Sunday, 23 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival - Putting it all to bed for two years

Last night was the final night of the Mill Hill Music Festival. We had a party at the Adam and Eve. What a party it was. The pub tell us that it was their best ever night. It has never been so busy in the nearly two hundred years that a pub as been on the site! There was no space at all inside and the garden was completely packed as well. As the festival goes through the week, the excitement builds and on the final night Mill Hill traditionally lets its collective hair down. We had two amazing acts.

First up we had Charlotte, accompanied by Elliott, a young duo from Mill Hill County School. The festival traditionally supports new, young local artists, and giving them a slot on one of our busiest nights was a great way to showcase them. The audience went wild and this short clip shows why


Then we had a tour de force from one of my best friends in the local music scene, Joe Angel. If you book Joe for a show, you are booking a guaranteed party, and that is exactly what the Adam and Eve had.

Joe is a talented performer, full of charisma, he has a great voice and an amazing band. As a couple of his usual band members had gigs elsewhere, he had to pull in a few favours, but didn't disappoint and the place went wild.

We had spent most of the day rigging the stage, PA and lighting and it was great to see it put to such great effect. When Joe finished, I played my Ska selection to keep the party going. We finished at midnight and by 00.30am had it all broken down and were on the road. As a crew, we are a pretty slick operation.

This morning, we unloaded it all back to our studio storerooms. And by mid day, that was that for two years. Later in the week, when I've had a chance to gather my thoughts, I'll write a full report, but I can say that this year was probably our biggest and best festival. All in all, well over 2,000 people attended the events over the nine days. The festival aims to do three things. The first is to promote live music in Mill Hill. The second is to bring our community together. The third is to showcase our area. I think we totally succeeded in all three.
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Saturday, 22 June 2019

Mill Hill Music Festival Day 9 - Rog's Festival Diary

We close the festival with Joe Angel
Wow, what a night we had last night. For us festival organisers it was a very long day. We started at 10am, building stages, erecting Gazebo's, putting up security fencing and lighting, etc. By 4pm, the site was ready for our soundman Vince to begin the erection of the sound system. Vince is the go to man for larger PA systems in Barnet and for an outside gig, with a nine piece band, he is the ideal man. As I mentioned yesterday, I've known Vince for 30 odd years and he's a man I trust implicitly to do the job and he didn't disappoint. We had an amazing crowd for the gig. First up were Recollection, one of the better covers bands in the locality. They served up an excellent set of standards and got everyone well warmed up for the Foundations.

The Foundations came on just as the sun was setting and the whole place was up having a boogie from the first bar of the first number. It was great to see so many friends turn up for the evening. The Golf club serves great beer and good food at more than reasonable prices. Where else could you watch a band with no 1 hits around the world and have a burger and chips thrown in for £20? The setting is glorious for gigs and with the amazing music, it was one of the most memorable nights in Mill Hill.

Here's a few snippets

Recollection kicked off at around 8.15, the sun was shining and during the set, the crowds built up (especially for the burgers). This is a short snippet of the Zutons Valerie, and a 360 degree tour of the venue.



Then we had the Foundations, this was the closing number, their iconic No 1 global hit, Build Me Up Buttercup


If you were wondering what numbers you missed, here's the setlist

It was a late night, with all of the gear needing to be put away, followed by a busy morning taking down stages and gazebo's, big shout out to the local scouts for the loan of the Gazebo, the festival is a truly community based festival, with local Churches, Synagogue, Scouts, sports clubs, businesses and residents all coming together to support us. Just to give you some idea, last night there were over 25 committee members and volunteers involved in the various tasks, as well as the Golf club staff of perhaps another 20 to serve food and beer and manage the logistics. To host the 300 odd people on site and make sure they didn't wait too long to get served with food or drinks is a massive planning operation. I like to think that every year the festival gets a bit better. We also had a surprise visitor, who was most welcomed. I was asked to join the Festival organising Committee by original founder, Jane Ellison, back in the 1990's. Jane was formerly a Conservative Councillor in Mill Hill, before moving to Battersea and winning the seat as an MP in 2010. She seemed set for great things, but narrowly lost her seat in 2017, following the snap election. Jane now works for the World Health Organisation in Geneva, but flew in specially to see the Foundations. Although we stand on different sides of the political divide, I've always had huge admiration for Jane as a proper politician who served the community and got things done. We need more people like Jane on all sides of the political spectrum. It was great to see her and she had a blast. She can be proud of her legacy in Mill Hill.

