Hello, Good Evening and Welcome
Good evening and welcome to this week’s edition of the MIS Online Bulletin.
As this email blasts its way out across the ether of the internet many of our readers will be watching Madness as they perform for one night only at Camden’s legendary Electric Ballroom.
Regular readers will no doubt be aware that tickets to this gig were snapped up in mere minutes, so for the majority of us we’ll have to wait for press and fan reviews to pop-up over the coming days along with YouTube footage of the performance.
We understand that the band will be performing a set of songs from the first album while subscriber Mark Bowen tells us that “Deceives the Eye” was heard at the soundcheck.
If you did attend tonight’s gig then please email us with a write-up of the gig. We’d love to hear how the night went. We’ve been assured that resident gig reviewer Daren West will be sending in a review in time for the next issue, but don’t let that stop you sending in a review of your own.
In the meantime, we have this week’s issue to get through. So, without further ado let’s crack on!

Enjoy the read,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams

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
Further information at http://www.madness.co.uk/live/
40 Years of Madness – 2019
November
Sunday 17th – The Electric Ballroom, Camden Town ** Sold out **
Friday 29th – Monday 2nd December – House of Fun Weekender 2019
December
12th – AFAS Live, Amsterdam
15th – Past, Present and Future at The Camden Roundhouse ** Sold out **
16th – Past, Present and Future at The Camden Roundhouse ** Sold out **
17th – Past, Present and Future at The Camden Roundhouse ** Sold out **
See https://tickets.roundhouse.org.uk/production/30165 for tickets
March 2020
5th – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Dubai http://theirishvillage.com/ ** new **

Lee Thompson
November
20th – One Man’s Madness Film Plus Q&A With Lee Thompson – Tickets cost £10. More information / order at: https://bit.ly/36Qwtk2
December
22nd – One Man’s Madness Film Plus Q&A With Lee Thompson –
More information / order at: https://bit.ly/2NAlbJa
January 2020
15th – Recording of “Pointless” at Elstree Studios. Free! https://www.sroaudiences.com/application.asp?show_id=788 ** new **

Buy It
Two Tone 7” Treasures (Includes The Prince)
Out now! Price £99.99
Order at https://townsendmusic.store/cart/product.php?id=54530
TWO TONE RECORDS was created in 1979 by The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The label spawned a youth movement and a number of well-known artists and singles through its tenure including the aforementioned Specials with key singles ‘Gangsters’, the UK Number singles ‘Too Much Too Young’ and ‘Ghost Town’. They also helped launch the careers of Madness with ‘The Prince’, The Beat with ‘Tears of A Clown’, The Selecter with ‘On My Radio’ and The Bodysnatchers with ‘Let’s Do Rocksteady’ (The Bodysnatchers). The label ended its chart run of singles with ‘Nelson Mandela’ by The Special AKA.
This 40th Anniversary 7” Collection has been curated by Jerry Dammers, selecting his favourite 12 singles released on the label between 1979 and 1984.
– Presented with their original sleeve designs in a bespoke 1960’s style carry case
– A Bespoke Two Tone 7” slip mat
– 7” Art Card signed by Jerry Dammers.

Celebrating 40 Years Of Madness – The 1979 Retro Range (Plus new T-shirts)
This Limited Edition MADNESS XL 40th Anniversary TOOTAL Scarf is now available @ The MADSTORE!
When Madness decided to celebrate their 40th Anniversary of entertaining the British Public, by launching a Strictly Limited-Edition Silk Scarf, teaming up with iconic British Accessories brand Tootal was the obvious choice.
Using Tootal’s centuries of Silk Scarf expertise and heritage within the Ska scene, the Band was instrumental in the design process, incorporating the unmistakable Madness logo with a nod to their truly outstanding 40th Anniversary.
Taking inspiration from their archives, Tootal took vintage styling and added Madness’ flamboyance into the Design.
This unique collaboration piece by Tootal for Madness is made from luxurious pure silk.
And available only @ The MADSTORE!
WWW.MADSTORE.CO.UK

