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Tour Madness February 21st to March 16th 1980 - ONE STEP BEYOND TOUR: Leg 4 - North America & Canada (including Nickelodeon TV)
February 21st 1980 - PHILADELPHIA, PA
Now 'One Step Beyond' is officially released in America, Madness return for a three-week tour.
February 22nd 1980 - WASHINGTON. DC: Bayou Club
February 24th 1980 (Two shows) - BOSTON, MA: Paradise Club
Set first show:
One Step Beyond
Deceives The We
Mistakes
Believe Me
My Girl
Swan-Razorblade Alley
Land Of Hope & Glory
The Rain
The Young & The Old
Middle Of The Night
Bed & Breakfast Ma
The Prince / Rockin' in Ab
Nightboat To Cairo
Madness
encore: Pete's Beat
One Step BeYond
encore: Steppin' Into Line
As will be a tradition on the Winter/spring shows, Chris plays the melody of Tom Jones' "it's Not Unusual" during In The Rain. The fact that Jamaican ska hasn't caught on in the States doesn't stop Suggs from asking If anyone knows Prince Buster. Carl reminds the crowd that Rockin' In Ab is an audience party occasion. Nightboat To Cairo has an extra solo, and future versions will be played so too. Pete's Beat is introduced as ''a song about the English police-force'' to the crowd's delight. During the reprise of One Step Beyond, Carl makes a plea to ''tie up your boots and put your hands together to the nutty beat."
Set second show: same as the first, but Chipmunks Are Go is added to the second encore.
The second show is aired on local radio. Mark Williams writes in Melody makers ' From bar one they're moving their asses with a pretty fair approximation of the Brixton bop, and they're so familiar with the band's material that they need little tutelage to chant the chorus of Chipmunks Are Go during the second encore'.
February 25th, 26th 1980 - NEW YORK. NY: Irving Plaza
Attendance: 2000 - sellout
Set first night:
One Step Beyond
Deceives The Eye
Mistakes
Believe Me
My Girl
Swan Lake-Razorblade Alley
Land Of Hope & Glory
In The Rain
The Young & The Old
Middle Of The Night
Bed & Breakfast Man
The Prince
Rockin in Ab
Nightboat To Cairo
Madness
encore: Pete's Beat
Madness' arrival in America coincides with The Specials' last shows on their first Stateside tour. Playing the same cities with one week notice, Madness are believed to be responsible for fake adverts suggesting that The Specials are giving 500 free tickets to those who can't afford the $10 entry price for the finale at the Diplomat Ballroom on March 1 which so far is marred by poor ticket sales. Madness themselves have no trouble selling out their own two night residency. Debra Rae Cohen writes in Rolling Stone magazine: 'It was gratifying to see the lack of rudeboy suits and porkpie hats in the crowd lined up for Madness' Irving Plaza show; a hint that a musical fashion might have a life beyond faddism. Instead of The Specials' hyperdrive, Madness showed a youthful bar band's gusto, romping through their set with all the slapstick jollity of a music hall troupe. The bandmasters turned Nightboat To Cairo into a Three Stooges routine falling over one another for a glimpse of a ship. But the real moment of nuttiness was Swan Lake during which Smash and a roadie pranced their way through Keystone Kops style choreography and butted their heads to the music with soccer playing panache. Wouldn't it be great if all Instrumentalists played as fervently as Chas Smash uses his head ?'.
February 27th 1980 - MONTREAL, CANADA:
The first of three shows in Canada is far from a successful debut: the PA system doesn't work and neither does Mike's keyboard, and Chalky turns sick halfway the show. Fed up with this lack of organising, Mike expresses his anger in the dressing room by smashing plates of food.
February 28th 1980 - TORONTO, CANANDA:TV: NICKELODEON - Toronto Broadway
The Toronto-show goes down better and is videotaped for Canadian television.
March 1st 1980 - DETROIT, MI: Punch & Judy Club
March 2nd 1980 - CHICAGO, IL: Park West
March 4th 1980 - CLEVELAND, OH: The Agora
March 8th 1980 - PORTLAND, OR The Wreck of the Hesperas
Madness perform at a pool-bar for an indifferent audience. The headlining band, made up of metal-rednecks, aren't impressed either and tell them to get out of this country with their black music.
March 9th 1980 - SEATTLE, WA:
universal or Washington March 10th 1980 - VANCOUVER, CANADA The commodore Ballroom
March 12th 1980 (Two Shows): SAN FRANCISCO, CA The Old Waldorf
Attendance: 1200 - sellout
Set second show:
One Step Beyond
Mistakes
Believe Me
My Girl
Swan Lake-Razorblade Alley
Land Of Hope & Glory
The Young & The OId
In The Rain
In The Middle Of The Night
Bed & Breakfast Man
The Prince
Rockin' In Ab
Nightboat To Cairo
Madness
encore: Pete's Beat
Madness
Mark Cooper writes in his review for Record Mirror: 'Madness are catching on fast in America; there's more than a sprinkling of porkpie-hats to be seen. Everybody seems to know the words to the songs, both shows are sold out and the understanding that you're there to dance is generally comprehended.All in all, tonight's gig is more like a reunion than a surprise. No wonder Madness have the kind of following they do in Britain. Already their shows assumed a ritualistic air, starting with Chas Smash' call to feet, ''This is the Heavy Heavy Monstersound'' through various favourites, My Girl and Land Of Hope & Glory down to the Madness encore at the end. The pleasure's in the familiarity, the sense of belonging, you know the punchline but you're a sucker for the way they tell it and anyway you can't stop dancing'.
March 14th, 15th, 16th 1980 (Six Shows) - LOS ANGELES, CA: Whisky a go-go
Support: The Go-Go's
Set first show:
One Step Beyond
Deceives The Eye
Mistakes
Believe Me
My Girl
Swan Lake-Razorblade Alley
Land Of Hope & Glory
In The Rain
The Young & The Old
Middle Of The Night
Bed & Breakfast Man
The Prince
Rockin in Ab
Nightboat To Cairo
Madness
Six Whisky shows close off the American tour. Sylvie Simmons writes in Sounds 'Madness' second visit to Los Angeles was bloody marvellous. Seven guys go loony onstage while an outbreak of terminal bopping below turns laidback LA into a seething smiling mass of insanity. The whole thing from start to finish was like some gloriously unselfconscious practical joke were it not for the fact that the musicianship was (seriously) good. lt was a moving performance; everything was choreographed to perfection, be it the paper cup chucked at Chas turning into a dance-routine collapse when it landed a bullseye, or the balloon doing the rounds during the first few songs. Hard to pick out best songs when they were all merged into each other so well and so memorably: Believe Me (''This is a song full of love and happiness), My Girl (''For all the young lovers in the audience), In The Middle Of The Night (''Some naughty things happens), The Prince (guess who this ones: dedicated to''), Nightboat To Cairo, complete with foghorns, raspy sax and Madness, where various boppers offstage decide to become various boppers onstage. Madness escaped upstairs, but they were called back for more. All this and a second set that was as hot if not hotter the same night'.
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