Madness Central Newsletter: Issue 9.
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Steve Bringe
Dec 5, 2009, 6:41:41 PM12/5/09
to Madness Central Weekly Newsletter
Madness Central Newsletter: Issue 9
28th November - 4th December 2009.
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Madness Central weekly newsletter.
With the current UK tour now underway, we have full concert reviews
and set lists for those that have taken place already, along with
information regarding forthcoming gigs. There's also the opportunity
to win a copy of the Pet Shop Boys Christmas EP (featuring My Girl)
and signed photo.
Contents:
1. Latest News And Information
2. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer for MCN Readers
4. Pet Shop Boys "Christmas EP" and Autographed Poster Contest
reminder
5. Scotsman.com: Interview with Suggs
6. Terry Edwards Joins Madness on UK Tour
7. Express.co.uk: Another interview with Suggs
8. Concert Live: Purchase UK Tour USB's
9. Mojo4music.com: Interview with Chas Smash
10. "Idiot Child" Included In Word Magazine CD This Month
11. Independent.ie: We Can All Relate to the Madness of Growing Up
12. Bournemouth Concert Info: 01 December 2009
13. Brighton Concert Info: 02 December 2009
14. Plymouth Concert Info: 04 December 2009
15. Southend (Matinee) Concert Info: 05 Decemeber 2009
16. Contacting Madness Central
17. Newsletter Subscription Details.
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1. Latest News And Information
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The following are the currently weekly news snippet(s) taken from the
Madness Central blog at: http://www.madness-central.com/blog
# Catherine Tate's Nan Presents Madness with Norton Folgate Gold Discs
Madness were recently presented with their gold discs for sales of
“The Liberty Of Norton Folgate” by Nan ...
Read the complete blog here:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=814
# Official Madness Camp Announce Two New German Gigs for 2010
The Nutty Boys are lined up to play Berlin and Dortmund in May
2010 ...
Read the complete blog here:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=824
# Madness to Headline Camp Bestival 2010
News in today that Madness have been confirmed as the Saturday night
headliners at Camp Bestival that takes place at Dorset?s Lulworth
Castle ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=823
# Forever Young "Melt Music Mix" is Previewed
Can't wait to hear the new single edit of Forever Young? Now you can
at the Official Madspace ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=808
# Madness Cover Billy Ocean Classic
As first reported here at Madness Central and confirmed by Madness
Management one of the B-sides to come with the Forever Young single
release will be a cover of the Billy Ocean classic "Love Really
Hurts" ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=806
# Skiantos to Open for Madness in Milan
The opening act for Madness has been chosen this week; Italian band
Skiantos is opening for Madness at their Milan gig on 8 May 2010 ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=822
# Splendid to Open for Madness in Amsterdam
Dutch band Splendid has been tapped to open for Madness at the
Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on the 15th of May 2010 ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=825
# "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" Screening at Buenos Aires Film
Festival
As first reported on Madness Central in November, the Julien Temple
documentary ?The Liberty of Norton Folgate? is to be screened December
10 at the In-Edit Cinzano film festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=818
# "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" on ABC Australia iView for Limited
Time
Australian TV station ABC will be webcasting the Julien Temple film ?
The Liberty of Norton Folgate? ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=815
# Madness Appear in the Latest Edition of the Big Issue
The band are both cover stars, and appear in this weeks edition of the
Big Issue magazine whose website states: British ska legends Madness
on politics, performing and supporting The Big Issue ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=812
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2. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
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Have you ever seen a picture of Madness and, with puzzled amazement,
said to yourself, "Just what the blue blazes were they thinking?" Why
not put some words in the mouths of Madness and answer that question
for yourself?
Featured in this week's caption is: Chrissy Boy.
http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/caption/caption.php
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3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer for MCN Readers
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Probably the most quintessential Madness badge of all time is the
original black and white enamel MIS Fan Club badge from the early
1980s. These were hand made by the legendary badge makers Dial-a-
Style, originally contracted by Stiff Records to make badges in the
late 1970s, their production line went into overdrive with the arrival
of Madness on the scene and a full range of official designs were
produced for them between 1980 and 1984.
These badges were not simply pressed out by machine but required a
whole series of specialist skills for the production of each
individual badge. Retro-Madness has the last remaining stock of these
from the MIS fan club offices of the 1980s. Genuine originals not
modern reproductions. The enamel MIS fan club badge has sold for up to
£25 in Ebay auctions by different sellers over the years, however for
one week only Retro-Madness are offering it to MCN readers for the
bargain price of just £4.99 including UK postage. This is the lowest
price we have sold these for in 15 years!
Click the link below and you will find them by scrolling approximately
half way down the page:
http://retro-madness.co.uk/
Happy browsing!
Chris & Emma of Retro-Madness
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4. Pet Shop Boys "Christmas EP" and Autographed Poster Contest
reminder
===========================================================
The Pet Shop Boys Christmas EP Contest closes Monday, 14 December 2009
at 5 pm UK time.
We have a special Christmas treat for you this holiday season that's a
little off the nutty path. Kindly provided by the folks over at the
official Pet Shop Boys camp, you?ll have a chance to win a copy of the
forthcoming PSB EP simply titled "Christmas" for our second contest of
Madness Central's second year on the interweb.
What makes this so special to us Madness Fans? Included with this five
track EP is the Pet Shop Boys' fast-paced yet smooth arrangement of
the classic Madness love ballad "My Girl." If you'll recall, Suggs and
Carl joined Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe on stage at last year's
charity benefit, 'Can You Bear It', for the family of Chris and Neil's
former assistant and close friend, Dainton Connell, who was tragically
killed in a car accident.
Further information can be found at:
http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html
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5. Scotsman.com: Interview with Suggs
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Source:
http://www.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Suggs-lead-singer-Madness.5865649.jp
Published Date: 01 December 2009
'THIRTY years," mutters Suggs from Madness. "Thirty bloody years I've
been wiv 'em." For a moment I think he's talking about his band, those
baggy-trousered nutty boys; turns out he means his bank. They kept him
waiting an hour and a half, despite three decades as a loyal
customer ? "and despite us shooting some of our best videos there as
well".
But that's not the whole story of his tardiness for our rendezvous at
Quo Vadis, his Soho club. En route from his home in Camden he bumped
into Graham Coxon from Blur and an earnest discussion about the perils
of the rock reunion soon necessitated strong drink. And there was
another impediment for Suggs an injured hand.
"Last night I was on the Mall with Buckingham Palace up ahead and
Admiralty Arch, where John Prescott bonked his secretary behind me
and I just thought: 'London, my London, what tales lie therein.' So
when I saw this big pile of leaves I was so exhilarated that I just
dived in. And that's how I hurt my hand."
Days can sometimes blend into nights for Suggs. I deduce this from the
following greeting to Quo Vadis's manager: "Oi, Eduardo! You're still
wearing last night's shirt with last night's stain you dirty slag!"
And once a day/night at least, he probably begins a sentence thus:
"London, my London..."
London has always featured in Madness songs and they've marked their
30th anniversary with The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, something of a
London concept album, earning the band Edinburgh's star attraction
for the world's biggest Hogmanay street party the best reviews of
their career.
But how does Suggs respond to all London-loathers who think it too
big, dirty, expensive, impersonal and up itself? "I'd refer them to a
recent edition of the New Yorker magazine which said that ongoing
right now is 'an experiment of assimilation and immigration the like
of which the world has never seen'." An erudite defence, it's true,
but what I really want to talk to Graham McPherson about is Scotland.
