Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 935 – Sunday 9th April to Saturday 15th April 2017
With the Japanese and Hong Kong gigs already a fading memory for both fans and the band, Madness kick-off their long awaited Australian tour tomorrow night (10th) at the Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth.
Such was the demand for tomorrow night’s gig that tickets quickly sold out, and a second date was added the following evening.
This short, five gig your takes in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Byron Bay, meaning that if you live down under you should be in with a decent chance of catching one of their performances if you bag yourself a ticket.
In this week we have two MIS exclusives for you; another article from The Voice of The Beehive’s Tracey Belland, and a review of the recent Tokyo gig from subscriber Nat Saeki.
As always, there’s much more than that in the issue, so sit back, relax and enjoy the read.
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
SHOWTIMES
See below for all forthcoming Madness and Madness related gigs and events. If there’s something we’ve missed off or you feel should be added then please let us know.
Madness
April 2017 – The Overseas Leg
Monday 10th – Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Australia ** Sold Out **
Tuesday 11th – Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Australia
Thursday 13th – Festival Hall, Melbourne, Australia
Saturday 15th – Hordern Pavillion, Sydney, Australia
Sunday 16th – Byron Bay, Australia http://www.bluesfest.com.au/schedule/detail.aspx?ArtistID=873
May 2017 – Back in the UK
Friday 19th – Wirral Live, Tranmere Rovers stadium, Birkenhead
Sunday 28th – Bearded Theory Spring Gathering, (Pallet stage headline), Derbyshire
http://www.beardedtheory.co.uk/
June 2017 – The Cornish Leg
Friday 16th – Eden Sessions, Eden Project, St. Austell, Cornwall ** SOLD OUT **
http://www.edensessions.com/lineup/madness/
July 2017
Saturday 29th July, Camp Bestival – Headliners
August 2017
Thursday 3rd – Scarborough Open Air Theatre
http://www.scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/
Friday 4th – Falkirk Football Stadium
http://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/madness-in-falkirk/
Saturday 5th – Lytham Festival, Lancashire
https://www.lythamfestival.com/events/madness/
Saturday 12th – Kent County Showground
https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Maidstone/The-Kent-County-Showground/Madness-in-Kent/12902396/
Friday 18th – Hardwick Hall
http://www.hardwicklive.co.uk/madness-live/
Saturday 19th – V Festival, Hylands Park
Sunday 20th – V Festival, Weston Park
Friday 25th – Portsmouth – Victorious Festival Opening Party
https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk/buy-tickets/
Sunday 27th – The Big Feastival, Alex James’ Farm – Headliners. More info at:
http://uk.thebigfeastival.com
Monday 28th – House of Common, Clapham ** Tickets now on sale! ** More info here: http://www.madness.co.uk/houseofcommon/
September 2017
1st-3rd Electric Picnic, Ireland ** Sold out Festival**
November 2017
17th – 20th November – The House of Fun Weekender – Minehead
Suggs – My Life Story – Australian Performances
Thursday 20th April – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Saturday 22nd April – Astor Theatre, Perth
Monday 24th April – Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
The Silencerz
Friday 23rd June – Mill Hill Festival
Saturday 22nd July – The 100 Club. Featuring Lee Thompson with support from The Skapones and MIS DJs
CLANG
Friday 14th April (Good Friday Bank Holiday) – The Islington, London
Near Jazz Experience
June 8th – Kino Teatr, St Leonard’s, East Sussex. Supporting Blurt.
** Rescheduled **
Voice of the Beehive
Saturday October 7th, Indie Daze. All Dayer from 1pm. Kentish Town Forum. NW5 London
http://louderthanwar.com/shop/tickets-2/indie-daze-4-festival/
BUY IT
Madness – New Album – You Can’t Touch Us Now
** Out Now! **
16 Track CD, 12 Track Vinyl
Don’t Let Them Catch You Crying – Remixes
Three new dub remixes of the track “Don’t Let Them Catch You Crying”, from the current album, are now available.