Before We Was We: The Making of Madness by Madness
The band’s first official book.
The story of how they became them. It’s a journey full of luck, skill and charm, as they duck and dive by day and make the name in London’s exploding music scene by night, zipping around the capital in their Morris Minor vans. Their formative years, 1970-79.
This is the riotous coming-of-age tale of seven unique individuals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the sweaty depths of the Hope and Anchor basement to the Top of the Pops studio. In their own words, they each look back on their past and how during those shared adventures, they formed a bond that’s lasted forty years. Before We Was We is irreverent, funny and full of character. Just like them.
Release date October 10th. Pre order on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2SacSI1

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, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.

5 years ago..
Issue Number 810 – Sunday 16th November to Saturday 22nd November 2014

“Have you got your madhead fancy dress ready? Do you look like an historic iconic madhead, or have you gone for dress as you think madheads like us should madly dress? Whatever your interpretation, in your own madhead, there are prizes to be won and fun to be had for the 4th House of Fun Weekender is nearly here. It’s this coming Friday!” began the intro to our latest issue.
Yes, after months of waiting the House of Fun Weekender it was almost upon us!
Over in “Live Intensified” we learned that for all but two Madness gigs in the Christmas tour Scouting for Girls would be the support band. An odd choice for a Madness concert, but we’d certainly had more unusual choices before and since.
Further on, and in our “Sign of the Times” section we re-posted a request from the band. If you’d gone and got yourself a Madness tattoo the band were keen to hear from you as they were looking to put as many photos of these skin-piercing delights in their December tour programme.
With Christmas just around the corner our “MIS Feature” covered the forthcoming re-release of The Farm’s “All Together Now” (produced by Suggs) which was due to be released on the 15th December. All profits would go supporting the Red Cross.
Moving on, and our regular “I Remember Way Back When” article was split into two. Why? Well, with the following week’s issue being dedicated entirely to the Madness Weekender in Minehead we featured the article for the current week and the subsequent one as well.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that Craig Charles had been given Madhead status on the announcement of him not appearing at the Madness Weekender. Why? Well, he was due to appear on reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here”.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 550 – Sunday 15th November – Saturday 21st November 2009
It seemed as if the popularity of our favourite band knew no bounds. As dates in the forthcoming Christmas tour continued to sell out further dates continued to be added.
The latest addition to the line-up was Wolverhampton Civic Hall, on Thursday 17th of December.
We’d been saying it, and we’d continue to do so – if you wanted to see the band live this Christmas and had yet to get tickets you needed to get your skates on.
This week we also learned that the band were in the early planning stages of putting together a coffee table type book, which would hopefully feature input from each member of the group. We’re not too sure what happened to this one.
Next, and wanting to know if the recent Madness single release of Sugar and Spice was the start of a trend of digital only singles for the band, fan Mark (surname not given) decided to get the lowdown from Mr. Foreman himself…
“Hi Chris,
Hope you and the lads are keeping well. Will there be any more singles released for the upcoming tour and christmas market? I heard a rumour the band wanted to make a xmas song to try and knock the crap X Factor garbage from getting the top spot.
Many regards, Mark”.
“It’s Forever Young in a real physical format – no ‘downloads only’…This is it, a hit I think.
CB”
In magazine news we reported that the current issue of The Word featured the triumphant returns of The Specials and Madness. Subscriber Owen Collins told us that Madness and The Specials each got four pages of magazine devoted to them, along with a selection of brand new photos. He also added that the font was small, so there was a lot of reading for you.
Moving on to re-release news, and Chris Carter-Pegg stepped in with details on how to identify the new release of The Liberty of Norton Folgate album, and highlighted some of the cheapest places to get hold of a copy. Paul Rodgers was also on hand to provide information on the differences between this and the original release.
Continuing with Paul, and this issue played host to another one of his Madness facts, figures and stats. The big news was that the new silver edition of Norton Folgate had massively boosted sales of the album, but not enough to get it back into the top 75.
We brought this issue to a close with the news that the forthcoming Children in Need would take place on Friday 20th November, and would see various musical acts, including Madness, take to the stage.
15 years ago…
Issue number 288 – Sunday 14th November to Saturday 20th November 2004
This time last week it was looking like Suggs’ appearance on the next series of “I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here”, was looking to be very likely indeed. However, it came down to one Graham Whitfield to get to the bottom of the mystery and let us know what was going on.
Here’s what he had to say at the time;
“From reading this morning’s Sun, (13th Nov) I gather that Suggs is no longer in consideration for ‘I’m a celebrity……’