That's his real name, though he's been Suggs since his schooldays. "I
was an ethnic minority of one. The mix was Chinese, Pakistani, West
Indian, Irish, a small majority of English and me, the only Scot."
Didn't that make him feel special, unique? "Not when I was being
called a smelly haggis c***. So I changed my name. I was into graffiti
so I needed an alias anyway. I got Suggs from my mum's encyclopedia of
jazz musicians ? she sang in the pubs ? and I wrote 'Suggs is our
leader' on the walls. Kids used to say to me: 'Are you the Suggs
everyone is talking about?' I created my own myth."
His mother Edwina is Welsh and she still lives close by; his father,
William Rutherford McPherson, walked out on the family when he was
three, and Suggs grew up in some hardship in London bedsits,
occasionally being packed off to an aunt in Wales when his mum
couldn't cope.
What became of his dad? "I don't know, but what I've heard hasn't been
good: heroin, injecting his eyeballs with paraffin, being sectioned.
He must be dead now. I mean, he would have got in touch if he was
alive, wouldn't he? Yeah, he must be dead, poor bugger."
We're drinking beer on Quo Vadis's balcony. The club is a splendid
establishment but the al fresco facilities are somewhat modest: a
plastic table and two chairs on a rusty iron ledge, underneath a
thrumming generator. "Lovely what you've done here, Eduardo," says
Suggs, to which mine host replies: "Amazing how far 15,000 quid goes."
A well-worn comedy routine, no doubt, but then he returns to familial
matters.
"I never tried to find Dad when I was younger because very quickly I
got married and became a dad myself and there just wasn't the time.
But a few years ago I took my girls up to Newtonmore on a camping
roots trip. That's where the McPhersons hail from. I met three other
Graham McPhersons, which I was really chuffed about, although I
mustn't come over all Rod Stewart about my tartan heritage. All my
Irish pals grew up wanting to be someone else. They got fed up seeing
collection buckets being passed round the pubs for the IRA. An over-
sentimentalised attitude can be dangerous."
The best Madness songs are happy/sad, party beats broken up by serious
lyrics, mirth mixed with melancholy ? and Suggs in conversation is
exactly the same. He can be Max Wall music hall about London; he can
be as studious a chronicler of the city as Peter Ackroyd and Iain
Sinclair. And while he's enjoying being the cheeky-chappie Cockney
today ? ordering Eduardo to turn off the generator so when he calls
home his wife won't know he's at the club, again ? there are a fair
few moments of introspection and self-examination.
His wife Anne was his teenage sweetheart. In her own pop life she was
Bette Bright, who had a 1978 hit with My Boyfriend's Back. "It didn't
work out for her after that," he says. "She asked me if I wanted to
have kids. I was still only 19, still a buffoon. I said: 'You'll have
to look after them because I ain't stopped.' But I'd like to think
I've been a good father to them.
"It would be patronising to my family to say I wanted to be around for
them because my dad wasn't for me, but it was a bit like that. When I
found the right woman I was determined to make it work ? that it
wasn't going to end up in the same mess that the five previous
generations of this clan had experienced."
It's probably not coincidental that, with his daughters Scarlett, 26,
and Viva, 24, having moved into their own place and formed a band,
Suggs now feels ready to find out what became of William Rutherford
McPherson. While 2009 has been a very London year for Madness, with
Suggs penning his own book about the city, their leader plans for 2010
to be quite Scottish.
"I've got the chance to do (BBC genealogy show] Who Do You Think You
Are? but I want to write my memoirs. It's going to be a quest, to
learn about my dad's story, and I don't want to say it's going to be
some big therapeutic bollocks but that's exactly what it'll be.
"What did I miss about not having him around? Everything. It would
have been great to be able to talk to him about all the stuff I've
found difficult, like the journey from boy to man. That's still a bit
of a struggle for me, to be honest."
And there he leaves the saga. Possibly that's enough self-examination
for one afternoon. Or maybe he's just reminded himself that if he
hadn't been that boy, that buffoon, sneaking into boozers to hear his
mum sing, who fell in with a street-gang, most of whom had single
parents ? then his surrogate family otherwise known as Madness might
never have happened.
In the year that a great singles band finally made a great album,
acquiring maturity of their own, Suggs hopes the Hogmanay gig will be
the perfect finale. From losing a shoe on the last bus home through
nicking his mum's raffle-prize whisky to circumventing millennium
traffic restrictions with strategically parked cars filled with bevvy,
he says he can prove that the great Scottish festival has always been
important to him. Then he checks himself. "Was that too much? Eduardo,
was that too Rod?"
[This article first appeared in the 29 November edition of Scotland on
Sunday]
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6. Terry Edwards Joins Madness on UK Tour
===========================================================
Word in from Terry Edwards, the long-time Madness collaborator will be
joining Madness on stage for selected UK tour dates:
Dec 7 - Swindon
Dec 8 - Leeds
Dec 9 - Sheffield
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7. Express.co.uk: Another interview with Suggs
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Source:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/143126/British-coast-A-seaside-paddle-in-nostalgia
Published Date: 29 November 2009
BRITISH COAST: A SEASIDE PADDLE IN NOSTALGIA
THE coastline of the British Isles exerts a unique pull on the nation.
Here, a selection of high-profile admirers pick out their favourite
spots and childhood memories
# Most memorable childhood seaside holiday?
Going on a day trip to Margate, like most Londoners.
# Who did you go with and how did you get there?
We'd go on the train, with my mum and some friends of ours from the
flats that we lived in, every bank holiday.
# B&B, caravan or campsite?
Later on, I used to go to Tenby with my aunt and uncle, who lived in
Wales. I have vivid memories of sitting in a dreary B&B; three or four
kids in a tiny little room, trying to kill each other.
# Favourite beach activity?
Riding a donkey, swimming, eating ice cream, getting sunburnt.
# Best and worst memories of that place?
I loved the sense of freedom and the fact that it was bank holiday and
everyone was genuinely feeling the joy of life. The bad bit was the
getting burnt thing.
# Favourite beach nowadays?
I'm very fond of the south-east coast still. I went to Broadstairs for
the first time the other week, which I thought was great..
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8. Concert Live: Purchase UK Tour USB's
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For more than 30 years Madness are one of THE bands when it comes to
catchy melodies in combination with monster hooks and ska grooves. At
least for those born before the mid 80ies there's no real party
without having the DJ play one of their hits. In 2009, Madness still
haven't lost their magic - and especially live they're always one step
beyond!
The December concerts will be recorded and available to buy on limited
edition USB flash drives and MP3 Players at the shows and here at
Concert Online.
Further details and orders can be placed at:
http://concert-online.com/en/shop/29368/Madness.html
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9. Mojo4music.com: Interview with Chas Smash
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Source:
http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/12/my_brilliant_year_madnesss_cha.html
Published Date: 02 December 2009
My Brilliant Year: Madness's Chas Smash
MADNESS HAVE SCALED MOJO's 50 Best Albums Of The 2009 list, and London
concept suite The Liberty Of Norton Folgate has prompted comparisons
with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Chas Smash, Madness'
shamanistic vibe controller, looks back on the Nutty Boys' reunion and
rejuvenation in 2009. Surely it's worth all those "personal
differences'?
The Liberty Of Norton Folgate is one of MOJO's albums of the year. Do
you feel like you're getting the last laugh on the naysayers?
Of course, there's no doubt about that, absolutely! I suppose I'd
thought about it being our Sgt Pepper's, which is a bit cheeky, but
there you go. The nature of the album is based around London and the
history of London. There's an immigrant romantic aspect to it, and
also a historical aspect...