And so on to tonight. One of my favourite bands is closing the festival, Joe Angel and the Pamodzi band. I like them so much, I got them to play at my wife Clare's 50th birthday party a couple of years ago. Come down tonight to see why! I've got to walk the doggies now, then build a stage and a PA system at the Adam and Eve.

Hope to see you later.
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Friday, 21 June 2019

Mill Hill Music Festival Day 8 - Rog's Festival Diary

It feels like the end is in sight! The penultimate day of the festival. Tonight we have an amazing concert with The Foundations, 60's soul legends. It is a special gig for me. Alan Warner, the guitarist is one of my oldest friends in the music business. He is a bit of a mentor in many ways. When I was a spotty, 16 year old guitarist, I recorded a series of demo's with my band in his private studio. Alan is an amazing guitarist, I could hardly play the instrument. We were a truly awful band at the time. My schoolmate Boz Boorer from the Polecats had recorded a demo at Alan's studio and got a record deal with independent label Nervous records. It seemed to me an obvious thing to do. I realised that the level of musicianship in The False Dots was nowhere near as accomplished as the Polecats, so I thought it would be wise to seek Alan's advice.

I told him we wanted to record a demo, but would appreciate some advice. He came down to a rehearsal and I don't think that even though he'd been in the business for a decade or so, and had international hits, he'd never seen anything quite as awful as the fledgling Dots. I suspect any other sane, rational human being would have run a mile. What did Alan do? He arranged for a professional drummer to join the band, gave me some advice on songwriting and told us to rehearse like hell. We took the advice and when the first demo was done, everyone was astounded. Years after, when Al became a firm friend, I asked him why he bothered. He said that although the band was musically awful, he recognised that we were good songwriters and needed encouragement. He also recognised that we had a 'proper band chemistry'. I owe Alan a huge debt for that. That is why tonights gig is special for me. The band are amazing and as Alan lives in Mill Hill, it is only right that he headlines the biggest gig in Mill Hill this year. Ticket sales have been amazing and it will be a great night. The support band are Recollection, which has Gerry Keane on guitar. I have known Gerry since I was four. He was at both St Vincents and Finchley Catholic High with me. Gerry was the first person I knew to start a band and they did a gig at FCHS when were both 14 or 15 years old. I immediately was inspired. If Gerry could do that, so could I. Gerry is a ot more conventional a guitarist than I am. His band are a really solid 60's and 70's covers band and throw in some of the better contemporary music as well. It is no exaggeration to say that I am excited. Even better, I am not doing the PA, having outsourced it to a good mate of mine Vince. I worked with Vince at BACS over 30 years ago. He has built up the best hire rig in Barnet and is the go to man for any bigger gig we arrange. As the gig at the Golf club is outside and there are many logistical issues, it is great to have him on board. Tickets are still available for tonights show and will be on sale at the door. If you pick them up from Mill Hill wines, they are only £13. On the door they are £15.

Last night we had Jazz legend Alan Barnes with his Octet at Hartley Hall. It was an amazing show. It fell to me to do the sound system. It was easy and a pleasure. The hall was packed again. Here are a few snippets.


The concert was in memory of our Jazz organiser Brian Peerless, who passed away in November. This was his swansong, the last gig he booked for the festival. There was not a dry eye in the house as committee member Luciana read a tribute. Alan Barnes dedicated several numbers to Brian in his storming set.

