Montrose East Links was a sea of pork pie hats and braces when Madness took the night boat to the Angus town eight years ago.
The famous dunes were the scene of a huge party as Suggs and the Camden gang belted out hit after hit as the fans mimicked the band’s signature dance moves.
The band was asked to headline Montrose Music Festival on May 22 2015.
They were unavailable but went one step beyond and offered to perform a standalone gig at the East Links on July 5 which the committee couldn’t turn down!
Here was a band with 15 UK top 10 singles including chart-topper House of Fun.
The announcement made front-page headlines.
MoFest chairman David Paton said: “We’re thrilled to have secured Madness to play in Montrose this summer — it’s their only Scottish date on the Grandslam Tour.
“They are superb live and will give fans an incredible night performing a range of hits from over the decades.
“Last year we welcomed Status Quo to the town and this year, it’s the turn of Madness, who we expect to prove just as popular.
“This once again puts Montrose on the map as a premier live music destination.”
Ticket sales for Madness in Montrose were phenomenal
An online pre-sale saw 2,000 tickets sold before tickets had even officially gone on sale at the Town Hall — where some Madness fans queued up from as early as 6am.
By 11am, 4,000 tickets to Madness in Montrose were gone as fans hit the local box office or took to the phones or internet to get £35 briefs for the hottest show in town.
Suggs — real name Graeme McPherson – spoke to The Courier before the open-air gig.
“I was very pleased to hear we’re playing on a cricket field or something, it’ll be amazing. If the Montrose people think Status Quo were good then they’re in for a massive treat,” he laughed.
In addition to East Links, the Grandslam Madness itinerary was taking in some of the UK’s premier sporting grounds – football clubs, rugby grounds, cricket clubs and racecourses.
“It’s just somewhere a little bit different,” Suggs added.
“This is the great joy about this tour, we’re getting to play at places where nobody ever plays and that’s important.
“Madness and the outdoor life go together. We love playing festivals and arenas too so it made sense. I suppose it all started again for us when we played T in the Park and Rockness in 2010 and 2011. We had great times at those and it fed our appetite and we decided to create our own version of these festivals by doing this tour.
“I think the reason we endure is that we genuinely do enjoy ourselves.
“But I probably enjoy it even more now.”
Madness fans descended on the town from across the UK and there was not a single hotel room left following triumphant ticket sales.
Many pubs across the town also put on pre-Madness events which got fans in the party mood by the time the gates opened.
Gates opened at 6pm with support from By The Rivers and The Lottery Winners.
In no time at all the party was in full swing.
Madness opened with Grandslam and performed some new material during the evening but it was the old favourites which had middle aged men dancing like teenagers.
It was like turning the clock back to the 1980s.
The atmosphere was taken up a notch during crowd-pleasers One Step Beyond, House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Our House, It Must Be Love and Night Boat to Cairo.
The ska legends performed a packed two-hour set of quirky pop classics as they stamped their own inimitable footprints all over the East Links.
In between, there was plenty of banter between Suggs and the band and the audience, which, in tribute to the band’s wide appeal, was made up of all ages.
Anne Jenkins, secretary of Montrose Music Festival, said: “What an amazing show – it was literally Madness at the East Links.
“Eight years ago when MoFest started I don’t think anybody ever imagined we’d be hosting the likes of Madness in our wee town but this just shows the power of community spirit and what can be achieved by volunteer groups.
“Having 8,000 people on the East Links was an incredible sight and it’s something that Montrose certainly won’t forget for a while.
“Now the big question is how on earth are we going to possibly top this next year?”
They did.
And 2016 saw East Links sets from boogie-woogie pianist extraordinaire Jools Holland and raspy-voiced Canadian rock giant Bryan Adams as part of his Get Up tour of the UK before Scottish soul pop legends Deacon Blue and the Beach Boys were announced as headliners for the 2017 festival.
The much-loved Glasgow band, led by Dundee’s Ricky Ross, started those Good Vibrations on Friday May 26 2017 before the Beach Boys brought the festival to a close on Sunday evening and for two hours it really did feel like 1965 again.
The evening’s repertoire was filled with impeccable harmonies as the boys dug deep into their considerable songbook and proved there was plenty left in the tank.
Unfortunately MoFest ran out of steam.
It became a victim of its own success, which brought with it spiralling costs.
MoFest was quietly killed off in 2019.
LCC Live then announced it would bring platinum-selling artist Jess Glynne to perform at the inaugural Live at the Links to plug the gap.
The 2019 summer event also featured the Kaiser Chiefs and the return of Madness and was the largest weekend event in Scotland outside of Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival.
They didn’t need to be asked twice to return to the Mo.
Here’s hoping for a third act soon.
