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It was over two and a half years since Gen and I had been to Melbourne, so the opportunity of a weekend of ska and reggae featuring Canada's The One Night Band was not to be given up...

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Thursday, March 26
Words: Glen Smyth
Photos: Gen Murray
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I read an article written in the eighties where Madness apportioned some blame for their breakup to their 1986 tour of Australia. It wasn’t their first Australian tour, but as a 17 year old discovering Madness I never imagined they’d be back to our shores again. In 2008 we saw them in London performing two sets: one of classics and one of their concept album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate. It was great – the whole package, and while it was an expensive $90 to see them this time in Sydney, we weren’t going to miss it.

As a sideshow for V Festival we were treated to some shitty indie band as the support, but most weren’t too concerned and spent the time catching up with the usual suspects and getting the beer in. I suspect most of the crowd weren’t accustomed to going to Luna Park’s Big Top for the gig, being on the north side of the harbour, but the theme park was a rather fitting place for Madness to play. The venue was a good size too and with the price having kept some away, we weren’t packed in like sardines.

The band were quite punctual in beginning, a rare thing in this day and age, and the very positive atmosphere was set with the first number, One Step Beyond. For the next hour and a half, the band mixed old and classic songs to great effect. Following Madness’s contemporary releases, I was quite pleased they selected a few less obvious songs including Lovestruck from their 1998 Wonderful album, NW5, Dust Devil, On the Town and Clerkenwell Polka from The Liberty of Norton Folgate and Max Romeo’s Iron Shirt from the Dangermen Sessions record. Although the crowd were quieter during these tracks, they responded well, which is a positive sign for future tours.

Note: This review concentrates on a selection of the bands, due to time and taste. For reviews of other bands who played at Ska Splash, there are a number of other sites on the web who covered the event.

Thursday

Although the decision to come to England came before the announcement of Ska Splash, it was Ska Splash which Gen and I bought tickets for some time before we’d even chosen our flights to the UK. The line-up of the festival was too enticing – a collection of names some would only dream of seeing in a lifetime, let alone a weekend.

By the time it had come around, we’d settled into London living and had already seen a host of great acts, though few that were playing the Ska Splash Festival. Apart from great UK ska stalwarts Intensified pulling out at the last minute and a change of venue that meant nothing to us, we were pleased that eight months had passed and the gig was going ahead as first intended.

With Australian friends Dave and Tessa in town to celebrate their honeymoon, we jumped in a hire car on Thursday and made our way north. Gen was given the job of navigating and Tessa driving, being the only one who could drive. It was a five hour trip – only one and half hours more than it should have been and some lovely detours through London’s past – the walled village of Stamford is definitely worth a visit.

We’d been warned by a few people not to expect much from Skegness, the seaside town where the festival was being held, but we didn’t expect on-site caravans for as long as the eye could see, a waft from the ocean that suggested the sewage system would have been at home in Victorian times and a population that thought mobility scooters weren’t only for the immobile, but for everyone. Still, our caravan was clean, modern and spacious and the venue was both close to our digs and perfect for such an event.