News: What is happening in the world of Madrugada and on this page? I try to stay as updated as possible, and I will try to bring you the latest rumours and facts concerning Madrugada. Of course, you will also be able to read all the interesting stuff about what has been updated or changed on this very webpage.

April 15th 2004 - US tour dates
Sometimes, you actually hear things here first: Madrugada will play four concerts in the greater New York region in the US from May 5th to May 9th, including a performance at legendar CBGB's in Manhattan on the last day. The other three performances are at Maxwells in Hoboken, NJ, and at Piano's and Sine, both in Manhattan, NY. Check out info for venue's webpages and other bands on the bill in the Concert Chronology.

For now, there are no dates outside of these, the band expresses that they would love to be able to tour all over and see the fans across the country and also in Canada, but right now it is just New York. The band will be staying in New York from May 4th to May 10th. Thanks to Stephen from Blaim for the information.

April 11th 2004 - More discography
The Discography has been updated again, now most releases feature a nice image which you can click to view a larger version of the cover for the release. Some more samplers and promos will be added at a later time. If anyone has images that are not available on the page already, feel free to send me them in an e-mail and I will put them up. If anyone notices any mistakes, please feel free to let me know about it.

April 7th 2004 - Discography update
I have started adding images of the album covers to the Discography page. This is a work in progress, but eventually I hope to have most of the covers available, bar a few of the obscure promo releases. Hope this will be a useful addition, it is something that should have been done years ago.

April 6th 2004 - Radio appearances in the UK
Madrugada appeared on the program Mornings With Gideon Coe on 6Music at 12:20 UK time today. They did an acoustic live performance and an interview, which was all streamed online on the radio channel's home page, but unfortunately I heard about it too late to put up a notice here or even get to listen to it myself. 6Music do have an archive of previous sessions and interviews on their page, hopefully Madrugada will be added there and it will be possible to listen to their performance at a later time.

They are doing another radio session on Thursday.

Once again thanks to Stephen for the information.

April 5th 2004 - UK Tour
Madrugada's three-date UK tour was supposed to start in Birmingham tonight, but due to schedules conflicting with flights it had to be delayed. The concerts in London and Manchester tomorrow and the day after will go ahead as planned, the band arrives in London today. Support for the two concerts will be Chris T-T Band, which you can read more about here.

The band aims to re-schedule the Birmingham show for late May or early June.

In addition to the two concerts, Madrugada will also be doing some radio sessions. Thanks to Stephen Ewashkiw for the info.

April 3rd 2004 - Sivert Höyem And The Opposition at Folken
Last night Sivert Höyem And The Opposition concluded their first Norwegian tour at Folken in Stavanger. The band got on stage and opened up with "Northwind," which sounds like an early Madrugada b-side, and you could not help but feel that there was something missing. With Sivert in front, Madrugada-drummer Simen behind the drum kit, Madrugada-collaborator Mikael Lindqvist on piano and percussion and the Madrugada Dream Team Lars and Neil taking care of sound and lights, you stood there crossing your fingers hoping that Robert and Frode would be standing backstage to get on stage, that this was all just a clever joke and they would indeed be playing "Blood Shot Adult Commitment" before the night was over.

But once the first song faded away, something was different. This was not a new Madrugada, and - as became very clear as the concert progressed - it never aimed to be. Sivert was standing there on stage talking. Smiling. And joking. And he and his fellow musicians on stage started playing a stream of songs that never would have fit on any Madrugada record, making you realize that if Madrugada is work, this is Sivert's leisure. This is where he can laugh in the middle of a song because there was a mistake, and shake the violin players hand after a song, without it seeming as out of place as it would in the midst of the depressive drone that is Madrugada, and which makes that band so great.

In the middle of the concert we got the unreleased "Backstabbin' Blues," which is about an idiot and which Sivert warned us would be 'fucking fast,' and Folken was transformed to a barnyard dance. There and then I realized just how good Sivert really is at what he does, when this odd, mega-fast country-tune felt totally right to be listening to. Sivert spent about thirty minutes making me understand what he really wants with this solo project, something that never really came across to me through the newly-released album, and from then on it was a massive demonstration at the multitude and range of his musical talents, ending with the fabulous and unreleased goodbye-song "We're Coming Back," where Sivert states that he is our friend and we will never ever walk alone again. Nice to know.

The lacklustre audience, which only counted maybe three hundred people at a eight-hundred capacity venue that Madrugada have been selling out for the past four years, could only blame themselves for not bothering to cheer afterwards to get the band out for a cover of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene." Maybe next time. Sivert, and the music itself, would surely deserve it.

This is his very own thing.
It might just be difficult to realize at first, standing in the shadows of Madrugada and all.

Older News: Most of the older news pages are also being stored and are available from this page. These news pages are no longer updated, so some of the links might be outdated.