The paper printed what it claimed to be a ‘final line-up’ of the celebrity contestants, but there was no mention of Suggs, even though they were still speculating on Thursday that he would join the show.
Apparently, now in the frame is Andrew Ridgeley, so it looks like they’ve lowered their sights somewhat”.
MIS Online, in search of further information stumbled upon the unofficial `Get me Out of Here` web site, and went straight to the message boards.
Although filled with topic after topic of rumours, and idle chit-chat, the forum maintainer had thankfully made the latest IAC news a pinned item at the top of the page. The announcement merely detailed what had been printed in The Sun, meaning that Suggs was not listed.
A couple of weeks ago one Mark Bedford got the Madness fanbase into a frenzy of digital editing as those with the time and skills busied themselves adding various funky hair-dos to Bedders’ balding bonce.
After sifting through a mass of entries, two winners were eventually selected in the form of Elizabeth Quinby and Andrew Stone. The two winners were offered prizes of hair care products or a hat. What did they go for? We have no idea!
With news being a tad thin on the ground this week we decided to run another one of our mimics of Madness articles, where we looked at forthcoming gigs for numerous Madness tribute bands. Bands covered in this article were One Step Behind, Badness, Los Palmas 6 and One Step Below.
We finished off this issue with news on the next gig for North London band MOT, and we reported that Simon Roberts had been brought in to the MIS fold as web designer and maintainer. Simon had been busy behind the scenes for a number of weeks and was close to making an early version of the site available for viewing.
20 years ago…
Issue number 26 – Sunday 14th November – Saturday 20th November 1999
It was now mid November. Christmas was fast approaching, and it was only 4 weeks until the Madness Christmas tour would kick off. Our advice was that you should really think about buying a ticket within the next week or so if you were planning to go along to one of the shows. Billed as `The Maddest Show on Earth`, the dates and venues were:
13 December (Mon) – The Point, Dublin
15 December (Wed) – International Arena, Cardiff
16 December (Thu) – Brighton Centre, Brighton
17 December (Fri) – International Centre, Bournemouth
18 December (Sat) – Evening News Arena, Manchester
19 December (Sun) – Birmingham
20 December (Mon) – Telewest Arena, Newcastle
22 December (Wed) – Wembley Arena, London
23 December (Thu) – Wembley Arena, London
This week we discovered that most of us were missing something from inside our “Wonderful” CD cases. What? A small card giving you the opportunity to fill in your details and sign-up to the official Madness postal list. You had no need to panic, though, as we were able to pass on the POBOX address so you could get signed-up, and ensure you were kept up to date on the very irregular postings from the band.
One week after the UK launch of Wonderful, we discovered that the album had also been released to the Argentinean public. Musimundo, (apparently the biggest record shop in Buenos Aires), displayed Wonderful CDs in their news section.
Here, artists who had new releases that week shared the same shelves. Madness however, had an entire shelf devoted to Wonderful. Perhaps there were one or two Maddies amongst the store staff. Also, instead of importing the album from the UK, it was actually made in Argentina. Another item for the collectors, do doubt.
If the rumours were true, next Monday would see the third Madness box set, `The Lot` hit the UK music stores. Like the new album and second single, this new collection had witnessed a number of release date changes and there were whisperings that the release has been put back yet another week to Monday 29th November. The majority of music stores were advertising the release date as 22nd November, so we advised readers to start their box-set hunting then. Not only had the release dates been ever-changing, but the prices seemed to have been completely random depending on where you looked. However, news just in was that HMV and MVC were charging 23.99 (UK pounds) and were advertising the 22nd as the day of release.
Those who’d already got hold of the UK version of `Wonderful` and fancied something a little different we recommended that they try and hunt down the recently released Japanese version of the album. Maddies amazed at the absence of `You’re Wonderful` from the UK album would hopefully be happy to see the aforementioned track appear on the foreign edition along with the recent b-side, `Round and Round`.
The full track listing was as follows;
01. Lovestruck
02. Johnny the horse
03. The communicator
04. 4am
05. The wizard
06. Drip fed fred
07. Going to the top
08. Elysium
09. Saturday night Sunday morning
10. If I didn’t care
11. You’re wonderful
12. No money
13. Round and round
If you knew your SNES from your Megadrive and your Saturn from your Playstation, that chances were that you knew Sega recently released its 128-bit marvel, Dreamcast, onto a game-hungry world. Not only could this machine play games, but it was the first console to come with built-in internet access. Obviously we had to force ourselves to buy one of these new machines, and after the initial few days which saw 50’000 UK DC owners attempt to log-on in one hour, thus frying the server, we eventually logged on. The machine came with it’s own built-in browser as part of the Dream Key software, and although some pages did appear a tad strangely, we were amazed to see that the official Madness site looked fantastic on a large screen TV. If you had one of these new machines we recommended that you took a look at the official site using it. It really looked like it was specially designed for the new machine.
We finished off this week’s issue with a massive review of The Lot, and interview with Suggs, all kindly typed-up by subscriber Stephie Figgis.
Rob Hazelby