It does seem to cross over into different epochs.
That's because things don't really change. A man's needs are the same,
essentially, and fears. I picked up A Tale Of Two Cities the other
day, and on the second f___ing page, in about the third paragraph, he
goes on about the French printing paper money and spending it, the
fact that the mayor of London's been held up by highwaymen, and that
crime and prostitution is on streets and virtually accepted. And you
think, F___ me, nothing at all's changed, absolutely nothing!
The band are the original seven again, unlike 2005's The Dangermen
Sessions...
It's totally the sum of its parts. And that works on a lot of levels.
Everything does sound like Madness when you bring it to the band, and
maybe someone in the band hasn't written so many songs, but it doesn't
really matter 'cause they're an integral part of the whole piece, and
the whole piece becomes a life journey rather than a musical career in
a way. Being in the band is always about relationships, which has its
pluses and minuses. I mean, it's f___ing exhausting at times, let me
tell you, and completely bonkers, but the idiosyncrasies that are
contained within the process of deciding why are we doing it and when
are we doing it, it makes it what it is.
Something that your old chums The Specials seem to have forgotten...
I quite frankly wish that they'd resolve their differences with Jerry
[Dammers], and I recommend that Jerry just goes off and writes the
fucking next Specials album and then says to them, 'Look, there it
is.' With Jerry it always takes so long, but everything he works on
sustains. The brass intro to Free Nelson Mandela - f___ me, is that
uplifting or what?
Should we expect another album anytime soon?
It's being discussed but right now we're working out our personal
differences over the last project. Again and again and again and
again... it's just a process that keeps the band as it is. You have to
approach it cautiously, it demands integrity - it's like some
shamanistic fucking ritual we have to go through! But it's not a bad
one, it means well.
Interview by Ian Harrison
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10. "Idiot Child" Included In Word Magazine CD This Month
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Source:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/now-hear
Madness - Idiot Child
Bands who are 30 years into the game just do not make their best
record. And pop bands just do not make mystic concept albums, or at
least not mystic concept albums that work. But Madness toughened and
maybe nourished by ten years of mutual discord and self-rediscovery
achieved both those feats on the sumptuous, insightful Norton Folgate.
A psycho-geographic exploration of London?s occult past and present,
it contained as much beauty, darkness, musical vigour and dry humour
as the capital itself. (Andrew Harrison)
From the album The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
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11. Independent.ie: We Can All Relate to the Madness of Growing Up
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/we-can-all-relate-to-the-madness-of-growing-up-1957914.html
Published Date: 29 November 2009
We can all relate to the Madness of growing up
The tough early years of Suggs and Co translated into classic songs
that played a part in our own youth, says Barry Egan
'Welcome to the house of fun, da-da-da-de-de." "Our house, in the
middle of our street ..." "It must be love, love, love ... " In our
long lost youth, some of us -- most of us, even -- sang along to these
warm slices of family life, courtesy of North London's high priests of
whimsical brilliance, Madness.
Some of us -- that's you and me -- probably even did the actions from
their almost-as-famous videos, dancing around in off-kilter ska
choreography as white-socked school boys in Baggy Trousers. None of
us, to the best of my knowledge, quite got to fly through the air on a
wire, playing the saxophone, as Lee Thompson did in the epochal video
for Baggy Trousers, with lead singer Suggs telling the listener that:
"All the small ones tell tall tales/Walking home and squashing
snails."
But beyond the almost Vaudevillian light-heartedness of Madness -- and
their cheeky-chappy Cockney demeanour -- was some compelling trenchant
analysis of English culture and its mores.
Embarrassment, for instance, was about having a mixed-race kid in a
white, working class community and what the relatives thought of such
an occurrence. "I don't know if anyone even noticed what it was
about," Suggs said recently of the song that was written by Lee
Thompson, and concerned the events following the news that his teenage
sister was carrying a black man's child. The lyrics were some of the
band's -- and Thompson's -- best: Embarrassment begins, famously, with
a letter being opened, and the recipient, who is told: "You're not to
come and see us no more. Keep away from our door." The letter writer
then asks: "What on earth did you do that for?" We then learn that a
relative of the woman who had the child is equally unfeeling. She says
she doesn't want to know the mother or the child. And more
importantly: "What will the neighbours think?"
Another relative meanwhile, says the mother and child are a disgrace
to the human race. "How can you show your face?" sings Suggs
poignantly, "when you're a disgrace to the human race?"
Graham McPherson (aka Suggs) had his own torments in childhood to deal
with. His early years were spent with Eddy, his mother, (a pub singer
of sorts) as they lived a lonely existence in various bedsits or rooms
in other people's houses in London. Eddy worked as a barmaid in famous
Soho boozers like the French House and The Colony Room, where she and
her young son got to meet bohemian legends such as Francis Bacon,
George Melly and Jeffrey Bernard. Suggs remembers having brandy fumes
breathed into his face in the afternoons while not yet 10.
He also recalls Eddy sending him off on what he thought was a holiday
to his Auntie Diana's in Wales. He stayed there for three years. When
he was 11, he went back to his mum and the bedsit in London. On his
first day in Quintin Kynaston school on the Finchley Road, one of the
rougher lads pushed his dinner over Suggs' head (it was something to
do with his newly acquired Welsh accent).
He later immortalised the experience in the first song he ever wrote,
Baggy Trousers, about those times in school. (Many years later the
song was used in the film version of Alan Bennett's History Boys.)
"Naughty boys in nasty schools," Suggs sang.
Far more painful than any of the beatings he received in the Finchley
Road school was that his father left him when he was three.
Once, he heard he was in Birmingham or somewhere like that. He was
curious when he was younger but he stopped being curious after so many
years. He only recently discovered that his name was William and that
he was a heroin addict. When asked in 1997 by the London Indy's
redoubtable Deborah Ross if he was ever tempted to track his father
down, Suggs shrugged: "It should be up to him to find me, shouldn't
it?" he said. Pressed by Ross, if he did, would Suggs see him, he
replied: "Yeah. I expect so. Although you never know. It happened to
John Lennon, didn't it, and he told his father to piss off."
So Suggs knew a thing or two about a thing or two when, in late 1977,
he joined The North London Invaders, who then became Madness. Their
self-described 'nutty sound' on songs like One Step Beyond and Night
Boat To Cairo was an infectious fusion of Jamaican influences with
white London rock like The Kinks, Ian Dury and the Small Faces. For
the next three decades, through various ups and downs and break-ups
and reunions, Madness gave us some of the best singles of all time --
they were chroniclers of London like Dickens. Or at least a certain
part of the English capital. As the good old Daily Telegraph once
noted, Madness's "music is about the community experience of living in
Camden Town, North London". And as with all human life, that music has
changed with age.
"We used to write songs about burgeoning relationships; now we write
about them disintegrating," Suggs said recently of Madness's new album
The Liberty Of Norton Folgate.
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12. Bournemouth Concert Info: 01 December 2009
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Concert Review
------------------------------------------------------
Source:
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/leisure/music/reviews/4772473.Madness__Bournemouth_International_Centre/
Published Date: 02 December 2009
Bournemouth International Centre
By Sarah Hogg
Madness should probably expect a hefty bill from the BIC for floor
repairs after constant bombardment by the feet of a massive pogoing
throng.
From beginning to end, the ska-reggae legends, on their 30th
anniversary tour, threw out a healthy dose of hits, forcing such
energetic vertical movement that the floor should have been in pieces
by the night end.
The fact most were likely wearing Doc Martens is enough to give their
insurance company the willies.
