Madness

Montrose East Links

24th Aug 2019

I first saw Madness play at the Apollo in Glasgow in 1980. I was just a young, excited kid who couldn’t wait for school to finish so he could head off into Glasgow with his mates to see one of the most exciting bands at that time.

Now many years later I’m now getting the opportunity to photograph the band as they head to play at Montrose East Links.

It’s a summers August night and you can feel the excitement in the wee costal town as thousands of nutty boys and girls arrive from all over for this open-air gig.

Support for the night comes from Manchester reggae, band, Jeramiah Ferrari followed by The Farm with their catchy “Groovy Train and All Together Now” hits which warmed up the crowd before the main event.

Looking out into the crowd, it was a sea of red fez hats which seem to disappear into the horizon of the packed 8,000 crowd. The famous East Link dunes also had a few stragglers looking for the best vantage point out with the area as they tried to catch a glimpse of the famous Nutty Boys.

As madness took to the stage it was like turning the clock back to the early 80’s, but it wasn’t just the middle age group fans who danced the night away to One Step Beyond, House of Fun, Our House, It Must Be Love, Baggy Trousers and Night Boat to Cairo, Madness now has a new younger followers of Nutty Boys and Girls who just can’t get enough of this band.

It was hard to believe that Madness had just played in my wee town of Montrose, but what a night it was and something many won’t forget for years to come.

Setlist

One Step Beyond

Embarrassment

The Prince

NW5

My Girl

The Sun and the Rain

Bullingdon Boy

Wings of a Dove

Driving In My Car

One Better Day

Bed and Breakfast Man