Madness have announced Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie, the veteran UK hitmakers' 13th album and first in seven years, which will be out November 17 via BMG. The band - Graham "Suggs" McPherson, Chris Foreman, Lee Thompson, Dan Woodgate, Mark Bedford - produced the album themselves and it features actor Martin Freeman as narrator.
Say the band: "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!"
The official single from the album is C'est La Vie's title track, which finds the band's signature "nutty" sound - part ska and part '60s pop with a little music hall in there - in fine form. Suggs says it's "about these crazy times we're living in, and how I just want to stay on my boat and not be a part of all this madness. But of course, I'm a member of a group called Madness. Perhaps we should have called ourselves 'Sanity'..."
You can listen to "C'est La Vie" and two other songs from the album, along with a trailer for Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie below.
Madness have announced fall UK dates in support of the album and those are listed below. They were set to play their first US shows in ages in 2020 before the pandemic hit. Let's hope they make it over soon.
Theatre Of The Absurd Presents C'est La Vie. Coverart
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Madness - 2023 Tour Dates
November 30 - Aberdeen P&J Live
December 01 - Glasgow OVO Hydro 02 - Newcastle Utilita Arena 04 - Cardiff International Arena 05 - Nottingham Motorpoint Arena 07 - Liverpool M&S Bank Arena 08 - Leeds First Direct Arena 09 - Manchester AO Arena 11 - Brighton Centre 12 - Bournemouth International Centre 14 - Sheffield Utilita Arena 15 - London The O2 16 - Birmingham Utilita Arena
