A year after the first event, blues festival and charity fundraiser Milkfest was back for a return delivery. The format was similar but the carefully curated eight artist line up featured all but one new act, and a new beneficiary had been chosen in Dementia UK. Indeed between bands we saw moving footage of people and their families being supported by ‘admiral nurses’ as they live with this most distressing of conditions which will affect one in two of us during our lives.
Helped by an earlier finish this year, it has one of the more relaxed festival vibes and is a mellow way to spend a Sunday – nevertheless the free access in and out of the Indigo can make for empty seats as people seek food and drink elsewhere in the 02 complex.
The one band making a return visit were The Milk Men, but as the organisers, guitarist Adam Norsworthy in particular, they were fully entitled to play at their own party. They were also the sharpest dressers of the day with their suits, pocket squares and singer Jamie Spry’s bright pink jacket.
Opening with ‘Waiting For Some Rock n Roll’ and ‘Little Miss Attention’ theirs is a catchily accessible sound, with the focus on songs and short solos. They mix Feelgood-esque blues with old fashioned rock’n’roll, though ‘Give a Little Love’ saw them dabble in a funkier sound and ‘The Score’ was more traditional blues, assisted by the slide guitar of Thomas Heppell, his face obscured by a huge hat. They played both old and new songs including ‘Taking her Time’, ‘Son Of a Gun’, ‘Fabulous’ and ‘One Man Band’.
They had a lively stage presence and guest Terry Carter added harmonica to ‘Going Back Home’, popularised by Wilko Johnson and apparently co-written by former Pirate Mick Green, father of bassist Lloyd, before ending with ‘She Don’t Like Rock’n’Roll’, complete with singalong. There were several fans dancing in the aisle between the front blocks of seats who took the opposite view, and on crowd reaction alone the Milk Men were being unduly modest going first on the bill.
A new name to me was Mississippi Macdonald who from his name I assumed was an ageing bluesman from the States, so I was rather surprised to find a young, ponytailed man step forward, real name Oli. He opened with a lengthy, slow blues above which, sadly, you could hear the chatter from the bar area, but the pace picked up with ‘What Have You Done For Me?’ and the old blues standard ‘Stepping Out’.
A new song, ‘What Love Is’, had a soulful feel and ‘Your Bad Attitude’ rocked with an up tempo groove. He had a pleasant voice and humble attitude and was well supported by a second guitarist in Phil Dearing, though having watched the documentary about him in the week, I could not get over the latter’s facial resemblance to Tony Blair!
After a couple of songs where the band got into a lovely swampy southern groove, he finished with ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do’, sounding a little like ‘Need Your Love So Bad’. After a slow start I was impressed and made a mental note to check further.
In contrast the sharp suited Errol Linton has been on the scene for a while and I remember seeing him at the London Blues Festival last year. Opening with ‘Sad and Lonesome’, he takes a more traditional, old-school blues approach with Lance Rose playing an upright bass, and Petar Zivkovic’s piano and his own harmonica the dominant instruments, though Richey Green delivered the odd sharp burst on guitar and pulled some entertaining shapes in doing so.
He also spoke of his pride in parents and relatives who made the journey from Jamaica to his Brixton home, a timely message these days, and ‘Packing My Bags’ echoed some of that heritage, lyrically and musically. The music was less up my street than some of the other acts on the bill, but ‘Shake Em Down’ and the boogie woogie styled ‘Step Back’ ended the set in lively fashion, Errol whipping up a storm on harmonica.
As with Paul Jones and Dave Kelly last year, there was an acoustic duo to provide a momentary drop to a mellower pace, in this case the respected guitarist Robbie McIntosh (the Pretenders and Paul McCartney being only the tip of his long CV) and sidekick Steve Wilson (no relation), the latter deputising for the more celebrated Hamish Stuart who was recovering from surgery.
They played some originals, Robbie’s ‘Scarecrow’ and Steve’s rather twee ‘Little Man’ but the bulk of the set was some of their favourite covers, including a rearranged ‘Wonderful World’ with Robbie playing slide, Little Feat’s ‘Willin’ and ‘Sunny Afternoon’.
Their two voices harmonised and intertwined superbly and the dry humour of two old friends shone through, not least when revealing ‘My Back Pages’ (yet another example of a Bob Dylan tune sounding better for his vocal absence) was nicknamed ‘My Back Passage’. ‘Walking the Dog and ‘The Shape I’m In’ ended a set similar in vibe to many doubtless going on this Sunday afternoon in pubs, but surely not to this quality.
Next up was my first chance to see Alice Armstrong who I have regularly noticed on lists of up and coming blues awards winners. Sporting a Janis Joplin style pair of specs, she had an engagingly individual and sparky personality- I may be reading too much into it, but to start with the old Willie Dixon standard (covered by UFO) ‘Built for Comfort’ felt like a pre-emptive two fingers up at any trolls.
Of the originals, ‘Strawberry Moon’ had a lovely vibe to it and brand new song ‘Blood In the Water’ and ‘Good Love’ also impressed, a good supporting groove being laid down by a fine band. Indeed talented keyboard player Greg Coulson gave Alice a break, singing lead on ‘Stitch Me Up’ and sounding a little like Jamiroquai in doing so.
