To kick off the Piece Hall live summer season of what is going to be an awesome line up of some of the finest names in music were ska and pop veterans Madness. This iconic, historical landmark has become a venue in its own right. Rhodes Media and Cuffe & Taylor are experts at selecting outdoor towns, often sidelined by other promoters.
Due to such a high demand, a second night was added making it pretty clear that Suggs and co still have that magic touch. After over 40 years in the industry the Camden born six piece. Current members include Chris Foreman, Mark Barson, Lee Thompson, Graham ‘Suggs’ McPherson, Dan Woodgate and Garry Dovey treated the sold out audience to the best of Madness. (And what a back catalogue to choose from).
The band started off with the infectiously fun ‘One Step Beyond’ the audience went wild and the Piece Hall came to life. The band continued with the upbeat numbers, getting the crowd warmed up (or warmer than we were already with the current heatwave). Slowing the pace down with a few down tempo numbers mid set. ‘My Girl’ and ‘Lovestruck’, the band continued to charm the crowd with their cheeky onstage antics and crowd interaction.
The band completed the set with one of their most famous tracks ‘It Must Be Love’, before returning to the stage for an encore. This featured ‘Madness (Prince Buster Cover’) and ‘Night Boat to Cairo’.
The band are warming up for their forthcoming UK tour which kicks off in November. The band have a number of summer dates on the calendar. These include two Irish dates followed by ‘Splendour Festival’ in Nottingham at the end of the summer. Their UK tour starts in Aberdeen on the 30th November. More information can be found HERE. For more information about this year’s Piece Hall line up, click HERE.
