Squeeze Are Cool For Cats As Pyramid Stage Openers At Glastonbury 2024

by | Jul 3, 2024

The forecast for the weekend is set to be fair and factor 50 is the must have accessory at Glastonbury Festival 2024. But for Squeeze, Glasto’s very first act on the Pyramid Stage this year, the sun is yet to break through overcast skies. No matter, if anything can bring a sunny disposition to a field in Somerset, it’s Deptford’s finest export after Dire Straits.

Squeeze @ Glastonbury Festival 2024

Squeeze @ Glastonbury Festival 2024 (Kalpesh Patel)
Squeeze @ Glastonbury Festival 2024 (Kalpesh Patel)

The band has had many incarnations over the years, though in the latest (2007) version of Squeeze, the only members from the original lineup are Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. No disrespect to everyone else, but if you’ve got Difford and Tilbrook, does it really matter? No, not really to be perfectly honest. Would Yes still be Yes is it only had Jon Anderson? The answer is Yes.

The setlist is an unashamed greatest hits compendium perfectly designed for a festival crowd. There’s only one new song – the as yet unreleased One Beautiful Summer, “A song about two people falling in love in a care home”. No worries, it sounds just like the Squeeze of old.

Whilst Generation Z are still sleeping off last night’s late early hours activity at the Lonely Hearts Club, it’s probably fair enough that a band like Squeeze, playing the very first Pyramid Stage slot on Friday have attracted a crowd of a certain age. And being a crowd of a certain age, it takes a while for the hips to move. But with tunes like Take Me I’m Yours, Hourglass, Up The Junction and Slap And Tickle on offer, you can’t help feel that the band deserve more. At least people are moving as God intended by the time the Difford-led Cool For Cats comes along and at set closer Black Coffee In Bed, everybody is in full swing.

One slight disappointment is a stripped-back rendition of 1981 hit Tempted that teases to take off throughout, but with the full band only coming in at the very end to give it that lift. “You’ve made an old man cry” says Chris Difford shortly before leaving the stage. Having just seen a brilliant replication of the band’s heyday; as the audience disperses from the Pyramid Stage field, he might not have been the only person with a bit of grit in the eye.

Review of Squeeze at Glastonbury Festival 2024 by Simon Reed photos by Kalpesh Patel

The Last Dinner Party Bring Their Feminine Urge To The Other Stage At Glastonbury 2024

White Lies @ Roundhouse (Kalpesh Patel)

White Lies Illuminate The Roundhouse On Night Two Of Their Hometown Return

White Lies step onto the Roundhouse stage to the chiming of keys, joined by touring keyboardist Tommy Bowen as a vast rectangular lightboxs loom behind them, each member framed by a glowing panel that shifts colour with the mood of the music. It’s an immediate statement of scale and intent, fitting for the second of two sold-out hometown shows for the Ealing-hailing trio.

The Molotovs (Nick Benoy)

The Molotovs Announce Major UK & Ireland Tour As Debut Album ‘Wasted On Youth’ Fuels Chart Surge

London sibling duo The Molotovs have announced a major UK and Ireland tour as their debut album Wasted On Youth mounts a serious challenge for the top spot in the Official Albums Chart. Released via Marshall Records, the record’s strong midweek showing places the band firmly in the chart conversation, underlining a momentum built through relentless live work rather than hype or algorithms.

Teen Suicide (Maysa Askar)

Teen Suicide Announce New Album ‘Nude Descending Staircase Headless’, Share New Single ‘Idiot’

Teen Suicide have returned with details of their new album Nude Descending Staircase Headless, set for release on 17th April. The announcement marks a significant new chapter for the band, with the record standing as their first fully realised studio album and a clear evolution in both sound and intent.

Jinjer @ O2 Forum Kentish Town (Daniel Caceiro)

Jinjer Command O2 Forum Kentish Town With Relentless Precision And Power

With modern metal heavyweights Jinjer returning to London, O2 Forum Kentish Town became the setting for a night built on precision, power and carefully controlled chaos. Supported by the forward-thinking technical edge of Unprocessed and the long-awaited return of prog-metal veterans Textures, the bill promised intensity from start to finish — and delivered on every front.

Liam Price @ Water Rats (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

Liam Price Stakes His Claim At London’s Water Rats

For an artist stepping out under his own name for the first time in the capital, expectations were high at The Water Rats. With a reputation already built through tribute work and years of live performance, Liam Price arrived at this London headline show carrying both momentum and curiosity. What followed was a night that felt less like a tentative introduction and more like a defining moment — a confident step forward that suggested this chapter of Price’s career is only just beginning.

Scouting For Girls @ Latitude Festival 2025 (Kalpesh Patel)

Scouting For Girls Share New Single ‘Don’t You Go Solo’ Ahead Of Album ‘These Are The Good Days’

Scouting For Girls have launched 2026 with the release of their brand new single Don’t You Go Solo, offering another taste of their forthcoming album These Are The Good Days, due out on 27th March. The single arrives as the chart-topping trio continue to enjoy huge demand for their upcoming UK and Ireland headline tour, with the majority of dates already sold out.

The Great Emu War Casualties (Press)

The Great Emu War Casualties Announce Debut Album ‘Public Sweetheart No.1’ And Share New Single ‘Donut’

Australian art-rock risers The Great Emu War Casualties have announced their debut album Public Sweetheart No.1, set for release on 27th March, alongside the arrival of its latest single Donut.

Lily Allen @ Mighty Hoopla Festival 2018 (Kalpesh Patel)

Boardmasters 2026 Complete As Lily Allen Announced As Final Headliner In Major Wave 2 Reveal

Boardmasters has unveiled Lily Allen as its final headliner for 2026, completing a huge second wave announcement for the Cornish festival’s return to Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach, Newquay, from 5th–9th August 2026.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing