2020-2021

Lee records a special music-themed edition of the popular BBC1 TV quiz show, appearing in a two-person 2-Tone team with Pauline Black. Other musical celebrities taking part are Barbara Dickson, Heather Small, Steve Brown, Cathy Dennis, Steve Hogarth and Kimberly Wyatt. The show is screened later in the year.

Suggs and Fatboy Slim, AKA Norman Cook, appear on the seafront in an ice cream van to give away 100 free tickets to the town’s new summer festival, Hi-Tide. A large crowd duly flocks to meet the pair, with babies and dogs even posing for photos. Madness are due to appear at the event on July 5.

Carl makes a surprise appearance as Madness become the second band to be inducted into the local Walk of Fame. The exiled singer joins Suggs, Mike, Bedders and Woody as the quintet unveil a special pavement plaque outside the Electric Ballroom, with The Specials’ Lynval Golding, DJ David Rodigan and rapper Dizzee Rascal leading the tributes. Afterwards, Mike, Suggs and Carl take part in a game of Madness bingo at the Mecca hall in nearby Arlington Road. Chris is absent from the event, while Lee is on holiday. Madness follow in the footsteps of The Who, who were the first act to be honoured with the special award when it was launched in November 2019. Other acts being honoured with plaques later in the week are Amy Winehouse and Soul II Soul.

Madness are due to jet to the Far East for the first of five international gigs in 2020, but the gig is cancelled at the last minute due to the global outbreak of the Coronavirus. Lee jets into Dubai anyway, and spends the day in the pub with some fans who’ve made the trip. The gig is rescheduled for September.

With the coronavirus pandemic raging around the globe, and many countries going into lockdown, this year’s gigs in the USA, Mexico and UK are cancelled. Many of the dates are rescheduled for the following year, although Suggs reveals they are planning a potential Christmas tour with another much-loved British band.

To help pass the time, Lee starts uploading Facebook video sax lessons with the help of fan Simon Roberts. First up is an introduction to the tenor sax, which Lee jokingly claims children could do with their eyes closed. Watch the first lesson here.

The band’s only autobiography of their early years is released in soft cover. The paperback features a new foreword from Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, who pens both a summary of what the book is and what Madness mean with regards to class lines and British history. Welsh also tells of his encounters with Madness, from pre-fame early Camden gigs up to the modern era and his failure to buy the band dinner. A Q&A and signing had originally been planned at the Dublin Castle to mark the book’s launch, but the event is cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown.

As the COVID-19 death toll rises, it becomes clear that Madness won’t be out on the road any time soon, with Suggs also facing the cancellation of his one-man show. The band settle down in isolation to concentrate on solo projects and a little light songwriting here and there.

Chris spends two hours answering questions and talking to fans via an online Zoom chat, hosted by fan and poet Owen Collins. As well as showing off his magic extending loft ladder and discussing current activity (or lack or it), Chris take part in a quiz, guessing famous albums with his face superimposed on them.

On the same day as the fan call, Suggs and Mike appear on YouTube in a socially distanced performance pre-recorded in North London. Accompanied by the four-piece London String Group, the duo run through Night Boat to Cairo, MK II, My Girl, The Sun and The Rain, Rise and Fall, Our House and It Must Be Love, plus new songs Theatre of the Absurd and All The President’s Men, and a cover of Life on Mars. Watch the performance here .

The saxophonist guest stars on a track called Walkin’ on the Modfather’s 15th solo album, On Sunset. It follows Weller’s guest appearance with Madness at House of Common the previous summer.

Chris is joined by Bedders for another exclusive online fan video call, during which they spend the first hour answering questions, and the second providing a track-by-track run-through of Absolutely, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020.

Appearing via Zoom from his Whitstable bolt-hole, Suggs is a one of the virtual guests at this festival at the School of Art in Honiton. After taking part in an interview with Chris Sullivan and answering questions from around the country, there is a live screening of his one-man show.

Carl appears at a dinner hosted by The Music Walk of Fame, to discuss the effects of COVID-19 on the entertainment industry. Other guests appearing in the flesh include Andy Taylor of Duran Duran, with Henry Conlon from the Dublin Castle among those joining in via Zoom.

Previously only available as a pop-up four-disc gatefold LP, the 2017 compilation is re-released as 13 tracks on one heavyweight 180g disc, taking a potted history through Madness’s back catalogue. Instead of the original’s 43 tracks, the abridged listing is now: Our House / It Must Be Love / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Madness / Embarrassment / My Girl / One Step Beyond… / The Prince / Mr Apples / NW5 / Never Knew Your Name / Night Boat To Cairo.

Released for Record Store Day, rescheduled from April, the annual vinyl lovers’ jamboree sees a special 40th anniversary re-issue of the Work Rest & Play EP. The limited edition double 7” format features one track on each side – Night Boat To Cairo, Deceives The Eye, The Young And The Old and Don’t Quote Me On That – along with a triple gatefold sleeve that includes photos from the time of the original release.

This special 90-minute programme features live performances from the 40th anniversary Past Present Future concerts at The Electric Ballroom and Camden Roundhouse in 2019. The programme is followed by a screening of Lee’s own film, One Man’s Madness.

