A fancy dress theme for an entire Summer tour??? that’s Madness! The theme is “Theatre of the Absurd”, the more absurd the better. We’ll have photographers snapping you at every show, the best ones win prizes and will be immortalised on an official poster. 

After scoring their first studio UK Official Charts No.1 album, Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie on Friday, one of the biggest and most loved British bands Madness, announce their ‘C’est La Vie’ summer tour.

The tour will conclude with a summer show at Galway Airport on Saturday 10th August as part of the Galway Summer Sessions 2024.

As well as performing tracks from their brand-new UK Official Charts No.1 album Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie, Madness will also perform some of their greatest hits from a career spanning over four decades.

The long awaited album Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C’est La Vie comes seven years after the release of their last record and is available on double vinyl and CD with a limited crystal clear vinyl sold through HMV and indie stores.

The governing principle behind Theatre Of the Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie, is: “let Madness be Madness”. The result is an album of typically timeless brilliance that also reflects the wonky years of its creation, these 14 songs representing the cream of the bumper crop of tunes the group cooked up, whittled down this punchy, focused set. There are moments of ineffably catchy pop excellence (drummer Daniel ‘Woody’ Woodgate’s beguiling, bittersweet carousel ‘Round We Go’, Chrissy-Boy’s anarchic anthem to perhaps-justified paranoia, ‘Run For Your Life’), lead single from the album ‘C’est La Vie’reflects on the perils of everyday life while the album is bookended by two of Suggs’ finest compositions.

Talking about the album, Madness said “Well, well, well, here we are.. Our thirteenth album (lucky for some) Theatre Of the Absurd Presents C’Est La Vie is ready for your ears. For us, recording it was the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years – we were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”

A very special prologue running through the album is supplied by Emmy and BAFTA Awards winning Martin Freeman. A longtime fan, the relationship formed with the band when Madness’ manager found Martin in a meet and greet queue and introduced him to the members.

Madness famously emerged from the backstreets of Camden Town in the late 70s and recently released a three-part original docu series with TV channel AMC about the beginnings of the band in the area. Before We Was We: Madness by Madness, chronicles the rise of one of the most loved bands in British culture.

Throughout their career, Madness have had one  no.1 UK Official Charts No.1 album, 10 UK top ten albums, 15 top ten singles and have won a multitude of awards including a prestigious Ivor Novello. They’ve performed on the top of Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and set the record for the biggest ever audience for the BBC’s Live New Year’s Eve Broadcast – the most watched TV music event of 2018.