Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

REVIEW: Suggs revels in a life of Madness with delighted fans at Aberdeen’s Music Hall

Madness frontman Suggs took fans through his life and times at Aberdeen's Music Hall.
Madness frontman Suggs took fans through his life and times at Aberdeen's Music Hall.

It’s a great view from the top of Buckingham Palace apparently.

Ten years ago Madness performed on the roof of the Queen’s residence as part of her Diamond Jubilee concert.

Iconic as it was, the circumstances made it a trying night for the band, according to Graham McPherson – better known as Suggs.

The nutty boy frontman of the band shared this fact, amongst many other witty and wistful tales at a busy Music Hall in Aberdeen on Saturday January 29.

Suggs told the Music Hall audience about crowning moments in his life in music in his show at the Music Hall.

The Madness singer is out on the road again, hosting an ‘evening with’ that he has charmingly badged the What a King Cnut tour, and it’s no surprise that audiences love it.

Suggs arrived on stage decked out in a wig and a Mac, with a throne nearby.

Tales of falling out with Queen’s Brian May

There was method to this particular madness though, as he explained that he feels sympathy for the king who famously tried to hold back the tide.

Joined by pianist and occasional narrator Deano, we settled into the house of fun as he took the audience through some cracking stories.

There were tales of falling out with Queen’s Brian May, forgetting lyrics in front of millions at the London Olympics as well as some moving words on finally meeting the sister he never knew he had.

Suggs in full swing when Madness played P&J Live last November.

This format where an entertainer leaves the band at home and gives audiences an insight into how they got where they did and what happened on the way is growing in popularity. It’s not hard to see why.

Suggs isn’t short of wit, charm or tales of scrapes

With song royalties falling as listeners shift to streaming their music and age catching up with many acts, this intimate approach looks increasingly attractive to artists and their fans.

Of course, a show like this only works if the subject has a story to tell and conveys it in an engaging way. Fortunately for the audience that was in last night, Suggs (who’s now 62), isn’t short of wit, charm or tales of getting into scrapes.

And of course, there is also the small matter of those hit songs. Madness spent more weeks on the chart in the 1980s than any other group, chalking up some 30 UK hits.

Madness spent most of the 1980s at the top of the UK charts with a string of albums and hit singles.

Two hours at the Music Hall packed with anecdotes about a life in music

Looking around me, the Music Hall audience were the very people who went out and bought those singles at the time, so there were hearty cheers when Suggs broke into stripped-back excerpts of My Girl, House Of Fun and Our House. With so much affection coming from the audience it was a shame that there wasn’t a Q&A section that the open, informal feel of the night could have allowed.

That said we were hardly short-changed after two hours packed with anecdotes about a life in the music business. Long may the Madness continue.

Terrific.


You might also like…