The demographic was surprising. Most were predictably aged 30-50, but
there was a vast number of young teens, hinting that many a parent has
been influential. Hell, my three-year-old throws shapes to House of
Fun so by the time Suggs and company rock around for their 50th
anniversary tour in 2029, he'll be smashing the floor to bits with the
rest of them.
The middle of the set list was new material and cuts that Madness
aficionados know well, but bookending this was a collection of
favourites which would set the toes tapping of every true child of the
80s.
One Step Beyond, Embarrassment, The Prince, My Girl, and The Sun and
the Rain fired us up, while the band's showtime House of Fun, Wings of
a Dove, Baggy Trousers, Our House and It Must Be Love bring the BIC to
an absolute frenzy.
The encore, We Are London, Madness and Night Boat to Cairo ensured
these British classics will play over and over in the heads of the
departing thousands for the next week or so.
Which, thankfully, was just the steering-wheel-tapping distraction I
needed while stuck at the top of a painfully slow-moving BIC car park.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
The gig started with the usual suspects, the triple-play of One Step
Beyond, Embarrassment and The Prince, but there were enough surprises
in the set to make the heaviest anorak the happiest trainspotter.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarrassment
3.The Prince
4.Nw5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.The Sun And The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.Take It Or Leave It
10.MK II
11.Sugar And Spice
12.Chase The Devil aka Iron Shirt
13.Clerkenwell Polka
14.Mother And Child Reunion
15.Girl Why Don't You
16.That Close
17.E.R.N.I.E.
18.Forever Young
19.House Of Fun
20.Wings Of A Dove
21.Baggy Trousers
22.Our House
23.It Must Be Love
24.We Are London
25.Madness
26.Night Boat To Cairo
Of particular note were "That Close", "E.R.N.I.E.", and a new song, a
cover of the Paul Simon hit "Mother And Child Reunion."
You can see the performance of "Mother And Child Reunion" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoUsXtKq5-s
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13. Brighton Concert Info: 02 December 2009
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.theargus.co.uk/archive/2009/12/03/Music+reviews+%28music_reviews%29/4776464.Madness__Brighton_Centre__Dec_2/
Published Date: 03 December 2009
Madness, Brighton Centre, Dec 2
By Duncan Hall
Well listen buster, you better start to move your feet, to the
rockiest, rock-steady beat, of Madness ? ONE STEP BEYOND!!!?
And with that the thousand-strong throng filling the floor of the
Brighton Centre exploded into life in a shower of beer and didn't stop
dancing for more than 90 minutes. It may be 30 years since the release
of first single The Prince, but with their latest album, The Liberty
Of Norton Folgate, Madness have proved they are still a force to be
reckoned with.
With this show the six original band members, currently minus bass
player Mark Bedford, backed by a three-piece brass section, showed
what consummate professionals they are at throwing a party. A pink-
suited Suggs held the audience in the palm of his hand, as his long-
time bandmates wise-cracked and goofed around behind him onstage.
Newbies such as the brilliant storytelling MK II and the klezmer-
influenced Clerkenwell Polka showed the band hasn?t stopped
experimenting with their new material.But it was the old songs,
liberally sprinkled through the set, that the fez-wearing fans wanted
to hear.
And it's hard to think of a band that could finish a set with a run of
six top ten singles, ranging from House Of Fun to Night Boat To Cairo,
with still some hits such as Driving In My Car left unplayed.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
You've got to keep the fans happy, and that Madness did by belting out
the classics: One Step Beyond, Embarrassment, House of Fun, Our House,
and a host of tried-and-true jingles that always make the grade. But
like at Bournemouth, a smattering of "what the ... ?" moments snuck
into the set list.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarassment
3.The Prince
4.NW5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.The Sun And The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.In The Rain
10.MK II
11.Sugar And Spice
12.Shut Up
13.Clerkenwell Polka
14.Hunchback Of Torriano
15.Chase The Devil aka Ironshirt
16.That Close
17.E.R.N.I.E.
18.Forever Young
19.House Of Fun
20.Wings Of A Dove
21.Baggy Trousers
22.Our House
23.It Must Be Love
24.Madness
25.Night Boat To Cairo
"E.R.N.I.E" and "That Close" enjoyed a second airing, as did the three
singles off Norton Folgate, "Dust Devil", "Sugar and Spice" and
"Forever Young". The Absolutely gem "In The Rain" made a welcome
return to the stage as well. Most suprisingly, though, the Norton
Folgate Box Set favourite "Hunchback of Torriano" made its live
performance debut.
You can see the performance of "Hunchback of Torriano" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnKHDX2cY38
===========================================================
14. Plymouth Concert Info: 04 December 2009
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.plymouthbuzzers.co.uk/plymouth-pavilions/madness-plymouth-pavilions/
Published Date: 05 December 2009
Madness at Plymouth Pavilions, 4 December 2009
Madness were in top form in making the crowd bounce and dance. The
look of the group of 10 was slick and polished. The lighting effects
were just right with two big dual video screens up above the band
showing closeups of the performance intermixed with film clips of ska
dancing and other things.
They even managed to have film of the local Plymouth neighbourhoods
that they showed during portions of Our House which delighted the
crowd. The songs played included all the big hits of past years and
quite a bit of the newest album for the group, The Liberty of Norton
Folgate and the fans reacted warmly to all of the new material as well
as going absolutely bonkers over their standards such as Night Boat to
Cairo which the band saved to the end.
Wings of a Dove was a stand out for the cheering crowd along with
other favourites.
Suggs captured the friendly, fun and happy Madness spirit with his
usual aplomb inbetween songs and a massive Green Army chant was led by
the band which went down as loud as it should at Home Park.
Fantastic concert with many, many happy faces and sweaty bodies
wandering smiling into the night.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
The Plymouth Pavilions gig came up a few songs shy of the precious two
concerts. Notably missing after a single performance in Brighton is
"Hunchback of Torriano" which many fans who knew the song had been
played in Brighton were hoping/expecting to hear the song in Plymouth
as well. "Mother and Child Reunion" made a return to the set.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarrassment
3.The Prince
4.NW5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.Sun & The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.Shut Up
10.In The Rain
11.Clerkenwell Polka
12.Mother And Child Reunion
13.Bed And Breakfast Man
14.That Close
15.E.R.N.I.E.
16.Forever Young
17.House Of Fun
18.Wings Of A Dove
19.Baggy Trousers
20.Our House
21.It Must Be Love
22.Madness
23.Night Boat To Cairo
===========================================================
15. Southend (Matinee) Concert Info: 05 Decemeber 2009
===========================================================
Madness is today (5 December 2009) playing their first matinee show
since the 80s followed by a "grown-ups" show that's happening as this
newsletter goes to press. Full details of the Southend gigs will
appear in next week's newsletter
===========================================================
16. Contacting Madness Central
===========================================================
You can send all communications relating to Madness Central to the e-
mail address:
ad...@madness-central.com
===========================================================
17. Newsletter Subscription Details.
===========================================================
# Subscribing to the Newsletter:
If you are reading this newsletter via Google, Facebook and/or RSS
feed, you can have this newsletter delivered weekly directly to your e-
mail inbox.
To subscribe, visit the Madness Central website at: http://www.madness-central.com
and use the relevant subscription box displayed on the homepage.
Alternatively, you can send a blank e-mail to:
madness-central-ne...@googlegroups.com
You will need to reply to a confirmation e-mail prior to your
subscription being processed. With some ISP's this email may be
filtered directly into your spam/junk folder.
