The first concert, titled Madness at the Manor, is scheduled for 13 July at Tofte Manor in Bedfordshire. Billed as an intimate performance at a historic venue, the band told of their excitement about playing the venue through their promoter’s Instagram, saying: “We didn’t think there were any houses, county estates or fields we hadn’t played at”.

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The band will go on to perform at Dreamland in Margate on 2 August as part of the Margate Summer Series and at Castle Park, Colchester, on 23 August as part of the Colchester Castle Summer Series. Tickets for Margate and Colchester will go on general sale at 9am on 29 November here. Pre-sale tickets for the Tofte Manor show will be available at 12pm on 29 November here, with any remaining tickets offered in a general sale on 2 December at 12pm.

Outdoor summer shows have become a specialty of the band in recent years, with highlights from the past year including stops at Cardiff Castle, Galway Airport, and Scarborough Open Air Theatre. This year also marked a significant milestone for the band, as their 13th studio album, Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie, became their first to reach number one on the UK Official Albums Chart. An enhanced edition of the album was released in June.

Retropop magazine praised the album, saying “its lead single and title song harks back to the ska sound that popularised the band some 40-odd years ago while perfectly capturing the essence of Madness in its examination of the perils of everyday life”, and noting that the release was the band’s “most pop-oriented in years”.

Emerging from the two-tone craze of the late 70s and early 80s, the Camden Town ensemble rose to fame with their urban British spin given to Caribbean rock-steady and early ska. Early hits like ‘One Step Beyond’ and ‘Nightboat to Cairo’ show the band in their element covering or borrowing heavily from these genres’ classics, and propelled the band to be London’s answer to the burgeoning Coventry ska and two-tone scene, alongside the likes of Bad Manners. The band later pivoted to a more pop-based sound into the 1980s but never drifted far from their themes of working class London life, delivered with trademark humour and a taste for pastiche.

Taking to social media, Madness revealed their official album artwork alongside the caption:

“‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’, our new album, available to pre-order/pre-save now […] Featuring no less than 14 songs (and some other surprises!), it comes out on 17th November. […] Meanwhile, this Thursday, you’ll be able to hear 3 tracks from the album on all the usual streaming services!”

The news comes in tandem with brand-new lead single “C’est La Vie”, which the legendary group recently teased in a video featuring Dame Helen Mirren. In an unlikely collaboration, the Oscar-winning actress delivers her own spoken-word interpretation of the song, reading the lyrics directly into the camera.

Watch Helen Mirren’s dramatic reading below:

“C’est La Vie” provides a taster of what is to come, treating fans to the classic quirky sound that shot Madness to stardom in the 1980s, when they enjoyed a prolific run of hits including “Our House” and “Baggy Trousers”. Emerging from their seven-year studio hiatus rejuvenated, and with a fresh bounce in their step, the group reflects on the struggles of everyday life over surfy guitar riffs and a gnarly horn section.

Listen to “C’est La Vie” below:

In their press statement, Madness said: 

“Well, well, well, here we are… our 13th album (lucky for some). ‘Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie’ is ready for your ears. For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years – we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”

Another unexpected collaboration comes in the form of Emmy and BAFTA Awards winning actor Martin Freeman, who contributed a special prologue to the new album. His longstanding admiration for Madness led to their partnership when the band’s manager recognised Freeman in a meet and greet queue and introduced him to the members.

Madness take their new record on the road in November and December for their previously-announced C’est La Vie UK tour, with support from The Lightning Seeds.

See below for dates:

30/11/2023 – P&J Live – Aberdeen
01/12 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow
02/12 – Utility Arena – Newcastle
04/12 – Utility Arena – Cardiff
05/12 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
07/12 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool
08/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
09/12 – AO Arena – Manchester
11/12 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
12/12 – International Centre – Bournemouth
14/12 – Utility Arena – Sheffield
15/12 – O2 Arena – London
16/12 – Utility Arena – Birmingham

Get tickets here.

Pre-order Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie here.

The announcement comes in a recent Twitter post that also contains a teaser about some possible new material being on the way, with the post claiming, “We’ll be out of the studio and back on the road at the end of 2023 with some new tricks up our sleeves…“.

We’ll be out of the studio and back on the road at the end of 2023 with some new tricks up our sleeves…
The “C’est La Vie” tour is coming to a stage near you.
Register for early access to tickets at https://t.co/2Ml0E0cCdv pic.twitter.com/LOvUz6kCh1

— Madness (@MadnessNews) April 21, 2023

This teasing message will be sure to make fans of the London based ska icons salivate at the possibility of new studio recordings, with their last studio album being released eight years ago (Can’t Touch Us Now in 2015), and their latest single produced in 2019 (“Bullingdon Boys (Don’t Get Bullied by the Bully boys“)).

The band was formed in 1976 in Camden Town, London, as The North London Invaders, changing their name several times before finally landing on Madness in 1979, a homage to Jamaican ska and rocksteady musician Prince Buster and a single he produced with the same name.