As part of the ongoing Record Store Day celebrations, a special 40th anniversary edition of the Dance Craze soundtrack is released. The exclusive new 180gm half-speed master features Razor Blade Alley, One Step Beyond and Night Boat to Cairo as the Madness contributions.

After lockdown restrictions are relaxed, the band briefly begin rehearsals in a converted warehouse that they’re renting. Plans are in place to film a gig at the London Palladium in place of the House of Fun Weekender in November, but the sessions are brought to an end when restrictions are tightened again at the end of October.

Teaming up with Pauline Black from The Selecter, Lee dons his colourful check suit in this special music edition, which was filmed way back in January. After recounting the story behind the Baggy Trousers video, Lee fails to identify an obscure enough Elvis song, and he and Pauline are out in the first round.

The Madness bassist discusses the band’s return in 1992, the triumph of Madstock and subsequent Madness activity throughout the decade.

A special 180g vinyl re-release of the band’s second album is released to mark its 40th anniversary, priced £19.99 and featuring extensive new sleeve notes by Chris and Lee.

Chris returns to Zoom as he takes part in a two-hour online Q&A session in place of the cancelled House of Fun Weekender. Praising the quality of all the other songwriters in the band, Chris airs some more demos and confesses he once ripped off the theme from TV detective show Bergerac when writing for Madness. He also says he’s penned two new songs lyrically, one about the band’s past and another about wandering the world. Chris also reveals that Madness have purchased a rehearsal space and have been working on a streaming concert idea that includes new songs. The chat is one of four sessions organised over the weekend by fans including Steve Jacob, Owen Collins, Jon Rathe and Leah Rix to chat about Butlin’s memories. The weekend also sees Lee unveil a new demo version of It’s For the Best, an unreleased song from 1986 about Barso’s departure. The tune had previously only been heard through leaked demos, but now Lee and Chris say they’ve crafted a new version that’s ready to be considered for the next album.

Bedders is the special guest on Rhoda Dakar’s monthly show for Totally Wired Radio, where he discusses Brexit, borders and side projects while the former Bodysnatcher and Madness collaborator spins the tunes.

Suggs joins host Sarah Champion for her regular walk down memory lane, discussing 40 years of Absolutely and life during the current lockdown.

Bedders once again appears as the special guest on Rhoda Dakar’s monthly show for Totally Wired Radio, as the second part of their interview covers everything from the band’s influences to the longevity of The Rolling Stones.

Suggs begins a second series of his aural portraits of the capital. In this opening episode, he takes Radio 4 listeners to Oxford Street, telling stories about Europe’s busiest shopping thoroughfare and throwing in a song and joke or two.

With uncertainty still affecting live events, planned gigs across the globe are slowly cancelled one by one. Suggs’s rescheduled King Cnut tour also becomes a casualty of the pandemic as the 2021 shows – already rescheduled from 2020 – are cancelled and all dates moved to 2022.

In the second instalment of his two-part Radio 4 show, Suggs takes listeners on a trip around Docklands and along the River Thames to Greenwich, discussing pirates, sailors, yuppies, lightermen and Madness gigs. The episode includes renditions of Drunken Sailor, Waterloo Sunset, Bob Marley’s Can’t Blame the Youth and Sweet Thames, Flow Softly, which was originally performed by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.

The Madness guitarist and songwriter drops by the Stateside Madness studio for an exclusive interview, answering questions from hosts Laurie Alfaro, Poly Collins and Bobby Rubin. During their chat, Chris discusses lockdown, the upcoming new American compilation album, how Showtime came to be, what’s next for the band and his love for Van Halen. Listen to the podcast here.

Released by BMG on vinyl and CD, this is the fourth Greatest Hits album to hit US shelves, but the first to feature the band’s post-1986 output. With a slightly different sleeve to the UK version – including Uncle Sam popping out of the chimney and a limousine replacing the Morris Minor – the 12 tracks are: Our House / It Must Be Love / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Embarrassment / NW5 / One Step Beyond / The Prince / Wings of a Dove / Mr Apples / Bullingdon Boys / Night Boat to Cairo (US Version)

Following in the footsteps of One Step Beyond and Absolutely, the band’s third album gets a special rerelease on vinyl, 40 years after the original. The special heavyweight 180gm vinyl edition includes new liner notes from Lee, Mike and Chris.

The Madness frontman is the special guest on the American music podcast hosted by Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett. Speaking from Whitstable, with the sound of seagulls in the background, he discusses everything from 2-Tone and Tommy Cooper to the House of Fun Weekender and how Madness fared in America. Listen to the podcast here.

Following his previous appearance in fishfinger adverts, Suggs is the star of a promotional campaign for the online clothing retailer, which uses a reworked version of Our House. The frontman sings the opening lines, then crops up again in between clips of various families and lockdown video celebs singing along at home, with the strapline ‘Our house is our world this Very moment’.

With lockdown restrictions easing, members of the band meet up in their new rehearsal space to thrash out new songs, with Bedders tweeting a snap of his bass set-up and the caption: ‘Hello old friend – it’s really good to see you again.’

