Review: Suggs, My Life Story In Words & Music, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday (From York Press)

Review: Suggs, My Life Story In Words & Music, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday

11:02am Saturday 28th January 2012 in Music news and reviews By Charles Hutchinson

SUGGS is not the first musician to build a show around his life story. Tom Robinson and David Ford have done so before him, and every Billy Bragg gig is one part comedic social commentary to two parts song.

However, Suggs’s very personal show takes it to a new level. He once dabbled in stand-up comedy, not for long, but he can certainly hold a solo show together.

Strictly speaking, the Madness front man is not alone: Deano Mumford, The Rifles’ keyboard player, acts as occasional manservant/stooge as well as providing piano or acoustic accompaniment to Suggs’s choice of illustrative songs (Lola, Baggy Trousers, Cecilia etc)

It is one thing to lead a band, with merry banter between songs; it is another challenge entirely to present a scripted monologue with room for improvisation (a lovely dig at Liverpool’s absence from European football this season), and he does it brilliantly.

Dapper suited as ever, Suggs moves with ease and charm and wit and sadness too, as he segues two interlinking stories that marked his 50th birthday last year: the musical journey of Madness and his subsequent career one step beyond and a parallel Who Do You Think You Are? tale of dark discovery about his father, who left the family home when Suggs was only three.

Whether seated for his father’s tale or mobile as he is in a Madness gig, his story-telling skill is remarkable, suffused with insights, mimicry, self-deprecation and just the right amount of showmanship.

The show is moving too, as Suggs learns that his father had been a nice man and urges us to reflect that “love is the best”.