It was our final night at Hartley Hall. It was  pleasure afterwards for the Festival team to adjourn to The Bridge Tavern for last orders. We bought Gillian, the amazing Hall coordinater a half of lager for her efforts. Scant reward, but as she says she loved helping, she seemed happy. We had an amazing team of volunteers running our bars etc, so big thanks to Mary, Sue, Yumery, Joan, Val, Elaine and all the others who pitched in. Pete the caretaker also did a sterling job. Hartley Hall has become the cultural centre of Mill Hill. The team deserves a big shout out, as does the Vicar Stephen, who has been highly supportive.

Anyway that's it from me. Got a festival to run!

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Thursday, 20 June 2019

Mill Hill Music Festival Day 7 - Rog's Festival Diary

Three days to go, six in the bag! Last night we had two concerts and I managed to take in both. The first was at St Pauls Church, featuring a Harp and Organ recital. The concert featured Sam Austen on Organ and Milo Harper on Harp. St Pauls is an amazing setting for such a concert, and it worked exceptionally well. Usually when we've had classical music at St Pauls, we've had an audience of 50-60. This was what we were expecting and as we we gave the audience a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink at the interval, we catered accordingly. Lasts nights audience was twice that size, with 22 people turning up on the door. As a result, Dan was dispatched to Mill Hill Wines to pick up more supplies.




The concert was organised by committee member Sarah, who did an amazing job. St Pauls were very supportive and there was not too much for us to do, other than usher people in and take tickets. Sadly one of the audience, and elderly lady, had an accident making her way to her seat. An ambulance had to be summoned as a precaution to ensure she was alright. Fortunately the paramedics arrived promptly and without fuss made sure she was alright. As a precaution she was taken to A&E, with her family. As ever, when I have to deal with the parts of the NHS I am suitably impressed. Interestingly enough, this morning as I am writing this, on BBC Radio London, the morning show was about females doing front line jobs. The ambulance crew was all female and I had absolute confidence in them. Not relevant to the festival, but I felt it is important to stress that London is a city where we passionately believe in equality and the crew made me feel proud of our city. As we were waiting for the ambulance to depart, one of the paramedics complemented the beautiful sounds coming from the Church. She said that she'd have loved to have attended.

The concert was a great success and as the audience left, they were highly complimentary. I had a chat with one lady, who told me it was the fourth event she'd attended, but she was going to Whitstable today, so that was her lot! She told me that she's a widow and since her husband passed away, she really appreciates such events, as an opportunity to get out and meet people. For me, the way the Festival brings the community together is as important as the music. At every event people have told me they've seen friends they haven't seen for ages.

After the concert finished, I made my way up to Mill Hill Golf Club. This is the home of The Mill Hill Jazz club. They organised the event and we include it as part of the festival. Again it was encouraging to see a great crowd for Jimmy Cannon and Elisabeth Tillotson.



They presented a lively Jazz show. It was great to see Stewart Curtis with his wife at the show, Stewart played on Monday with K-Groove at the Synagogue. It was a small example of how the local musical community support each other.Sadly I had to leave before the end of the show. Clare had been playing with The BBC Elstree Concert Band at The Elstree Festival at Allum Hall and had some timpani's to unload from the car.

Yesterday was a light day for me. From here on in, it is a different story. Today we have an amazing show, with Jazz Sax legend Alan Barnes at Hartley Hall. This means that a PA has to be provided, so its a load in/load out and an evening sitting by a desk. I am much looking forward to it.

There are still tickets available, so if you fancy some truly awesome music tonight, come along. Tickets can also be purchased at Mill Hill Wines. There are also tickets available for tomorrow night. Must shoot, got to walk dogs, check PA system and all sorts of other things!