Fans are treated to a virtual premiere of the first episode of the band’s upcoming three-part TV series, Before We Was We: Madness by Madness. Streamed online to a limited audience, the first instalment begins outside the Odeon in Leicester Square, with Suggs appearing on the red carpet towing a caravan behind him. The mobile home is Sol Cinema, AKA ‘Britain’s smallest cinema’, inside which the premiere is taking place. Suggs then plays various cinema staff welcoming viewers to the 45-minute screening, and he settles down with Chris to watch the show. Following the same path as the book of the same name, the programme features band members talking about their early years, from childhood and school days up to petty crime, graffiti and their first musical steps, intercut with period clips, scenes from Take It Or Leave It, and voiceovers from the audio version of the book. Afterwards, Suggs and Chris answer some questions in the caravan about lockdown and the origin of the series. The actual episode will be screened to the public on AMC on May 1, with subsequent instalments following on the next two Saturdays.

After several years in gestation, Lee’s autobiography finally hits the shelves. Subtitled ‘Machinations Before Madness’, and written in partnership with author Ian Snowball, the book charts the saxophonist’s life from his early days as the son of a burglar in North London, right up to the release of One Step Beyond. After Lee suffered a health scare in late 2020, the book includes a dedication to ‘all the staff of the NHS (and emergency services), in particular Dr Kennon and Dr Locke, surgeons at the Royal Free Hospital, who gave me an extension of life, and without whom, this ‘can of worms’ would not have been opened!’

To promote the official launch of his new book, Lee takes part in two Q&As via Zoom with author Ian ‘Snowy’ Snowball and special guests. The intimate online event is limited to 100 fans per night, with guests given the opportunity to ask questions. On the first evening, Lee is a bit croaky, blaming his sore throat on recent interviews, including one with Adrian Chiles. The duo are also joined by Lee’s wife Debbie and friend Lynn Milsom as they discuss Lee’s early life and the genesis of the band, with a few well-known anecdotes revisited. As well as confirming that the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth in September will be the band’s first gig of the year, Lee also makes the surprising admission that he’d most like to work with Neil Finn of Crowded House. The following night, Lee and Ian are joined by ex-Madness drummer and manager John Hasler and former roadie and merchandise king Harry Wandsworth.

AMC UK and On Demand via BT TV begin screening the first of a three-part docuseries on the history of the band, inspired by the book of the same name and directed by Bill Jones and Ben Timlett. Featuring talking head interviews mixed with vintage footage and clips from Take It Or Leave It, the three 60-minute episodes offer insight into the band’s ‘inevitable rise to the top of the charts, pop fame and fortune against the backdrop of the ska, punk and new wave revolution’. The first episode is also streamed live on YouTube.

This special programme sees presenter Kirsty Wark interviewing the band to discuss their 40-year musical journey, covering their early days in North London right up to performing at the Olympics and Buckingham Palace. Suggs, Chris, Mike, Bedders and Clive Langer chat in the studio, with archive contributions from Dave Robinson and the other band members. The programme ends with a discussion about the upcoming streaming gig, The Get Up!, which Suggs describes as ‘a history of the band in sketches’. The programme is part of a few weeks of heavy media activity, during which Suggs appears in print and on radio shows and podcasts to promote the three-part TV show and the upcoming broadcast of the stage show.

As well as the talking heads, the second instalment of the AMC show features street scenes and fashions, Carl explaining the intricacies of Nutty dancing and plenty of gig footage.

Filmed at the London Palladium, the band appear on the popular American TV show playing Our House. The appearance is used to promote the US version of their latest greatest hits album, Our House: The Very Best of Madness.

Suggs chats with DJ Chris Moyles about his name, live music, The Get Up! and the band’s recent three-part documentary series. During their conversation he also praises dedicated fans and claims he is taking his 60th far more in his stride than his 50th.

Suggs takes over the editor’s chair for a special edition of the free local weekly paper, appearing on the cover, in two double-page spreads and five other internal opinion columns throughout the edition. Topics covered include turning empty shops into temporary spaces for young artists and Suggs’s desire to save important local venues. The issue also includes a preview of The Get Up! rare out-takes from the My Girl single shoot and a full lockdown Q&A with Suggs himself. Read the digital edition here.

Filmed at London’s Palladium in April, and written and hosted by The Fast Show’s Charlie Higson, this special streamed stage show features live music, classic Madness songs, comedy, special guests Roland Gift and Paul Weller and even Mike playing the part of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Three new tracks are also given an airing – Baby Burglar, If I go Mad and The Cruellest Comedy, which was previously performed as Theatre of the Absurd by Suggs and Mike during last year’s lockdown gig. Tickets are sold for four separate global screenings in different time zones.

Playing a concert without an audience? That would be madness, surely? Please excuse the terrible pun, but it’s been a very long year. Since the pandemic shut down venues back in March 2020, music fans have had to rely on so called “livestreams” to provide a facsimile of the concert experience: shows filmed in socially distanced settings and broadcast over the internet.

