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Leeds O2 Academy: Madness review
It's 25 years since Madness last played in Leeds – and how this city had missed them.
From Carl Smyth's familiar "Hey you, don't watch that, watch this" introduction to One Step Beyond to the closing notes of Night Boat to Cairo every hit was greeted with dancing and a mass singalong.
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A smartly besuited and be-titfered Suggs was in genial form, reminiscing about his first songs with pianist Mike Barson 30 years ago ("I've only just got out of Mike Barson's bedroom") and a show at the Leeds venue Tiffanys in 1979, after which someone broke the windows in the band's bus ("It was a breezy trip home").
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He even dedicated a cover version of the ska tune Chase The Devil to Dave Beer, "Lord Beero", founder of city club night Back2Basics which is celebrating its 18th birthday.
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A packed-to-the-rafters house full of forty- and fiftysomethings lapped up anthems such as My Girl and The Sun and The Rain.
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Over and over again you could appreciate Nutty Boys' rare, Beatles-like ability to write to write songs that connect with people's everyday lives.
There was a mid-set lull, when the band opted to play tracks from their latest album The Liberty of Norton Folgate and the oldies In The Rain and Ernie, but the tempo and mood lifted considerably with House of Fun.
From there it was a straight run through their top 10 smashes, with the audience in particularly strong voice for It Must Be Love and the "alleluias" of Wings of a Dove.
A Madness gig really is communal experience. Let's hope they don't leave it so long before we see them in Leeds again.
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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