Leo Zero, the London based remixer and producer, has created the new mixes. You can buy them from Madness artist pages on iTunes and Amazon, and many other music sites. They can also be streamed through Spotify.
The mixes are the “Leo Zero remix” and his “Tufnel Parkas” mix, available both as a dub and full instrumental versions.
The former samples “Rocksteady beat” from the start of The Prince before riffing on the title song. The latter mixes make atmospheric use of the backing vocal stems and there is much looping of the guitar stabs on the tracks.
It’s perhaps fitting that Leo Zero has previously worked with Bryan Ferry, as this particular Madness track from the Can’t Touch us now LP is the most dance music based track from the latest batch of Madness and so suited to elongated 12″ length instrumental musings. Certainly more so than some others. Even if these remixes won’t dazzle the general fan, they are a nice experiment that highlight in stripped down parts, some of the elements that go towards the finished Madness song on the album.
We feel a dubplate coming on.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XPQSD2K/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp
Jonathan Young. Our thanks also go to Mark Doherty for a heads-up.
Drip Fed Fred – 7”
Catalog no.: SALVOSV0000017
Out for Record Store Day – April 22nd
A splendid DOUBLE A-SIDER. On this 7-inch the mightily menacing reggae skank ‘Drip Fed Fred’ (featuring Ian Dury’s last vocal performance before his death!) is backed with the equally catchy ‘Johnny The Horse’. And you also get a free poster. Release only in independent record stores this April, Prices £19.99
The album mix of Drip Fed Fred and the “passed this way” Radio edit of Johnny The Horse, first time on vinyl in a fetching ransom note style 7 inch picture cover.
Check out participating stores by going to: http://recordstoreday.co.uk/participating-stores/
MIS FEATURE – ADONIS TWO
Continuing from a previous feature, further info on the background of a song from the reformed Voice of The Beehive.
One of my favourite books is about the stories behind all the XTC songs. So, I can see where you’re coming from without feeling like an ego maniac, when fans are interested in whats behind songs from the beehive.
So, Zed (Zodiac Mindwarp) gave me this beautiful phrase “Adonis Blue” and it sparked some kind of imagery of a happy/ sad soul similar to myself. I mentioned that Zed and I went on random night walks together all the time and my favourite place to go was this church courtyard he introduced me to (see enclosed photo). We’d often go there at night and I went there by myself all the time. It’s still my favourite place in the world.
“I Say Nothing” came out as a single (in the days of vinyl) and Zed loved it (because, as you may know, it was inspired by our friendship). One night I was having a pint with him and his new girl and she said, “Awww, did this girl write the song that you buried in that church courtyard for good luck?” It turned out that he had gone to the courtyard one night and literally buried the single “I Say Nothing” in the dirt of the courtyard and poured some holy water on it, in the hopes that it would be a success! He never would have told me had that girl not mentioned it that night. So, somewhere in courtyard in London is “the music buried in the garden of a church, like the loveliest surprise”
xoxoxo
Tracey Belland.
MIS FEATURE – TOKYO LOCAL
It was so good to see them live in Tokyo indeed! Last performance was in 2006, so it was after 10+ years.
But they just came up on the stage and played just like nothing special.
I was a little worried if they were so tired of long flight, adjusting time difference (+8 hours), but they looked they could manage jet lag very well.
Live performance was HOT and so great! In 2006, I missed Lee and Chris. This time Carl was missing but Lee and Chrissy came over.
How can I express my feeling. So overwhelmed. Very impressed that Chris speaks Japanese very well.
As you may know, in 80’s, they had appeared [in a] TV commercial in Japan, of Honda’s compact car called City, and in 2006, they played “In The City”.
This time, they did not play that song, and played more new songs which I really wanted.
Too excited to remember the exact order, but the setlist was like this. As far as I remember.