There have been spectacular examples but even the best have suffered from an absence of human interaction, the crucial compact of communication between artists and audience that is arguably the essential element of the live experience. And for a knees-up, singalong party band as joyously personable as Madness, the prospect of performing to an empty room seems antithetical to their very nature.

For a livestream debut billed as The Get Up!, the superannuated Nutty Boys came up with a pleasing solution. Using split-screen effects and clever cuts, the six surviving members served as their own audience. They were shown seated at the otherwise empty London Palladium, applauding and heckling their own performance on stage. “I’d forgotten how rubbish we were,” snorted singer Graham Suggs McPherson as he watched his band delivering rowdily energetic versions of early hits on a set built to resemble the bedroom of keyboard player Mike Barson. “I told you we should have gone to the Sting livestream.”

Wittily scripted by comic actor Charlie Higson, with plenty of space for improvised badinage from the band, the concept was that the band were attending the gala opening night of a Madness musical in a haunted Palladium. The beautiful venue was deserted but for Higson himself as the tatty ghost of an usher theatrically lamenting the effect of the pandemic on live theatre, and Barson in drag as Her Majesty the Queen, dancing surprisingly energetically in the Royal Box. Filmed interlinking passages offered affectionate ruminations on theatrical life. Lost in the mazey corridors of the Palladium, saxophonist Lee Thompson asked the ghostly usher “How do I get on the stage?” “Three years in Drama school, get yourself an agent and go to as many auditions as you can,” Higson responded. “And you may need to sleep with the producer.”

In the “first act,” Madness played their younger selves at a slapdash rehearsal, interspersing songs with corny gags delivered with all the enthusiastic gusto of amateur panto. Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals (“they’ll never get anywhere with a name like that!”) and Paul Weller (“Apparently he’s forming a band called The Jam, but don’t spread it about”) turned up to audition as lead singer. When Thompson arrived late to his seat, Suggs shrugged: “You haven’t missed anything. The geezers playing us are far too old.”

Well, he had a point. Madness have been around a long time, a teenage north London gang from the seventies punk explosion who have grown up to be regarded as national treasures, performing Our House from the roof of Buckingham Palace during the Queen’s Jubilee in 2018. For the second act, the band returned as their older selves, nattily dressed in suits and backed with percussionist and horn section to deliver a slick set packed with life-affirming hits. It was an uplifting reminder of how Madness earned their place in British pop hearts, blending English Music Hall silliness with sleek reggae grooves and giddy melodies, all topped off with bittersweet Kinks-style observational songcraft. It was a crowd-pleasing affair, even if the crowd they were pleasing was themselves.

Neil McCormick, The Telegraph

The third and final part of the documentary again features the band discussing their early years.

The second instalment of the B-sides collection is released for the annual vinyl jamboree, featuring the flip sides from 11 hit singles from Driving In My Car to (Waiting For) The Ghost Train. Side 1: Animal Farm (Tomorrow’s Dream Warp Mix) / Walking With Mr. Wheeze / Madness Is All In The Mind / Behind The 8 Ball / Fireball XL5 / If You Think There’s Something. Side 2: Guns / All I Knew / Please Don’t Go / Jennie (A Portrait of) / Maybe In Another Life.

As life slowly returns to whatever the new normal is, Bedders takes to the stage with his ongoing side project again, celebrating the release of a 12” collection of download tracks recorded by the trio.

Suggs joins presenter Nick Roberts to talk about the band’s 40-year career, agreeing that they play better now than in their early days and revealing that one of his favourite shows was headlining a stage at Glastonbury. The pair also discuss some of the band’s videos receiving the 4K treatment, along with the number of young people getting into the band through YouTube and the early days of pop video making. Our House is discussed for its recent lockdown resurgence and The Ladykillers tour at Christmas, with The Young Ones and Madness’s own TV pilot covered before the theatrical comedy of The Get Up! and lockdown in general. Suggs also says that rehearsing for the tour after such a hiatus feels like starting the band for the first time, and claims that Squeeze supporting them makes him feel like going along as a punter himself. The show ends with him choosing One Better Day to be played out on.

The Madness drummer is interviewed for episode 47 of the podcast, during which he tells host Matty Roberts about his early influences, how he missed the band’s first ever recording session and how he played with Voice Of The Beehive after Madness split. Watch the interview here.

Lee appears on the popular programme, in which Melbourne music-lovers and drinking buddies, Gareth and Ryan share a six-pack of beer and some favourite tunes from a randomly chosen year. After spinning his top tune from 1969 – Something in the Air by Thunderclap Newman – he recounts some familiar Madness anecdotes and plugs his new book..

Madness play their first live gig since the Roundhouse in December 2019, taking to the stage after 20 months to headline the Friday night of this three-day bash on England’s south coast. Appearing in front of more than 30,000 fans, the band play a standard Greatest Hits set, with Bullingdon Boys and In My Street representing the newbies. Woody is absent for tonight’s gig, with the official line being that he’s “on holiday”, with his place taken by regular co-percussionist Mez. After Suggs says “the rust is coming off the engine” the band falter on Wings of a Dove, with the front man quipping: “We can still find our way through this.” A mock argument with Lee then ensues, ending with the song being abandoned and Suggs announcing: “I’m not going to remember it any better a second time.” Instead, the crowd are urged to sing Happy Birthday to Lee’s daughter, Tuesday, to which they dutifully oblige.

