Smashing Mag / Madness @ Shibuya AX (27th Jul. '06)

Madness @ Shibuya AX (27th Jul. '06)

Baggier Trousers!
1979. I'm a fourteen-year-old Coventry schoolboy, and a puzzling fashion involving drainpipe trousers, thin black ties and odd-looking hats has suddenly taken over my school like a virus. What brought this on? A local band raised on records by Prince Buster and the Skatalites is causing a bit of a stir and has just played a gig at the Trocaderro in town promoting their new "two-tone" label and have inadvertently started what has become known as "the second wave of "ska"". And I missed the gig. What a XXXX! Little did I know that 27 years later I would be off to see the third band on the bill that night, Madness, on a comeback tour of Japan. And didn't they do well! Their first hit "The Prince" (a tribute to Prince Buster) wound up being the first of twenty consecutive singles which all made the top twenty in the UK. No mean feat. So can they still do it? (They must be ANCIENT by now, surely?). The show starts with former stage dancer-turned band member Chas Smash shouting "Don't watch that, watch this" and it's off we go, legs-a-pumping, to the tune of "One Step Beyond". Lead singer Suggs must have been very young indeed as he is still a youthful-looking 44, with slightly baggier trousers and is still more than capable of dancing like an Englishman. The crowd is a very enthusiastic mixed bag of young/old ex-pats and local "rude boys and girls", complete with drainpipe trousers, black ties, pork-pie hats, and dance moves off pat. It was like being back at school. A special mention to the English skinhead (he HAD to be English!) who got up to dance on stage and proved that clapping along in time to the music is more difficult than it looks, while reminding me that braces are in fact for dancing with. There then follows a procession of hits through songs like "Our House", "The House of Fun", "It must be love" and "My girl". These were interspersed with lively banter from Suggs and the gang, although I fear the Suggs impersonation of Bruce Forsyth may have lost something in translation. The band were at their best when playing the heavier/faster songs that were more dub/ska rather than their more poppy contributions and the fast ska songs were when the audience really got worked up into a frenzy. The first encore included the song "Madness" (Prince Buster again!) and "Slowboat to Cairo", both of which were very good, but my personal favorite was "In the City" which they had only practiced once the day before but had not practiced an ending, which explained the sudden stop. Excellent! A perfect end to a thoroughly enjoyable gig that was well worth the wait.