Music shows its very best side when artists use their platform to do something for wider society. Organised by the Milk Men, Milkfest was intended as a celebration of the best of British blues but more importantly to raise funds for the Brain Tumour charity, one of the most serious cancers yet with a lower profile than it deserves.

Eight acts queued up to play in an impressive line-up, especially so as, for a genre described as samey by its detractors, an extraordinary variety of styles were covered, some sharing very little with each other. The keenness to get involved showed itself in the number of other performers who came on for cameo appearances with other bands. The only question was whether the acts would have time to play a decent length set, but each band in egalitarian fashion was given around 45 minutes thanks to some very swift changeovers.

The event was the creation of the Milk Men, so it was unduly modest of them to go first on the bill as they have built a following, many of whom got up to dance. Looking very dapper in snazzy suits and pocket squares like an East End wedding party, their style mixes punchy R’n’B with a touch of old-fashioned rock n roll and back in the late seventies songs like openers ‘Shoot the Lights’ and ‘Hungover’ would have been a chart success.

The first of those guests, Todd Sharpeville- complete with his dog!- arrived for a guitar jam with Adam Norsworthy on Robert Cray’s ‘The Score’ which was one of their more out and out blues numbers along with ‘Give Me a Reason’, featuring Paul Long of Catfish on organ.

But ‘Cheap Seats’ had a ZZ Top-like southern groove and songs like ‘Fabulous’, ‘One Man Band’ and ‘Little Miss Attention’ were fun and lively. I assumed a very respectable cover of ‘Pinball Wizard’ would end the set but there was still time for another of those enjoyable numbers in ‘She Don’t Like Rock N Roll’.

Technically speaking, the bill wasn’t all-British as the eponymous Cinelli Brothers – Marco and Alessandro- are Italian but have built quite a reputation in this country over several years for their charismatic live shows. They opened with singer Marco playing keyboards and singing ‘Married Woman’ at his most soulful, but as when I saw them in the autumn with Elles Bailey, they have an initially confusing lack of identify with band members swapping instruments and sharing vocal duties.

Additionally, the opening half of a short set was taken up by two lengthy songs, one an instrumental and ‘Nobody’s Fool’, sung by Frenchman Stephen Giry who switched over from bass and showed himself a fine guitarist, while fellow guitarist and harmonica player Tom Julian Jones sang ‘Fool’s Paradise’ which had the feel of classic American rock.

Thomas Heppell became the latest guest, his slide playing making a big contribution to a guitar jam with Marco on the old standard ‘Before You Accuse Me’. The gospel like ‘Prayer’ saw all four members trading vocal lines including drummer Alessandro, then the keyboards were removed for ‘Mama Don’t Like You’, the shortest and tightest of an ultimately rewarding set if one that took too long to come to the boil.

After we heard from the charity and watched the first of many moving films about people both young and old living with brain tumours, it was time for a self-confessed quiet interlude with Dave Kelly and Paul Jones from the Blues Band. The format was simple, in an edited version of their headline shows, traditional acoustic blues with just Dave on guitar, principally slide, Paul on harmonica and the two exchanging lead vocals on a variety of songs that were either old school blues classics, or originals inspired by them. These included ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’, ‘If You Love Me Like You Say’, and ‘Them Ol’ Crossroads Blues’ (in honour of Son House and Tony McPhee).

Paul looks remarkably youthful at 83 years young and inevitably, with protestations that Manfred Mann were a true blues band, he played their first ever B side in ‘Without You’. Standards such as ‘Georgia On My Mind’ and ‘Summertime’ were reinterpreted and stripped to their blues origins, along with old laments such as ‘How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?’.

It was a very educational set with lots of stories about the songs delivered in conversational fashion. For example, I always associate ‘Midnight Special’ with Creedence but it was a Leadbelly song and Paul explained its origins in the train that came to pick up inmates released from the penitentiary. After Muddy Waters’ ‘I Can’t be Satisfied’, the set ended with the pair getting a singalong going to the dryly humorous Blues Band song ‘Got To Be the Blues’. It felt like receiving a blues masterclass and the only act I hadn’t previously seen were one of the revelations of the afternoon.

Next up was Jo Harman, or to be more accurate Jo Harman and Company, reflecting the fact her eight-piece band were the biggest of the day. I’d seen her at festivals around a decade ago, but she had slipped off my radar somewhat in recent years. Opener ‘Work To Do’ showcased her sultry, jazz and soul influenced voice, then her backing singers Leonie Gale and Amba Tremain, sisters no less, came forward to form a powerful treble vocal attack on a cover of ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’.

After Jo explained she had recently been playing with alumni from Van Morrison’s band, she covered the latter’s ‘Philosopher’s Stone’, then brought on songwriting collaborator Mike Mayfield for ‘Enough’. ‘When We Were Young’ and ‘Cold Heart’ had a spacious feel and gave full reign to noted organ player Stevie Watts and another keyboardist Emily Francis who later did double duty with When Rivers Meet.

Mike came back for closer ‘The Way Of the World’ and revealed he is not just a songwriting but a singing talent in his own right. Despite difficulties at times getting the sound right to accommodate such a large band, it was an always interesting set and a departure from the more blues rock end of the genre.

Mollie Marriott I saw a number of times prior to the pandemic but was another artist to have dropped off my radar and this was a good chance to reacquaint myself- I discovered during the set she has more recently been playing with both Rick Wakeman and the Led Zeppelin Symphonic project.

