Perfect Pop Forever

Perfect Pop Forever
Squeeze with Adam Ant and Haircut 100
The Warfield
San Francisco
September 15, 2025

Everyone knows the best part about heartbreak is finding the soundtrack to go with it. The perfect pop song turns our misery into a melody that helps us get on with the rhythm of life.

Squeeze have some underrated gems in this department. Formed in the ‘70s by London teens Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, the band have released a steady string of pop songs steeped in British Invasion pop, spun up with new wave-y synths and soulful R&B vocals. Adding in musicians like Jools Holland, their decades-long trajectory bore some pop gems with often-plaintive hooks that snag your heart. Think Antoine Doinel as a perennially stylish young man, roaming London instead of Paris with a hopeful heart and hooks made to measure.

Live, they pack a punch, rattling off three of those gems in quick succession at the start of the show, sounding as pristine as in their glory days: “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell),” “Up the Junction,” and “Another Nail In My Heart” had the mostly older crowd cheering and bopping. Their hearts were willing, and their bodies—for the night, anyway—seemed to allow it.

The touring band is some nine members strong, and often includes Tilbrook’s son, Leon Tilbrook, who has occasionally opened for Squeeze on this current tour. Couched in-between well-loved pop hits like “Tempted” and “Cool for Cats” were tracks from the band’s new album that Difford and Tilbrook originally wrote as teens, Trixies. Echoing Ziggy Stardust and the rock/pop opera concept albums that were popular at the time, the album has some ambitious pop that felt somewhat disjointed within the set, but had flashes of their brilliance.

Adam Ant—the new wave rebel from the UK known for his saucy pop and pirate gear—continued the pop resurrection with two dueling drummers and a shimmering firecracker of a set that packed in hits like “Vive Le Rock,” “Prince Charming,” “Goody Two Shoes,” and “Stand and Deliver.” Wobbly in parts but still game for the stage, the compact set snapped the crowd into attention like a whip.

Haircut 100 had a lean, six-song, funk-tinged pop set that proved just as sweet. You might remember the early ‘80s and the cable-knit sweaters these Brit boys wore on the cover of their 1982 album, Pelican West. That look pretty much spoke to the kind of breezy, soft-pop hooks in songs like “Love Plus One,” their biggest hit, but don’t sleep on other gems like “Fantastic Day” and “Favourite Shirts.” The band held their own on a crowded night of throwback pop and new wave. The evening was an embarrassment of riches.

All photos courtesy of Kimo Crossman.

robin ♥ wheartm.com ♥ @weheartmusic ♥ weheartmusicgroup