# How to Unsubscribe:
If you no longer wish to receive the Madness Central Newsletter, send
an e-mail to:
madness-central-new...@googlegroups.com
If you've missed the previous issues you can catch up by viewing the
groups archive at:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/madness-central-newsletter?hl=en
--
Madness Central
http://www.madness-central.com
28th November - 4th December 2009.
Welcome to the 9th edition of the Madness Central weekly newsletter.
With the current UK tour now underway, we have full concert reviews
and set lists for those that have taken place already, along with
information regarding forthcoming gigs. There's also the opportunity
to win a copy of the Pet Shop Boys Christmas EP (featuring My Girl)
and signed photo.
Contents:
1. Latest News And Information
2. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer for MCN Readers
4. Pet Shop Boys "Christmas EP" and Autographed Poster Contest
reminder
5. Scotsman.com: Interview with Suggs
6. Terry Edwards Joins Madness on UK Tour
7. Express.co.uk: Another interview with Suggs
8. Concert Live: Purchase UK Tour USB's
9. Mojo4music.com: Interview with Chas Smash
10. "Idiot Child" Included In Word Magazine CD This Month
11. Independent.ie: We Can All Relate to the Madness of Growing Up
12. Bournemouth Concert Info: 01 December 2009
13. Brighton Concert Info: 02 December 2009
14. Plymouth Concert Info: 04 December 2009
15. Southend (Matinee) Concert Info: 05 Decemeber 2009
16. Contacting Madness Central
17. Newsletter Subscription Details.
===========================================================
1. Latest News And Information
===========================================================
The following are the currently weekly news snippet(s) taken from the
Madness Central blog at: http://www.madness-central.com/blog
# Catherine Tate's Nan Presents Madness with Norton Folgate Gold Discs
Madness were recently presented with their gold discs for sales of
“The Liberty Of Norton Folgate” by Nan ...
Read the complete blog here:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=814
# Official Madness Camp Announce Two New German Gigs for 2010
The Nutty Boys are lined up to play Berlin and Dortmund in May
2010 ...
Read the complete blog here:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=824
# Madness to Headline Camp Bestival 2010
News in today that Madness have been confirmed as the Saturday night
headliners at Camp Bestival that takes place at Dorset?s Lulworth
Castle ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=823
# Forever Young "Melt Music Mix" is Previewed
Can't wait to hear the new single edit of Forever Young? Now you can
at the Official Madspace ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=808
# Madness Cover Billy Ocean Classic
As first reported here at Madness Central and confirmed by Madness
Management one of the B-sides to come with the Forever Young single
release will be a cover of the Billy Ocean classic "Love Really
Hurts" ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=806
# Skiantos to Open for Madness in Milan
The opening act for Madness has been chosen this week; Italian band
Skiantos is opening for Madness at their Milan gig on 8 May 2010 ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=822
# Splendid to Open for Madness in Amsterdam
Dutch band Splendid has been tapped to open for Madness at the
Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on the 15th of May 2010 ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=825
# "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" Screening at Buenos Aires Film
Festival
As first reported on Madness Central in November, the Julien Temple
documentary ?The Liberty of Norton Folgate? is to be screened December
10 at the In-Edit Cinzano film festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=818
# "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" on ABC Australia iView for Limited
Time
Australian TV station ABC will be webcasting the Julien Temple film ?
The Liberty of Norton Folgate? ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=815
# Madness Appear in the Latest Edition of the Big Issue
The band are both cover stars, and appear in this weeks edition of the
Big Issue magazine whose website states: British ska legends Madness
on politics, performing and supporting The Big Issue ...
Read the complete blog at:
http://madness-central.com/blog/?p=812
===========================================================
2. Madness Central Updates: The Nutty Caption
===========================================================
Have you ever seen a picture of Madness and, with puzzled amazement,
said to yourself, "Just what the blue blazes were they thinking?" Why
not put some words in the mouths of Madness and answer that question
for yourself?
Featured in this week's caption is: Chrissy Boy.
http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/caption/caption.php
===========================================================
3. www.retro-madness.co.uk - This week's Special Offer for MCN Readers
===========================================================
Probably the most quintessential Madness badge of all time is the
original black and white enamel MIS Fan Club badge from the early
1980s. These were hand made by the legendary badge makers Dial-a-
Style, originally contracted by Stiff Records to make badges in the
late 1970s, their production line went into overdrive with the arrival
of Madness on the scene and a full range of official designs were
produced for them between 1980 and 1984.
These badges were not simply pressed out by machine but required a
whole series of specialist skills for the production of each
individual badge. Retro-Madness has the last remaining stock of these
from the MIS fan club offices of the 1980s. Genuine originals not
modern reproductions. The enamel MIS fan club badge has sold for up to
£25 in Ebay auctions by different sellers over the years, however for
one week only Retro-Madness are offering it to MCN readers for the
bargain price of just £4.99 including UK postage. This is the lowest
price we have sold these for in 15 years!
Click the link below and you will find them by scrolling approximately
half way down the page:
http://retro-madness.co.uk/
Happy browsing!
Chris & Emma of Retro-Madness
===========================================================
4. Pet Shop Boys "Christmas EP" and Autographed Poster Contest
reminder
===========================================================
The Pet Shop Boys Christmas EP Contest closes Monday, 14 December 2009
at 5 pm UK time.
We have a special Christmas treat for you this holiday season that's a
little off the nutty path. Kindly provided by the folks over at the
official Pet Shop Boys camp, you?ll have a chance to win a copy of the
forthcoming PSB EP simply titled "Christmas" for our second contest of
Madness Central's second year on the interweb.
What makes this so special to us Madness Fans? Included with this five
track EP is the Pet Shop Boys' fast-paced yet smooth arrangement of
the classic Madness love ballad "My Girl." If you'll recall, Suggs and
Carl joined Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe on stage at last year's
charity benefit, 'Can You Bear It', for the family of Chris and Neil's
former assistant and close friend, Dainton Connell, who was tragically
killed in a car accident.
Further information can be found at:
http://www.madness-central.com/interactive/feature/feature.html
===========================================================
5. Scotsman.com: Interview with Suggs
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Suggs-lead-singer-Madness.5865649.jp
Published Date: 01 December 2009
'THIRTY years," mutters Suggs from Madness. "Thirty bloody years I've
been wiv 'em." For a moment I think he's talking about his band, those
baggy-trousered nutty boys; turns out he means his bank. They kept him
waiting an hour and a half, despite three decades as a loyal
customer ? "and despite us shooting some of our best videos there as
well".
But that's not the whole story of his tardiness for our rendezvous at
Quo Vadis, his Soho club. En route from his home in Camden he bumped
into Graham Coxon from Blur and an earnest discussion about the perils
of the rock reunion soon necessitated strong drink. And there was
another impediment for Suggs an injured hand.
"Last night I was on the Mall with Buckingham Palace up ahead and
Admiralty Arch, where John Prescott bonked his secretary behind me
and I just thought: 'London, my London, what tales lie therein.' So
when I saw this big pile of leaves I was so exhilarated that I just
dived in. And that's how I hurt my hand."
Days can sometimes blend into nights for Suggs. I deduce this from the
following greeting to Quo Vadis's manager: "Oi, Eduardo! You're still
wearing last night's shirt with last night's stain you dirty slag!"
And once a day/night at least, he probably begins a sentence thus:
"London, my London..."
London has always featured in Madness songs and they've marked their
30th anniversary with The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, something of a
London concept album, earning the band Edinburgh's star attraction
for the world's biggest Hogmanay street party the best reviews of
their career.