Intro music: The Opium Eaters / One Step Beyond / Embarrassment / The Prince / NW5 / My Girl / The Sun and the Rain / Bullingdon Boys / Wings of a Dove / Driving in My Car / One Better Day / Bed and Breakfast Man / In My Street / Shut Up / Mr Apples / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Our House / It Must Be Love / Madness / Night Boat to Cairo

Madness top the bill at a special celebration concert for Team GB Paralympic athletes staged by the National Lottery. After being introduced by host Adam Hills, Suggs announces: “Congratulations to each and every one of you. What a privilege it is for us to be here.” With Mez still on drums, and Lee sporting Union Jack sunglasses, the band then race through a mash-up of It Must Be Love and House of Fun to close the show. Sharing the bill are Jamie Cullum, James Arthur, Birdy, Clean Bandit and Ella Henderson, with the two-hour event screened on Channel 4. As well as athletes returning from Japan, the crowd includes members of the public who have won tickets in a special ballot.

For their second gig of 2021, Madness return to Henley for the popular five-day black tie festival. Appearing on the opening night on the Floating Stage, the band play the usual Greatest Hits summer set, with Mike’s mum Pat making a surprise guest appearance at one point. Woody is still “on holiday”, so Mez keeps his seat behind the drums.

One Step Beyond / Embarrassment / The Prince / NW5 / My Girl / The Sun and The Rain / Bullingdon Boys / Wings of a Dove / Driving in my Car / One Better Day / Bed and Breakfast Man / In my Street / Shut Up / Mr Apples / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Our House / It Must be Love / ENCORE: Madness / Night Boat to Cairo

A limited edition version of the band’s remastered second album is released on yellow vinyl exclusively for HMV. Available in store and online, the repress is part of the 1921 Centenary Edition range as the record chain celebrates 100 years on the high street.

The Madness bassist is a special guest on the second episode of the music podcast, this time joining Guy Pratt (Speedball) and Brett ‘Buddy’ Ascott (The Chords) to talk about the band’s early days, along with discussions about fashion and music.

To mark the 40th anniversary of its premiere, a special online watch party is held for Take It Or Leave It in which more than 1,000 fans watch and comment while watching the film via the official Madness YouTube channel. Chris, Suggs and Mike also chip in with their own memories as the action unfolds, with comedian Phill Jupitus among the audience.

After missing out on an in-person launch due to lockdown in April, Lee attends a special signing and Q&A event for his book, Growing Out of It. During the evening he chats with author Ian ‘Snowy’ Snowball and signs copies of the book for fans while DJ Dave Edwards plays ska and Mod tunes.

Lee makes a guest appearance at the three-day Specialized fund-raiser, which is celebrating its tenth year. Despite being billed to appear on the Friday, he turns up the day after, signing auction items before taking to the floor to answer questions. With his book’s co-author Ian Snowball acting as MC, he talks about the early days in Kentish Town and buying Dr Martens in larger sizes in order to get thicker soles. Lee occasionally disappears into the crowd to answer questions more directly, before a book signing and meet-and-greet. Reggae legend Dennis Bovell is also at the event, with he and Lee having a chat to reminisce about The Dangermen project.

Following the postponement in 2020, Madness return to Butlin’s in Minehead for their 10^th three-day jamboree. Dubbed ‘The Final Curtain’, the weekend features the usual sprinkling of special guests, including Space, Craig Charles, Rhoda Dakar, The Pyramids, The Inflatables, Dakka Stanks, The Cuban Brothers and John Hasler’s surf-rock outfit, The Crabs. Official Madness DJ Darren Bennett is also in attendance to get the crowd going. The biggest news of the weekend is the absence of Mike, who is stricken with COVID-19, requiring former Madness collaborator Seameus Beaghen to deputise on keyboards at only a few days’ notice. This last-minute switch is reflected in the weekend’s setlists, which only feature three songs recorded after the ’80s, when Seamus played with the band following Mike’s departure: Dust Devil, Shame & Scandal and The Harder They Come. Friday night sees the ‘Greatest Hits and Other Bits Round 1’, with opener Uncle Sam neatly preceded by Seamus repeating his part in the original video by intoning: ‘We interrupt this programme to bring you an important announcement.’ A shorter-than-usual performance follows, with covers of Tears of a Clown, Shoparound and a version of Bed and Breakfast Man that segues into Wooly Bully. Surprise of the night is a rendition of Riding on my Bike, with Lee helped with the lyrics via teleprompter. As well as strict COVID-19 protocols backstage, the stage layout also sees more distancing, with Woody and co-percussionist Mez further apart and facing the audience at an angle on opposite sides, with a camera positioned above the former’s kit to show him driving things along. Saturday’s show starts with Suggs delivering the intro to One Step Beyond from inside a red telephone box on stage before the curtain drops to reveal the band in front of a city backdrop and Lee dressed as Peter Pan, complete with bulging green tights. The crowd are then treated to ‘Round 2’, with seven songs repeated from Friday, including an extended Grey Day and the Bed and Breakfast Man/Wooly Bully mash-up. Suggs seems less reliant on the teleprompter than Friday, and as a result flubs the lyrics on several songs, most noticably Baggy Trousers, Our House and Madness – not that the crowd seem to care. This year’s Saturday night fancy dress theme is ‘what I want to be when I grow up’, with the audience filled with policewomen, soldiers, footballers, train drivers, clowns, superheroes, Hooters waitresses and, best of all, a splendid 12-person rollercoaster. Other highlights of the weekend include a podcast recording with fans by Poly Collins from Stateside Madness, on-stage appearances on Friday and Saturday by regular Madness bagpiper Johnny Gauld, and MIS arranging for guests to pose with the original ‘Embarressment’ sign sported by Lee in the famous ‘flasher’ intro to the video. There’s also a welcome return for The Silencerz, with Lee and son Daley playing twice with their popular outfit. Saturday sees the band swelled by the addition of Mez and the Madness brass section, AKA The Violin Monkeys, while on Sunday Lee ask the crowd if they want a beer, before returning with a bin liner and tossing cans of Carling into the front row, with varied degrees of accuracy.

