Madness man Suggs to bring new tour to Northampton

Suggs will tell of the many times he has fallen off the tightrope of fame

If his first show was about how on earth he got there, his latest is about the surprises that awaited him when he did.

Vertigo on the roof of Buckingham Palace, nearly blowing the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games , watching his underpants fall to earth on Bowie’s driveway.

Things have gone a smidge surreal since the Madness frontman was a 12-year-old in shorts on the tough streets of North London.

Constantly expecting that inevitable tap on the shoulder to hear “what are you doing here, Sunshine?” Fame is a tightrope and Suggs has fallen off many times. But for all the near death experiences he takes great solace in the words of Blondie, “The tide is high, but I’m holding on…”.

Suggs’ latest one man tour caps a busy period for the Madness frontman, with their notorious annual shindig, the House Of Fun Weekender, having recently taken place at Butlins Minehead and a definitive greatest hits album, Full House: The Very Best Of Madness, out now.

Suggs brings his What A King Cnut - A Life in the Realm of Madness tour to the Dernate stage on Wednesday, March 7, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £30.50 before fees.

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox heads to the venue on Friday, March 9.

Starting out as the bedroom project of jazz pianist Scott Bradlee and rapidly growing into a viral sensation, the US group’s vintage-pop mash ups have racked up more than 800million YouTube views and brought their rotating roster of top-class session musicians into the limelight and onto sold out worldwide tours.

Imagine marrying the 21st century party vibe of Miley Cyrus or the minimalist angst of Radiohead with the crackly warmth of a vintage ‘78 or the plunger-muted barrelhouse howl of a forgotten Kansas City jazzman.

Bradlee’s choice of material ranges from the ‘80s hard rock of Guns N’ Roses to hits as recent as Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do.

Since first arriving on UK shores in early 2014, Postmodern Jukebox have consistently deepened their commitment to the UK by adding more shows each time they visit, bringing their unique spin on modern pop hits and retro pop stylings to new towns and cities for the first time while revisiting favourite haunts.

They play Royal & Derngate on Friday, March 9, tickets cost from £28 before fees.