Opening with the bluesy sounds of the title track of the ‘Truth Is A Wolf’ album, her vocal style is sweetly melodic, yet appearances can be deceptive as I realised, she can also belt out with impressive power. This was best exemplified on a pair of covers- ‘I Should Have Known It’ where Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the only time in their career went all Led Zeppelin, and the latter’s ballad ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, with an outstanding solo from guitarist Adam Chinery.

Her own originals also impressed with some great synth work from Sam Tanner on ‘King of Hearts’, written with Judie Tzuke, as was ‘Trouble And Shame’. She was also very personable and recounted her own experience of loved ones dealing with brain tumours. Sadly, just as I was really getting into the slow burning set closer ‘Control’ it seemed to end rather abruptly, but this was a mightily impressive set.

Unfortunately, by now some of the middle acts were playing to a significantly smaller audience as people picked their favourites and headed out into the 02 complex for food or a comfort break from the uncomfortable seats, at least in the stalls area. Shame then on anyone who missed probably the most out and out blues rock of the acts on the bill Toby Lee, still only just out of his teens and the latest in what seems a long line of British blues guitar prodigies, and a cheerful personality with the look of a fresh faced sixth form student.

Leading a four-piece band, he opened with ‘Just Hold On’, where his brief solo (was that a Gibson Firebird?) reminded me of Alvin Lee in its speed, while the riff on ‘Into the Light’ was like a heavier take on Free’s ‘Wishing Well’. Among numbers like ‘Blame Me’, ‘The Search For Happiness’ was a longer and more languid blues number.

What was surprisingly impressive was the quality of his songwriting on ‘Count On Me’ which he proudly said had been getting Radio 2 airplay, and the title track of latest album ‘House On Fire’. An authentic cover of Jeff Healey’s ‘See The Light’ and ‘Fever’ ended a set which made a favourable impression on me, my only sceptical thought being that he has yet to evolve a distinctive style of his own.

If Toby Lee is heading to the top then When Rivers Meet have already been on that journey, building a loyal and substantial following, not least with their pandemic broadcasts, culminating with last album ’Aces Are High’ hitting the national top 10. So it was something of a coup to get them to play the festival. They have recently expanded to a six piece, many of them looking in their flat caps as if they were auditioning for Peaky Blinders, which steers their sound further away from their lo-fi origins and further, maybe even too far, towards all out rock.

The focus remains firmly on husband-and-wife duo Grace and Aaron Bond, the former starting ‘Infected’ on a tiny mandolin accentuating her elfin like figure, before another from ‘Aces Are High’ in ‘Play My Game’. ‘Bound For Nowhere’ and ‘My Babe Says That He Loves Me’ seemed to follow rapidly in almost medley style, before the set became rockier with ‘Battleground’.

Either side of ‘He’ll Drive You Crazy’ with Aaron’s slide and Grace’s violin combining for that distinctive WRM sound, they even boldly previewed a couple of new songs. ‘Addicted To You’ had an interestingly unconventional song structure, while ‘Break Free’ unusually had Aaron taking the majority of lead vocals though to see him prowling the stage, mike in hand like a cabaret club singer took some getting used to.

As usual there was a heartwarming musical and personal chemistry between this most engaging of married couples, and there was still time for some more familiar favourites in ‘Walking On The Wire’ with its ‘fortunate son’ chorus, ‘Free Man’ and set closer ‘Did I Break the Law?’ Aaron’s slide playing was simple yet nevertheless built the tension and created the basis for audience participation. It was a slightly disjointed set but one which confirms they thoroughly deserve the success they have worked hard for.

There were some final thank yous from the charity and a very eloquent speech from Adam Norsworthy of the Milk Men. As I suspected he mentioned that Dr Feelgood were an inspiration for the band as they showed the blues could be played fast as well as slow, and therefore in a way they were fitting headliners.

As is well known, there have sadly long been no members from the original line up. On the other hand, all four band members have played together for a long time and have the distinctive Feelgood sound nailed. Singer Robert Kane has the right edgy persona and also played some mean harmonica, though it was disconcerting to hear him introduce songs from this most Estuarial of bands in a broad North-East accent.

For the first time since the opening couple of acts, some people left their seats to dance in the aisles for tight and punchy openers ‘You Don’t Love Me’ and ‘Damn Right I Do’. Gordon Russell swapped guitars to play some quite brilliant heavy slide on ‘Keep It Undercover’ and one of their old classics in ‘Back In The Night’, which saw a growing number of those remaining taking to their feet.

Indeed, after a solitary longer workout on ‘If My Baby Quits Me’, I joined their number on hearing the opening bars of ‘Milk and Alcohol’, bringing back memories of my first exposure to them when it was a big hit in 1979. By now it was late on a Sunday night and the crowd thinning at the end of a long day but an excellent if shortened set ended in fine style with another couple of singalongs in another trademark song ‘Down At The Doctors’ and ‘Gimme One More Shot’.

Indeed the night was a spectacular success- most significantly of all with the amount of money raised for the charity, but as a logistical enterprise which ran to its very tight timings, with the evident camaraderie among the musicians, and an extremely varied series of performances, yet all to a high standard. Given how many acts there are on the British blues scene, I really hope we may get the chance to do it again in the future.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 21 April 2025

THE DEVIL WEARS NADA Late Night Talking (Eonian Records)
DROWNING POOL Madness (SBG Records)
PARKER BARROW Make It (indie)
REDIKIN Nailed It (Wormholedeath)
PENNY FOUNTAIN Euphoria (indie)
CRY FOR MERCY Saving Grace (indie)
VIGILANTES Life In The Fast Brain (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 21 April 2025

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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