Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 884 – Sunday 17th April to Saturday 23rd April 2016
Hello, and a very warm welcome to this latest issue of the MIS.
We begin with a small apology. A couple of recent Suggs gig additions had been input into the issue with incorrect dates. We’re not sure if it was us putting them in incorrectly or, if the information provided at the time was inaccurate.
Whatever the reason, we’ve highlighted those dates that have now been changed in our “Showtimes” section, so you can see what has been updated.
Apologies for any inconvenience this mess-up may have caused.
Now, let’s move swiftly on to the this week’s content.
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
May
Saturday 21st – Hastings, The Pier
Saturday 28th – Dauwpop Festival, Netherlands (headliners)
More info at: http://www.dauwpop.nl
June
Saturday 25th – Glastonbury Festival, Main Stage
July
Saturday 30th – Kendal Calling, Penrith http://www.kendalcalling.co.uk/information/ticket-info/
Sunday 31st – Y Not Festival, Matlock
http://www.ynotfestivals.co.uk
August
Thursday 4th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange *** Sold Out ***
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Friday 5th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Saturday 6th –Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness, Scotland (headliners)
More info at www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
Thursday 11th – Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire. First day headliner
Saturday 13th – Boom Town Fair – Winchester
Friday 19th August – Cyfartha Castle, Merthyr Tydfil
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/37005067CAE570E4?tpab=-1
Monday 29th – House of Common, Clapham Common
More info at: http://www.madness.co.uk/houseofcommon/
September
Sunday 4th September -Jersey Live Festival, Jersey
November
Friday 18th – Monday 21st – Madness Weekender 6, Minehead
Suggs
April
18th – A Concert to Save Norton Folgate – Suggs plus guests *** Revised Date *** https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-spitalfields-trust-presents-a-save-norton-folgate-benefit-concert-tickets-24394975027
22nd – Scarborough Spa Theatre * Sold Out *
23rd – Lincoln Drill Hall * Sold Out *
24th – Carlisle Sands Centre
25th – Ilkley King’s Hall * Sold Out *
27th – Bournemouth Pavillion Theatre
28th – Bath The Forum
29th – Worcester Huntingdon Hall * Sold Out *
30th – Wrexham William Aston Hall
May
1st – Crewe Lyceum Theatre
3rd – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
4th – Sheffield Lyceum
5th – 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
7th – Brixton Jam Rock – Suggs plus guests *** Revised Date ***
Tickets: http://bit.ly/TheNextmenSuggs
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
Friday 22nd, Hampton Pool Picnic, Supporting The Selecter
Rhoda Dakar
June
Saturday 18th – 100 Club London
(Also appearing at The London International Ska festival, Glastonbury, & European festivals this year)
WIN IT
Win Suggs Tickets
Like and share a post over on Suggs’ official Facebook page for a chance to win tickets to his One Man Show. At the same time you’ll will be helping the big man promote the forthcoming dates into the bargain.
https://www.facebook.com/thesuggsmcpherson/
BUY IT
Deluxe edition of The Lone Ranger.
https://www.discogs.com/Suggs-The-Lone-Ranger/release/8172245
A Deluxe Edition release of Suggs’ first solo album “The Lone Ranger”.
Originally released in 1995 this much requested reissue is the most comprehensive collection available of the original album and all the related bonus material.
Other bonus material includes the b/sides – ‘Bedazzled’, ‘Animal’, ‘When You Came’ and ‘I Feel Good’. The CD booklet features the original artwork, a UK Discography, lyrics of the original album tracks all in a 16 page colour booklet.
Out April 22nd
Buy it if you don’t have the original classic album or want those original collected B-sides together or if you want Suggs to consider another solo album in future support this release, but if you want it for all the remixes please stop taking e and consult a dr. Some were as dreadful as the Macarena.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Suggs is a Sell-Out for his Worcester Date
TICKETS for a show starring Suggs at Worcester’s Huntingdon Hall have already sold out, so no one can say, “you’re an embarrassment” to the Madness front man, who wants to talk about his life.
