Madness at 3Arena, Dublin, 16th December 2014
There aren’t many bands that have put a unique stamp on a cover version in the way that Madness have done with Labi Siffre’s It Must Be Love.
As Suggs ends the set proper with “this very small and important notion”, Mike Barsons’ distinctive piano intro chimes into life, the crowd join in, and Suggs wanders the stage towards the guitar of Chris Foreman. “Bless you and bless me/ And bless that fucking speaker!”
Wait, what? Those aren’t the words. And where the fuck are they coming from? Suggs has disappeared!
No, wait…Suggs has fallen on his arse over a monitor.
“I never touched him!” shouts Foreman, “Typical Chelsea person, diving!”
From The Point Depot, to The O2, to 3Arena, Madness have played every incarnation of this barn by the sea. Tonight it’s the STRICTLY M.A.D.H.E.A.D. tour that comes to town, almost a year after their triumphant New Year’s Eve appearance at College Green. The stage topography throws Suggs literally off his game at the final hurdle, but only momentarily, mind, for this is all part of the predictably enjoyable Madness miscellany that meets the crowd on a wet, windy winter’s evening.
Lee Thompson, looking like he’s stepped out of a 19th century steampunk convention in big, bug-eye goggles and fancy jacket, enters alone on sax, beginning Night Boat To Cairo as the backdrop falls and his suited’n’booted colleagues join.
“Thank you, Dublin…goodnight” says Suggs at the song’s pre-knees up breakdown. He made that gag last time. It still works. “You can fuck off out of it and get on with it as well, mate!” he good-humouredly berates a heckler, before legends living and dead, from Wilko to Moonie, flash on the screens behind the band during NW5. Suggs won’t be bested on banter.
The Sun & The Rain features a surprisingly heavy solo from Foreman, but it’s not his only surprise of the night. In an interlude that matches only the previous tour’s showstopper of his drunk-uncle-at-wedding take on (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!) for a blast of the bizarre, the guitarist takes the mic – backed only by the three-piece horn section and Woody Woodgate on drums – for a version of Big Spender.
Can he sing? Can he fuck.
Does the crowd care? Not a jot, although many a head is scratched in bemusement, until finally Lee Thompson appears from the wings cycling a chopper bicycle. After all, this is a Madness gig.
What this madness serves to do is act as a launchpad to the second segment of the set, the monster hits – House Of Fun; Baggy Trousers; Our House (“on guitar… Mr Shirley Bassey!”) and It Must Be Love. They’re bouncy, raucous sing-alongs, one and all. But let’s not forget Thomson stealing the show during The Prince, or a Mummy’s Boy that’s as ragged and fun as the 1979 original, or an ebullient Wings Of A Dove where the steel drum sections shall be sang by one and all, always and forever.
New song The Last Rag & Bone Man just doesn’t cut the mustard alongside the staples, or even the most recent ‘Oui Oui Si Si Ja Ja Da Da’ selections. And ‘The Liberty of Norton Folgate’ album – a career high – is underrepresented, but all is forgivable when a Madness show is in full swing. “He owes me five quid, that’s what happened”, Foreman offers as an explanation to Suggs’ pratfall when they reappear for the Prince Buster double header. One Step Beyond takes off in response to the crowd chant, running into the final hurrah of Madness, the night bookended by their debut album’s nuttiness.
Moments plodded tonight, certainly, and their lean New Year’s Eve gig and that fantastic O2 setlist from 2013 shows up the flaws in tonight’s selection, but the hits outweigh the misses. Madness have a formidable arsenal at their disposal, and no small bit of crowd nostalgia to paper over the cracks.
As Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life plays over the PA and the crowd filter out, whistling and emulating Eric, its after yet another charming Madness appearance. Rest assured, everyone will be returning to whatever this venue decides to call itself next time they visit.
