By ROB PATTERSON

A delightful night of Beatle boys, this was, with local heroes Fastball providing a piquant appetizer to the reunited Squeeze. The Fastball core of guitarists/songwriters/singers Miles Zuniga and Tony Scalzo (looking like a lost Gallagher brother in his cool shades and fringed bowl hairdo) and drummer Joey Shuffield were augmented by longtime Austin bass stalwart bassist Bruce Hughes (Poi Dog Pondering, Ugly Americans, Cracker and more) and keyboard ringer Kevin Lovejoy (John Mayer, Daniel Powter, Michelle Branch, Spoon and a host of others), bringing the taut and sharp band on record to the same level of potent consistency in concert. Their hits like "The Way" and "Out Of My Head" were enriched and deepened by the band's live esprit, and the new material previewed from their next album coming in early 2008 showed that Fastball's gift for sharp pop hooks baited with clever earworms remains in full force.

Squeeze hit the stage with "Strong In Reason" from their first album of 30 years ago, a hardly obvious choice and less straightforward song that made a strong statement from the outset: Time apart has brought Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook back together with as much strength and versatility as ever, a point underscored later in the set by their spry take on the similarly left of their usual pop-rock center "I Think I'm Go Go" from 1980's Argybargy, which was one of the tour de force performances of the evening. Early years bassist John Bentley is back in the fold and keyboard player Stephen Large and drummer Simon Hanson from Tilbrook's solo band The Fluffers handily round out the current line-up, which proved itself just about as strong as the many over the band's long history.

The bulk of the show concentrated on such eternally charming and satisfying favorites as "If I Didn't Love You," "Take Me I'm Yours," "Black Coffee In Bed" (with Tilbrook leading the crowd in hearty back-up vocals), "Annie Get Your Gun," "Goodbye Girl," "Is That Love," "Hourglass" and "Another Nail In My Heart," all rendered with a delightful savvy and pop-rock punch that have always been Squeeze hallmarks in concert. But what whets the appetite more for what may come, one hopes, from Squeeze's reunion was how a less popular classic like "Picadilly" and the ultra-new wave bouncer "Cool For Cats" sounded as robust as they ever have. Time as well as time apart have deepened and strengthened Difford and Tilbrook's distinctive vocal mix when they sing in tandem, and they can still deliver a delightfully upbeat 90 minutes or so of rock that snaps and crackles the pop.

For a follower like this writer who has caught somewhere close to a score of Squeeze shows over the years - including, from the first break-up in 1982, their last shows in the U.S., London and Jamaica - the night felt not at all like an exercise in nostalgia but rather a full-fledged return to action. Now the challenge is for Difford and Tilbrook is to take their show from the road into the studio with a new set of numbers that will show the likes of Oasis and Coldplay just who came first with post-Beatles Brit-pop sophistication.