This gig was originally scheduled for earlier this year and sadly had to be postponed due to illness. But the new date was perhaps better placed, falling on a Friday rather than a weekday. Millie and her gang are always up for a great show and invariably are accompanied by some great support acts. I love that Millie can usually be found among the crowd near the front of the stage for those supports too. So who were those support acts at the fabulous Crescent in York?
First up was Kiss Kiss Kill, another fine York band. They rock like a pop-punk/ metal hybrid fronted by Gwen Stefani. Singer and ace frontwoman Gemma was having some severe throat and voice issues but she soldiered on and worked through them and she was still damned good and on most songs, you would not have known that she was having issues. Given that fact, then how good must she be when her voice is fully fighting fit? The band, but Gemma in particular showed an incredibly warm and fun interaction with the audience. Kiss Kiss Kill is a band that is hard not to like. “Happy Never After” and “Bad Bitch” blew the house down. Kiss and kiss whoever you need to to get this band into your life, but please don’t kill anyone!
Following that rather splendiferous band was the tumultuously talented Sally Pepper. Sally is from the Northwest of England and is a purveyor of fine, mostly acoustic angry, and passionate punk tunes. Her songs, in which she proudly wears her heart and her opinions on her sleeve, prove that she is most definitely a wonderful human being. I heard elements of early Frank Turner and an even angrier Grace Petrie. The latter of which Sally has played support slots with. Her songs are powerful, meaningful message carriers that issue a clarion call to the masses. “Click Bait” is a fabulous song and the way that Sally added a “Fuck The Tories” refrain to it on the night resonated perfectly with the crowd. I will certainly be seeing Sally live again.
Finally, it was time for the mighty, magnificent, marvellous, magical malcontents Millie Manders and the Shut Up to take the stage. I first saw them back in November 2019 and this would be the fourth show of theirs that I have been to. This band has power, passion, and politics and is simply an obscenely talented band that gets better every time I see them. “Shut Your Mouth”, “Your Story” and “Not OK”” were three of the many turbo-charged highlights of a set that was full of them. Ever since the first time I heard it, I have always loved the incendiary passion of “Poor Man’s Show” which shows the frustration and general pissed-offness with politicians and the state of the world which we inhabit. Millie aired a new song called “Me Too” about the awful way that rape victims are treated in the UK and across the globe. It is likely to be released next year and will prove a perfect companion song to Delilah Bon’s “Dead Men Don’t Rape”. For me, one indicator of a truly great band is one that seems to have fun on stage and this lot does, perhaps no more so than perma-smiling bass player George, she has more energy than a small sun. At one point Millie was so overcome with emotion that she had to start the song again, but everyone in the crowd was there for her, which shows the kind of human she is! Is there a better set closer than “Rebound”? Maybe, but not tonight, that song closed a flawless and gorgeous set from a band that deserves greatness. Millie cares immensely about the things that really matter in life and she is one of the most ‘4 real’ people on our troubled planet!
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