Shiny Media's fashion head honcho and Catwalk Queen editor-in-chief Gemma Cartwright returned to her homeland at the weekend, where she saw enduring pop new-wave favourites Squeeze. Here she tells us aaaaaall about it.

How did you rate the venue?

Aside from the fact it’s in Wolverhampton, it’s actually not bad. There’s been a bit of a refurb and it’s nice to find a place that hasn’t got Carling’s name all over it. They need to sort out the car park though. Every time I’ve been to a gig there we’ve been gridlocked for half an hour trying to get out.

What were the crowd like?

I went with my dad (yeah, how cool am I?) and we were at either end of the scale, age-wise. The majority were old Squeeze fans from ‘back in the day’ who knew all the words and were really getting in to it. I just wish some of them had thought to put deodorant on.

Was the support act any good or did it send you to the bar?

It was King Creosote, who I quite enjoyed. He’s like an over-excited child who used each song as a countdown (“this one marks two songs until Squeeeeeeeezzzzeeee”). I liked ‘Spy stick’.

Bar – rip-off or value for money?

We filled out a survey which apparently allowed us a free drink. What they didn’t say was that we only had a choice of WKD blue or Red Stripe, which I think says a lot about Wolverhampton. No idea how much my Magners was. This is the good thing about going to gigs with your dad.

Venue staff – nice or nasty?

Really lovely. I may be biased coming from the Midlands, but venue staff do seem to get nicer the further away you get from London.

Toilets – swilling with piss, or spick and span?

The locks worked. There was loo roll. The hot tap didn’t scald me. There was a mirror. I am a happy bunny.

Highlight / lowlight of show?

Squeeze really come into their own playing live so it’s hard to pick one highlight. ‘Third Rail’, ‘Slap and Tickle’ and ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ were all fantastic, even though they’re not particular favourites of mine when I’m listening to the albums. I hate ‘Cool For Cats’, though. Also, the PA system went down on the microphones halfway through one song and didn’t get fixed until well into the next one...not sure what the sound man was doing at that point?

Any other comments?

Stephen Large is mental enough to be Squeeze’s keyboard player, but much less annoying than Jools Holland. Fact.

Oh, and everyone in Wolverhampton hates me now. Sorry guys.

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