Gig review: Madness and The Lightning Seeds at First Direct Arena, Leeds

It is not often you get to see two of your favourite bands at one venue on the same night but that was the case for me on Friday as the Lightning Seeds and Madness lit up the First Direct Arena.

The evening was about Madness, of course it was, but take nothing away from the Lightning Seeds who were a brilliant support act and provided something of a soundtrack to my youth.

Formed in Liverpool in 1989 by Ian Broudie, they are another group to have stood the test of time and can always rely on their amazing back catalogue of classics to get a crowd going.

They certainly did in Leeds as they played nearly all of their best-known tracks before Madness took centre stage.

It was noticeable how many fans had arrived in time to see the Lightning Seeds, who opened their set with Marvellous and played many more crowd-pleasers from two of their early to mid-1990s albums, Sense and Jollification.

These included Change, Sense, Sugar Coated Iceberg, Lucky You, The Life of Riley and Pure – all brilliant tracks – before they finished with their famous football anthem Three Lions.

This made for a rousing finale as Broudie had the entire singing along with him.

It was then time for Suggs and his pals to emerge on stage and serve up a raucous performance to their adoring legions of baggy trouser resplendent, fez-wearing fans.

The ska-pop group from Camden in north London played well over 20 tracks and overflowed with energy and conviction from start to finish.

I have been a Madness fan for many years but this was the first time I had seen them live.

It was a real treat to see them perform all their classics which, predictably, went down a storm with their followers, many of whom have been travelling far and wide for decades to watch them perform.

They kicked off with Theatre of the Absurd and then played The Prince, and Beginners 101 before the brilliant My Girl.

This really got the crowd dancing and singing along.

The setlist felt about right, with Madness dropping in all their major hits and still managing to show off a very respectable amount of their latest album, the number one charting Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie.

Regarded as one of the most loved bands in British culture, Madness have had 10 UK top-ten albums and 15 top-ten singles throughout their career and have won a multitude of awards including a prestigious Ivor Novello.

Personal highlights included Embarrassment, Wings of a Dove, One Step Beyond, House of Fun, Baggy Trousers, Our House and It Must Be Love.

There was a quick encore of Friday Night, Saturday Morning by The Specials before the band ended with Madness and Night Boat to Cairo.

An evening well spent? They call it Madness. Amazing.