Madness. 100 Club. Wednesday 8th June 2016.

Until Wednesday evening, Madness had never played the 100 Club, on Oxford Street. A band interwoven with London culture set foot inside the iconic club on a muggy June evening. This was part of a selection of intimate gigs all on the same night for the charity Nordoff Robbins. (Other shows included Squeeze playing Oslo in Hackney and Alison Moyet performing to a tiny room at the Roundhouse).

The band meandered their way from the adjacent backstage door next to the bar through the crowd to the stage; a throwback of sorts to their 1979 Top of the Pops performance of One Step Beyond. Downstairs and away from the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street, the club is an anachronism, steeped in rock history. You forget what year it is when you descend the staircase. This is a hot, dark room with a capacity of 350 people and an infamous* giant pillar in the middle; possibly holding everything together. This year marks forty years since Johnny Rotten and Siouxsie Sioux played their memorable shows over two nights here; by many defined as the beginning of punk.

(*Viv Albertine's excellent memoir narrates the tale of Sid Vicious lobbing a pint glass at the pillar, only for the glass to rebound, shatter and blind a girl in one eye. Vicious was subsequently arrested in the aftermath. Viv tells it better than I do. I highly recommend her book).

The set is a sing-along of a sing-alongs. With numbers like Shut Up, NW5 and The Bed and Breakfast Man, everyone in the room knows the words and gleefully cries them back from where they came. Lead singer Suggs, wearing a suit with a stripy t-shirt and sunglasses; is the ringmaster. Chrissy Boy and Lee Thompson provide the entertainment value; at one point Thompson pours champagne into flutes for the revellers at the front. Bedders on bass, Woody on drums and Barso on keyboards the driving forces on rhythm and tempo.

There is a Pearly Queen in attendance, along with rock royalty too. Chrissy Boy's former girlfriend Jane of the Mo-Dette's was called up on stage to sing a storming version of Madness later on the set, a real highlight of the evening.

Comprising songs old and new, the band perform a rare outing of Girl (Why Don't You), a cover taken from their Dangermen era. The finale is joyful, and the audience are in raptures. Wings of a Dove, the aforementioned Madness and Night Boat to Cairo ensure that those watching on never have two feet on the floor at the same time. This is a humdinger of a gig, in a pocket sized perspiring historic box of a venue. Madness playing the unique 100 Club for the very first time, this felt a real privilege to be there.