Uncle Sam / Shame & Scandal / Riding on my Bike / Dust Devil / The Harder They Come / Yesterday’s Men / The Young and the Old / Shoparound / Land of Hope and Glory / Grey Day / Tarzan’s Nuts / The Tears of a Clown / It Must Be Love / Encore: Bed and Breakfast Man / Wooly Bully / House of Fun

One Step Beyond / Embarrassment / The Prince / My Girl / Take It or Leave It / The Sun and the Rain / Uncle Sam / Grey Day / Swan Lake / Yesterday’s Men / Shut Up / Bed and Breakfast Man / Wooly Bully / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Our House / It Must Be Love / Encore: Madness / Night Boat to Cairo

Suggs appears as a guest on the weekly podcast to plug the upcoming tour and also discuss the band’s early years and his influences, with some well-known anecdotes thrown in.

Madness are due to kick off The Ladykillers tour in Ireland, supported by Squeeze, but the gig is cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The 14-date trek around the British Isles – the band’s first since The Sound of Madness tour in Christmas 2018 – starts in Scotland on December 2 instead.

The Ladykillers Tour begins north of the border, with Mike back on keyboards but Mez on drums instead of Woody, who is apparently boycotting the Scottish dates due to the country’s stricter vaccination policy. The setlist is the usual Greatest Hits rundown, with new songs Baby Burglar and If I Go Mad thrown in, and Wooly Bully surviving from House of Fun. Wearing a bright green Riddler suit, Suggs is in good form and only fluffs the lyrics to Lovestruck tonight. Fan Rob Wardlaw grabs the setlist afterwards and puts it on social media, from which it seems One Better Day and Yesterday’s Men will be interchangable and played in rotation during the tour.

One Step Beyond / Embarrassment / The Prince / NW5 / My Girl / Take It Or Leave It / The Sun and the Rain / Baby Burglar / Wings of a Dove / One Better Day / Lovestruck / If I Go Mad / Shut Up / Mr Apples / Bed and Breakfast Man / Wooly Bully / House of Fun / Baggy Trousers / Our House / It Must Be Love / Encore: Madness / Night Boat to Cairo

“It’s been two years since we’ve played live,” singer Suggs declares, reflecting on how the pandemic derailed this British pop institution. “I’ve found myself singing at old grannies at the bus stop.” Still, within seconds, band and audience resume their positions for the traditional festive staple of a Madness December tour. Around a quarter of the crowd are wearing fezzes. The sunglassed, besuited vocalist begins the evening in a stage-left phone box, supposedly phoning his mum, and still has the charmingly befuddled air of someone who woke up from a dream to find himself onstage in an arena. At 60, he changes the “I’m feeling twice as older” line in 1980’s Embarrassment to “three times as older”. He doesn’t need to complete the “Hey you, don’t watch that …” intro to One Step Beyond – the audience do it for him. Without a new album to promote, this tour leans heavily on the hits, and The Prince and a glorious My Girl set a high bar which, in fairness, they don’t drop far below all night. More recent songs NW5 and Mr Apples easily punch their weight. The “nutty boys” image belies the rich content of Madness’s material, which documents all sorts of aspects of British life including homelessness and racial prejudice. Two songs are so new they are unreleased. Baby Burglar reflects on a misspent youth of “petty criminality” over a samba-ish rhythm. “I thought I might go mad in the last couple of years, but who’s to say I wasn’t already?” Suggs quips, by way of introducing If I Go Mad, which has enough hooks to become yet another Madness banger. The venue’s boomy sound and a missed vocal cue at the start of The Sun and the Rain can’t dampen a fearsome home run of classics, and that song is beautifully illustrated with film of Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain. Their own street scene stage backdrop is perfect for Our House, and It Must Be Love becomes an epic sing-song. “No more singing to old ladies!” yells Suggs, surveying the crowd rapture. “This is the stuff!”
Dave Simpson, The Guardian

