The Land Of Milk and Honey.
I was in sombre mood when I arrived at the venue, as it was the eve of Keith Flint’s funeral (he has left a gaping hole my friends…) and also the uncertainty of Brexit or Brexisn’t, a concern for all whichever way you slice it. Suddenly onto the stage sprint Hot Milk all the way from Manchester ( they didn’t sprint from there, at least I don’t think they did), and by crikey what a bunch of fresh- faced little punks they are! Watch out Becca Marmozet, as singer Hannah is snapping at your heels. A set that was fun, fast, furious and on fire, Hot Milk before bed is just the ticket.
They want to “Take Your Jacket” and leave you “Wide Awake” in your “Nightmares” and then have the audacity to ask, “Are you Feeling Alive?” They know how to put on a show and with the power boost of “Keep it moving, Birmingham” we jiggled and giggled to the antics of these newbies. The music was reminiscent of Inme ( Safe In A Room anyone?) as they perfumed the venue with their youthful and mischievous exuberance.
“Please take me home, this isn’t something I can do on my own” pleads Hannah, and oh my we were ready to oblige. This was hot milk with a side of dynamite, I will be looking out for these guys in future.
Much like a new Pokémon, you gotta catch ‘em all, my friends!
Right, you’ve had your milk, now for some Lafontaine honey from bonny Scotland. Singer Kerr teases “lets see how many people can fucking understand me”, and they’re off with a bang and waste no time in releasing the hounds (woof woof)! It’s great to see an all Brit line up and our friend doesn’t miss a trick here, taking a dig at the venue for “ taking 40%”. Its frankly scandalous my friends, you can’t expect bands to work for nothing. If I’ve learnt anything during my short time in this job, it is this – someone always pays, nothing is free.
Taking his life into his own hands, Kerr steps into the crowd, thanking fans for being here, which is a delight for any music lover. We will happily fall asleep under the storm that these guys bring, highly energetic and entertaining, even the drummer turns out to be quite the crooner! With his groovy moves, our friend sashays across the stage to the rhythm of his rapping and power word play and he’s pretty fly for a white guy, I’ll say.
Its up, up and away my friends as The Lafontaines light up the night with their warm, good natured and amiable comradery, asking us several times “Are we still together?”
Wild horses couldn’t have dragged us away.
Songs For The Deaf
The set change symphony featured the quite telling lyric from KOL , “you kick the bucket and I’ll swing my legs”, oh bugger, I really didn’t want that image in my head tonight. Never mind, we soldiered on and threw ourselves stagewards to try and get a half decent view of our Hunstanton heroes, Deaf Havana. Despite their trials and tribulations, they demolished the venue with a rip- roaring set covering old and new material.
These aging bones of mine weren’t ready to give in just yet; one intrepid crowd surfer went arse over tit into the pit that had gathered momentum as soon as they played “Mildred”- my favourite- such a great song and an even more spectacular delivery. I got a whack over the head, but nothing requiring hospitalisation.
A highly enthusiastic and vivacious crowd spur the band on, it’s a two -way relationship people, we support each other. Fans peppered the set with messages of love and appreciation that these lads accepted graciously.
James was impressed by our note perfect and word-perfect clapping and singing. He said only Brummies did this right, well excuse me while I polish my halo! Next time take us on tour with you my friends, you won’t be disappointed.
It was a “Fever” we couldn’t shake, perhaps we didn’t want to, we sang, every song from start to finish, it would have been great if I could have got a stage view, it must have been incredible to see.
Kerr “just can’t get enough” Okan jumped into the foray to raise “Hell”- Lucifer would have been proud!
With a dizzyingly dazzling array of gems on show, the band were on the ball, and knew exactly how and when to flaunt their wares.
The foot stomping “Boston Square”- and yes, we did stomp, you really must, it’s that flamin’ intro you can’t resist.
We counted our blessings for the electrifying finale, the band marched back onstage for the encore “Sinner”, it had to be that song, we weren’t gonna let them go without a fight.
It’s times like these my friends, when all is not right in the world that we are grateful that someone can hear us, someone knows what we are feeling, someone has the courage to express what we can’t, and we can find a connection and know that someone cares.
It eats away at everything…. Oh Berlin, my love….