AboutS. Bringe Expertise Collector of Madness recordings *et al* for about 15 years, including offshoots like The Madness, Crunch!, Suggs, Argonauts, Voice of the Beehive, etc.
Expert: S. Bringe Date: 10/2/2004 Subject: Madness to tour ?
Question Hi,
Any idea if Madness are to tour. I understand that there won't be the traditional pre Xmas tour this year, but apparently Suggs mentioned on his Virgin Radio show that there may be dates in November.
Answer Hey there,
Suggs and Chas have both made allusions to a November tour for Madness' current project, The Dangermen. If you're not familiar with The Dangermen, it's Madness (under the new moniker) playing ska covers of some of their favourite songs, like "You Keep Me Hanging On" and "Wonderful World, Beautiful People."
If you go to www.madness.co.uk, you can sign up for their official newsletter, which alerts members to concert dates and new releases (the news is run by Chrissy Boy, so it's sure to be accurate.) When you go to the site, click on "Messages" and then click on "Send Message." There you'll find a tick box that says "Add To Mailing List." Put in your name, email address and a short message (some people have had trouble being added unless they put in a short message with their request.) If you scan the official site message board, you'll also find information to your question about tours (fans send in their questions, and the band members answer.) Chrissy Boy has gotten sick of answering about upcoming tours, so best not to ask that question.
You can also join MIS Online, an unoffical weekly newsletter of Madness happenings run by Robert Hazelby and Jonathan Young. This is a good synopsis of weekly news from several online sources.
The Mighty Chas Smash runs his own fan site aptly named www.chassmash.com. There you can interact with the man himself, and he's more than happy to throw out information on upcoming tours, etc. This pisses Chrissy Boy off some, but it's a great place to get the skinny.
A final suggestion would be to sign on to the Yahoo group I moderate, the Madness Trading Ring. We started out as a group to trade bootlegs and collectibles, but it quickly expanded to become a forum for the latest news and general conversation. Often times members post news before it hits any of the other online sources, including the official site. http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/madnesstradingring/
The short answer to your question is Madness is in the works of doing a tour as The Dangermen this November, with no Christmas dates likely. It's a shame, considering this is their 25th anniversary. You'd think they'd do a Chrimbo tour. But several band members have said no Chrimbo gigs, alas.
