Squid
Oh yes, this is what live music is about!
The last time I watched Squid live was June 2021. We were still emerging from the second lockdown, and we were dipping our toes tentatively back into a world from which human contact and live music had been taken away from us, and was only gradually being re-introduced. It was a 'socially distanced' gig in the cavernous spaces of St Andrew's Hall in Norwich, with the band performing from the lofty heights just below the venue's mighty organ.
Last night Squid returned to a post-pandemic Norwich riverside, and from behind the crowd barriers of the Adrian Flux Waterfront, their energy-filled set became a sobering reminder of how powerful, and how important, the relationship between artist and audience is when it comes to music performance. Back in 2021, we stood in our allocated spaces, and listened and clapped as the band went through their set. Three and a half years later what seems like a completely new generation of Squid fans is pressed up against the barriers, and jumping, bouncing and surging in carefree abandon as the music pulsates through their heaving bodies. Oh yes, this is what live music is about!
Drummer and lead vocalist Ollie Judge, keyboard player and cellist Arthur Leadbetter, guitarists Louis Borlase, Laurie Nankivell and Anton Pearson formed in Brighton in 2016, but it was their debut album 'Bright Green Field' that really brought them to the world's attention in 2021, and that featured large in that unforgettably surreal St Andrew's Hall gig. This time around, though, it is new album 'Cowards' that dominates the set, and defines the pulsating sound of Squid in 2025. Rhythm-driven 'Crispy Skin' not only opens the main set, but is revisited briefly during the encore. It sets the scene for that which follows as the band, largely shadowed by a stage framed by intense lighting and clouds of smoke, guide us through tracks like 'Building 650' and 'Showtime!' before returning to the rocky familiarity of 'G.S.K.' from that debut album release. 'Undergrowth' and 'The Blades', each from 2023's 'O Monolith', bring the main set to a close before Squid return for an encore that closes with a frenzied 'Narrator', and a ponderous 'Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)'.
Opening support came from Martha Skye Murphy, a dark and slightly goth-like figure who opted not to talk directly to her audience but instead, operated from behind a Nord Stage keyboard, and delivering an atmospheric and mercurial mix of vocal moods and sound effects that were strangely compelling. She reminded me of an off-kilter Marina Diamindis; some of the more experimental albums that Cate LeBon has released; and the early work of Norwich's own Daisy Lawrence, produced before the disco beat and rhythms of her Vanity Fairy alter-ego took over. Listen to Martha Skye Murphy's debut album 'Um'. It contains more a few surprises.
