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Review from 5D Music writer, Maria Robertson.
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Most people know that Suggs is the lead singer of Madness, but how many know that his real name is Graham McPherson and what brought him to where he is now? His public persona is of an egotistical clown – as suggested by the band name. (Is that his band, or every band member’s band?) This show presents the actual man, and a backstage insight into his life. It’s not a concert, but he does sing, its not a play, but he does act scenes out. It is a magically entertaining, and at sometimes painful, event. The highs, the lows, the rib aching hilarity of this man’s life.
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The stage is set with one large throne in the middle and a piano off to the side. The lights rise as Suggs is sitting pensive in the throne in a long white overcoat and a curly black wig; and so the performing of King Cnut begins.
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I must say, I hate that word, but he had a way of saying the misspelt version that made me giggle more than once, and apparently he has been called (probably the correctly spelt version of) it in several situations throughout his life. I’ve loved Madness for as long as I can remember and know the words to many of their songs, unsurprisingly as I have the boxed set, definitive singles collection on CD. I’ve only seen the band live once at T in the Park in 2010 – when they were obviously awesome! Anyway enough about me, especially as I was just calling him egotistical! Music is a very personal thing though and we do sometimes feel like they sing certain songs just for us, or to us. For example, I used to have baggy velvet trousers as a student and I loved when Baggy Trousers came on in the Mudd Club and I’d bust out the ska moves!
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Anyway, back to the Music Hall and King Cnut! Suggs has a way with a story and is immediately captivating, straight into stories of times gone by and the first song is…by Primal Scream. The piano was used for musical support, suspension building, backgrounds – and the poor pianist was subject to a barrage of abuse from Suggs (where were his glasses?!). During the narrative there were a couple of occasions when Suggs own songs were weaved into the prose, after all most of his and the band’s songs are based on their observations and what’s going on around them.
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Obviously I don’t want to give spoilers of all the stories but there were mentions of when his path crossed that of Brian May, of his experiences at Glastonbury (what kind of madman must you be to give Suggs the keys to your bar late at night?!), of playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace, and of his family life. We heard about the important ladies in his life – his Mum, wife and daughters. Chelsea Football Club is his other love which is mentioned a similar amount – especially in respect of Cup Finals and the song Blue Day that he wrote for them.
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The script was cleverly written, with loops back to earlier in the story like when someone comments that his Mum is super fun and he replies “you don’t have to live with her”; many years later the same thing happens when someone comments to his daughter that her Dad is awesome… It does include some Madness hits, that its virtually impossible not to sing along to: Our House, My Girl and House of Fun. I learnt various things about this chap I’ve idolised – I even see Amy Winehouse in a different light now, and what goes on in the world of celebrity.
Just don’t ask what happened to the cat’s ashes…
Further information: Suggs’ Official Site
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Maria Robertson is the newly anointed Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.
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