3 April, 2017 19:20 – 21:00
@EX Theatre, Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan
CTUN
NW5
Wings of a Dove
Embarrassment
My Girl
Cardiac Arrest
Tomorrow’s Just Another Day
Grey Day
One Step Beyond
The Sun and The Rain
Prince
Herbert
Yesterday’s Men
Blackbird
A House of Fun
Don’t Leave the Past Behind You
Mumbo Jumbo
You Are My Everything
Baggy Trousers
Our House
It Must Be Love
<Encore>
Mr. Apples (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IopdC_ike1c&feature=youtu.be)
Madness
Night Boat To Cairo
I didn’t expect “Cardiac Arrest” and “Yesterday’s Men”;-) Do you have a setlist from the recent gig?
I will also post some pix to Mad Chat.
And you were right. The rain (actually it was a thunderstorm) was gone by the time the live finished!
I really hope they enjoyed a short stay in Tokyo with cherry blossoms and come back soon.
I don’t think I will wait for another 10 years, so I am planning to catch them in UK tour.
Wishing a safe trip for Madness and successful gigs in Hong Kong and Australia.
Sincerely,
—
Nat Saeki
I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5 years, 10 and 15 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 674 – Sunday 8th April – Saturday 14th April 2012
We kicked this issue off by actually telling you to stop reading and get over to YouTube, where Mexico based RadioSKAndalo had uploaded a fantastic 10 minute interview they’d recently conducted with Suggs and Chris during the band’s stay in the country.
One you’d returned, we continued…
Our first article was a sad one, as we reported that after 10 wonderful years playing together, and the recent sad loss of founding member Lanfranco Gaglione, North London based band MOT were calling it a day.
The final gig would be held at the University of London Student Union on 26th May.
Moving on, and it was over to Paul Rodgers with a review of the recently released “Forever Young, The Ska Collection”.
Summing up the album, Paul commented;
“Fans of Madness’ hit singles would probably be wise to look elsewhere.
I’m one of those die hard fans, the type that wants to own everything the band releases, but I find this album difficult to listen to in one go.
An actor friend of mine likes to paraphrase Andy Partridge (ex of XTC) as saying that Madness were the prog-ska band of the 2Tone revival era. Partridge may have been correct in that Madness did far more with their sound than just play straight up and down ska, but when you bundle all of these songs together they leave me wanting something else. Perhaps that’s the idea?
This is a brilliant appetiser to dip into, but I’d advise most potential buyers to buy this AND one of Madness’ studio albums so you can enjoy a main course rather than stuffing yourself on starters, no matter how good they are.”
The issue continued with an article from subscriber Leah Rix. Leah had recently been to see “Missing Andy”, a band she described as having hints of Madness, Oasis, The Jam and blur.
Leah recommended that we catch the band if we got a chance, and that just as the gig she was attending was coming to an end the lead singer announced they’d be rounding off proceedings with a cover of Baggy Trousers.
It was over to the Sun newspaper next, as we featured a transcript from one of their nosey parker interviews. In this latest interview it was Suggs who spoke of mooning at parliament and squandering his fortune.
With Suggs shortly appearing on UK TV screens presenting the Titanic documentary The Band Played on, we’d managed to get hold of the series synopsis, and featured it in this week’s issue.
We rounded off this issue with another in-depth write-up from the one and only Paul Rodgers, who was back with his latest collection of Madness chart stats, facts and figures.
10 years ago…
Issue 414, Sunday 8th April to Saturday 14th April 2007
Back in MIS 407 in February we reported on Madness management being in negotiations for the band to play the first ever Glastondale based Settle Festival in North Yorkshire in August. We were now able to report that the festival wasn’t happening, and a statement on their website read…
“The complexities and time-scales of achieving a licence for Settle Festival have resulted in the organisers postponing the Festival for 12 months.”
Onto better news, and we got the articles off to a cracking start with the news that Madness were booked to perform at the Knowsley Hall Music Festival, which was due to take place on the weekend of Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June.