But how does Suggs respond to all London-loathers who think it too
big, dirty, expensive, impersonal and up itself? "I'd refer them to a
recent edition of the New Yorker magazine which said that ongoing
right now is 'an experiment of assimilation and immigration the like
of which the world has never seen'." An erudite defence, it's true,
but what I really want to talk to Graham McPherson about is Scotland.
That's his real name, though he's been Suggs since his schooldays. "I
was an ethnic minority of one. The mix was Chinese, Pakistani, West
Indian, Irish, a small majority of English and me, the only Scot."
Didn't that make him feel special, unique? "Not when I was being
called a smelly haggis c***. So I changed my name. I was into graffiti
so I needed an alias anyway. I got Suggs from my mum's encyclopedia of
jazz musicians ? she sang in the pubs ? and I wrote 'Suggs is our
leader' on the walls. Kids used to say to me: 'Are you the Suggs
everyone is talking about?' I created my own myth."
His mother Edwina is Welsh and she still lives close by; his father,
William Rutherford McPherson, walked out on the family when he was
three, and Suggs grew up in some hardship in London bedsits,
occasionally being packed off to an aunt in Wales when his mum
couldn't cope.
What became of his dad? "I don't know, but what I've heard hasn't been
good: heroin, injecting his eyeballs with paraffin, being sectioned.
He must be dead now. I mean, he would have got in touch if he was
alive, wouldn't he? Yeah, he must be dead, poor bugger."
We're drinking beer on Quo Vadis's balcony. The club is a splendid
establishment but the al fresco facilities are somewhat modest: a
plastic table and two chairs on a rusty iron ledge, underneath a
thrumming generator. "Lovely what you've done here, Eduardo," says
Suggs, to which mine host replies: "Amazing how far 15,000 quid goes."
A well-worn comedy routine, no doubt, but then he returns to familial
matters.
"I never tried to find Dad when I was younger because very quickly I
got married and became a dad myself and there just wasn't the time.
But a few years ago I took my girls up to Newtonmore on a camping
roots trip. That's where the McPhersons hail from. I met three other
Graham McPhersons, which I was really chuffed about, although I
mustn't come over all Rod Stewart about my tartan heritage. All my
Irish pals grew up wanting to be someone else. They got fed up seeing
collection buckets being passed round the pubs for the IRA. An over-
sentimentalised attitude can be dangerous."
The best Madness songs are happy/sad, party beats broken up by serious
lyrics, mirth mixed with melancholy ? and Suggs in conversation is
exactly the same. He can be Max Wall music hall about London; he can
be as studious a chronicler of the city as Peter Ackroyd and Iain
Sinclair. And while he's enjoying being the cheeky-chappie Cockney
today ? ordering Eduardo to turn off the generator so when he calls
home his wife won't know he's at the club, again ? there are a fair
few moments of introspection and self-examination.
His wife Anne was his teenage sweetheart. In her own pop life she was
Bette Bright, who had a 1978 hit with My Boyfriend's Back. "It didn't
work out for her after that," he says. "She asked me if I wanted to
have kids. I was still only 19, still a buffoon. I said: 'You'll have
to look after them because I ain't stopped.' But I'd like to think
I've been a good father to them.
"It would be patronising to my family to say I wanted to be around for
them because my dad wasn't for me, but it was a bit like that. When I
found the right woman I was determined to make it work ? that it
wasn't going to end up in the same mess that the five previous
generations of this clan had experienced."
It's probably not coincidental that, with his daughters Scarlett, 26,
and Viva, 24, having moved into their own place and formed a band,
Suggs now feels ready to find out what became of William Rutherford
McPherson. While 2009 has been a very London year for Madness, with
Suggs penning his own book about the city, their leader plans for 2010
to be quite Scottish.
"I've got the chance to do (BBC genealogy show] Who Do You Think You
Are? but I want to write my memoirs. It's going to be a quest, to
learn about my dad's story, and I don't want to say it's going to be
some big therapeutic bollocks but that's exactly what it'll be.
"What did I miss about not having him around? Everything. It would
have been great to be able to talk to him about all the stuff I've
found difficult, like the journey from boy to man. That's still a bit
of a struggle for me, to be honest."
And there he leaves the saga. Possibly that's enough self-examination
for one afternoon. Or maybe he's just reminded himself that if he
hadn't been that boy, that buffoon, sneaking into boozers to hear his
mum sing, who fell in with a street-gang, most of whom had single
parents ? then his surrogate family otherwise known as Madness might
never have happened.
In the year that a great singles band finally made a great album,
acquiring maturity of their own, Suggs hopes the Hogmanay gig will be
the perfect finale. From losing a shoe on the last bus home through
nicking his mum's raffle-prize whisky to circumventing millennium
traffic restrictions with strategically parked cars filled with bevvy,
he says he can prove that the great Scottish festival has always been
important to him. Then he checks himself. "Was that too much? Eduardo,
was that too Rod?"
[This article first appeared in the 29 November edition of Scotland on
Sunday]
===========================================================
6. Terry Edwards Joins Madness on UK Tour
===========================================================
Word in from Terry Edwards, the long-time Madness collaborator will be
joining Madness on stage for selected UK tour dates:
Dec 7 - Swindon
Dec 8 - Leeds
Dec 9 - Sheffield
===========================================================
7. Express.co.uk: Another interview with Suggs
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/143126/British-coast-A-seaside-paddle-in-nostalgia
Published Date: 29 November 2009
BRITISH COAST: A SEASIDE PADDLE IN NOSTALGIA
THE coastline of the British Isles exerts a unique pull on the nation.
Here, a selection of high-profile admirers pick out their favourite
spots and childhood memories
# Most memorable childhood seaside holiday?
Going on a day trip to Margate, like most Londoners.
# Who did you go with and how did you get there?
We'd go on the train, with my mum and some friends of ours from the
flats that we lived in, every bank holiday.
# B&B, caravan or campsite?
Later on, I used to go to Tenby with my aunt and uncle, who lived in
Wales. I have vivid memories of sitting in a dreary B&B; three or four
kids in a tiny little room, trying to kill each other.
# Favourite beach activity?
Riding a donkey, swimming, eating ice cream, getting sunburnt.
# Best and worst memories of that place?
I loved the sense of freedom and the fact that it was bank holiday and
everyone was genuinely feeling the joy of life. The bad bit was the
getting burnt thing.
# Favourite beach nowadays?
I'm very fond of the south-east coast still. I went to Broadstairs for
the first time the other week, which I thought was great..
===========================================================
8. Concert Live: Purchase UK Tour USB's
===========================================================
For more than 30 years Madness are one of THE bands when it comes to
catchy melodies in combination with monster hooks and ska grooves. At
least for those born before the mid 80ies there's no real party
without having the DJ play one of their hits. In 2009, Madness still
haven't lost their magic - and especially live they're always one step
beyond!
The December concerts will be recorded and available to buy on limited
edition USB flash drives and MP3 Players at the shows and here at
Concert Online.
Further details and orders can be placed at:
http://concert-online.com/en/shop/29368/Madness.html
===========================================================
9. Mojo4music.com: Interview with Chas Smash
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/12/my_brilliant_year_madnesss_cha.html
Published Date: 02 December 2009
My Brilliant Year: Madness's Chas Smash
MADNESS HAVE SCALED MOJO's 50 Best Albums Of The 2009 list, and London
concept suite The Liberty Of Norton Folgate has prompted comparisons
with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Chas Smash, Madness'
shamanistic vibe controller, looks back on the Nutty Boys' reunion and
rejuvenation in 2009. Surely it's worth all those "personal
differences'?
