The Madness Central Blog

It’s been bought to our attention today that Ticketmaster are advertising tickets for an appearance by the band at Newmarket Racecourse on Friday 6th August 2010. Indications are that tickets are due to go on sale here on Friday 26th February 2010.

At the time of going to press there has been no confirmation of this gig on either the official Madness site gig pages or the Newmarket Racecourse site so it’s probably worth checking before proceeding with booking tickets.

The band are of course no strangers to Newmarket having played there in both 2007 and 2008 – as well as making regular appearances at other racecourses across the UK in recent years.

We bought you news a while back of a show called Songs In The Key Of London at the Barbican Centre, London on 9th March 2010. The show a one-off “London themed” event to be hosted by Phil Daniels and has been put together by Chris Difford (of Squeeze fame) will feature Suggs and Mr Smash as well as the likes of Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, Chaz Jankel, Andy Serkis, Blaine Harrison, Jools Holland, James Hunter, Mike Lindsay and Becky Jacobs (of Tunng), Natty, Rico Rodriguez, Kathryn Williams and more.

Madness Central have today been contacted by The Barbican Centre who tell us that tickets are still available and sent us an eFlyer for the show which can be found here

If you want tickets and more information about this event then click here – it promises to be a good night.

The dates just keep rolling in

In what is shaping up to be another very busy year for Madness on the gig front, the band have today been confirmed to appear at Scotland’s “T In The Park” festival by the band’s official website and Facebook page. According to the official site gig listings page the band are due to appear on Sunday 11th July 2010. Headliners for that night are confirmed as Kasabian.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on Friday 26th February here. Other acts confirmed to appear include Muse, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas. The Prodigy, Stereophonics.

“T In The Park” is Scotlands biggest summer music festival taking place over 3 nights (9th to 11th July this year) on a disused airfield at Balado in the Perth & Kinross area of Scotland. The festival has been running since 1994 and usually shares a very similar line up to Irelands Oxegen Festival which takes place the same weekend.

If you can’t wait for the UK release of the Absolutely and Seven 2 cd reissues from Union Square Music, word is in that both albums can be had at Amazon German and Amazon US.

Absolutely at Amazon.de

Absolutely at Amazon.com

Seven at Amazon.de

Seven at Amazon.com

The UK release of both reissues is April 12.

As reported last year on Madness Central, Union Square Music was constructing a site for the direct sales of USM releases to the public via their Salvo project.

http://www.salvo.dloadshop.com/index.asp

Steve Bunyan of Union Square Music had this to share with Madness Central concerning the recent launch of the Madness page on Salvo:

We’ve just soft launched the new site while we iron out any glitches and get the hang of running a shop. The aim is for all new release to be available at the same price and the same time online (Madness.co.uk, play, amazon, hmv, salvo etc). We will try and mail out our Madness database with each news story as it comes up so it’s worth people signing up on the Madness page although it’ll normally only be news about USM Madness releases that we’ll be first with.

The next installments from USM are the reissues of Seven and Absolutely set for release in the UK on April 12.

You can visit the Salvo Madness page directly at:

http://www.salvo.dloadshop.com/artists/artistmaintop.asp?MArID=63

Madness To Go On A Jolly Boys Outing To Margate

Along with the Epsom Racecourse gig already blogged here news reached us today from the official site and the official Facebook page of another UK gig at the Sound Island Festival, Quex Park, Margate on Saturday 24th July 2010.

Tickets priced at £36.85 (including booking fee) can be purchased here

Madness To Go Racing Again

News in today from the official site and also the official Facebook page that Madness are to play Epsom Racecourse on Thursday 29th July 2010 – for tickets call 0844 579 3004 or click here

The Epsom Racecourse site had this to say:

MADNESS TO PLAY EPSOM LIVE!
YOU’LL BE MAD TO MISS IT

The strongest ever line up for the Epsom Live! series comes to a grand finale with a live performance from Suggs and the boys from Madness who will be entertaining the crowds after racing at Epsom Downs Racecourse on Thursday 29th July. Epsom Live! has it all this year with pop, soul and indie performances from a host of top, chart topping bands and is set to end with an explosive and memorable performance by Madness.

The band is Britain’s most successful chart band in music history, having had 21 top-twenty singles in a seven year period from ’78-’86, and many more since (over 30 in total), which include ‘It Must Be Love’, ‘Embarrassment’, ‘Baggy Trousers’, ‘My Girl’ and ‘One Step Beyond’. Madness went on in 2009 to further release their critically acclaimed studio album ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ last year.