When a band as wonderful as Squeeze are the support act ,it’s worth getting to the venue early to make sure you don’t miss a moment of what is sure to be a great night. Between them Squeeze and Madness have written some of the most instantly recognisable songs of their generation and you just knew that they would play a good portion of them tonight. Squeeze, who tour as a headline act in their own right, delivered a great set that was well received by a BIC that was already filling up to capacity. After a short break the lights dimmed before a single spotlight is trained on a bright red telephone box at the side of the stage containing the one and only Suggs making a telephone call to his mum explaining that he is has a few friends round in Bournemouth and he has to go. He duly emerges and the band go straight in to One Step Beyond, Embarrassment and their first ever hit The Prince. These three songs set the tone for the rest of the evening, which is up tempo, upbeat and definitely up there with the best gigs I have seen this year. The stage production is excellent with a combination of London terrace street backdrop and well-designed light show both contributing to the evening but it is of course those nutty boys themselves that are definitely front and centre in delivering a twenty two song set. The band never put a foot wrong as they delivered firm favourites My Girl, House of Fun, Baggy Trousers and Our House which nearly took the roof off while lesser-known numbers like Baby Burglar and new song If I Go Mad were welcome additions to the evening. My favourite Madness song Bed and Breakfast Man made an appearance toward the end of the evening with a couple of choruses of Woolley Bully thrown in for good measure. Main set closer It Must Be Love went down a storm ending the first part of the night on a real sing along high and made me rethink my earlier best song statement. A short encore ended with Night Boat To Cairo that once again had the crowd dancing up to the very last note and beyond as they made their way out into a night that didn’t seem quite so cold and miserable. Madness are definitely a tonic for the soul and just what is needed right now. Let’s hope it’s not another two years before we see them again.

Allan Jones, Daily Echo

Madness frontman Suggs is asking the capacity crowd at the Brighton Centre if any of them are in school-age education. Quite a few are. There are actual young people here! Some are with parents (even, possibly, grandparents), but gaggles of teenagers are also in evidence on their own. They shout out. We all know what’s coming… a Madness song about school days… “Naughty boys in nasty schools, headmaster’s breaking all the rules…” And, we’re off again, jogging on the spot to perennial 80s classic Baggy Trousers, a sea of shaven heads, red fezes and porkpie hats bubbling with happy nostalgia. The night began with Squeeze who played, unlike most support acts, to a full house. They do, after all, have a bunch of bona fide hits under their belt too. Clad in blue suits – co-frontman Glen Tilbrook in a particularly natty wide pin-stripe – the not-even-hour long set pelts through them at a pace, with crowd sing-alongs, notably to a stripped back version of Tempted. They conclude with an uproarious double-header, first a driven take on Cool For Cats, a song whose brilliant lyrics suddenly make me feel old, as I consider what younger crowd members make of its very 70s Cockney parlance (“Meanwhile at the station there’s a couple of likely lads / Who swear like how’s your father and they’re very cool for cats” etc). This is followed by an extended Black Coffee in Bed which comes on like Led Zeppelin as each band member in turn impressively showcases their skill. Squeeze then disappear to massed bellows for more. Madness’s set begins with two large screens above the stage playing Pearl & Dean’s iconic cinema ident, which used to be a staple on Britain’s big screens until the Eighties. Then a spotlight picks out Suggs in a stagefront red telephone box, apparently chatting to his mum about dodgy business he’s up to… which turns out to be “holding a party in Brighton”. Here. With us. He sings the opening line of One Step Beyond, the crowd roars the rest, and we’re off. When the black curtain falls to reveal the band, a striking, theatrical stage-set is apparent. This is the Ladykillers Tour, as you can see from the image that heads this review, based on the classic Ealing comedy. The band plays amid a terraced Edwardian London street, the four main “street front” windows behind them constantly illuminated by footage, initially in black and white of a blues party going off. With additional brass to boost Lee Thompson’s sax, they rip into hits that ruled the early-80s. Keyboard player Mike Barson, Suggs tells us, has been ill, and, eyes ever-shaded, he’s wrapped in a giant fake fur collared coat. Guitarist Chris Foreman, meanwhile, whose forte is Hank Williams-meets-spaghetti western solos on songs such as the excellent Shut Up, wears a Homburg hat and seems to slowly be mutating into Winston Churchill as the years pass. Mid-Eighties Madness output is critically acclaimed but sometimes forgotten, even by their fans. The crowd is reminded of their two post-“nutty” albums, Keep Moving and Mad Not Mad, when they play One Better Day, a melancholic single about homelessness. Suggs, ever one for a sly gag, pronounces the final chorus line’s reference to sunshine à la Liam Gallagher in Cigarettes & Alcohol (i.e. “sunshy-eeeen”). The set is themed around petty youth criminality with new song Baby Burglar alongside oldies such as Take It Or Leave It, the latter given an upbeat spin compared to the original’s seedy sense of doubt. They also give us Mr Apples, the best song from their last album, 2016’s Can’t Touch Us Now, a number about a staunch disciplinarian community leader who, of course, is really deep-dipped in pervy sleaze. He’s played in a video above them by Lee Thompson, hamming it up. Unfortunately, the band suffers sound problems that come and go during the set. Despite their gusto, this affected the show. Suggs’s voice was regularly muffled, and during Wings of a Dove and later Bed and Breakfast Man, the sound as a whole was simply horrible, blurred, distorted and slipping out of key. Not sure what all that was about but it wasn’t good. They recover, though, leading from Bed and Breakfast Man’s well-intended but messy sing-along into early Sixties garage classic Wooly Bully, replete with footage of the song’s original performers, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, playing above them. Then on to their one chart-topper, House of Fun from 1982, which, again makes me wonder what today’s youth make of its ultra-oblique attitude to buying condoms. After a blissed, cheery It Must Be Love, sentimental but welcome in these post-COVID times, they disappear, returning to encore with their stomping anthem Madness and, finally, possibly their greatest song, not lyrically but in terms of sheer verve, Night Boat to Cairo, a jam led by Thompson’s sax until Suggs briefly halts proceedings, declaring: “That’s quite enough of that nonsense!” But he relents, wishes us a Merry Christmas, and the jam bursts into brief life again before folding. The lights go up and Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life immediately kicks in on the house system. The crowd leaves into the bitter winter night, singing it and whistling.

