Central Hall Westminster has announced that Great British pop band Madness will perform at the venue in a live concert on BBC One for the channel’s annual New Year’s Eve celebrations.
This is the sixth year running that the BBC has chosen the iconic central London venue for their New Year’s Eve broadcast, with previous sell-out performances including Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Robbie Williams, Bryan Adams, Queen + Adam Lambert and Gary Barlow.
The much-loved band will be performing their greatest hits in the central London venue’s Great Hall in front of a live audience of 2,000 and an expected television audience of millions.
During the evening, the band will also collaborate with the Kingdom Choir, best-known for their unforgettable performance at the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
As well as music from Madness, London’s famous fireworks will light up the night sky over the River Thames as Big Ben strikes midnight. The spectacular firework display will be choreographed to fit a specially edited medley of music before the action switches back inside Central Hall as Madness continue the party with their hugely popular anthems.
Paul Southern, Managing Director of Central Hall Westminster, comments: “2018 has been a year of great concerts at Central Hall Westminster and this event feels like the icing on the Christmas cake! As we will be hosting the BBC’s New Year’s Eve concert for the sixth year in a row, our venue has become renowned for playing a key role in the nation’s celebrations. As a London-based band, Madness is the perfect fit for New Year at our venue and we are really looking forward to welcoming them here.”
Madness, who began in Camden Town in 1979 and are now one of the top 20 selling UK groups of all time, have also expressed their excitement for playing at Central Hall for the BBC, commenting: “Hold onto your sofas, your chaise longues, your couches… NYE and Madness – it’s going to go off like a packet of crackers…what a ding dong ding dong……”
Jan Younghusband, head of BBC Music TV Commissioning, adds: “We are so delighted that Madness will head up our New Year Celebrations this year on BBC One and with the Kingdom Choir too, have us all up dancing in our living rooms to the early hours to welcome in the year ahead. Central Hall with its historic Great Hall, provides the perfect backdrop for this event.”
A limited number of tickets for the event are now available via GigsandTours.com.
