT 27/03/2010

Tickets onsale from 9am from Ticketmaster, Seetickets, Ticketline, Gigantic

Simply Red add more summer outdoor shows,

Newbury Racecourse on Fri 9th July 2010
The July Course, Newmarket Racecourse on Fri 16th July 2010
Haydock Park Race Course, Merseyside on Sat 17th July 2010

Tickets onsale from 9am from Seetickets, Gigantic, Ticketmaster

John Cale, the Legendary member of The Velvet Underground and acclaimed composer performs his seminal solo album Paris 1919 at Royal Festival Hall on Friday 5th March 2010, onsale from 10am from Ticketline

Bigelf are to play Little Civic, Wolverhampton on Wed 24th Feb 2010, onsale from 10am from Ticketmaster

Faust announce date at Central Station, Wrexham for Thurs 13th May 2010, onsale from Seetickets

The Wickerman Festival 2010 Tickets for East Kirkcarswell, Kirkcudbright Scotland between Thu 22 Jul 2010 - Sat 24 Jul 2010, onsale from 12noon from Ticketmaster

Chesney Hawkes is to play Little Civic, Wolverhampton on Fri 19th Feb 2010, onsale from 10am from Ticketmaster

Deathfest are to play Leeds University Stylus Nightclub on Sunday, 2nd May 2010, onsale from Ticketline

The New Pornographers are to play Electric Ballroom, London on Wed 19th May 2010, onsale from Ticketmaster

Ricky Gervais is to play his ‘Science’ show in London next year, in ‘bigger’ venues, tickets onsale soon

IF YOU MISSED MONDAY UPDATES…..

Heavens Basement announce shows for March 2010,

O2 Academy2 Bristol TUE 02/03/2010
Rock City, Nottingham FRI 05/03/2010
The Civic Hall Wolverhampton SUN 07/03/2010
Hertfordshire University Hatfield FRI 12/03/2010
O2 Academy2 Oxford SAT 13/03/2010

Tickets onsale from Seetickets, Ticketweb, Gigantic, Ticketline

Emma Pollock & Josh Pyke are to play a few shows in 2010,

Tabernacle. London on Tuesday 16th March 2010
Manchester Academy 3. on Monday 22nd March 2010

Tickets on PRESALE from Ticketmaster, Seetickets, Ticketweb

Peter Kay, further tickets released due to exceeding ticket limits, onsale from Ticketmater, Seetickets

Alan Pownall announces a show at Hoxton Bar And Kitchen, London for Wednesday 10th February 2010, on PRESALE from Ticketmaster

Music Go Music are to play The Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen, London on Tue 9th Feb 2010, on PRESALE from Ticketmaster

Patti Smith adds a date at Oran Mor, Glasgow for Wed 24th March 2010, onsale from Seetickets

Rodrigo y Gabriela announce a residency at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London between Tuesday, November 2nd 2010 and Sunday, November 7th 2010, on PRESALE from Ticketweb

New Beautiful South are to play Festival Hall, Bolton on Thurs 11th Feb 2010, onsale from Seetickets

Black Eyed Peas announce a 3rd show for The O2, London for Thu 27th May 2010, more tickets just onsale from Gigantic, Ticketline, Seetickets also onsale from Ticketmaster

What: UB40 and Chris Difford (Squeeze)
Where: O2 Arena and The Railway, Winchester
When: 9th and 12th December 2009
Reviewed by: Roger Goodgroves

Why am I writing two reviews in one you may ask. Well it’s not just my hectic week catching up with me, it is in fact the contrast drawn between them that struck me like a 10 ton truck.

I’ll start on Wednesday night at The Railway Inn in Winchester. The Railway is a lively pub offering music seven nights a week. To say it is intimate is somewhat like describing Jordan as buxom. In fact you can fit The railway’s stage and the space for the audience into one of the toilets in the O2 Arena! Although it’s small it’s not to say you can’t see great music there. Bands playing previously include Razorlight, Kasabian and The Feeling. Tonight was no exception to the big act in a small venue role for the pub. Chris Difford is one half of the great song writing partnership of Difford/Tilbrook the duo behind all the Squeeze hits.

Chris Difford is the one with the very low voice and doesn’t often do the main vocal in Squeeze. You would know his vocal from “Cool for Cats”. Tonight he was joined by a great vocalist in Dorie Jackson. Her voice compliments Chris’ perfectly and ensures that the Squeeze songs played don’t sound too far from what you are used to.

Tonight there was no big production, just two acoustic guitars and two vocalists and many of the songs benefited from that. Chris is known as a great lyricist and the stripped down acoustic show allows the words to be heard and listened to. Throughout the show a projector hummed away showing various pictures of either early Chris Difford or evocative pictures that helped the audience visualise the stories being told. Many were very comical and really helped to bring the audience into the gig. This was fairly essential as Chris expected the audience to be joining in on the songs they knew so breaking the ice with humour really helped. Whilst hearing the Squeeze songs stripped down was enjoyable I am looking forward to the full Squeeze experience at shows in 2010. Chris confirmed that they are doing The Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals next year.

So coming back to my contrasting the two gigs. Both acts were very big in the 1980s with big hit singles and large selling albums. So one playing a tiny pub and the other the vast O2 Arena struck me as somewhat of a juxtaposition.

The O2 experience (and to be honest that’s part of attending a gig there) is great. The venue is a wonderful conversion of the old millennium dome. They have done a really great job of the conversion and the experience begins as you approach the venue from the tube. With the O2 being based in Greenwich it’s no surprise that time plays a big part. On the walkway to the arena you are presented with various displays of the key moments in pop/rock music through the decades. Inside you can get even more of this with the British Music Experience as well as a myriad of eating venues surrounding the arena itself.

The other venue within the dome is the Indigo and this had a very obvious dig at tonight’s main act. Posters lined the outside of the venue announcing Ali Cambell’s gig there next May with the tag line “The true voice of UB40″!

Many I spoke to at the gig didn’t realise Ali was no longer in UB40 and wouldn’t be playing tonight. With Chris Difford not being Squeeze without Glenn Tilbrook, UB40 aren’t UB40 without Ali.

The gig started well with Eddy Grant in support. Eddy was great and really knew what the audience wanted and he certainly got them dancing.

Unfortunately UB40 couldn’t live up to the great start. With new singer (Ali’s older brother Duncan) taking on Ali’s vocal job it just didn’t sound like UB40. He can sing but he just didn’t interact with the audience. The rest of the band seemed to be going through the motions and it just felt flat. There seemed to be too much emphasis on their new material. The sound mix also didn’t help. The vocals were lost in the mix. Overall a big disappointment for me and I suspect that Ali’s gig at the Indigo may well have more feel to it and that a smaller venue would suit them both.

When I went out to the toilet about half way through the gig many were streaming out of the exit doors. I did ponder if i should be doing the same.

Photos from tonight’s show can be seen below:

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CD Track Listing,

1. Seventeen Forever
2. Control
3. Kelsey
4. Shake It
5. Wish We Were Older
6. Now That We’re Done
7. True To Me
8. Tell Me What To Do
9. California
10. Disco
11. After The Fall
12. Shake It (Lindberg Palace Remix)

I met this week with Double Ivor Novello Award-winning lyricist Chris Difford. Chris is best known for being the writer of the lyrics for all the great songs by the band Squeeze.

I met him at his gig in Winchester. The review of which will be available soon.

Roger: About your writing, how do you normally go about your song writing, do you always start with the lyrics or ever start with the music and put lyrics to them?
Chris: Oh no it’s always lyrics first really, so it’s pretty simple. It always seems to come first unless I’m writing with somebody else who wants to write differently but that’s not the way I go about it.

