Clothing boutique by day and live music venue by night, Paper Dress Vintage in London’s Hackney was the location for the first headlining show of A THOUSAND MAD THINGS.
Sold out for several weeks, it has reinforced the impressive impact that A THOUSAND MAD THINGS has made since releasing the debut EP ‘Cry & Dance’. The vehicle of William Barradale, his self-confessed mission is to bring dark synthpop back, reflecting his experience as a tortured outsider navigating young manhood and homophobia.
While having opened for THE HUMAN LEAGUE on Brighton Beach in 2025, live appearances of A THOUSAND MAD THINGS have been comparatively scarce since, save slots at Swn Festival and Release Me in addition to opening for American darkwave acts PIXEL GRIP and TWIN TRIBES.
But opening the evening, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was not expecting to see the British answer to LADY GAGA in Hackney; actually from Melbourne in Australia and of Italian heritage, SIR JUDE is the nom de theatre of Juliana Barillaro. While starting her set sedately, from the pumping ‘Homewrecker’ onwards, she gave the order to just dance. Although ‘Madonna’ was not about the superstar diva, Barillaro displayed a similarly feisty independent spirit performing it. The excellent ‘Buried’ pointed to a musical affinity with the diva born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta but with a grungier edge. By the concluding gallop of ‘Dilemma’, the crowd was already sweating.
In a sea of smoke, when William Barradale arrived on stage dressed all in black with a stylish shirt, tie and long skirt, it was like something out of ‘The Matrix’. Accompanied on keyboards by Jim Foulsham-Rogers, the duo launched into a trio of uptempo numbers to set the ball rolling; the opening track on the new ‘Hate It’ EP, ‘Promises’ gave proceedings a catchy gothic swing while the trance-laden ‘Remorse’ offered clubbier glowstick vibes. The superb ‘Girl’ entered SUICIDE territory before ‘Empty Part of Me’ took things down a notch and allowed Barradale to display his lower and higher vocal ranges.
A new song ‘Loving Was Easier’ explored icy Nordic pop and outlined how much more there is to come from A THOUSAND A MAD THINGS; what Barradale has over other the newer crop of British “synth” acts is classic songs albeit in a modern format which eschews the longer intros and fades of Synth Britannia, plus an emotive voice to match. This was very much in evidence on the frustrated intensity of the more political ‘Truth You Seek’.
The ‘Hate It’ EP title song continued the dark disco dancing but after explaining that ‘My Car’ was about cruising, THE HUMAN LEAGUE inspired ‘She’s On The Run’ had its ‘Sound Of The Crowd’ stomp enhanced further in homage to ‘Love & Dancing’ with an extended ‘She Bleeds’ dub section where Barradale took to a mini-synth and other effects. After all that energy explosion, ‘Cracked Mirror’ showcased a wonderful ballad where Barradale held one particularly long note to cheers from the crowd.
Closing the show were A THOUSAND MAD THINGS’ two most streamed songs ‘Wide Awake’ and ‘Local Guys’. In the hands of an average darkwave act, ‘Wide Awake’ would have had its verse repeated for 5 minutes. Barradale though gave it a killer chorus and a soaring vocal haunted by the spectre of the late great Billy MacKenzie. Meanwhile the glorious ‘Local Guys’ is A THOUSAND MAD THINGS own ‘Smalltown Boy’, a highly relatable song delivered full of angst and passion that clearly connected. Those present could not be helped but wowed by his on-stage charisma. Think Ian Curtis, Andy McCluskey and James New of MIRRORS in his physicality and you would not be far off.
A superb first headlining show, this enthusiastically received performance should give A THOUSAND MAD THINGS the confidence to do more. Certainly deserving of a bigger audience and without the best new act of 2025, ‘Cry & Dance’ was an impressive statement and while less immediate, the more expressive and darker tones of the new ‘Hate It’ EP show that the debut was not a fluke.
Special thanks to James Crosley at Nettwerk Music Group
A THOUSAND MAD THINGS ‘Hate It’ EP is released by Nettwerk on 26th June 2026, pre-save at https://athousandmadthings.ffm.to/hateit_
https://athousandmadthings.ffm.to/bio
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574810537242
https://www.instagram.com/athousandmadthings/
https://www.tiktok.com/@athousandmadthings
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiH0XGmfKMWzM_VsizMgP8A
The SIR JUDE single ‘Buried’ is available on the usual digital platforms
https://www.facebook.com/sirjudemusic
https://www.instagram.com/sirjudemusic/
https://www.tiktok.com/@sirjudemusic
https://www.youtube.com/c/sirjudemusic
Text and Photos by Chi Ming Lai
1st June 2026
Follow Us!