.
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Wednesday, 19 June 2019

Foundation Tickets back on Sale & Mill Hill Music Festival Day 6 - Rog T's Festival Diary

First up, some exciting news. We had put sale of tickets for The Foundations on hold due as we'd reached the indoor capacity. As the weather forecast is now for fine weather, the event can be held outside. This means that we are reopening sale of tickets. If you order them in advance, they are only £13, if you buy them on the night they will be £15, so place your order now.

You can order them via the Festival Website for collection on the door, or buy them from Mill Hill Wines.

The link to order is here https://millhillmusicfest.co.uk/event/the-foundations/ this will be an amazing night!

****** Rog's Festival Diary ******
So we are now more than half way through the festival and thus far it has been magnificent. Last night we had a barnstorming performance of HMS Pinafore by The Charles Court Opera at The Hartley Hall. When we put the events in the programme together, each committee member will suggest specific events and then they deal with the organisation. The Opera is very much the baby of Dan. I consider myself an expert in the matter of all things Rock & Pop gig organising, but Opera is a completely different matter. For one thing there is no PA system, there is an elaborate stage and the lighting and staging is key. Therefore to stage such an event in a festival, you really do need to work with a professional company. Over the 26 years of the Festival, we've dealt with quite a number of these. Last night we hosted the Charles Court Opera Company. I have to say that in terms of professionalism, they were A*. The festival crew did our bit, supplying a Hall and selling all of the tickets. The team at Charles Court did the rest and very impressive it was too. My involvement was limited to setting up chairs, acting as door usher and lugging out the heavy set at the end.


The audience were extremely appreciative of the show. Many people were asking to have the company back next time. As you can imagine, Dan was very pleased with the response. Best of all, the show broke even, which, as a festival organiser is a very good thing. To stage an opera in the Hartley Hall, at reasonable prices, we rely on a sell out crowd and a decent bar taking, and had both. The Mill Hill Music Festival gets no grants or support from the arts council or The London Borough of Barnet. We aim to operate on a not for profit basis and any profits we make are ploughed back in to the festival. This has allowed us to buy stages, lighting and means we have the cash in the bank to print the programmes and pay the up front costs for the next festival. Our mission is to put high quality music on in Mill Hill at a reasonable cost, to bring the community together and to promote live music. I think we do rather well. All of the committee and volunteers are unpaid and do it for the love of music. Some of us are musicians, some of us are just music lovers. We all have different tastes and our aim is to provide a mix for everyone.

Tonight we have a very interesting programme.

First up, we have an amazing classical music concert.  An exciting collaboration between Samuel Austin (organ) and Milo Harper (harp) with a variety of solos and duets at the lovely setting of this church. The concert will feature a programme of chamber music from the 18th century to the present day.

For this collaboration between Samuel Austin (organ) and Milo Harper (harp), we will hear a variety of solos and duets at the lovely setting of this church. The concert will feature a programme of chamber music from the 18th century to the present day, with familiar classics including works by composers such as Bach and Handel, as well as some lesser known works by composers such as Hindemith.

The ensemble is a blend of two of the most ancient instruments and promises to be a delightful evening in the favourable acoustics of St Paul’s Church. Samuel studied organ at The Birmingham Conservatoire and The Royal Northern College of Music, winning the coveted Organ Recital Prize at the latter. Samuel is now the Assistant Director of Music at Aldenham School, as well as Director of Music at St Paul’s Mill Hill! Milo Harper is also a multi-award winning harpist, he is gaining a reputation as one of the leading UK harpists of his generation. Samuel and Milo have come together to organise what will surely be a scintillating programme of music for tonight’s event.

https://millhillmusicfest.co.uk/event/baroque-by-the-pond/

Then we have some high quality jazz at the Mill Hill Golf Club, hosted by The Mill Hill Jazz Club.

