The MIll Hill Music festival diary - Day 1 - Recycled at the Adam and Eve Pub

 Long time regular readers will know that during the Mill Hill Music Festival, normal blogging activities are suspended and I write a festival diary. Yesterday was day one of the festival. We always start the festival with a free event, to get people in the party mood. As I usually do, before I write this blog, I have a look at previous years diaries. I had a look at the day one diary from the last festival, in 2023 (the festival is bi-annual). How times change! Last festival, we had Whelligan on the opening night. This time we had Recycled, one of London's best party bands. The common feature between the two bands is trumpeter Tom Hammond. Since Whelligan played, Tom joined our band, The False Dots. As a result, he's quite well known now in Mill Hill circles. Tom is also well known at Hadley FC, where he organises the "Hadley Hurl", a half time competition, where fans try and get a tennis ball as close as possible to the centre circle, for a cash prize. Last time I asked him, Tom was in seven different bands, all of which are rather different. We booked Recycled as we thought it would work well at the Adam and Eve and we weren't wrong. 

So how was my day? Well it was a bit of a strange one in truth. I got up early and went to the gym. I felt the need to blow the cobwebs away. A half hour on the cycle, a sauna and a soak in the Jacuzzi to set me up for the day. On return, I made my way to the Sacred Heart church, for a memorial mass for the mother of one of my best friends. It was a moving service, Fr John gave a wonderful homily. We then gathered in the hall after to swap reminiscences. Everyone had a bit of a drink, which sadly I couldn't participate in, as I had some driving to do.

We drifted away at around 3.30pm. At 5pm, I drove to the studio, loaded the stage, the lights and the PA system and made my way to the Adam and Eve. We set up the stage, dressed the pub and waited for the band to arrive. And waited. And waited. Eventually we got a message. They had got stuck on the M4 following an accident. The road was gridlocked. They would be with us ASAP. The support band turned up. They started to set up, the realised a key bit of equipment was missing, so they had to nip home to get it. I was starting to panic. Would we have a gig. I started playing the playlist. At around 7.30, the band arrived. We set up quickly, did a quick soundcheck and then got the support band on, starting at around 8.45pm. The support was a duo called Subverse, featuring Maddy and Al Pascal (a local music tutor). Their set was well received.

Subverse live at @AdamAndEveNW7 right now on our opening night pic.twitter.com/KyVOjyf98I

— Mill Hill Music Fest (@millhillfest) May 31, 2025

Recyled started at around 9.45 and played until 11pm. They got a wonderful reception, with the whole pub joining in, singing along and dancing. As we have another gig today, we left the stage set up, although we broke down the PA. 

What a great start to #mhmf16 at the @AdamAndEveNW7 last night with Recycled pic.twitter.com/TnuQqFhP37

— Mill Hill Music Fest (@millhillfest) June 1, 2025

The pub insisted on a hard stop at 11pm, so all music stopped and the bar shut. It was a great evening. I was home by midnight and had a nice glass of wine in the garden to chill.