Glenn Tilbrook - Evanston April 4

Last night I fed my need for a Glenn Tilbrook/Squeeze fix. My girlfriend Laurie and I drove to Evanston, Illinois to catch an acoustic show from Glenn at a venue called Space. We both took the day off and Laurie drove.

The GPS on her phone eventually took us along Lakeshore Drive and needless to say, we grew envious of the vibrancy that emanated from every pore of Chicago. We arrived at our hotel before the room was available and our stomachs rumbling for food. Luckily, there was a pub directly across. It was called Tommy Nevin's and it will crop up later in my story. From lunch, we walked three blocks into the shopping district and looked for the venue. We also stopped in a jewelry shop. I bought a swish pair of sterling silver hoop (large) earrings and Laurie bought a beautiful necklace. The time told us it was finally time to check in at the hotel, so we walked back.

I showered and read while Laurie napped. Finally, it was time to head out for dinner and then to the show. We chose to eat at Union Pizzeria, which is attached to the show venue. We dined on a delicious thin crust pizza with basil pesto, broccoli, red onion, sun-dried tomato, and goat cheese. Yummy! No time or room for dessert, the doors were opening and we had general admission tickets.

We wandered to the first row on the right of the stage. Our seats placed us in a way that we would have to watch Glenn's backside for the whole show. I chatted with the couple next to us, Adam and Olga, and then Glenn came on.

He started with an explanation that United had lost his luggage and his two guitars. He then launched into a delightful 25 minute set that went as follows:

1. Monkey Up the Tree
2. Take Me I'm Yours
3. This is Where You Ain't
4. Chatline Larry (apparently about one of his oldest boys and his phone habits)
5. Wild World (covering that great Cat Stevens songs)
6. Tongue Like a Knife
7. Oh Well
8. Vanity Fair
9. If I Didn't Love You
10. Untouchable
11. Harper Valley PTA
12. Introvert
13. Another Nail
14. Good-bye Girl (on electric guitar with assistance on the acoustic from a guy in the audience)
15. Cool for Cats (delivered in a droll, spoken word manner)
16. Best of Times
17. Tempted
18. Some Fantastic Place
19. Is That Love?
20. Vicky Verky
21. The Truth
22. Annie, Get You Gun
23. Up the Junction
24. Slap and Tickle
25. Pulling Mussels

End of show - just wonderful. As always, he came out and chatted to everyone. I told him that I was coming to England to see the Rochester Castle show. I posed for pictures and then, we left. Happily, the night doesn't end here.

We returned to our hotel and quickly decided to grab a drink at the pub across the street, Tommy Nevins. We take a seat, grab drinks, and who walks (now with his luggage) into the bar? Glenn and an old friend. Glenn turns and sees me, comes over, asks what we're drinking, and invites us to an empty table that is larger than our table. Over the next two hours, we chat, throw popcorn at each other (he could catch it, I could not), drink, and laugh. Someone gave him a gift bag that include a large hollow chocolate thing and a small metal mallet to crack it open. Out tumbled more chocolate delights that no one wanted. When asked what he was going to do with the hammer, he had no clue. I urged him to pull a Spinal Tap with it, which elicited a big laugh.

He had to get up the next morning at 7 to fly to New York, so we parted company around 1:00 a.m. It was a great night.