All seats are taken for the show on April 29, from 8pm; and to think it all started with a dead cat.
Suggs said: “I’ve turned 50, the kids have left home, and my cat just died.”
In “Suggs: My Life Story” the Madness frontman takes to the stage in “an amusing, yet moving, one man tour de force that has garnered rave reviews”.
The full article can be found at the above link.
MIS FEATURE
More Acts for the House of Common
This week Madness revealed a dedicated Facebook page for the House of Common one day festival.
Join it here…
https://m.facebook.com/HouseOfCommonFestival/
Along with the launch, a number of new support acts were announced. The additions include two new bands and a host of famous DJs who will no doubt be running the sounds of the festival’s multiple venues, possibly as dance tents.
Craig Charles
The BBC 6 music DJ and tv star playing the best black Americana classic funk and soul.
Hot 8 brass band
New Orleans brass band blending jazz hip hop and funk into the world of all brass marching bands.
Spring king
Post punk sounding fresh new band formed 2014, notable for being the first act played of Apple musical new radio station beats 1 fronted by ex radio one zane Lowe.
Toddla T
Sheffield born DJ and producer, husband of Annie Mac, has his own weekly slot on Radio one.
Playing sounds between hip hop to house. Also the producer of Ms. dynamite, who’s also on the festival bill. He will be appearing after his Notting Hill Carnival sound system appearance.
Rob Da Bank
BBC 6 music (ex radio one the blue room presenter until 2014) and co Founder of Bestival. Promoter of new left-field music and live acts.
Terry Farley
Electronic music producer, based out of London boys own record label.
Reggae Roast
The leading light in the resurgence of UK dub reggae.
This now brings the count up to 16 acts.
(Not counting the multiple named guests in Congo natty Allstars)
Jon Young
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
Silencerz and Foulds School.
Knockout gig at Foulds School, Barnet, on 4th March. The gig raised …a good amount for the school.
Said hello to Feargal Sharkey, Dave Peacock (from Chas and….) raved about the band and Kix pulled out a live frog on stage that was hibernating in his jacket pocket.
You shoulda been there!
Stuart Wright
And here is a video from a gig at the same venue from last year.
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 623 – Sunday 17th April – Saturday 23rd April 2011
Things had turned a tad quiet over the previous week, and as such we asked you to forgive us for sending out a rather lean issue of the MIS.
The majority of this issue was taken up with news and coverage of Lee Thompson and his Ska Orchestra. To keep you happy we had clips, reviews and much more.
10 years ago…
Issue number 363 – Sunday 16th April to Saturday 22nd April 2006
With the Madness back catalogue in Apple’s iTunes music store continually growing, we kicked-off this issue by taking a brief look at the Madness video collection that had started to appear.
The release of Apple’s 5th generation video iPod towards the end of 2005 saw the iTunes music store go from solely an audio download utility into one which started to offer TV shows, video clips, and of course music videos.
With it being almost 6 months since the video iPod saw the light of day, we decided to take a look and see if any of the classic Madness videos of old had been miniaturised and made available through the online store.
We discovered that the selection of videos was somewhat limited, and at the time this issue went out consisted of only three tracks: House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, and one that surprised us – the recently released Shame and Scandal.
With the videos priced at a whopping £1.89 each, we felt that although the sound and picture quality were excellent, the price needed to come down before we could recommend fans go and shell out for the privilege.
Next, we moved on to the Official Madness Messageboard, where a subscriber recalled a concert from Christmas 92 or 93 where a song entitled ‘The Book of Madness’ was aired. Chris cleared things up by explaining that the song was called ‘Moondance’, and that “It was one of those Barso songs that we should have got by the scruff of the neck speeded up a bit and released because every minute of every [day] he would be demoing it and re demoing it and sometimes you have got to get things out of your system. We did a right good version just before “Wonderful”
Moving on, we then looked at The Pandora Project at www.pandora.com.
