Festival Madness makes for absolute gladness

Almost 15,000 music lovers made for a capacity crowd on the Green, as the Nutty Boys brought their fantastic ska sounds to town.

From NW5 to the North West's biggest music festival, Madness's Saturday night "legends" slot was outstanding.

Warming up, under a balmy early evening sun, were local acts The Soul Convicts, hailing from East Lancashire, and The Tailormade, who had also been on the bill for the festival's opening night.

The Soul Convicts took no prisoners to get the night underway with their blues sounds crammed into a 30-minute set, before St Annes' Jack Frimston and his band mates once more made a great impression with their fun cover versions of hits such as Kanye West's Gold Digger and their party-inspired own tracks.

Once Madness took to the stage, you couldn't help but 'Keep Moving' your feet as they combined infectious rhythms with exceptional musician- and showmanship.

For a good hour, Suggs and Co held the audience in the palm of their hand, building up the anticipation and teasing the crowd with hits and tracks the casual listener might not have known, before unleashing the big guns.

Then for the final half hour they had the entire arena of fez- and trilby-clad fans bouncing in full-on skank style, as the show went One Step Beyond once the hits started to roll.

What else could you expect when the set list run: House Of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Our House and It Must Be Love, with Madness and Night Boat To Cairo as an encore?

Fun retro graphics and a spectacular lights show all added to the atmosphere of pure and utter gladness thanks to the absolute brilliance of Madness.

* Sunday night, West End Proms