Hi All, I felt that my last post on the Newcastle gig was a bit too brief. If you don't want to know what happend yet because your going to London stop reading. Still here, good! So here is my full review of Monday nights happings... Well before I start I want to state that it was my first Madness gig and well it bloody well FANTASTIC!!! The best night of my life ever and if they ever tour again and come to Newcastle I'll be there in a shot! The bad thing is getting to and from the arena and train station in fear of being beaten up by some mad Newcastle fan for being from Sunderland. Oh well! Anyway here is the review so enjoy. My and my mate Kev arrived at the arena at 6:00pm. So we had to wait outside for 30 mins in the freezing cold before they opened the doors. We ran in, got out wrist bands to get on the floor, grabbed a couple of "VOTE FOR FRED" signs, which is going on my wall despite the fact that it is crumpled up because I was right at the front (more on that later...), and ran into stage area to secure a front row place, right in front of Lee, in case antone on the list was standing next to me and I didn't know, and waited. At 8:00pm a couple of Ska Dj's came on to the stage to give us a brief history of S-K-A, which we all had to spell out evey now and then. I thought they were pretty good, most next to me thought they were crap, but I liked them. The most memorable things about them was the dodgy dancing, one of them threating to kick the other up the arse, and of course playing Madness by the man himself Prince Buster before the lads came on. At about 9:00pm the lights went out and a giant Madness logo (the one with the crown) was lowered from up high and then the lads hit the stage. The first words from Chas sent a chill down my spine "HEY YOU!", then they blasted into "One Step Beyond" and, like Mr. G said, a slightly diffrent version of the song, anyway the lads played their hearts out and looked to be havong a great time as well! The set included "My Girl", when Suggs claimed he liked bald ladies, "The Sun And The Rain" and stuff from the new album like "Lovestruck". A couple of points I'd like to bring up now! I don't know why "Johnny The Horse" was a flop as the crowd went nuts for it and I'm bloody glad they have slow songs like "4am" or I'd be dead right now! Any way the boys played for about 90 mins with 2 encores, the first time the came back singing "Drip Fed Fred", with Suggs taking over form Uncle Ian, and had to hold our "VOTE FOR FRED" cards, I tried up I got crushed at the begging of the song by everyone leaping up and down, and the second time the all came on in white suits with the letters of Madness on the back and played "Madness" itself while fake songs was blown on to the crowd! The best thing for me is that Lee chucked his drink over me, and anyone near me, and I'll remember that forever! Anyway after the gig I got a Grey Madness Hat (�12), a "Wonderful" T-Shirt (�?), and a program (�7). And still had �15 in my pocket! Mind you there were some dodgy geezers outside selling bootleg Madness gear outside. The last thing I remember was some drunk on the train telling the driver to go the Madness station (tee-hee-hee). All in all the best night of my life! Period. I hope I giving a fair and complete review of the gig and it was a shame I didn't see anyone from the list itself. Oh well! I also hope that I brought thaose that couldn't be there a little closer to a once in a lifetime event! Mad Thanks, Si ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - ______________________________________________________________ Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for: latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ... http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/ Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