MIS Feature
It’s all a bit Pointless
Lee will be appearing on a ‘Pointless’ music edition taping on Weds 15th Jan 2020 at Elstree Film Studios.
Lee will be paired with another 2-Tone legend for the show. While we do know who this is as the organisers have yet to reveal their identity we’ll keep quiet for the moment.
The show are keen to get Lee’s supporters along to the recording of the show, so are more than happy for us to promote it.
Tickets are free, and it’s a random entry. You can apply by going here:
https://www.sroaudiences.com/application.asp?show_id=788
Good luck!
Simon Roberts

Sign of the Times
Ska legends Madness to perform in Dubai in March 2020
Elise Kerr
https://whatson.ae/dubai/2019/11/ska-legends-madness-to-perform-in-dubai-in-march-2020/
British ska band Madness will be heading to Dubai next year to perform at The Irish Village, Garhoud. The legendary group will be turning the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium into their House of Fun to perform all of their biggest hits on Thursday March 5, 2020.
If come next March, you’re putting on your best pair of Baggy Trousers and start Driving In My Car as you make your way to The Irish Village to see Madness, then we think It Must Be Love.
The band formed in Camden, London in 1976, with six original members still in Madness to this day, although there has been 19 members in total. The One Step Beyond hitmakers were most prevalent in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but many of their songs have remained popular throughout the decades.
They had no less than 15 top ten singles in the UK, with House of Fun reaching the number one spot. Madness’ latest album Can’t Touch Us Now was released in 2016, reaching number 5 in the UK albums chart. The band originally split in 1986, however reformed for reunion concerts throughout the 1990’s and continue to tour the world together.
English singer Emily Capell will support the group, who’s music style has been described as a mix of country, ska, doo wopp and pop.
Madness last performed in Dubai in October 2016, at the same popular Irish Village venue where they will take the stage again on March 5. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday November 21, starting from Dhs275 seated and Dhs315 standing (dancing).
Madness at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, The Irish Village, Garhoud, Dubai, Thursday March 5, Dhs275 seated, Dhs315 standing. Tel:(04) 239 5000. theirishvillage.com

