Review: Madness

Posted by Anura Samara, 5 December 2014

I think I must have first heard a Madness about 30 years ago, being driven around by an older friend in his car. We listened to their songs a lot, and in due course I bought some LPs (remember them?). Over the years, the LPs became a CD which has been on my phone and the tracks come up from time to time. The only time I have actually seen them play was on an episode of the The Young Ones

We had already planned a trip to Cardiff to take Catherine to the Dr Who Experience, so we were pretty happy when we saw that Madness would be playing there on the very day we arrived. Tickets were bought.

It was interesting to take Catherine there; I guess I’ve been guilty of introducing many of my favourite TV shows, movies and music to her but I’ve never been really sure whether she connected with it or just put up with it. I guess I should know, because over the years some of my favourite CDs and DVDs have gone missing!

The crowd was definitely an older group (yes, even older than us!). They got particularly lively as the beer and alcohol started to flow, and many of the people around us were soon up and dancing. Having said that, there were also lots of young people, including young children.

So what were they like? I often think there’s not much you can do with the stage set-up for a band, but for Madness they had three big screens above the stage playing video clips as illustrations for the songs. For the band itself, I know there have been some changes over the years but Suggs is immediately recognisable, the others less so now even though I used to spend hours pouring over LP covers. But when it comes to the music, it’s impossible to discern any change. They started with Night Boat to Cairo and the only difference I could tell was that Lee Thompson couldn’t hold the sax note for as long as I remembered. All their great hits were there, which was good because it meant we could sing along to practically the whole show. The show finished with_Madness_ which seemed fitting.

And throughout it all, I was reminded about why I love their music so much. The syncopation involved in ska music means yours ears are constantly challenged, but apart from that it’s not complicated music. The lyrics are mostly about everyday topics, they’re almost like short stories, and are often funny – it’s not the sort of angst-ridden and deep lyrics we often hear. So with good music and easily understood lyrics that anyone can sing along to, there was a really up-beat atmosphere by the end.

Categories: Shows

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