Two bands from the New Wave era play the Fox in Oakland.
Before the band Squeeze ever existed, a young Chris Difford nicked 50 pence from his Mums' purse in 1973 to put a card in a shop window seeking a guitarist to join his band. Although he didn't even have a band quite yet... The only responder to his advert in the shop window was young Glenn Tilbrook. They began writing and performing the songs that they would be performing together for a half a century, after that meeting in '73 in Deptford London. The duo were soon to be thought of as the next great writing team after Lennon and McCartney or John and Taupin. They got popular in the UK in the new wave period in the late '70s and continued recording, with break ups and pauses from 1974 to the present day. They've had many incarnations of their bands since the beginning but Tilbrook and Difford have remained constant and continue to tour. They've got great hits such as "Cool for Cats" "Black Coffee in Bed", "Tempted", "Up the Junction" and more. Squeeze were always considered to be a major part of the second British invasion.
I try to cover their shows whenever they perform and I was able to catch their most recent show at the Fox in Oakland. Interestingly they shared the headline with Boy George from the band Culture Club that were also big during the 80s in the new wave music scene.
Squeeze opened the show and played all their hits and more. They got the audience up and everyone was dancing to the Squeeze hits. Their execution was flawless and it was one of those shows where the audience got to sing along with all of the familiar tunes. They played for about 90 minutes and all was good. Everytime I see this band they dont hold back and seem to enjoy what they do, and I think that's a big part of connecting with the audience.
Squeeze has been playing for most of the last 50 years and after another tight show, I can see them having continued success for as long as they want to tour and/or record. They have what seems to be a strong following and in my opinion their performances have always been strong in all the times that I've seen them.
Now enters Boy George....The androgynous glam frontman originally George O'Dowd born in 1961, went onstage after Squeeze and also did a 90 minute set. This is the first time I saw Boy George since the 80s. His head was covered by large hats but I could see his head was also very tattooed. Apparently he's got several on his head including a Star of David on the top and a cross on the side of his head. When he stopped drinking, he also stopped getting his head tattooed.
A few interesting things occurred during this performance in Oakland. He sang only five Culture Club songs including two of their big hits, and most of his performance were cover tunes. Songs from Prince, Iggy Pop, and Gary Numan were amongst the selection of cover tunes. He had an 8 piece band and for much of the performance none of them were lighted. He never introduced them either. He also had a couple of costume changes and when that happened a couple of his backing vocalists took the stage. One thing I must mention is his drummer....
His drummer was excellent-so solid. The friend I was with at this show also noticed the drummer as a stand out. She and I were mesmerized by his playing. When I tried to search for his name I came up empty handed. Perhaps this wasn't a drummer that's touring with him, I don't know. All I know is his present array of musicians backing him at the Fox were difficult to identify. It wasn't his original drummer for Culture Club Jon Moss. Infact he and Moss have a long sordid history from a previous relationship and legal battles in their past. And it wasn't Simon Hanson who had been his drummer after Moss. For me, seeing Boy George perform in 2024 was an interesting flashback to the eighties. And I am happy to report that his final song of the evening was in fact, "Karma Chameleon".
Afflilate links for some Squeeze and Boy George music & books: The Story of Squeeze 1978-1982 - https://amzn.to/46XBarA Take it Like a Man (The Autobiography of Boy George) - https://amzn.to/4dyHOXY
© Cheryl Alterman Photography 2024
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