Time is a walking bass line, and despite some funky digressions along the way, we always seem to wind up back where we started. Perhaps that’s why a certain brand of pre-reggae Jamaican jamming keeps getting re-interpreted for different eras, and why the two-tone legends Madness are once again skascendent. The UK outfit is gearing up for a 2022 tour, and which they’ll preview with a new livestream, “The Get Up”, on May 14th. This busyness is to expected, because, as they demonstrated on Kimmel last night, during the skanaissance, every house is “Our House”.
“Our House” came out on the 1982 album The Rise & Fall, and it was the band’s only single to become a Top 10 hit in the U.S. All these years later they have no trouble remembering every note, and Kimmel gave them a high-profile opportunity to shake off any rust. Graham “Suggs” McPherson wore his trademark shades, while most of the band sported a small variety of hats that seem to be the official uniform of white people playing ska. Check out the performance below.
As for “The Get Up” livestream, it will be taking place at the London Palladium on May 14th. The band said in a statement,
“Lets face it, entertaining is the only thing we’re any good at… so we got together with Charlie Higson (from The Fast Show) and concocted a show featuring live music, new and classic Madness songs, comedy, some incredibly special guests and even Mike Barson playing the part of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. We’re calling it “The Get Up” we’re filming it at London’s Palladium and we’re beaming it into your Gogglebox of choice on 14th May 2021.”
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Tickets for “The Get Up” are available through the event website. For those of us in the States, it will be something to hold us over until the “Madness in America” tour kicks off next year. Tickets for that are available here.
If that doesn’t ska-ratch your itch, Jeff Rosenstock recently turned his latest album NO DREAM into SKA DREAM, while his project with Mike Park, Bruce Lee Band, is gearing up for its new EP Division in the Heartland.