We have two of Londons finest Jazz singers,

Elizabeth Tillotson and Jimmy Cannon. Together, they will be exploring songs from both the American and British songbook with music from the Golden Age of songwriting, covering the jazz standards you love. Jimmy is also an accomplished saxophonist who has toured and performed with Sir Tom Jones, The Commitments, The Syd Lawrence Orchestra, The Rat Pack touring show, Rodriguez, Maroon Town, Roger Taylor, and Mbawula. Highly regarded London based singer and pianist Elizabeth Tillotson graduated from Leeds College of Music with a first in jazz, and has been in demand ever since. With her exquisite phrasing and understated vocal style, Elizabeth brings a memorable interpretation of her extensive repertoire of well known songs. They will be joined by a selection of top class musicians for tonight’s performance.



So what are my plans for today. It is a fairly light day for me. The classical concert requires no PA system and the Jazz club host the 'Later' event, so I will help on the door at St Pauls Church, then have a beer and watch some quality jazz after. As the next three days will be full on, it will be a welcome break! Tomorrow night we have a very special show. It features the Alan Barnes Octet and is a tribute to Brian Peerless, our Festival Jazz impresario. Brian organised this event, before he passed away in January. It will be his final curtain call as a festival organiser and Alan has prepared a special trubute to him. I don't expect a dry eye in the house.

https://millhillmusicfest.co.uk/event/the-alan-barnes-octet/

That's it from me. I'm off to the studio to earn some money!

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Tuesday, 18 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival Day 5 - Rog's festival diary

So today is the half way point in the festival. I suppose that technically, the mid point will be around 815pm during the interval at the performance of HMS Pinafore, by The Charles Court Opera.

So what have we learned so far? Every event has been well attended. Mill Hill has a large base of  music lovers, who are happy to turn out for our events. We've learned that people get excited by the Festival and put events in their diaries more or less as soon as they hear about them. We've learned that people love the eclectic mix of events we put on. We've learned that Mill Hill has some amazing venues for live music. There are a few other things we've learned. People seem to be drinking less. Every time we've staged an event featuring the BBC Elstree Concert band, the shows have sold out, but this time we sold more bottled water than wine for the first time ever! Also for the first time, people turned up without cash, wanting to pay for a drink by card. As the festival is run by volunteers every two years, getting a card payment option for events would simply be impractical. Fortunately, the individual in question was able to borrow a fiver from a friend, for a glass of wine and a bottle of water. 

So on to yesterdays activity. We had the amazing Stewart Curtis with K Groove at The Mill Hill Synagogue. It was a well attended event, in an amazing setting. The hall is a great venue, with much thought put into the acoustics and the comfort of people attending events. The synagogue were extremely helpful as the event was for the community, with the security charges waived and members of the team volunteering. This made a huge difference to the finances. As the festival is run on a not for profit basis, this allowed the prices to be kept reasonable.

For me the festival day started at 2pm. We arrived at the studio to collect the staging, lights and PA system. I had some other work to do at the studio, so having loaded the van up, I eventually departed at 4pm. Gerry, Steve and Dan had started on setting up the stage and lights. By 5pm, the PA was set up and ready for the band. By 6.15, they were assembled and did a leisurely sound check. Stewarts band are very professional and easy going and it is always a pleasure to work with them. 

Here are a couple of tweets that you can get a flavour of what we enjoyed.

It was as smooth as cream! No tantrums and tiara's there! I know several of the band from the studios and it was great to be paying them for a change!

At 7pm, the crowds came in and were treated to around two and a half hours of excellent music. At the end. all of our team of volunteers pitched in, breaking things down etc. By 10.45, the PA system was all back at the studio and I was tucking into a tasty chicken shish kebab from Cobans. As I hadn't eaten since lunchtime, that was most welcome.

Today we have the Charles Court Opera. For me this is a light day. No PA systems to be lugged, no stages to be moved. The company have their own riggers. The event is almost sold out and it will be a full house, I think there are maybe ten tickets left, so if you want to get one, get down to Mill Hill Wines ASAP or turn up as early as possible.

