Monday 27 June 2011

MIll Hill Music festival - Day 2 - End of the Night

Just back in from the Adam & Eve. Tonight was a resounding success. Every event (4 so far) has had over 100 people, which is truly incredible. The Adam & Eve gig, featuring Alan Warner and Paul Myerson was in the garden of the pub and we estimate over 150 people attended, which is brilliant for a Sunday night. In all we've had well over 500 people at the gigs. The two I didn't attend were at the Three Hammers, fetauring Ian Bameld Dixieland Jazz band for a Jazz lunch, and the Salvation Army at the John Keble Church. So we've had Rock, Rythm & Blues, Hip Hop, Punk Rock, Dixieland Jazz, a brass band and a truly awesome blues/rock guitarist.

As if that wasn't enough, I spent the afternoon at St Vincents School DJ'ing at the school fete. For Al Warner, I was sound guy. I had to pick up the PA, and be the gofer for the night. The pub looked after us very well and fed us and gave us a beer. Twenty years ago that was pretty standard, doesn't happen quite so often these days. They were over the moon with the evening and have promised to talk about more music. Ticket sales this year are well up on previous festivals, which hopefully indicates that live music is on the up. Before the festival, when we discussed it with the pub, being a new venture they were not really sure if we could deliver a crowd.  By the end of the night, they were thrilled to bits.

We finally got away at 12.15, although the music finished at around 10.30. Musicians like a beer and a chat with friends before they go home. Al Warner is one of the nicest guys in rock and roll. He's also a superb guitarist. We have a night off tomorrow. Mondays is not a great night for gigs, no one comes, so we've learned that if we have a night off, it helps us pace ourselves and keep fresh.

Rather interestingly, when I arrived home I found a "fight the CPZ" leaflet on the other car. They are clearly ramping their campaign up. But as I'm not blogging about politics, I'm not going to discuss it here.

All in all a great start to the festival. Watch this space for piccies & vid clips tomorrow. And buy those tickets, they are selling out fast !

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