Squire's Return:
King Tut's, Glasgow
November 11th 2002
Review by Mark Strange.
John Squire chose Glasgow to make his long awaited return to the live scene and it was a perfect choice as he and The Roses have always had an extremely loyal following North of the border. It was a night of freezing torrential rain in Glasgow but as soon as you got to
the door of King Tut's and seen the chalkboard proudly stating "Tonight, John Squire !" and entered into a seething mass of fans, all feelings turned to excitement and expectation. The bar area was packed to the rafters with people looking for spare tickets, asking strangers if they'd heard what Roses tunes he'd play, wondering what he'd be wearing, who'd be in the band etc. Overheard tales drifted by of journeys to see The Roses and excited talk about the night to come.
For people that managed to see The Rub play last year it was another exciting chance to see an ex-Rose play a long awaited gig in a 300 capacity club to dedicated fans. And for Squire fans like myself, it offered the unique opportunity to watch his guitar work from a distance of about two feet. Doors opened late at about 8.45pm and everyone made a beeline for front of stage to get their viewpoint. Straight away folks were desperately trying to get a view of the setlists lying at the side of the stage and it was clear from the outset that nearly all of his debut album was featured along with some Roses classics. And news quickly spread like wildfire from front to back that sitting at the top of the setlist, written in plain black marker ink was the solitary word....."Resurrection".
I don't think anyone really believed that he could possibly be playing the Roses long time set closer as the opening song on his first ever public outing....talk about standing the set on its head ! There were a lot of people around me who were young enough to have never seen The Stone Roses and for them, this was a godsend. A guy next to me told me "If Squire really does play Resurrection first, I'll probably faint, then propose to my girlfriend". If you know him, find out if she said yes.....
The club quickly filled up and before long we were treated to an Acoustic set by Stephen Fretwell. His songs to me reminded me of a kind of honest, Mick Head / Strands kinda sound. He played about 5 songs, possibly cut short due to the late opening of the doors. He received a solid reception but to be honest the air was buzzing with anticipation for John. The guitar techs quickly removed all the excess gear from the stage and finished tuning the guitars, the gold top Les Paul, the sunburst Strat, the Telecaster....all channeled through John's Marshall JCM900 amp and Kendricks cabinet. A quick look to the back of the venue confirmed that 'Second Coming', Stone Roses Live 1995 tour and Time Changes Everything producer Simon Dawson was manning the mixing desk so I knew we'd be in for some solid, deep, rocky sound.
Eventually about 10pm, on came the intro tape of Bowie's Moonage Daydream. Lots of people have made the comparison between Squire's new found singing voice and that of a 'Ziggy' period Bowie so perhaps this was a good mood setter. The doors at the side of the stage briefly opened to give us a flash of the band waiting to take to the stage and soon the cheering started and calls of John's name echoed through out the tiny club. Suddenly the band strode out, climbed onto the stage and took up position. John slightly to our left hand side of the stage, and surrounded by drums, 2nd guitar, bass and keyboards. John was wearing what looked like a hand painted (by him, I presume) black shirt with the words 'Love' and 'Death' on either breast pocket and 'Prophet' and 'Loss' written down the sleeves. Also had small badges stuck into his shirt, including one of the Seahorses' You Can Talk To Me single cover.
The drummer quickly counted in and we were right into I Am the Resurrection. It would seem to be that Squire used this as a kinda band warm up as they only played the main riff and then right into the instrumental section. It was weird to see another bass player play Mani's bass riff but to be honest most folks were just transfixed as Squire let rip right from the word go into a vicious rendition of probably his most famous moment. Initial reaction was that this band could definitely cut it live, they were tight as any band I've seen, and I have to say had more interaction and overall togetherness than either The Rub or Ian's Band. But this could be down to the more overall rock sound compared to Ian's band.
All around the venue everyone's faces were grinning madly as people strained to get a glimpse of John playing and it was just an amazing intro to the set. He continued into I Miss You from Time Changes Everything and gave us all the chance to hear his first time singing in public. He didn't show any sign of nerves that's for sure as he fixed his gaze on the back of the hall and delivered his clear, slightly sneering, drawling vocals. He did tend to leave any lead breaks for in between lines or passed them to his 2nd guitarist, Squire being content to leave his trademark fluid guitar lines for solos and intros etc. He was into a fair bit of switching guitars during this gig, and I've added details of this later on for any guitar spotters....hope the details are ok.
It'd be fair to say at this point that his new band rocked big time. Ok, now they may not have looked razor sharp as The Roses, but everyone of them provided Squire with the kind of musical backdrop he's been sorely lacking for a few years. They left the perfect blueprint for John to weave his magic over. I don't know their names but the drummer was out of this world, lift when he needed to be, perfect timing and able to mix it with the best of them when the song called for it. He is probably the nearest to Reni's overall style than any other drummer associated with ex-Roses. That includes Maddix. Bassist was solid, could cope with anything the songs needed and like Mani, he didn't play with a pick and provided some serious bass rumbling all night. The 2nd guitarist quickly stood out as being vital to John's new sound. He took a lot of the lead + slide work, even a solo or two and provided excellent backing vocals all night along with the keyboard player.
Overall, a truly tight unit who were completely well rehearsed. I had doubt beforehand about whether or not they would use this gig as a chance to get to know each other musically but by the look and sound of it they have been rehearsing pretty thoroughly. This tightness coupled with Simon Dawson's excellent chiming, crunching sound mix made it a brilliant overall, well balanced sound to listen to, really involving. Shine A Little Light and Transatlantic Near Death Experience followed with a brief "How ya doing ?" from John to the delight of the Glasgow fans. All I Really Want was a low point for many on the album but live it was bolstered and brought back to life by some brilliant backing vocals, keyboard work and an overall sprightlier feel. It would be fair to say that most of the Time Changes Everything songs were given a harder feel tonight. Which leant itself to a more Second Coming type sound rather than what many have said is a half-baked, unfulfilled sound on the album. If this points the way to a harder hitting 2nd album than I'm sure John will have no problem winning new fans.
