Squeeze in Florida

Yes, just to prove it is Pleasure Island !

I was on holiday in America's sunshine state of Florida with my Dad and sister, what's more it was my first time in the US. By chance I'd heard the gig that Squeeze was doing in Orlando was going to coincide with my holiday there so that was handy.

Orlando is a great place but with America's prices being so much lower than Britain we tended to spend too much.

Three nights after attending a 'foreign' Robbie Williams concert at the Hard Rock Cafe 'Live Venue' also in Orlando I had Squeeze to keep me going at Pleasure Island at one of the main nightlife spots - 'Downtown Disney'. This was yet something else that was fantastic value for money, they were playing two sets for the evening, so in effect it was two totally different shows with different songs in each. It was just my sister and I that went along, we left our Dad wandering around the shops in the place. As we arrived just in time to catch the start of Squeeze's first set I met up with another Susan (my sister's name also) who stays in Florida. We'd actually planned to hopefully meet thanks to the Squeeze fan list on the net and it worked !

'Is That Love' was a great start but it was great to hear 'This Summer' as the next track as it's one of my favourites. One of Glenn's new songs 'Interviewing Randy Newman' had a mixed reaction from the crowd. He made a passing reference to Chris Difford at that moment in time being fast asleep in his bed back in the UK and wondered what it must be like to have a mass of people thinking of you while you're sleeping ! At that point I was kind of hiding a Wet Wet Wet T-shirt I happened to be wearing - no comment !!!

'Tempted' was another popular song, for me too, as was 'Piccadilly'. I must admit some of the songs I'd never really heard live before and they all sounded wonderful. Hearing them in a live format is always so different from listening to them off a CD. 'If I Didn't Love You' was good and 'Let The Good Times Roll' (a Jools Holland track) with vocals by Chris Holland (Jools' brother) had that obligatory bluesy/boogie feel to it, I enjoyed that ! 'Black Coffee' was the perfect ending for this first set, only an hour till the next.

Well it wasn't quite an hour as Nick Harper who was supporting came on before that and did a very promising set (for the 2nd time), Glenn was even in the shadows watching.

The 2nd set was even better than the 1st. By this time we had made our way to a better spot at the front of the stage just a little off centre so we had a good view. It all started off with 'Annie Get Your Gun' to liven up the audience again. 'Goodbye Girl' and 'Another Nail For My Heart' are proving to last the test of time. I was nearly losing my voice due to a couple of the songs I knew being played back to back - 'Hourglass' fast as it may be I still managed to keep up and 'Pulling Mussels From A Shell' - what classics !

'Take Me I'm Yours' saw a returned to the traditional Squeeze.

Christopher Holland again got the chance to show off some of his talents on the piano while singing 'Boogie Woogie Country Girl', another Jools song, unfortunately he never got the chance to try out with material off his new album.

Eventually things were coming to an end. Between the two sets we had had a good two hours worth, more than a normal concert would have been. It finished with 'Slap & Tickle' and then there was no more. The Pleasure Island guys were all rushing around preparing for the fireworks to get set off, something that happens every midnight of the year as if it was Hogmanay.

We had a brilliant evening. The music and atmosphere had been great, the weather was ideal and the company was perfect. Thanks to Susan for making us feel so much at home. It's wonderful the friendships that can be made just through going to concerts and meeting other fans.

As is getting to be a habit of mine I hung around after the show and was able to meet Glenn. He soon realised we were from Britain, especially when I said that we were going to his solo gig at King Tut's in Glasgow which he gave a cheer to. I even took the opportunity to ask him (nicely) to do 'Labelled With Love' in Glasgow. Well anything is worth a try !!!

Obviously I got some evidence of the meeting as well as getting the Domino booklet autographed ! Thanks Glenn !!!!!