The Liberty Of Norton Folgate is one of MOJO's albums of the year. Do
you feel like you're getting the last laugh on the naysayers?
Of course, there's no doubt about that, absolutely! I suppose I'd
thought about it being our Sgt Pepper's, which is a bit cheeky, but
there you go. The nature of the album is based around London and the
history of London. There's an immigrant romantic aspect to it, and
also a historical aspect...
It does seem to cross over into different epochs.
That's because things don't really change. A man's needs are the same,
essentially, and fears. I picked up A Tale Of Two Cities the other
day, and on the second f___ing page, in about the third paragraph, he
goes on about the French printing paper money and spending it, the
fact that the mayor of London's been held up by highwaymen, and that
crime and prostitution is on streets and virtually accepted. And you
think, F___ me, nothing at all's changed, absolutely nothing!
The band are the original seven again, unlike 2005's The Dangermen
Sessions...
It's totally the sum of its parts. And that works on a lot of levels.
Everything does sound like Madness when you bring it to the band, and
maybe someone in the band hasn't written so many songs, but it doesn't
really matter 'cause they're an integral part of the whole piece, and
the whole piece becomes a life journey rather than a musical career in
a way. Being in the band is always about relationships, which has its
pluses and minuses. I mean, it's f___ing exhausting at times, let me
tell you, and completely bonkers, but the idiosyncrasies that are
contained within the process of deciding why are we doing it and when
are we doing it, it makes it what it is.
Something that your old chums The Specials seem to have forgotten...
I quite frankly wish that they'd resolve their differences with Jerry
[Dammers], and I recommend that Jerry just goes off and writes the
fucking next Specials album and then says to them, 'Look, there it
is.' With Jerry it always takes so long, but everything he works on
sustains. The brass intro to Free Nelson Mandela - f___ me, is that
uplifting or what?
Should we expect another album anytime soon?
It's being discussed but right now we're working out our personal
differences over the last project. Again and again and again and
again... it's just a process that keeps the band as it is. You have to
approach it cautiously, it demands integrity - it's like some
shamanistic fucking ritual we have to go through! But it's not a bad
one, it means well.
Interview by Ian Harrison
===========================================================
10. "Idiot Child" Included In Word Magazine CD This Month
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/now-hear
Madness - Idiot Child
Bands who are 30 years into the game just do not make their best
record. And pop bands just do not make mystic concept albums, or at
least not mystic concept albums that work. But Madness toughened and
maybe nourished by ten years of mutual discord and self-rediscovery
achieved both those feats on the sumptuous, insightful Norton Folgate.
A psycho-geographic exploration of London?s occult past and present,
it contained as much beauty, darkness, musical vigour and dry humour
as the capital itself. (Andrew Harrison)
From the album The Liberty Of Norton Folgate
===========================================================
11. Independent.ie: We Can All Relate to the Madness of Growing Up
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/we-can-all-relate-to-the-madness-of-growing-up-1957914.html
Published Date: 29 November 2009
We can all relate to the Madness of growing up
The tough early years of Suggs and Co translated into classic songs
that played a part in our own youth, says Barry Egan
'Welcome to the house of fun, da-da-da-de-de." "Our house, in the
middle of our street ..." "It must be love, love, love ... " In our
long lost youth, some of us -- most of us, even -- sang along to these
warm slices of family life, courtesy of North London's high priests of
whimsical brilliance, Madness.
Some of us -- that's you and me -- probably even did the actions from
their almost-as-famous videos, dancing around in off-kilter ska
choreography as white-socked school boys in Baggy Trousers. None of
us, to the best of my knowledge, quite got to fly through the air on a
wire, playing the saxophone, as Lee Thompson did in the epochal video
for Baggy Trousers, with lead singer Suggs telling the listener that:
"All the small ones tell tall tales/Walking home and squashing
snails."
But beyond the almost Vaudevillian light-heartedness of Madness -- and
their cheeky-chappy Cockney demeanour -- was some compelling trenchant
analysis of English culture and its mores.
Embarrassment, for instance, was about having a mixed-race kid in a
white, working class community and what the relatives thought of such
an occurrence. "I don't know if anyone even noticed what it was
about," Suggs said recently of the song that was written by Lee
Thompson, and concerned the events following the news that his teenage
sister was carrying a black man's child. The lyrics were some of the
band's -- and Thompson's -- best: Embarrassment begins, famously, with
a letter being opened, and the recipient, who is told: "You're not to
come and see us no more. Keep away from our door." The letter writer
then asks: "What on earth did you do that for?" We then learn that a
relative of the woman who had the child is equally unfeeling. She says
she doesn't want to know the mother or the child. And more
importantly: "What will the neighbours think?"
Another relative meanwhile, says the mother and child are a disgrace
to the human race. "How can you show your face?" sings Suggs
poignantly, "when you're a disgrace to the human race?"
Graham McPherson (aka Suggs) had his own torments in childhood to deal
with. His early years were spent with Eddy, his mother, (a pub singer
of sorts) as they lived a lonely existence in various bedsits or rooms
in other people's houses in London. Eddy worked as a barmaid in famous
Soho boozers like the French House and The Colony Room, where she and
her young son got to meet bohemian legends such as Francis Bacon,
George Melly and Jeffrey Bernard. Suggs remembers having brandy fumes
breathed into his face in the afternoons while not yet 10.
He also recalls Eddy sending him off on what he thought was a holiday
to his Auntie Diana's in Wales. He stayed there for three years. When
he was 11, he went back to his mum and the bedsit in London. On his
first day in Quintin Kynaston school on the Finchley Road, one of the
rougher lads pushed his dinner over Suggs' head (it was something to
do with his newly acquired Welsh accent).
He later immortalised the experience in the first song he ever wrote,
Baggy Trousers, about those times in school. (Many years later the
song was used in the film version of Alan Bennett's History Boys.)
"Naughty boys in nasty schools," Suggs sang.
Far more painful than any of the beatings he received in the Finchley
Road school was that his father left him when he was three.
Once, he heard he was in Birmingham or somewhere like that. He was
curious when he was younger but he stopped being curious after so many
years. He only recently discovered that his name was William and that
he was a heroin addict. When asked in 1997 by the London Indy's
redoubtable Deborah Ross if he was ever tempted to track his father
down, Suggs shrugged: "It should be up to him to find me, shouldn't
it?" he said. Pressed by Ross, if he did, would Suggs see him, he
replied: "Yeah. I expect so. Although you never know. It happened to
John Lennon, didn't it, and he told his father to piss off."
So Suggs knew a thing or two about a thing or two when, in late 1977,
he joined The North London Invaders, who then became Madness. Their
self-described 'nutty sound' on songs like One Step Beyond and Night
Boat To Cairo was an infectious fusion of Jamaican influences with
white London rock like The Kinks, Ian Dury and the Small Faces. For
the next three decades, through various ups and downs and break-ups
and reunions, Madness gave us some of the best singles of all time --
they were chroniclers of London like Dickens. Or at least a certain
part of the English capital. As the good old Daily Telegraph once
noted, Madness's "music is about the community experience of living in
Camden Town, North London". And as with all human life, that music has
changed with age.
"We used to write songs about burgeoning relationships; now we write
about them disintegrating," Suggs said recently of Madness's new album
The Liberty Of Norton Folgate.
===========================================================
12. Bournemouth Concert Info: 01 December 2009
===========================================================
Concert Review
------------------------------------------------------
Source:
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/leisure/music/reviews/4772473.Madness__Bournemouth_International_Centre/
Published Date: 02 December 2009
Bournemouth International Centre
By Sarah Hogg
Madness should probably expect a hefty bill from the BIC for floor
repairs after constant bombardment by the feet of a massive pogoing
throng.
