
Madness

The Fox Theater welcomed ska legends Madness back to Oakland for one of only 3 West Coast dates scheduled ahead of the band’s May 17 Cruel World Festival performance in Pasadena. The evening kicked off with a DJ spinning classic tunes, providing time for the after-work crowd to gather and pack the dance floor, primed to sing and dance along.
With no opening band, Madness took the stage a smidge before 9 pm to Carl Stalling’s “The Good Egg” (better recognized as the Looney Toons intro music) blasting through the house PA and launched right into “One Step Beyond” …
Hey You!
Don’t watch that
Watch this
This is the heavy heavy monster sound
The nuttiest sound around
So if you’ve come in off the street
And you’re beginning to feel the heat
Well listen Buster you better start to move your feet
To the rockingest
Rock-steady beat of Madness
One step beyond
Already rapt with attention (and possibly fueled by a few pre-show beverages), the crowd hardly needed this encouragement to move their feet, skanking along to Lee Thompson’s instantly recognizable sax riff.
For the Oakland crowd, Madness delivered exactly what they came for … a set jam-packed with Madness classics including a fistful of covers of Prince Buster and Jimmy Cliff songs that the band has made their own over their career. For their part, the 10-piece band fronted by the iconic “Suggs” McPherson and including a three-piece horn section sounded in fine form though Suggs did take a moment mid-set to explain his barely noticeable limp. Not that the bum knee slowed his roll as he exuded the pinnacle of cool.
“It Must Be Love” wrapped the main set and after hardly a break, the band returned to encore with “Madness” and “Night Boat to Cairo” which got the floor moving and left the fans sated as they exited the Fox whistling along to Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Not a bad way to spend a Thursday night!
Setlist
- One Step Beyond (Prince Buster cover)
- Embarrassment
- The Prince
- NW5
- My Girl
- Taller Than You Are (Lord Tanamo cover)
- Lovestruck
- The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff cover)
- Shut Up
- Grey Day
- The Sun and the Rain
- Wings of a Dove
- Mr. Apples
- Bed and Breakfast Man
- House of Fun
- Baggy Trousers
- Our House
- It Must Be Love (Labi Siffre cover)
Encore
- Madness (Prince Buster cover)
- Night Boat to Cairo
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