GWYL PORTMEIRION FESTIVAL Presents Squeeze

We are delighted to welcome Squeeze to Portmeirion during our 100th anniversary year.  When it comes to storytelling, very few pop groups have done it as well as Squeeze.  The group's songwriting mainstays Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook and the band have given us classics such as 'Up the Junction,' 'Tempted,' 'Cool for Cats,' 'Another Nail in My Heart' and 'Labelled with Love' and on 6th March are releasing another superb album, Trixies, to add to their repertoire.

Squeeze's current iteration of the group - completed by Simon Hanson, Stephen Large, Steve Smith, Melvin Duffy, Owen Biddle and Danica Dora - has, for the best part of a decade, been delivering a live show that has consistently harvested superlatives across both sides of the Atlantic.

What better way to mark over 50 years of Squeeze than to complete the circle and realise the vision they had for Trixies? "These are very much the same songs that we wrote back in the day," says Tilbrook, "The only difference is that now I can teach the songs to the rest of the band. Back then, I didn't even know what the names of the chords were!"

Reviewing Squeeze's 2020 show at Madison Square Gardens for Salon, Annie Zaleski noted that their renewed aura of creative urgency extended to every single musician on stage. For both Difford and Tilbrook, perhaps the greatest source of gratification has been the improbable spectacle of gazing out at an audience whose average age seems to be shrinking. "Just recently," elaborates Difford, "when we played in Atlanta, we walked out on stage and Glenn and I looked at each other as if to say, 'Are we at the right gig?' It was a young crowd. I guess it must be down to streaming. Because, of course, that's what happens now. People have discovered Squeeze by bouncing off other records that they're listening to."

GWENNO

Portmeirion is also delighted to welcome back GWENNO to the Gwyl Portmeirion Festival. Gwenno is an acclaimed songwriter in both Welsh and Cornish, a winner of the Welsh Music Prize, a nominee for the Mercury, a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh.  She released four albums as a solo artist: Y Dydd Olaf (2014), a Welsh Music Prize winner; Le Kov (2018), her first album in Cornish; Tresor (2022), which was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize;  and Utopia (2025). She was also a singer in the indie pop group the Pipettes, whose debut We Are the Pipettes was described by Pitchfork as "a classic modern indie-pop album."

MELIN MELYN

Melin Melyn are one of the most exciting acts to emerge from this next golden generation of Cymru artists. Pushing forward on a less traveled bridge between psychedelia, surf , folk and alternative rock. The love child of legends and fellow countrymen Gruff Rhys & Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (to name a few), their music is also distinctly unique and through their specific and multi-coloured lens.

Trixies, the brand new album by Squeeze, featuring 'You Get The Feeling' and 'Why Don't You'. Out 6 March 2026.

Squeeze have confirmed that they will, once again, be supporting the charity Trussell, which provides emergency food and support to people who cannot afford the essentials, while campaigning for change to end the need for food banks in the UK. Right now, millions of people across the country are experiencing hunger and have no option but to turn to a food bank for support. In 2024 food banks in the Trussell network distributed 2.9 million emergency food parcels.

Fans are invited to bring along food donations to the shows, where there will be collection points across the venue each night. There will also be collection buckets for any cash donations. All donations will be distributed to people facing hardship across the 1,400 food bank centres in the Trussell network.

You can donate food at our shows or, if you want to make a difference right now, make a donation this winter to your local food bank. Visit https://www.trussell.org.uk/support-us to find out how to make a donation to your local food bank and the items they most need this winter.

Squeeze thank you in advance for your generosity and look forward to seeing you at the shows.