With prices for the event coming in at £70 for the two days this may have proven too pricey for some. All wasn’t lost, as we discovered that you could still get your fill of Madness, even if it came in the form of a recently discovered tribute outfit.
Going by the name of ‘Hope an Glory’, this seven piece outfit had actually been around since 2003, but this was the first we’d heard of this Oxford based group.
It was over to Suggs next, as we featured a full transcript of a recent interview our favourite frontman had given on the 3 Network Live Podcast back from the middle of March. Thanks to the typing efforts of Jon Young and Fred Boeuf those who missed it could read it in full in this issue.
Yes, you’d probably had already got it, but if you didn’t we revealed that the story we’d run in the previous issue which announced that a gangster version of Take it or Leave it was being made was in fact an April Fool.
A few of the more observant amongst you even realised that the studio mentioned in the original article – LA Pirone Pictures, was an anagram of “April One Pictures”.
A couple of issues back we reported on a TV show being recorded at the old Clapham Grand Music Hall. This week we brought you news of the event that formed part of BBC Four’s forthcoming Edwardian Season.
A member of the new Nutty Forum posted the following info about the event….
“It was a good night. Madness were first on. Madness performed two tracks – House of Fun and new single NW5.
A good night of music hall variety featuring magicians, Harry Enfield, Jo Caulfield, Phil Jupitus, Marcus Brigstock, Mr Hudson & The Library, The Puppini Girls, and many more acts.
It was recorded for BBC4 as part of their ‘Edwardian Season’.
Look out for it.”
We brought this issue to a close with the news that the recent Guilty Pleasures live show at the Hackney Empire, with the BBC Concert Orchestra and guest singers (including Suggs) singing cheesy classics from the 60’s and 70’s, was to be aired on BBC London Radio on Easter Monday.
We didn’t know if the show would be available on the Listen Again service, but would let readers know as soon as we found out more.
15 years ago…
Issue 152, Sunday 7th April to Saturday 13th April 2002
This issue Madness tribute outfit `The Los Palmas 6` featured rather heavily. Why? Well, following the band’s first jaunt north of the border, the reviews from fans who went to the gigs flooded into the MIS Online mailbox. We had three very different reviews by Madness fans, but all summing up that the gigs were fantastic, and that they were already looking forward to the band returning.
One of the largest sections in this week’s issue was the excerpt from John Thorpe’s proposed Madness book.
Following last week’s news and interview regarding the cover version of `Baggy Trousers` by female singer, Lisa Mychols for the forthcoming tribute album to Stiff Records, “The Stiff Generation”, Ska-News very own Jean-Pierre Boutellier contacted us with a massive lowdown on other Madness tracks covered by bands over the years.
This issue finished off with contact details for Jon and a heads-up, as Rob was off to sun himself over in Cuba for two weeks.
Rob Hazelby
DANCE CRAZE SCREENINGS
Two exclusive screenings of 2Tone’s legendary film at The London International Ska Festival 2017
13 April – Prince Charles cinema, Leicester Sq
Screened from film cinematographer Joe Dunton’s own 70mm copy!
16 April – Islington Assembly Hall (gig screening)
+ Rhoda Dakar, Phoenix City All-stars (Dexys set), The Equators and more tba!
Tickets selling fast at www.buytickets.at/hotshotscorcher
TIME…
As we draw this issue to a close we’ve just got time to pass a few last minute snippets in your direction.
First-up, and you may want to have a listen to BBC Radio London DJ Gary Crowley, speaking to a number of famous Londoners and their memories of the capital. There’s certainly one you Londoner interviewed you may want to listen to – the one and only Clive Langer.
You can find the clip at the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p048lnd7
And finally, it looks like Can’t Touch is Now is on the climb once more in the album charts. Subscriber Mick O’Hanlon emailed in earlier this week to let us know that he’d spotted it in his local Asda, listed as number 83.
Where will it go from here? Only time will tell.
Until next week, take care,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
(With thanks to Mick O’Hanlon, Nat Saeki and Tracey Belland)
The Author
