Milkfest 2026

Halifax / London. Friday / Monday 27-January / 02-March-2026.

A two part weekend. We bought tickets for Milkfest some while back and were thinking of a weekend in London, but then comparing diaries to arrange a visit to our parkrun friends Tim and Sue in Halifax we hit upon the triangular trip solution.

Friday 27-January-2026. 

Train down to Halifax followed by a meal with live music from the Landlubbers singing sea shanties. The pub was rammed so we only got a distant view of the band.

Saturday 28-February-2026.

As always Saturday is #parkrunday. Halifax parkrun was always the plan. 

Halifax 28/02/2026. 32:07 [104/187]

We got there early as Tim was doing the first timers’ briefing.

“Halifax is Hilly” said the sign and it was not wrong. Definitely not a PB course. But then these days for me that is true of all parkruns.

The crocuses are out and looking lovely.

Then we went into Halifax to see the town’s number one attraction: the Piece Hall, a Grade I listed building built as a cloth hall for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth "pieces" they had produced.

Evening was a delicious supper at Tim and Sue‘s.

Sunday 01-February-2026.

After a great cooked breakfast at Tim and Sue’s we caught the train down to London, straight to the hotel to dump our bags and then on to the Indigo at the O2 for the festival. 

We laughed this at this Traffic Light Tree on the route from the tube to the hotel. Mary had booked a Radisson Blu hotel believing it to be close and convenient for the O2. It was close as the crow flies but not convenient on account of the fact that the Thames was between them!

The entire event is organised by The Milk Men as a charity event, this year in aid of Dementia UK. There were Dementia T-shirts and a raffle for a guitar signed by all the band members performing that evening. They modestly put themselves as the opening act rather than the headliners at the end of the evening.

2pm - THE MILK MEN. 

We missed The Milk Men, but were in time for the start of Mississippi McDonald…

3pm - MISSISSIPPI MACDONALD  

Having recently had the pleasure of seeing Mississippi MacDonald at Blackpool performing two sets, acoustic and electric, we were pleased to be able to arrive in time to catch the whole of his set. In a different venue and all seated, it felt very different to Blackpool but still hugely enjoyable.

4pm - ERROL LINTON  

We first saw Errol 10 years ago at the Green Note Café and enjoyed his set then, a blend of blues and reggae, the latter a nod to his Jamaican heritage - his parents were part of the Windrush generation. Today he brought the same up-tempo energy to the stage. Very enjoyable.

5pm - ROBBIE & STEVE  

Another blast from the past. We saw Robbie McIntosh a decade ago at the Half Moon in Putney and enjoyed his blues driven set. He played with The Pretenders for a number of years and as a session musician for a roll call of famous names This time his planned oppo Hamish Stuart was indisposed and his place taken by Steve who did not pass my “fast fingers on the fret board” test. He mainly strummed chords to accompany Robbie.

6pm - ALICE ARMSTRONG  

We just caught a snippet of Alice at the UK Blues Festival 2025 and were impressed. This time getting to hear a full set from her she rose significantly in our estimation. We appreciated her song writing skills and she belts out the songs with great joy and enthusiasm. Reminding me a little of Janis Joplin but not so raspy. Partway through her set, as an extra treat, she was joined by one of our favourites, Elles Bailey, for several numbers. 

Elles then graciously stepped back to become a backing singer for the last couple of songs allowing Alice to showcase her talents. 

Will definitely be looking out for her in the future.

7pm - BRAVE RIVAL  

Another favourite band who we saw in Blackpool in February. More rock than blues but hugely enjoyable. The bass player has a serious case of hipster beard!

8pm - CLIMAX BLUES BAND  

We enjoyed the Climax Blues Band on the previous occasions we’ve seen them but we did need to fit in supper at some point so choose this set as band to skip and go for a curry. We did get back in time to catch the last couple of numbers. The lead singer is starting to grow on us the more we get used to the fact that the lineup has changed - not better or worse, just different.

9pm - CHRIS DIFFORD 

I would not have recognised the name of the headliner but Chris Difford was guitarist and composer with Squeeze responsible for such classics as “Up the Junction”, “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)” and my favourite “Cool for Cats”. His set was entirely composed of the Squeeze back catalogue which, truth to tell, is what the audience want to hear and he delivered along with a modicum of banter.

Then it was back to the hotel for a nightcap. We couldn’t be bothered to summon an Uber and wait for it to arrive so treated ourselves to a black cab from the rank. It may have cost a little more but we were tired enough to decide we were worth it. 

The only slight disappointment of the event was that each band had a strict 45 minute slot so there was little time for the banter that we usually enjoy. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening. 

Roll on Milkfest 2027!