She Bangs The Drums followed with a slightly altered beginning and this had the crowd bouncing up and down and probably received the best reaction of the night. John was really into singing and proved an excellent frontman, having no problems singing and playing together and definitely didn't have any first night nerves. I would say here that if anyone had any misgivings about John playing Roses songs they were dispelled here. I think that the songs he chose suited the overall style of his songs and voice better than most he could have chosen, and they slotted in perfectly. Of course they were strategically placed every 4 or so songs throughout the set but I also think he chose songs that he had a major part in writing. And who are we to deny him the chance to play songs he has written ? John Squire has nothing left to prove now, he has done it at every level and I personally found it refreshing to have a major artist NOT be afraid of his back catalogue of brilliant tunes. Instead of treating us with a thinly veiled contempt like a lot of so called stars, he was only too happy to play a few tunes that no doubt he enjoys as much as we do.
When Joe Louis arrived next in the set it was greeted like an old friend, and received an outstanding reception. It was clear that this was one of the outstanding songs of the night. Going into the solo John couldn't seem to find his way round it and kinda got a bit lost, and I could see he was annoyed as he shook his head, disappointed with himself for not being able to pull it off. There were a few occasions like this, where it almost seemed like he was thinking of something new to play, instead of just ripping into another speed frenzy, and he did hold back for a lot of the show. Perhaps he was just looking to try new things out for the future...
After moving through 15 Days we were treated to Waterfall, played on a black Rickenbacker that I've never seen John use before. It sounded a lot better than his recent XFM session and the playing was spot on from everyone involved. One thing I noticed was that John didn't seem to have his trademark Wah-wah pedal all night. This would have been one song he definitely would have used it on but it was nowhere to be seen. He had a few pedals, looked like an overdrive and a compressor and maybe a gain boost.
Strange Feeling and Welcome To The Valley came next with some cool sax playing from the keyboard player, and it was here that you realised that John was definitely going for a new kind of sound and talking most of the fans with him. Granted, it's an easy shot to play Roses tunes too, but why make it unnecessarily difficult ? I don't see anything wrong with trying to make the audience more receptive to your new songs. And on the whole the new songs went down really well. Strange feeling had some excellent slide playing from his 2nd guitarist and he and Squire seemed to gel really well, frequently exchanging smiles and glances as they felt their way through the songs.
He finished up with Time Changes Everything, a lot of peoples favourite from the album and he played it immensely. It was really extended out and featured the bridge section repeated numerous times along with a long, extended, almost bluesy solo from John. Using a really clean sound and playing just the odd run of notes here and there he was definitely trying to forge new territory for himself. Exploring all the possibilities within the limits of the songs and he went to his amp to turn up before stepping back and as the band picked it up he let rip into a series of brilliant, mind bending solos. The whole band picked up the challenge and were all going for it big time, with his 2nd guitarist getting special credit for some amazingly fluid playing and singing.
He's certainly picked his musicians well and they definitely aren't in awe of him. Everything blended superbly and as the song finally ended the crowd went daft and Squire seemed really pleased with the reaction and no doubt how the gig had went. We had all seen the setlist so knew he'd be back for an encore and the crowd were chanting his name and they came back to perform Tightrope. Now this song has always went down well at Roses gigs and it was a surprise when he picked up his Telecaster to play this one. As some may know, The Roses did record an electric version of this during the protracted Second Coming sessions but it had never seen the light of day. Possibly this was the way the Roses recorded it as it was a full electric band version and it was a struggle to hear John's voice above the massed ranks of fans singing at the top of their voices...
On record it fades out after the little coda at the end but here they effective made that the 2nd part of the song, Resurrection style, and once again it gave every member of the band a chance to shine and display their skills. Nothing too flashy, and definitely no muso rubbish. It must have lasted a good 6 or 7 minutes and John seemed to be really into it. When the song came to an end he took off his guitar and raised both hands in the air to salute the crowd. He seemed totally comfortable and relaxed and the crowd were going bananas. The band filed off and the crowd were left to battle it out for the setlists. There was definitely a good buzz around King Tut's after the gig and as the crowd filed out, everyone was smiling after witnessing a brilliant start to John's solo gigging career.
I managed to grab a quick chat with long-time John Squire + Stone Roses producer and soundman Simon Dawson. I doubt most people there realised that such a vital part of the Roses' legacy was there but I had spied him early doors and was determined to have a wee word with him. I just asked for his view on how the gig had went and he seemed delighted with how it had went. He didn't really give the impression that they had ever doubted otherwise and mentioned that they wanted to get the gigs in as the record company had wanted John to play a few nearer the album release time rather than wait ages to tour. Overall he thought it had been excellent and was happy to talk about the gig.
So I would say it was a cracking start to his new career and to any of the doubters I would urge you to go along and give his new material a chance, as it really does come alive in the gig setting. A fantastic night and brilliant to have him back again.
I have noted down the setlist here with the guitars he used also (see below).
See you at the gigs in January......
StringThing.
Guitars used by Squire (track by track):
I Am The Resurrection Gold Top Les Paul
I Miss You White Telecaster
Shine A Little Light Tele
Transatlantic Near Death Experience 58 sunburst strat
All I Really Want Strat
She Bangs The Drums Strat
Joe Louis Les Paul
15 Days Tele
Waterfall black rickenbacker
Strange Feeling Tele
Welcome To The Valley Tele
Time Changes Everything Strat
Tightrope Tele
Many thanks to Mark for taking the time to write the review for TITD.
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