A CRICKET ground was turned into a House of Fun as Madness played their biggest Brighton and Hove show ever.

The legendary ska seven-piece went One Step Beyond any previous show, playing to thousands of pogoing fans at the Sussex County Cricket Ground, in Hove.

The band kicked off the summer season with their Grandslam Madness tour – billed as the UK’s biggest open air tour.

Madness rose to fame with a series of back-to-back top 20 hits between 1979 and 1985, including One Step Beyond, Baggy Trousers, Shut Up and the Labi Siffre cover It Must Be Love.

Ahead of the show, Argus entertainment reporter Duncan Hall said: “Last time they played Brighton they sold out two nights at the Brighton Centre, so it was always going to be a big show.

“After Cliff Richard and Elton John it is great to get a band who made their name with the live show and their ability to whip up a crowd.”

In Pictures: Madness play Hove

The band initially broke up in 1986 but reunited in 1992 for the Madstock concert in Finsbury Park, London – a show which is famed creating vibrations as big as an earthquake which registered (4.5 on the Richter scale) as fans bounced to One Step Beyond.

They have since enjoyed a revival as frequent faces on the UK festival scene and producing three new studio albums and a covers collection.

Lead singer Graham McPherson – better known as Suggs –, 54, was born in Hastings and speaking to The Argus earlier this year said he had found memories of going travelling to Brighton and Hove as a teenager.

He said: “Brighton to a Londoner is an important place. It’s where you went for the bank holiday weekend.

“In the olden days, we used to go down to Brighton for football matches.

“I remember there was a one-legged ticket inspector at Brighton and he could catch you, he was like the bionic man.”