Their first single, “The Prince“, released in 1979 on 2 Tone Records, was also inspired by their ska predecessor, and achieved fair success, reaching number 16 in the UK Single Charts and, more importantly, paving the way for the band to become one of the most prominent groups of the two-tone ska revival in Britain, alongside the likes of the Selecter and the Specials.

Watch the music video for “One Step Beyond” below:

The single was followed by the release of their debut album, One Step Beyond, to widespread critical acclaim, reaching number two in the UK Album Charts, and contained a cover of a song of the same name by Prince Buster. The following year the group released their second album, Absolutely, which also reached number two in the UK Album Charts and contained one the band’s biggest hits, “Baggy Trousers“.

The release of the band’s third studio album, 7, in 1981 marked a change of direction in where the band was heading musically, opting to stray away from their fast-paced ska and rocksteady roots and adopting a more mainstream pop sound. Later that year Madness released “It Must Be Love“, a Labi Siffre cover, and in 1982 released their sole number one single, “House of Fun“.

Watch the music video for “House of Fun” below:

The band broke up in 1986 and re-united in 1992, releasing Divine Madness, a compilation album that reached number one in the UK Album Charts. Madness have released twelve studio albums to date and will embark on their tour with six of the original seven members of the line-up, including Graham “Suggs” McPherson, Mike Barson, Lee Thompson, Chris Foreman, Dan Woodgate and Mark Bedford.

You can register for early access to tour tickets here.

See below for the tour dates:

30/11/2023 – P&J Live – Aberdeen
01/12 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow
2/12 – Utilita Arena – Newcastle
4/14 – International Arena – Cardiff
5/12 – Motorpoint Area – Nottingham
7/12 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool
8/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
9/12 – AO Arena – Manchester
11/12 – Centre – Brighton
12/12 – International Arena – Bournemouth
14/12 – Utilita Arena – Sheffield
15/12 – The O2 – London
16/12 – Utilita Arena – Birmingham

Formed in Coventry in 1979, The Selecter has become synonymous with the 2 tone ska revival movement in Britain, epitomising the movement’s core values with their multi-racial and multi-gendered lineup. Influenced by Jamaican ska music of the 1960s, bands such as The Selecter and The Specials combined the rocksteady beats of ska with new wave and punk, creating a genre that brought together not only two distinct types of music but also two races of people , thereby effectively acting as a frontline against racial violence and hatred.

Fronted by Pauline Black, who remains the group’s voice and leader to this day, the band shot to prominence in the UK with the release of three singles in 1979; “Three Minute Hero”, “Missing Words”, and the hugely popular and successful “On My Radio”, and followed this initial success with their debut album Too Much Pressure, released the year after in February 1980. Another album, Celebrate the Bullet, was released the year after but, due to the unfortunate timing of the release of the lead single (of the same name) and John Lennon’s murder via gunshot, the album sadly failed to see the success of their first, peaking at number 41 on the UK Albums Chart, and ultimately played a part in the subsequent break-up of the band in 1982.

Watch The Selecter perform their hit single “On My Radio” on TopPop in 1979 below:

After a stint as a TV presenter and actress, Black led a reformation and the band reunited in 1991, and have subsequently put out another 13 albums over the past 32 years. The current lineup features Black, of course, along with other founding members Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (vocals) and Charley ‘Aitch’ Bembridge (drums).

Human Algebra, Black states to The Observer in an interview, is packed “with lyrics covering all the things I was thinking about“, including police brutality and racism (‘Stay Rebel’), knife crime in the UK (‘Human Algebra’) and fake news (‘Big Little Lies’), and such cultural consciousness will not be unfamiliar with lovers of The Selecter and 2 tone alike, given the genre’s close connection with cultural and class issues since its’ emergence in the late 1970s.

Watch “Human Algebra”, the lead single from the new album, below:

Human Algebra is available to pre-order now here.

Take It Or Leave It was directed and produced by Dave Robinson, who was the head of the ska group’s original label Stiff Records. With Camden Town as the backdrop, the film illustrates the trials and tribulations of Madness’ early career, and it depicts the band’s rise from their humble beginnings as a pub band.

The film features live and studio recordings of hits from Madness’ first couple of albums, including Baggy Trousers, The Prince and One Step Beyond. There are only two songs on the soundtrack that are by other artists, namely Fats Domino and The Four Tops. Here is the full tracklist:

Don’t Quote Me On That
The Business
I’m Walkin’ (Fats Domino)
On The Beat Pete
Don’t Look Back
Reach Out I’ll Be There (The Four Tops)
Embarrassment
Mistakes
That’s The Way To Do It
Rocking In Ab 
Day On The Town
Swan Lake
In The Middle Of The Night
Razor Blade Alley
Madness
Steppin’ Into Line
Night Boat To Cairo
Sign Of The Times
Solid Gone
One Step Beyond…
Bed & Breakfast Man
The Prince
Baggy Trousers
Grey Day
My Girl
Take It or Leave It