R: And the lyrics, how do they normally come to you, 3 o clock in the morning, a notebook by the bedside?
C: No I try and keep a day open and do the work then, being the normal process.

R: So you sit down like a normal day job.
C: Yeah I think that’s the best way.

R: So typically how long does a song take to craft?
C: It can vary really between 5 minutes and an hour, there isn’t any set time, there’s no way of telling I don’t think.

R: Who have you enjoyed writing with most, I’ll exclude Glenn from this conversation (Glenn Tilbrook is the other half to the Squeeze writing partnership)
C: Boo Hewerdine I enjoy writing with.

R: That’s your current writing partner isn’t it?
C: Yeah, he’s really good to work with.

R: What makes him good to work with?
C: He’s just very tender and understands what I’m looking for. If I say to him I’d like to do something in a certain genre then he’ll find it. So he’s very good like that.

R: Have you tried putting your own lyrics to music?
C: No not really. It’s not something I do.

R: I just wondered if you ever had and if you tried it and didn’t like it or whether you just never tried it because you always wanted someone else to drive that end?
C: I’ve never really thought about doing it; well I have thought about doing it but I’m too darn lazy to be absolutely honest!

R: Now you and Glenn got given the “new Lennon and McCartney” tag sometime ago. How did it impact you and Glenn?
C: I think we were really flattered by it. I don’t think anything other than being flattered. We were being linked to all sorts of people at that stage. We were just happy to be doing what we were doing.

R: Do you wish it was never said? Did you find it a milestone at times?
C: No, not at all.

R: You mentioned Squeeze touring again in 2010. New material I understand is that correct?
C: I don’t know, we are doing some writing but I’m not sure where we are with any of that yet. That’s all to come and we’ll find that out as the months unfold. But hopefully yeah.

R: You mentioned a few festival dates (at the gig the night before he’d mentioned Squeeze were doing Isle of Wight and Glastonbury), any non festival for the UK or is that just reserved for the US next year?
C: We are doing festivals here and in America so it’s still quite early days. Were a little away from that’s the time, we’ve made a big chunk in our diaries to do that.

R: What will be the band lineup?
C: At the moment I can’t really say other than the same probably as the last one which involves Simon Hanson, Stephen Large and John Bentley.

R: Changing the subject slightly but still on the song writing. You’ve been involved in a songwriter’s week at times, do you wish you’d had something similar when you were starting out?
C: No I don’t wish for anything except what I already have in life and I think that the song writing workshops that I do I really enjoy doing. I try to help other people that take part. What I had was pretty much working with Glenn and the fantastic writing experience together so. I don’t wish for any other thing really.

R: As you grow older do you find yourself naturally writing more mature lyrics like say “to be a dad” or do you write for the people that are listening to you?
C: I write for me and always have done. If other people like it then that’s a bonus. It’s got to be for yourself I think.

R: Elvis Costello always wrote very cryptically about his own relationships, your lyrics seem very much more personal and direct, did that cause a problem for the people around you?
C: … Sometimes but quite often not, I think people that are close to me kinda know that I wear my heart on my sleeve so it’s not a problem.

R: They’ve heard it anyway.
C: That’s right.

R: You are also into Music Management, what got you into that?
C: Just fell very naturally, it was something I fancied doing, it just became something I enjoyed doing. I don’t it all the time it’s pretty boring. It depends on who you are working with.

R: The managers you’ve had through the years no doubt gave you pointers, what makes a good manager in your opinion?
C: Somebody who can become part of the family and somebody who you can trust, that’s really what good management is about. Not taking part.

R: Is it pushing you in the direction you want to go or how much is it making you see other things that you may have not seen yourself?
C: Well it’s just about being part of the family I think, you’ve just got to be able to listen people and see what it is that they are looking for and try and be part of that. I just think it’s being part of the team.

R: The music industry as a whole seems very different to when you started out. If you were starting now how would you approach it?
C: Same as I did at the beginning really just get on and do it and work as hard as possible. Do lots of gigs and that sort of stuff.