A special guest was then introduced in Elles Bailey, sporting a white fur jacket and taking time out from her own schedule touring new album ‘Can’t Take My Story Away’. It was clear from their mutual affection that Alice was among those up and coming artists she has mentored, having taken the same route to the top.
She pulled off the difficult feat of adding to the spectacle without taking it over, as they played Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Love Me Like A Man’ and ‘Better Days’, in tribute to much-missed Catfish guitarist and former Alice band member Matt Long, before closing with Alice’s own jaunty, danceable ‘Speed Dial’ (though she mused on whether phones still have that facility). Elles’ cameo was the icing on the cake of a very impressive and enjoyable set.
If Alice Armstrong had been new to me, Brave Rival are the opposite- one of my very favourite of the new generation of bands, I’ve taken advantage of the fact they constantly seem to be on tour. This was a little different though from my usual experience in club venues (or breweries!), seeing them make the most of a large stage and indeed pulling off some choreographed stage moves that were new to me.
Opener ‘Let Me Rock and Roll’, ‘Bad Choices’ with some ‘who-oahs’ for audience participation and the contemporary sounding riff of ‘Poison’ all showed that, despite sweeping all before them in blues awards in recent years, the band have gradually evolved into a lean, hard rocking beast.
The old style was not altogether discarded though with the lengthy ‘Stars Upon My Scars’ featuring some extended guitar work of great feeling and emotion from Ed Clarke. After the bouncing melodies of ‘Wild Child’ singer Lindsey Bonnick then excelled on the first part of what she described as their Bon Jovi-inspired ballad in ‘Heavy’, before the band kicked in as the song progressed, and on both that and final song ‘Fairytale’ they created a sound of Zeppelin-esque intensity.
Going out after the show, I heard a couple of older blues fans discussing their verdict and one saying he enjoyed the day other than ‘that rock band’. They were one of my favourites of the day for exactly that reason.
After popping out for some sustaining snacks, the penultimate act were veterans Climax Blues Band. I own a compilation double CD of theirs but had never felt any particular inclination to see them, knowing there are no original members. Keyboardist George Glover sporting a silver ponytail is the longest surviving member, having been there since 1981.
However I was left eating humble pie with a professional, enjoyable and varied set. If ‘Seventh Son’ was a lengthy opener with impressive instrumental breaks, ‘Fool for the Bright Lights’ was closer to late seventies soft rock. Recent recruit Scott Ralph was an impressive singer, though oddly he kept his overcoat on all set. He also added occasional trumpet and he, saxophonist Chris Aldridge and George all took a major spotlight on a cover of ‘Louisiana Blues’.
They mixed old favourites such as the funky ‘Chasing Change’ or the welcome hard rock of Blackjack and Me’ with newer numbers, ‘Sweeping up the light’ and the soulful ‘Facing My Fear’ which even featured a singalong. After a revelation of a set had flown by, as guitarist Dan Machin struck the opening chords to their big hit ‘Couldn’t Get it Right’, my partner and I dashed into the aisles to move about, expecting others to join us but disappointingly people stayed in their seats.
The Milkfest poster had the tagline ‘a celebration of British blues and beyond’, perhaps reflecting that the festival headliner was as far from the blues as can be imagined. However, during his round of thanks to everyone, Adam Norsworthy mentioned how he and Jamie Spry formed the Milk Men not just through a love of blues, but also great songwriting, and we were blessed with the presence of Chris Difford, Squeeze co-founder and one half of a songwriting partnership widely regarded as one of Britain’s best ever.
Given that Glenn Tilbrook was always the principal singer in Squeeze, it was unusual to hear him sing some of their classics such as opener ‘Take Me I’m Yours’ and ‘Up the Junction’ in his very different style, yet it also sounded very natural. It also helped that his band included a couple of Squeeze colleagues, and compared to their usual live show Stephen Large’s mellotron and Melvin Duffy’s lap steel- and not just on ‘Labelled With Love’- provided the main musical colouring.
He played a couple of his own songs including ‘What Happened’ about old school friends, boasting the unlikely rhyming couplet of ‘failure’ and ‘Australia’, while ‘Deptford’ was an even more special reminder was that he was a genuine local hero in these parts. Indeed on the body of his acoustic guitar was painted a street map which on closer inspection was of the North Greenwich peninsula.
The show also brought out his quirky side, though I did wonder if his opening gambit ‘it’s nice to get out of the care home’ and another reference to those in the balcony needing a Stannah stairlift might earn a yellow card for tastelessness given the afternoon’s chosen charity. He told funny stories in deadpan, Jack Dee- style including of meeting musicians before they were famous and putting them down, though some of this may have been poetic licence.
On a medley of ‘Pulling Mussels from the Shell’ and ‘is This Love’ he appeared a touch diffident and expecting the audience to fill the gap which they only did tentatively. However on ‘Tempted’ the vocals were turned over to guitarist Andy Caine while on ‘Goodbye Girl’ I finally noticed where some very Tilbrook like harmonies had been coming from and they were being added by the band’s conga player Steve Smith.
However a short but sweet set could only end with one song- his unique and trademark ‘Cool for Cats’ even though it was delivered, as you might expect, in self deprecating style. As far from blues as you can get, but it was a lovely end to a brilliant day. Let’s hope the charity fundraising was successful enough to encourage a Milkfest 3, hopefully with another intriguing and diverse range of acts as we witnessed this time.
Review and Photos by Andy Nathan
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