I had the pleasure of spending my Sunday evening in the Kings Head theatre, London, in the company of Graham McPherson, known to most as Suggs, the charming front man of 80s band Madness.
This one man show was a mixture of song and story covering McPherson's childhood, rise to fame and more recent years, and it was one of the funniest two hours I've spent in quite some time.
The main focus was his father and the terribly sad story of a man he never knew, the process of piecing together what happened to him and the ultimate aim of trying to track him down. But McPherson didn't linger on the sadness for too long; he soon had the audience in tears of joy once again.
He commanded the stage magnificently and kept the show going by occasionally performing the odd classic from his and the Madness back catalogue. He broke down songs like Baggy Trousers and Shut up, explaining the origin of the lyrics, which was a really nice touch.
I cannot speak highly enough of this show and when sitting down at the beginning had very little idea of how the thing would work, but it was really entertaining and incredibly informative. A definite must for any fan of Madness or London Town in general. And the highlight for all was right at the end when Suggs performed what could be considered Madness' best ever song It must be Love, with every single member of the audience singing along.
The show runs until 18 December at the Kings Theatre, Angel, before travelling round the country until February 2012. So there are a lot of chances for all to see this great, heart warming tale and I urge all to go see!
This one man show was a mixture of song and story covering McPherson's childhood, rise to fame and more recent years, and it was one of the funniest two hours I've spent in quite some time.
The main focus was his father and the terribly sad story of a man he never knew, the process of piecing together what happened to him and the ultimate aim of trying to track him down. But McPherson didn't linger on the sadness for too long; he soon had the audience in tears of joy once again.
He commanded the stage magnificently and kept the show going by occasionally performing the odd classic from his and the Madness back catalogue. He broke down songs like Baggy Trousers and Shut up, explaining the origin of the lyrics, which was a really nice touch.
I cannot speak highly enough of this show and when sitting down at the beginning had very little idea of how the thing would work, but it was really entertaining and incredibly informative. A definite must for any fan of Madness or London Town in general. And the highlight for all was right at the end when Suggs performed what could be considered Madness' best ever song It must be Love, with every single member of the audience singing along.
The show runs until 18 December at the Kings Theatre, Angel, before travelling round the country until February 2012. So there are a lot of chances for all to see this great, heart warming tale and I urge all to go see!
