Moment frontman of iconic 70s band Madness stumbles on stage at Boomtown festival in 36C heat as worried fans look on

THIS is the moment Madness frontman Suggs sparked fears for his health after almost collapsing while on stage at Boomtown Festival. The singer, 65, was filmed nearly tumbling over on the hottest day of the year, before completing his set sitting down and in the shade under an umbrella. Backstage staff brought an umbrella out to shade the frontman Credit: Supplied Suggs insisted he was ‘fine’ Credit: Supplied Video footage captured by a fan in the crowd showed the singer appearing unsteady on his feet midway through his set. Wearing an all black suit, the singer is ushered over to a seat by pals before he falls backwards into the chair brought on stage for him. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! Other band members and backstage staff try desperately to cool the frontman down, bringing an umbrella and towels on stage to shade him from the sun’s heat. A reveller at the 75,000-fan festival said: “As soon as he came on set he clearly wasn’t on it.” The frontman was seen stumbling around on the stage Credit: Supplied Before the festival kicked off organisers issued a safety warning about the heat Credit: Supplied The Our House hitmaker was wearing his trademark suit and blazer outfit despite soaring temperatures of up to 36c. “Thanks very much for coming on this boiling day,” he told the audience, adding “I’m all right” as he began to stumble backwards. One festivalgoer told The Sun: “After coming back from an interlude he was swaying and the band’s entourage were clearly concerned. “A lot of the crowd started leaving before they even got to the big hits. Most read in Showbiz “Then halfway through a transition to another song it looked like he was about to collapse. “He blamed a double knee replacement at first, then the heat but I’m not convinced. “He managed to get through the set just, but was sitting down and had people bringing him towels and shielding him with an umbrella.” They added that other members of the band appeared to be affected by the oppressive weather, with one trumpet player leaving for the last few songs and a guitarist coming on and off stage. Boomtown festival is held annually at the Matterley Estate, a working dairy farm near Winchester in the South Downs, attracting over 75,000 guests across six days. Madness, who found success in the late ‘70s to become one of the most successful British bands of their generation, can count 17 Top Ten hits to their name including House of Fun and It Must Be Love. Other headliners this year include Irish rap trio Kneecap and ‘00s pop group Scissor Sisters. Before the festival kicked off on Wednesday, organisers issued safety warnings, telling guests to prepare for hot and dry conditions. However, on Thursday dozens were left sweltering on the hottest day of the year unable to pitch their tents. Katherine, 37, who visited the festival with her boyfriend, told The Sun: “We were told all campsites were full. “They just said we had to go and find space. We were told to ask people to take their gazebos down so that we could set up our tents there. “There was this huge backlog of people coming in. The crowd was growing and growing and everyone’s getting really angry understandably because there was a whole empty field for overflow. “The festival’s huge and obviously, we’re all very dehydrated. People were fainting,” she added. Temperatures soared across Britain on Thursday as the mercury was pushed into the high thirties. The Sun has contacted Boomtown and representatives of Madness for comment. Comment now