Thomas H Green, theartsdesk.com

Madness have been around for four decades now, but there’s no denying they still know how to put on a show. The London band brought The Ladykillers Tour to Liverpool last night where they performed a selection of their hits from the last 40 years. Despite being someone who was born quite a few years after Madness first emerged from the hip streets of Camden Town, the band’s songs have been present throughout my life. On this tour, Madness is supported by Squeeze who did a brilliant job at opening the show last night at the M&S Bank Arena, with a selection of their songs. After their set, everyone was on their feet cheering and applauding. When the support act gets a standing ovation, you know it’s going to be a good night. It seemed the arena – which was a sea of red Madness Fez hats – couldn’t get any louder, but then lead singer Suggs appeared in a red telephone box wearing a dapper suit and shades, and a deafening roar erupted from the audience. The stage also had a red post box, a London underground tube station and a few terraced houses with videos playing through the windows during some of the songs. Suggs said a few words pretending to be on the telephone before stating that he had a show in Liverpool to do. Then Madness went straight into One Step Beyond, prompting the audience to get up on their feet in seconds. We knew we were in for a treat. “We’re all back together. Ain’t it been a dreary couple of years?” says Suggs. Throughout the night, he also made a few timely comments about Boris Johnson and the Downing Street Christmas party. One of the standout moments was when Suggs interacted with a young Madness fan on the front row who was wearing one of the red Fez hats. Suggs told him how important it was to get an education, and you could tell how much it meant to the band that they have new, younger fans as well as those who have stuck by them since the 70s. As expected, Our House, Baggy Trousers and It Must Be Love received the biggest reaction from the crowd. There was a special moment during It Must Be Love where Madness let the audience sing. Those 30 seconds or so felt quite emotional given the last couple of years. Many people wondered when they’d hear a crowd singing in unison again, and this was it. The Lady Killers tour explains how and why the band has stood the test of time. The music, singing and staging were simply perfect, earning a place on my list of most memorable live performances. It was my first concert since the pandemic and boy, am I glad it was Madness that welcomed me back to live music.

Phoebe Barton, Liverpool Echo

Madness fans are a hardy bunch. While many of London’s sold-out shows have suffered from swathes of Omicron-induced empty seats and depleted dancefloors, the band’s (usually) annual Christmas concert at the O2 arena was a whisker from full on a night hampered by strikes on the London Underground. Ten thousand even turned up early for the smartly suited support act Squeeze, who left the stage to a lengthy ovation which set the mood for Madness to party as though the pandemic were over. “Mum, I’ve got a job,” announced Suggs in an opening skit delivered from inside a red phone box. “After two flippin’ years I got a job. No, not a bank job.” That was the cue for the curtain to drop to reveal a stage dressed to resemble a touristy take on London of old – terraced houses with gatherings going on inside, Big Ben, the entrance to an Underground station and spooky street lights included. Screens showed vintage film footage edited to match the music. The effort had an energising effect on the crowd and band. So long have Madness’s Christmas shindigs been going that Suggs in particular has often previously appeared to be going through the motions. Or perhaps having a year off helped. Either way, the suited, sunglasses-sporting singer was at his sparky, snarky best. Hardly any in the crowd bothered with masks – no use for howling along. And that they did, almost from start to finish. A near two-hour set included most of the Madness classics: One Step Beyond, Our House, House of Fun, The Sun and the Rain, My Girl, Embarrassment, Baggy Trousers and a tear-jerking It Must Be Love during which fans rendered Suggs a spare part. None of the songs had aged an ounce. There were also new songs, among them the as-yet-unreleased Baby Burglar, during which a technical hitch halted the show. Did it matter? Not a jot.

Lisa Verrico, The Times