A sea of red fezzes greeted Madness when they made their way onto the stage in Sheffield’s 13,000-capacity Utilita Arena on Thursday night. These little red hats – an emblem taken from their 1979 hit “Night Boat to Cairo” – are sold at the merch stand and have become commonplace at Madness shows over the years, and as the band launched into the propulsive “One Step Beyond”, they bobbed up and down merrily in the crowd.

What’s also become tradition is a Madness tour at Christmas, and Thursday’s show kicked off the Nutty Boys’ first full UK tour in two years. Ostensibly in support of the band’s latest compilation album, Hit Parade , which collected 45 singles from between 1979 and 2024, the setlist was stacked with hits. It’s the songs that got the crowd on side: aside from the competent

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