It’s not often you get the chance to see a Top of the Pops star and double Ivor Novello Award-winning lyricist perform in the front room of the house you grew up in, but last night Hove House Concerts (aka, my parents) invited me along to a very special gig of theirs. The third in line of their events saw Chris Difford of Squeeze come to entertain a very lucky few people of Brighton and Hove, right in my old living room. People travelled from all over the country to see Chris perform for them, and a brilliant evening it was. In between songs he told us tales of his past, spilling the beans on band mates Jools Holland and Glenn Tilbrook, his escapades at gigs in London in the 70s and 80s, writing songs with Elton John, and amusing times with school pal Danny Baker. When the audience weren’t singing along with him they were in stitches at his stories and will definitely have gone away with a night to remember.

At just about full capacity, nearly 40 of us ‘squeezed’ into the front rooms of the house, making it the busiest of the HH concerts so far. Entry ‘donations’ to gigs vary depending on the act, and all funds received go straight to the artist. Yup, my parents do this for the love of live music, and all three events to date have been a brilliant success. Past acts have included Welsh singer-songwriter Huw Williams, with multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull, and David Hughes, acoustic guitarist, songwriter, author and playwright whose album Active in the Parish, was named by Q Magazine as one of their albums of the year in ’97. All such cool cats, I have to wonder, who else are they going to let out of the bag?

Keep in touch with Rob at Hove House Concerts to receive updates of other special gigs at:
www.HoveHouseConcert.co.uk