From beginning to end, the ska-reggae legends, on their 30th
anniversary tour, threw out a healthy dose of hits, forcing such
energetic vertical movement that the floor should have been in pieces
by the night end.
The fact most were likely wearing Doc Martens is enough to give their
insurance company the willies.
The demographic was surprising. Most were predictably aged 30-50, but
there was a vast number of young teens, hinting that many a parent has
been influential. Hell, my three-year-old throws shapes to House of
Fun so by the time Suggs and company rock around for their 50th
anniversary tour in 2029, he'll be smashing the floor to bits with the
rest of them.
The middle of the set list was new material and cuts that Madness
aficionados know well, but bookending this was a collection of
favourites which would set the toes tapping of every true child of the
80s.
One Step Beyond, Embarrassment, The Prince, My Girl, and The Sun and
the Rain fired us up, while the band's showtime House of Fun, Wings of
a Dove, Baggy Trousers, Our House and It Must Be Love bring the BIC to
an absolute frenzy.
The encore, We Are London, Madness and Night Boat to Cairo ensured
these British classics will play over and over in the heads of the
departing thousands for the next week or so.
Which, thankfully, was just the steering-wheel-tapping distraction I
needed while stuck at the top of a painfully slow-moving BIC car park.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
The gig started with the usual suspects, the triple-play of One Step
Beyond, Embarrassment and The Prince, but there were enough surprises
in the set to make the heaviest anorak the happiest trainspotter.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarrassment
3.The Prince
4.Nw5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.The Sun And The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.Take It Or Leave It
10.MK II
11.Sugar And Spice
12.Chase The Devil aka Iron Shirt
13.Clerkenwell Polka
14.Mother And Child Reunion
15.Girl Why Don't You
16.That Close
17.E.R.N.I.E.
18.Forever Young
19.House Of Fun
20.Wings Of A Dove
21.Baggy Trousers
22.Our House
23.It Must Be Love
24.We Are London
25.Madness
26.Night Boat To Cairo
Of particular note were "That Close", "E.R.N.I.E.", and a new song, a
cover of the Paul Simon hit "Mother And Child Reunion."
You can see the performance of "Mother And Child Reunion" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoUsXtKq5-s
===========================================================
13. Brighton Concert Info: 02 December 2009
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.theargus.co.uk/archive/2009/12/03/Music+reviews+%28music_reviews%29/4776464.Madness__Brighton_Centre__Dec_2/
Published Date: 03 December 2009
Madness, Brighton Centre, Dec 2
By Duncan Hall
Well listen buster, you better start to move your feet, to the
rockiest, rock-steady beat, of Madness ? ONE STEP BEYOND!!!?
And with that the thousand-strong throng filling the floor of the
Brighton Centre exploded into life in a shower of beer and didn't stop
dancing for more than 90 minutes. It may be 30 years since the release
of first single The Prince, but with their latest album, The Liberty
Of Norton Folgate, Madness have proved they are still a force to be
reckoned with.
With this show the six original band members, currently minus bass
player Mark Bedford, backed by a three-piece brass section, showed
what consummate professionals they are at throwing a party. A pink-
suited Suggs held the audience in the palm of his hand, as his long-
time bandmates wise-cracked and goofed around behind him onstage.
Newbies such as the brilliant storytelling MK II and the klezmer-
influenced Clerkenwell Polka showed the band hasn?t stopped
experimenting with their new material.But it was the old songs,
liberally sprinkled through the set, that the fez-wearing fans wanted
to hear.
And it's hard to think of a band that could finish a set with a run of
six top ten singles, ranging from House Of Fun to Night Boat To Cairo,
with still some hits such as Driving In My Car left unplayed.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
You've got to keep the fans happy, and that Madness did by belting out
the classics: One Step Beyond, Embarrassment, House of Fun, Our House,
and a host of tried-and-true jingles that always make the grade. But
like at Bournemouth, a smattering of "what the ... ?" moments snuck
into the set list.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarassment
3.The Prince
4.NW5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.The Sun And The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.In The Rain
10.MK II
11.Sugar And Spice
12.Shut Up
13.Clerkenwell Polka
14.Hunchback Of Torriano
15.Chase The Devil aka Ironshirt
16.That Close
17.E.R.N.I.E.
18.Forever Young
19.House Of Fun
20.Wings Of A Dove
21.Baggy Trousers
22.Our House
23.It Must Be Love
24.Madness
25.Night Boat To Cairo
"E.R.N.I.E" and "That Close" enjoyed a second airing, as did the three
singles off Norton Folgate, "Dust Devil", "Sugar and Spice" and
"Forever Young". The Absolutely gem "In The Rain" made a welcome
return to the stage as well. Most suprisingly, though, the Norton
Folgate Box Set favourite "Hunchback of Torriano" made its live
performance debut.
You can see the performance of "Hunchback of Torriano" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnKHDX2cY38
===========================================================
14. Plymouth Concert Info: 04 December 2009
===========================================================
Source:
http://www.plymouthbuzzers.co.uk/plymouth-pavilions/madness-plymouth-pavilions/
Published Date: 05 December 2009
Madness at Plymouth Pavilions, 4 December 2009
Madness were in top form in making the crowd bounce and dance. The
look of the group of 10 was slick and polished. The lighting effects
were just right with two big dual video screens up above the band
showing closeups of the performance intermixed with film clips of ska
dancing and other things.
They even managed to have film of the local Plymouth neighbourhoods
that they showed during portions of Our House which delighted the
crowd. The songs played included all the big hits of past years and
quite a bit of the newest album for the group, The Liberty of Norton
Folgate and the fans reacted warmly to all of the new material as well
as going absolutely bonkers over their standards such as Night Boat to
Cairo which the band saved to the end.
Wings of a Dove was a stand out for the cheering crowd along with
other favourites.
Suggs captured the friendly, fun and happy Madness spirit with his
usual aplomb inbetween songs and a massive Green Army chant was led by
the band which went down as loud as it should at Home Park.
Fantastic concert with many, many happy faces and sweaty bodies
wandering smiling into the night.
Set List
------------------------------------------------------
The Plymouth Pavilions gig came up a few songs shy of the precious two
concerts. Notably missing after a single performance in Brighton is
"Hunchback of Torriano" which many fans who knew the song had been
played in Brighton were hoping/expecting to hear the song in Plymouth
as well. "Mother and Child Reunion" made a return to the set.
1.One Step Beyond
2.Embarrassment
3.The Prince
4.NW5
5.My Girl
6.Dust Devil
7.Sun & The Rain
8.Idiot Child
9.Shut Up
10.In The Rain
11.Clerkenwell Polka
12.Mother And Child Reunion
13.Bed And Breakfast Man
14.That Close
15.E.R.N.I.E.
16.Forever Young
17.House Of Fun
18.Wings Of A Dove
19.Baggy Trousers
20.Our House
21.It Must Be Love
22.Madness
23.Night Boat To Cairo
===========================================================
15. Southend (Matinee) Concert Info: 05 Decemeber 2009
===========================================================
Madness is today (5 December 2009) playing their first matinee show
since the 80s followed by a "grown-ups" show that's happening as this
newsletter goes to press. Full details of the Southend gigs will
appear in next week's newsletter
===========================================================
16. Contacting Madness Central
===========================================================
You can send all communications relating to Madness Central to the e-
mail address:
ad...@madness-central.com
===========================================================
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