The Light Bar to Return to Norton Folgate

A new “gastrobar concept” is set to re-open the old rail power station on Shoreditch, five years after much-loved watering hole The Light shut its doors on the site.
It was the location ten years ago, of the Norton Folgate in Norton Folgate, seminal Madness gig, as seen on the goggle box DVD set.
The Light Bar and Market will feature a “flexitarian menu,” in which diners will be able to pick their own ingredients and how they will be cooked from the market.
The building, characterised by the Victorian Society as “one of the only remaining pieces of evidence of an area once characterised by its industrial function,” was saved from demolition in 2009 by OPEN Shoreditch, supported by Tracey Emin and Madness singer Suggs.
The area has seen significant redevelopment since then, with Foster and Partners-designed residential block Principal Tower appearing behind it. The website of the original Light, which opened in 2000, now simply reads: “After 14 years the Light has closed down to make way for a tower block.”
The Light Bar and Market says in its licence application: “This unique triple height ceiling, 5,000-square foot old rail power station, with all original features, will be converted into a new gastrobar concept.
“The new gastrobar concept is all day and evening service. Contemporary dining proudly features a flexitarian menu boasting a evening seafood BBQ where responsibly sourced catches are cooked to order, as you like it.
“Instagrammable light installations at night [will] highlight and celebrate the outstanding architectural details surrounding the central service area and feature staircase.”
The management still have to convince Hackney’s licensing committee, with the police raising concerns over the venue being able to sell alcohol for consumption off-site, pointing to “the rising number of incidents involving violence, anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder.”
Heloise Brown of the Victorian Society said of the building in 2009: “The Light has been a pioneering symbol of the East End since it was built in 1893 to generate electric light for the nearby Liverpool Street station.
“Its historic importance to the area is evident from Shoreditch’s motto adopted in 1900: ‘more light, more power’.
“It is a landmark for the area both historically and now for the vibrant diversity that characterises the East End.”
Cathal Smyth Bullied at School
From the Belfast Telegraph

Madness star Cathal Smyth’s misery over childhood bullying in Coleraine

Madness star Cathal ‘Chas Smash’ Smyth has revealed he quit school in Northern Ireland after being targeted by bullies as a kid.
The ska legend was 11 when his family moved to Coleraine in 1970 because of his dad’s job as a petrochemicals engineer which had previously taken the Smyths to Baghdad.
Chas (60) said: “1970 was not a great year to have an English accent in Northern Ireland. It was in the midst of the Troubles.
“On shopping trips, you’d walk past soldiers with rifles at checkpoints, or you’d be passing through sandbags and barbed wire just to get into Woolworths.
“It was weird. The same shops as in London, but like being under occupation. Paramilitary graffiti on houses and walls.
“I suppose I must have had some good times there, but if I did, I can’t remember any. I joined in a game of soccer once and quickly became the football.
“In cookery class, I got a pan of water poured over me. The nun said, ‘Smyth, what are you doing?’ I said, ‘I had an accident, sister.’ I couldn’t grass or I’d have gotten worse.”
Chas said he stomached the abuse for a number of weeks before packing it in – and said he preferred living in Baghdad than on the banks of the Bann.
He said: “After about a month of being bullied, I told dad what was happening. He just said, ‘F*** ’em, stay home.’ The year before, my mum had given birth to twins, my brother Dermot and sister Bernadette. So, I stayed home and helped mum with the twins.
“Northern Ireland was a far cry from Iraq. We’d lived in Baghdad in ’68, which was beautiful. At night, on the banks of the Tigris, you’d see fires where fishermen would be cooking their catch. You’d hear the call-to-prayer every morning, which I loved.”
He said: “My first day there was a disaster. Mum hadn’t bought me long trousers – being summer she tried to convince me that everyone would be wearing shorts. They weren’t. I spent the day being wolf whistled at. I felt a right f***ing plum.
“To get home, you had to walk through a park to the bus stop. Passing by the pond that first day, I got pushed into it. I sat on the top deck of the bus going home, sodden wet, squelching and dripping water.
“I hated school. By the time I’d learned everyone’s names we were on the move again – that year it was Coleraine in Northern Ireland.”

Time
That’s just about it for this week’s edition of the MIS.
If you were one of the lucky ones to get along to get along to this evening’s Electric Ballroom gig then please do send in a review.
We’d love to hear how the night went.
Until next week, have a good one!
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams