Squeeze have had a busy year – they played a great set in the summer at Halifax’s Piece Hall and tonight return to Yorkshire, opening for Madness in Leeds.
By Miles Salter
Photos by John Hayhurst
In the summer, the eight-piece band wore bright colours. Tonight, they’re in something more wintery – pale suits. But they sound better than they did at the Piece Hall, perhaps due to the more enclosed environment.
Drummer Simon Hanson is fabulous, full of energy and precision, but the whole band are really, really good. In fact, overall, I’d say they’re better than Madness, who seem to be phoning it in a little.
It can’t be easy to still play with youthful vigour when time has taken its toll. Madness were once young upstarts – lean lads who knew how to have a laugh when they first performed in 1979. They’re now balding millionaires who have seen it all and done it all.
Jaded? Well, perhaps a little. Suggs is 64. He’s kept his hair and his humour but he’s slowing down, creeping about the stage a little where once he would have run, but he’s good fun, commenting on the fact that Leeds recently beat Chelsea 3-1. (‘That’s the last time that’s going to happen,’ he says to audience chuckles.)
They open with One Step Beyond, the distinctive Prince Buster song from 1964 that they covered years later. In the audience, people wear red Fez hats or pork pie hats. The band enjoyed a run of success in the early 1980s that made them an institution and managed to successfully convey a ‘what the hell’ attitude to the whole business.
What I liked about this gig was the attention to detail – the Madness camp are nothing if not professional. Everything at the arena is taken care of with precise branding. When I picked up the press tickets the envelope had the Madness logo on it, and the backdrop of visuals and lighting was one of the best I’ve seen at a gig – multiple screens with animations, colour, lights, archive clips and a map of Camden, the band’s old stomping ground (where they have a star set in ‘Music Walk Of Fame’ alongside The Who and Amy Winehouse).
The audience isn’t bothered that at least of two of Madness’ hits are covers (It Must Be Love was written by Labi Siffre). They just want to hear songs from their youth. After sections of the set that feel less exciting and more repetitive, a trio of monster hits comes at the end – Baggy Trousers, House Of Fun, It Must be Love.
Madness are as English as Only Fools and Horses and roast beef. They were never especially profound, but packing out arenas on a run of Christmas provides proof of how loved they are by the public.
Squeeze and Madness played at the First Direct Arena, Leeds on Friday 12 December 2025.