R: The new mediums of the myspace etc do you think you’d have embraced that at the time if it was there then?
C: Of course.

R: Anyway to market.
C: Anyway yes.

R: Do you find it a good way to keep the fans informed of what’s going on. The old traditional fan club newsletter etc were very one a month, once a quarter, so not very “now”. Do you think it’s a good or a bad thing that there’s more immediacy to the information that’s flying around?
C: I think the more information the better. I regret that I didn’t have the internet when I was growing up, it’s quite a good thing it’s certainly opened up my eyes.

R: Programs like the Xfactor, a good thing?
C: Well it gets music on TV, whether it’s a good thing or not, I’m not sure. I’m probably the wrong person to ask but I think it gives some people the ability to find their way. For me it’s rubbish.

R: In the same vein, the fact that they are doing other people’s songs all the time, do you wish they would do far more of getting the musicians together and writing songs. Do you think it would be a better approach?
C: … I don’t think I really pay that much attention to it. I don’t watch, I don’t take part in, so I don’t really have anything to add to it I don’t think.

R: In terms of today’s music what do you enjoy hearing?
C: At the moment folk music and jazz oddly enough.

R: Were they always interests for you?
C: It’s come about lately.

R: Do you get to see other musicians live when you are not performing yourself?
C: Yes I do I suppose, I went to see Madness last week. I’m going to see Lily Allen this week so yeah I do go out and see music, it’s not the most important thing in my life but it is something I like to do.

R: Is there a venue you hadn’t played but want to?
C: Not that I can think of no. There are some festivals I’m looking forward to playing. There’s some in America we haven’t done yet. Those will come in their own time.

R: Is there someone you’ve performed with that you used to look up to when you were a younger musician or before then?
C: No that’s never happened.

R: Do you wish it had, or do you stand back in awe?
C: I did play with Pete Townsend (The Who) once and that was a bit awe inspiring.

R: I bet.
C: He expected me to play a guitar solo and I’ve never done, so I just looked at him and started to cry. I couldn’t contain myself.

R: That’s understandable with his expertise. You’ve never claimed to be the best musician in terms of your guitar playing so it must have been a bit gob smacking I can imagine.
C: Yes it’s never been something I’ve worried about.

R: After performing so long as Squeeze or just with Glenn how did you find it at first working solo?
C: Daunting, very daunting thought. But with the help of Francis Dunnery I got my act together. I’m enjoying my time on stage. Not every night.

R: So what makes it good, where everyone is listening?
C: Yeah and taking part.

R: What song of yours are you most proud of?
C: … Probably “Up the Junction” I expect.

R: Why that one in particular?
C: It’s about the lyrics, it’s a very good story. I’m happy with it.

R: With so many good songs in the back catalogue how do you go about putting together a set list when you play, both as Squeeze and in gigs like last night? It must be difficult to decide what to drop and what to include.
C: It takes time but eventually you just become aware of what you are capable of doing. I think it’s really what you become comfortable with. You have to play loads of songs to find out which ones you become comfortable with. When you get there you find yourself becoming quite happy.

R: Do you have a particular philosophy in terms of always keeping a certain number of older songs to keep people’s interest? Or does that just come naturally with the type of material you like to play as well?
C: Whatever I can cope with vocally is really important. I don’t pick something that is really difficult for me to sing. I just try and keep it as simple as possible with the audience in mind.

R: You were playing last night with a hurt hand, how did that come about?
C: It’s an old war wound, I had a fight with a fiend of mine some years ago.

R: Is there anything you would like us to know about stuff you are doing.
C: Just listen out for my new solo album.

R: Is there a title yet?
C: It’s called the Full English.

R: Well I’ve taken up enough of your time so I’d just like to thank you on behalf of Get To The Front for the interview. We look forward to hearing more about the festival dates shortly.

Interview conducted by Roger Goodgroves

Listen to Chris Difford at Myspace

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