Madness Newcastle 11/12/02

We started off in The Vault a pub in the Newcastle not far from the arena.  After asking the DJ who was just setting up for any Madness which the reply was "I can not for another half hour".  We started singing "we want Madness, we want Madness" in which most of the pub had started to join in after a few moments of this, the famous "Hey You" started and the dance floor was full within seconds.  A group of lads who we did not know joined in with the nutty dancing.  This set the tone for the night.  Walking down to the arena it was singing and dancing all the way.

Madness arrived on stage a large white curtain had the shadow of the lads projected onto it in the style of the front cover of the 7 album.  From the moment the mighty Chas Smash said the words "Hey You! Don't Watch That!" the whole arena went mad.  The whole arena was about 90% full, the only space being right at the back seats (who wants to sit at a madness concert?).

During the concert we were treated to the classics as well as some album tracks which included 'In The Middle Of The Night', 'Swan Lake' 'Razor Blade Alley' and 'Land Of Hope And Glory'.  As well as these Madness also played 'Lovestruck' and and extended version of 'Johnny The Horse' which had Chas playing an accoustic guitar at the beginning which was like the version he performed with 'The Velvet Ghost'.  At one point during the concert Lee Thompson was skipping with the lead from the microphone and was being attended to by what looked like a doctor and nurse.

Suggs was on fine form with his banter with the crowd and told them that he was getting a sun tan as the atmosphere was so hot.

All In all it was the best night I have ever had and after seeing some top bands like Oasis, Travis, Beautiful South, Meatloaf  and Michael Jackson who were all excellent Madness win hands down. 

Thanks to everyone who help make the night what it was not just Madness but also the fans.

A Review Of The Newcastle Gig By Dan Fossard

 THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE

May I just say  "W A H E Y ! ! !", or as they say up in Newcastle,
"HOWAY THE MADS!"

Now then, firstly I've waited 29 years for this day to happen and it
was fantastic from start to finish. Madness on my birthday. A day I'll
never forget.

It all began in O'Neills as stated on the TMML which was good although
from being a former employee of O'Neills I know their music policy is
Irish pre programmed off a computer type thing, so even when we begged
the bar staff to play some Madness for us, they couldn't. (arse!) but
anyway, we arrived about 3pm and met up with Swanny, Wee Stoo, Geordie
Al and the rest, and got the beers in and got introductions out of the
way.

As the afternoon went on the atmosphere got better and better with
more and more Maddies turning up in all the usual attire (fez's,
porkpie hats and shades) if only the music could have been more
appropriate! There's only so much "diddley di" music you can handle
in one day, although saying that we did manage to drown that out with
the compulsory accapella sing song later in the evening when most of
us were well oiled.

The highlight of the night (up until then anyway) was when everyone
almost spontaneously burst into a louder than loud rendition of
Happy Birthday! with me standing on a bar stool in the middle of the
pub with 100 or so onlookers and well wishers. I felt on top of the
world!

It was only til me and my mate Andy said our goodbyes and set off to
the venue did we realise that the pub next door was playing (at an
incredibly high volume) what appeared to be the entire Madness back
catalogue! Bugger! If only we'd all realised earlier. Unsurprisingly,
we didn't make it passed the door without legging it in and doing
compulsory nutty dancing and full on singing with everybody in there.
it was about twice as big as O'Neills and the atmosphere was Rockin'!

With even more beers in us and with voices now well in tune and with
everyone in the pub singing all the words to all the songs it felt
more like the build up you'd expect before a madness gig. As it was
the first Madmeet id been to and as it was the first night of the
tour, this was what I'd been expecting. After all, it was my birthday
and we'd been in O'Neills most of the day and hadn't heard a single
Madness track!

So, onto the gig! Met Wee Stoo again in the foyer (top bloke!) and got
the obligatory T-shirts and wandered in. It was already pretty packed
but we got right to the front (as you do!) and within 2 minutes the
lights went off and the fun started! WAHEY!!!!!! A giant cinema screen
was the back drop to the stage and it began with the intro of the
Madness website...i.e. the dancing "M" and the comedy circus music and
the same pics as the website too (you know the ones). Then a huge
silhouette of the `One Step Beyond` pose which got a ma-hoosive roar
from the crowd. Then came the silhouette of the boys themselves doing
the "rising sun" pose off the front of "7", but all dancing and
jumping around. 10 seconds later Chas's head fills the screen with the
intro to `One Step Beyond` followed by the screen dropping and
everything kicking off big style!!!!!! NA NA NAAAAA..... NA NA NA NA
NAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! What can you say? Here we go.

I was in my element. Madness on my birthday? Only then had it sunk in.
Here we all were with everybody going completely mental (like you do!)
they had another huge screen behind the boys which ran footage of all
things mad, i.e. animated dancing Chas's for `One Step Beyond`,
rollercoaster footage for `House of Fun`, and even some of their
videos to the songs while they were doing them. A brilliant aspect was
when they all took a 5 minute breather about half way through to show
the video to `Drip Fed Fred`, as an honour to Ian Dury.

They played all the classics and even tunes I'd never heard live
before (it was my 10th gig) tunes like `In The Middle of The Night`
(sadly not aired at Cardiff - ROB) and `Not Home Today` which are 2 of
my favourites. Shame it appeared that I was the only one singing to
them. It was incredible and just kept getting better and better.

They did a blindin' rendition of `Madness` to a really cool downbeat
tempo like Prince Busters original! `Razor Blade Alley` was another
top track which doesn't often get an airing, but did, for me it was
like all my favourite tunes being played especially for me which as it
turned out was not too far from the truth!

When they did an encore or 2 I thought I was going top explode when
Chas Smash comes up to the mic and as the build up to `Night Boat to
Cairo` grew (i.e. the bit before Thommo blows his one note foghorn) he
goes "this one's for Dan Fossard!" then "PAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRPP!!!!!!"
OH MY GOD! DID I HEAR YOU CORRECT? DID YOU JUST SAY THIS ONES FOR ME?

Well, you shouldve seen me. Bloody hell, you never saw anyone go quite
as mental as I did for the next 5 minutes. I seemed to be bouncing
higher than everyone else, almost as if to be spotted by Chas himself.
It was quite surreal especially as `Night Boat to Cairo` is my
favourite all time song ever, not just by Madness but EVER!!! and
there it was being played to me on my birthday and dedicated to me as
well! (Chas if you're reading this, I can never thank you enough for
making me the happiest man at the gig, no, in the world!!) what a
buzz. Needless to say I screamed all the words at the top of my voice
and was in heaven. I was so happy it made me cry!!! The most amazing
experience of my life i can tell you and the next night we did it all
again in Manchester for good measure!

Also, we are doing both London gigs next week, so heres hoping for
more of the same!!!

Madness, we love you!

Dan Fossard