A bizarre happening at a Squeeze show in 1979

One Saturday in May 1979, I went with my then girlfriend to see The Tubes at Hammersmith Odeon in London. This was my second time seeing them after their mind-blowing show 18 months previous, which I wrote about here.

We had tickets about three rows from the front, to get the full effect. The support band was Squeeze, who had already had a few hit singles, so they were going to be worth checking out, we thought.

In fact, we got way more than we bargained for. As Squeeze took the stage, it was announced that their drummer Gilson Lavis had been taken ill and instead, the percussionist from The Tubes, James 'Mingo' Lewis, would deputise for him. 

Well Mingo didn't just deputise, he stole the show with a display of latin percussive fireworks that pinned everyone to their seats. This was a man who had played in the classic early 1970s line-up of Santana. He composed songs on their 1972 album Caravanserai and also composed for and played with Al Di Meola on his first three solo albums. 

Mingo with Santana

As well as that, Mingo appeared on Return To Forever's 1973 album Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and from the same year, Love, Devotion, Surrender by Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin. 

So his latin jazz credentials were impeccable. And he knew his way around a drum kit, in ways that Gilson wouldn't be able to emulate if he lived to be 100. 

Squeeze's songs are good, catchy tunes, but they are all in standard 4/4 time and don't require much in the way of rhythmic embellishment. Clearly, nobody told Mingo that, because he played up a storm, adding latin rhythms and percussive flourishes that transformed the songs, or at least attempted to. 

We were transfixed and the look of amusement, or perhaps bemusement, on Glenn Tilbrook's face showed how weird the whole thing must have been for Squeeze too.

Meeting Glenn Tilbrook before the show

If you want an idea of how Mingo looked and sounded playing along behind Squeeze, check out this clip. It's not from that time but it illustrates very well what he was playing over their straight-ahead pop songs. 

In 2011, I saw Squeeze playing at Greenwich in London as part of an outdoor mid-summer festival. I saw Glenn hanging around in the crowd beforehand so I went and asked him if he remembered the show. 

Of course he did. He told me it was "fucking amazing", one of the best live gigs he's ever done and "I just wish there was a recording of it." 

Sadly there isn't, just a memory of how two musical worlds collided to produce an amazing and bizarre spectacle, for one night only. 

Also on this blog:
How The Tubes Conquered London, 1977 

My Woodstock 50th Anniversary Diary