Rupert Trevelyan, Managing Director for Epsom Downs Racecourse commented: “The line up for Epsom Live is now complete and we are really looking forward to staging such entertaining events in July. Our music evenings have proved hugely popular amongst both racing and music fans alike over the last few years and we believe 2010 offers the best line up yet. To avoid disappointment, make sure you book early as we are anticipating sell out crowds.”

http://www.epsomdowns.co.uk/Madness2010.ink

The Official Madness Website has announced a new gig for this summer: The Music Showcase Weekend at the York Racecourse.

Details from the York Racecourse website:

Offering a little extra entertainment; top quality action on both the track and the live music stage.

Music Showcase Evening is the only evening of York’s year on Friday July 23rd combining competitive racing with live music from Madness. The European Breeder’s Fund Lyric Stakes is a Listed contest to reward talented fillies whilst Madness will take the stage to complete the evening’s entertainment.

The music on Saturday July 24th will be provided by Finalists from ITV’s X Factor, Olly, Lucie, Rachel and Jamie will complete an afternoon of entertainment.

The Sky Bet York Stakes on Saturday is a Group Two race with £100,000 in prize money so it attracts a field from the top stables; Sir Michael Stoute and Saeed bin Suroor have provided recent winners for this all age middle distance contest.

A full field are likely to contest the prime betting heat of the afternoon, the £50,000 Sky Bet Dash, a six furlong handicap.

At the start of the day, we plan to repeat the Sky Bet Jockey Dash that will entertain the crowd and raise money for the Injured Jockey’s Fund. A fitting part of the Yorkshire Racing Summer Fesitival.

Madness play Friday, 23rd July. Gates open at 16:00, first race is at 18:00, and last race is at 20:30. Madness is approximately scheduled to play from 20:30 to 22:15.

Tickets range from £7 to £32 for adults with an Early Bird Special currently ongoing for £30 for seats in the County Stand.

Tickets for children range from £14 to £22 for children 6+ and tickets for seniors 65+ range from £5 to £14; tickets in the County Stand are still £32 for seniors.

For further details and ticket purchases, visit the York Racecourse website:

https://www.yorkracecourse.co.uk/racing/fixtures/music-showcase-weekend_20

News just in via the official Madness News List e-mail that French and German fans (or anyone willing to travel we guess) really can go gathering nuts in May!!

It’s been announced that there are tickets to give away to the Berlin (11th May), Dortmund (12th May) and Paris (14th May) gigs. To be in with a chance of winning these tickets click on the link against the appropriate gig below, enter your details and wait for the draw to take place – simple as that!!

Huxley’s Neue Welt, Berlin – 11th May 2010

Westfalenhalle, Dortmund – 12th May 2010

Zenith De Paris, Paris – 14th May 2010

Bonne chance….Viel glück….Good luck!!

As previously reported the full line up of gigs announced so far as follows:

28th April 2010 – B1 Maximum Hall, Moscow, Russia – Tickets here

1st May 2010 – Estrella Levante SOS 4.8, Murcia, Spain – Tickets here

8th May 2010 – Milan Palasharp – Tickets here

11th May 2010 – Berlin (Huxley’s Neue Welt) – Tickets here

12th May 2010 – Dortmund Westfalenhalle – Tickets here

14th May 2010 – Zenith De Paris – Tickets here

15th May 2010 – Amsterdam, Heineken Music Hall – Tickets here

12th June 2010 – Caribana Festival, Switzerland – Tickets here

9th July 2010 – The Marquee, Cork – Tickets here

30th July – 1st August 2010 – Camp Bestival, Dorset – Tickets here

It’s come to light this morning (Valentines Day – must be something to do with sharing the love) that a number of easy listening tracks recorded by Madness are now available on line.

The tracks are:

Blue Spanish Eyes - A 1966 number 1 for Al Martino, who later went on to play Johnny Fontane in The Godfather.

My Way - Needs no introduction but was first made famous by Frank Sinatra and later by one Sidney Vicious as shown in the “The Great Rock & Roll Swindle” (which was of course a Julien Temple film to complete the Madness connection!!).

Little Boxes – A traditional folk song sung in an Irish folk style by one Mr C.Smash.

You’re My World - As originally sung by Cilla Black!! So any references to “Our Graham” are to Mr McPherson we presume!!

The tracks were all part of the “MIS Radio Players’ Fan Club Cassette” released in 1982. Coming from the original fan club, in a cartoon old time radio pose sleeve designed by Suggs, it was mainly an attempt at a comedy album, something akin to Monty Python’s 70’s output on the Charisma label, but it had it’s musical moments too, as shown above.

For the full story and to hear the tracks head over to the excellent Judge Fredd blog here

The lyrics will also be posted to the Madness Waxing Lyrical pages at Madness Central