And that's that for today.
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Monday, 17 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival Day 4 - Rog's festival diary

Today is day four of the Festival. We have a real treat tonight. We have the amazing Stewart Curtis & K Groove with their amazing Klezmer show. Tickets are still available at Mill Hill wines and they can give you all the details etc. Stewart is an old friend of the festival, and an old friend of mine. He teaches Brass and woodwind at our studios. His band are amazing players and always a joy to work with. Anyone who has seen Stewart will know of his affable presentation and bad jokes. His CV as a musician is unsurpassed and includes working with Mari Wilson & the Wilsations.  Nik Kershaw, Tracey Ullman, Selina Jones, Germaine Stewart, Glen Matlock, Matt Bianco, Percy Sledge, Festival Klezmer Band, Orchestra Folia and Steely Dan. But his first love is Klezmer music and his show demostrates his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre.

For me, it will be a busy day. We have staging, lighting and a PA system to run, so it will be a very full on day. There is a lot of gear to be shifted and much of it is quite heavy, so I won't need to nip to the gym this week! I played five a side football last night, so getting up was not the easiest this morning, at 56 it invariably means a few aches and pains, but it was great to have a completely different challenge. 

The ticket sales are good this year and the free to enter events at The Adam and Eve have been very well attended. Both The Ron Lewis Partnership on Saturday and The Ron Russell band yesterday had the audience up and boogieing. The Adam and Eve have made us very welcome and their support is very much appreciated. The pub have already asked to get The Ron Lewis Partnership back in the Autumn, which sounds like a very good idea to me! Maybe they could do a joint bill with The Ron Russell band and we'd market it as "The Two Ronnies live in Mill Hill" (and I said Stewart Curtis told bad jokes). Pubs like The Adam and Eve are few and far between. At a time when so many are struggling, it is thriving and the reason is that it serves the Mill Hill community well. Their support of the festival is a great example. The pub has invested in a complete refurbishment of the garden recently and is dog and children friendly. It was lovely to see small children dancing to the Jazz yesterday (I'm not sure the doggies were quite so impressed!). 

The pattern of ticket sales is following that of previous years. We announce the line up in March/April and we sell about half the tickets in the period coming up to a month before the festival. In the final week there is a huge rush and we always get people turning up at the sold out gigs complaining that they can't get in. It is essential that people buy tickets early as we have all sorts of up front costs. I've spoken to many festival organisers and been involved with a few myself. Everyone says the same thing, people always tell you how much they love the events, but they buy the tickets last minute, which means sleepless nights worrying that costs will be covered and venues full. If everyone who wanted to attend an event bought their tickets as soon as possible, it would make the festivals run far more smoothly. Earlier in the year, I was involved with The London International Ska Festival and Sean who runs it tells the same story. So please buy your tickets early and support the people who put our festivals together. 

Anyway, must shoot. Got to do some stage building. 
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Sunday, 16 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival Day 3 - Rog's festival diary

So we left this yesterday as we prepared for The BBC Elstree Concert Band at Hartley Hall. I was off to deliver and set up the stage and to return a PA system. The joys and glamour of working in the music business. This was duly done and the bulk of the day was spent preparing the hall, setting up staging, making sure the bar is stocked etc. The boring details that you need a team to put together. I handle equipment and logistics with my old friend Gerry (we were at both primary and secondary school together). The committee all work hard and the BBC Elstree concert is one of our keynote nights. Just about everyone was out in force. As we run a bar, we also have part of our army of helpers. In all, there are around 25 people who help in some way during the festival, and most were there last night. The effort was well worth it. Here is a little snippet of what you missed if you didn't make it.


Despite a packed, sell out audience, we were out of the hall and I was in the Mill Hill Tandoori for some much needed refuelling by 10pm. After a delicious onion bhaji, a Salmon Tandoori, some Chana and a Naan (washed down with a pint of Kingfisher), we returned home, took the doggies for a stroll, and I was fast asleep, tucked up in bed by 11.30pm.

