Grab your baggy trousers as Madness play Cork

Cork ska fans will be thinking it must be love this summer as English ’70s and ’80s ska stars Madness go one step beyond on Leeside.

The Camden chart-toppers are set to grab their baggy trousers and play Cork’s Virgin Media Park on Friday, June 20, on what is unlikely to be a grey day.

No strangers to Cork, Madness has previously played City Hall as far back as 1985, and has appeared multiple times at Live at the Marquee.

Beginning life in 1976 as the North London Invaders, the band became, briefly, Morris and the Minors, before settling in 1979 on Madness, in homage to one of the band members’ favourite songs by ska and reggae star Prince Buster.

The band first began to draw a cult following in London, starting out with live performances at Camden's Dublin Castle.

Madness went on to become one of the most prominent bands of the two-tone ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s, between 1980 and 1986 spending a total of 214 weeks on the UK singles charts.

The band’s 1979 debut studio album, One Step Beyond…, reached number two and spent more than a year in the UK album charts.

Madness’s second studio album, Absolutely, also reached number two in the UK album charts, and launched some of the band’s biggest hits, most notably, Baggy Trousers, which peaked at number three in the UK singles charts and Embarrassment, which reached number four.

Hits followed with Grey Day, Our House, and Cardiac Arrest, and in 1982 the band had its only number one, House of Fun.

On the road almost 50 years, Madness continues to perform with six of the seven members of its original line-up.

With tickets going on pre-sale on the Ticketmaster website at 9am on Wednesday, February 5, fans are advised to avoid a cardiac arrest and book early, all the better to fly home on the wings of a dove.