Madness to hit the toon.

Byline: GORDON BARR

NUTTY boys Madness are gearing up for a Christmas party in Newcastle.

The group has announced it will play the O2 Academy on December 12, with tickets on sale from this Friday.

The band are always a big attraction in the North East and are now celebrating more than three decades in the business. I love the North East," says Carl Smith, aka Chas Smash. "I've been going there for years. I'm a great fan of pipe music, and I adore Kathryn Tickell."

As for the tour, the lads are in a position these days to go out on the road when they feel like it.

It's nice to be able to do it to please ourselves," says Carl. "We're not after world domination. We just think the country needs cheering up, really." Following 15 Top 10 hits, including Baggy Trousers and It Must Be Love, Madness became the biggest-selling singles band of the 1980s in Britain.

Who would have thought, back in 1978, when out of the schools, pubs and church halls of north London, Madness formed, that they would still be around today. In the 1980s, they became one of the bestloved British pop acts since The Beatles, and when they reformed to play at Finsbury Park in north London in the early 1990s it became one of pop's greatest-ever comebacks.

GORDON BARR

Print Get the Mag Weekly Updates