We didn't set the alarm clock, so we awoke at 9.10am. A quick breakfast, then down to the studio, to collect a PA system, and staging, then up to the Adam and Eve. By 11.15am, the stage and PA were rigged and we awaited the arrival of the Ron Russell Jazz band. Ron is one of the nicest men in Jazz. A talented double bass player and a natural diplomat. We were honoured to be sharing his 84th birthday. He'd put together an amazing line up featuring some of the UK's greatest players. The pub also rather liked what they saw. It was Fathers day and every table was sold and a healthy crowd turned up. Some had travellled as far as Manchester and Brighton, and they loved it!



The band loved it so much, that they played a third set, Ron's son taking over the bass duties and Ron getting onb down and having a boogie. He was thrilled to be offered a lift home, and was swamped with drinks from admirers. It was a pleasure to share his birthday with him.

It meant  I was late back with the PA, but no matter, fun was had by all.

And how did I finish my week? Once the PA and staging was safely back home, I went down to Powerleague for an hour's five a side football. I feel very honoured to live in Mill Hill. There really is a lot to do, you just have to make the effort!
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Saturday, 15 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival Day 2 - Rog T's Festival Blog

Today is day 2 of the Mill Hill Music Festival and I'm cream crackered already! We had an amazing night yesterday. I wasn't at Hartley Hall for the Hendon Band of The Salvation Army, but Clare was and she said it was a great night. The band are highly accomplished and there were some excellent virtuoso solo performance. Clare said that she thought the way they worked in the Superman theme tune to one of the pieces was very imaginative and showed that the band are dynamic and have a great sense of humour. I was up at the the Adam and Eve for the first of our "Later" sets. My band, The False Dots, opened with a short acoustic set, which was well received. Then we had an absolute blasting set from The Ron Lewis Partnership. By the end of their second set, the whole pub was up and jiving! It seemed that most of Mill Hill had turned up and the pub was absolutely packed.




By the time we broke down the gear etc, I got home at 1am. The pub made us feel very welcome.

Tonight we have the BBC Elstree Concert Band, I'm sorry to say that if you haven't got tickets, then you've missed out as the show is sold out. It should be an excellent night, the band are playing a programme entitled "A night at the Oscars" featuring film music. The band are one of our regulars and always put a stonking show in.

As ever we were delighted at the support we get from BBC Radio London who let me give the Festival a good plug on the show this morning. They have always been amazing supporting the Save London Music campaign and the festivals we run. I was delighted that the host, Carrie Grant said she knew all about the festival and that we had an excellent programme. It is good that one of the countries leading vocal coaches is impressed!

Tomorrow we are back at The Adam and Eve for a Fathers Day Jazz Lunch with The Ron Russell band. As the weather forecast is unpredictable, the band will be inside.


On Monday we have an amazing Klezmer show with Stewart Curtis and K-Groove. Tuesday is the Charles Court Opera performing HMS Pinafore at The Hartley Hall. Make sure you check the Festival programme. Tickets are still available for most events online or at Mill Hill wines.

I'm off now to deliver a PA system and set up a stage.
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Friday, 14 June 2019

The Mill Hill Music Festival Starts today - Rog T's Festival Blog

For the next ten days, the Barnet Eye will become the Mill Hill Music Festival Diary, where you will learn all about the trials and tribulations of being a music festival organiser. Normal service will be resumed on Monday week.

So it is here. A year after we started planning it, the Mill Hill Music Festival has finally arrived.
The festival organising committee has had an average of one meeting a month since last September. The first thing was to secure venues for the events, then we booked the bands, drew up the publicity material. We've stood in the rain dishing out leaflets, written press releases for the local papers and plastered Mill Hill with banners. We've organised insurance, ordered the drinks for events, ordered staging etc, booked PA systems, done planning visits to venues and worked out artist requirements. We've ordered buffets for the artists, posted leaflets and tickets, set up a website, facebook page and twitter account. And now after all this planning, last night it all started. And after all that, it is finally here.