The site asked you to name your favourite band, and the site would dig out a track by that artist. Nothing special about that you might thing. However, subsequent tracks would be ones that the web site had dug out based on your initial selection.
“Camden’s Hall of Fame” was our next port of call, as we reported that CAMDEN’S greatest residents and landmarks were to be honoured in a Hall Of Fame sponsored by the Ham&High (newspaper).
Residents would nominate their favourites and then a panel, including the Ham&High’s editor, Geoff Martin, and council leader Raj Chada would choose the top 100.
Those selected would have to have lived or worked in Camden for more than 15 years since 1965 or have been born or educated there.
It was on to books for the next article, as we took a look at a new publication entitled ‘The 2 Tone Trail’, which looked at the places and faces that shaped the genre that emerged as 2-Tone.
Full of rare and rarely seen photographs, the book featured a 20 location tour around the city of Coventry, and each one was brought to life by new and up to date quotes from the people who made the difference.
The 2-Tone Trail was published by Tencton Planet Publications and retailed for just £5.00.
We brought this issue to a close by reminding subscribers that they could vote for Suggs in the Camden Hall of Fame list by sending off a swift email with their nominations.
15 years ago…
Issue number 101 – Sunday 15th April 20 Saturday 21st April 2001
With co-editor, Rob, off out in sunny Cuba, the task of keeping the good ship MIS running was handed over to a certain Jonathan Young, who started the issue off with a nice round-up of news snippets.
The first article was then given over to announcing that the release date for the new Madness biography, “Don’t Watch That, Watch This”, by Adrian Thrills, which was pencilled-in for the 19th of April.
Although Waterstones were stating this was the release date, there was nothing detailing this on Amazon, and the Virgin Publishing web site was also revealing very little.
Following on from last week’s review of My Old Man (performed by Madness), we were able to announce that “Brand New Boots & Panties”, the Ian Dury Tribute album was now in the shops.
Q magazine gave a favourable but small review with little detail, while The NME’s opinion was less flattering, saying “Knees up Sinead O’conor just isn’t going to work”, with little press coverage appearing in other magazines.
It was over to Later With Jools Holland for our next article, as we explained that filming for the next LATER show was taking place on the evening of Tuesday April 17th. Suggs would be appearing with The Blockheads to perform, a version of My Old Man. Robbie William was also due to make an appearance with his song from `Brand New Boots and Panties’.
This was the issue where we were also tasked with helping out a Madness fan in need. Subscriber Lyndsay Gray was getting married and had this plea;
“Can you please help!!! I’m looking for sheet music for Madness’s It must be love, for my wedding, but I can’t find it anywhere. Help”
It seemed as if Lyndsay had the same good taste as Zoe Ball for wedding music.
If you could help you were urged to contact her directly.
The spotlight went on to another Madness fan for the next article, as we reminded readers that Iain Mason would be running the London Marathon in aid of Cancer BACUP. We were told that he’d be the guy with the M on his back and the ‘Must be Mad’ written underneath.
We moved over to some Bad Manners news next, as we reported that Busters stint in a health farm must be going well, as the band had announced two forthcoming gigs. The first would be in Liverpool on the 31st of July, with the second on the 6th of August in Nottingham.
This issue was brought to a close with a reminder that the organisers of the forthcoming Madness Blackpool Weekender were still on the lookout for auction items, and hoped that you’d be able to dig deep and see if you could provide something.
Time to rummage in those wardrobes!
Rob Hazelby
TIME…
We bring this issue of the MIS to a close with the news that The Madness Brewing Company have released yet another ale.
Entitled “Absolutely”, this latest addition to the nutty range is described as a “finest pale ale”. The beer also comes with the tagline “Watch it disappear before your very eyes”.
This should soon be available in pubs nationwide, and on rotation at Nicholson’s Pubs up and down the county.
Naturally, we at the MIS will be attempting to track this down and taste it. All in the name of market research, we might add.
If you get to it before we do please email in and give us your thoughts.
Until next week, take care,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
The Author