Today the festival finally kicks off with The Hendon Band of the Salvation Army at Hartley Hall and The Ron Lewis Partnership at The Adam and Eve (supported by The False Dots - My band, please come up and say Hi_, I will miss the opening concert at the Hartley Hall, as I am running the gig at The Adam and Eve. My involvement with Hartley Hall will be  limited to dropping off the drinks. My wife, who is festival treasurer (it may not surprise regular readers to learn she's the one who is "good with money") has been having the usual sleepless nights that all community festival organisers have. As is usually the case, when we first send out leaflets, there is a rush of tickets, then things slow down. When we reach the actuall week, it all goes crazy. The phone has just gone and Mill Hill Wines need more tickets! We run the festival on a not for profit basis, but we aim to break even and keep money in the bank to pay for the next festivals expenses. We don't get any cash from the council, the vents have to finance the festival expenses, which are considerable. We have had some generous gifts this year to assist.

As a local festival we have no delusions of grandeur, we are not Glastonbury, our mission is to give the residents of our locality the opportunity to see some excellent music on our doorstep. The venues are local and the ticket prices far cheaper than the West End. Some events our free, this year at the Adam and Eve pub. We are grateful for their assistance and support. They pay the bands, my company, Mill Hill Music Complex supplies the sound systems.

So on to tonight. I am really looking forward to it. Firstly as my band are playing, and secondly because the other band are some old friends of mine. The Ron Lewis Partnership are an amazing band, playing top notch Rhythm and Blues in the style of Dr Feelgood and 9 Below Zero.  Checkout there version of Tulane.




 Mill Hill's finest, The False Dots will be performing at 8.30pm sharp.



As to how the festival is doing, over the nine days we normally get around 1,500 people attend and we are well on course for that this year. Around half attend the paid, ticketed events, although next Fridays party night with The Foundations will see the crowd determined by the Weather. If its raining, the event will be inside and will be limited to around 150, if it is outside, we expect considerably more.



Brian Peerless (right)
We are now at the point where the events are breaking even and we are well on the way to covering the costs of the administration (leaflet drops, insurance, piano tuning etc). It is a labour of love. The committee are unpaid. This year, we had a tragedy. One of the long time organisers, Brian Peerless, who organises our Jazz program passed away. This was completely out of the blue and took the wind out of our sails. We are dedicating the festival to the memory of Brian. His great friend, Jazz virtuoso Alan Barnes is doing a special show in honour of Brian on Thursday at The Hall with The Alan Barnes Octet. If you were seeing Alan at Ronnies or The Jazz Cafe, you'd be paying far more, and you'd need to get the train home!

Today will be a day of frantically running around, taking stages and sound equipment to the venues, and all of the other last minute arrangements. I will have a relatively sober time for the next ten days. As there is a lot of driving to do, it will be the odd snatched half of Shandy here and there.

Finally I'd like to say a word about the other music festival in Mill Hill this weekend.


A few locals have been rather confused to see posters and tweets advertising two completely different events on the same weekend in the same place. The Mill Hill Summer Festival is organised by Vibe Markets in Association with the Mill Hill Neighbourhood Forum. They are having events in the Town Square on Saturday and Sunday, between 1pm and 6pm. This is all free to enter. Osita and Sara who run Vibe Markets have put together an excellent programme and it is worth checking out. Due to the different print schedules and organisations organising the events, it hasn't been possible to jointly market the events. I hope that Vibe get good weather and a good response. The event is designed to get people onto the Broadway and using the new Town Square.

Mill Hill gets a huge lift from the various music events, the more the merrier. Must go now, got a festival to organise.
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