‘There’s a lighthouse on the harbour blowing kisses to the moon;

There’s an aircraft flying over, and I swear it feels like June.

There’s a cool breeze blowing down, and she says she’s feeling fine. This is my time!’

My second visit to Kanteena, and for a further grand showing from visiting East Lancs folk heroes – a welcome helping of Blancmange this time last year followed by another wintry trip up the M6, with barely half a degree showing on the temperature gauge.

I did wonder how much the heating bills come to at this impressive arts space south of the Lune, a Beaver Moon just a couple of days away on a dam freezing evening, but with everything toasty inside.

Perhaps that was down to the guitar/didgeridoo blues of support Greenheart, bringing a little Outback heat to the occasion, James Fraser’s opening shift alongside Ian ‘Scotty’ Moorhouse – stripping down to a t-shirt as the micro-climate kicked in – setting a sunlit uplands scene.

It took me a while to realise the fella to the side of Christopher Eccleston-lookalike Scotty, a wraparound scarf suggesting his own Dr Who link, was the Milltown Brothers’ bass player. His quick change before the headline set was all it took to fool me, or maybe it was the main guests’ forever youthful vibe that made the difference.

Jim and Scotty certainly beamed us up and teleported the band’s appeal (OK, enough sci-fi puns), their easy blend of delta meets dreamtime blues (true blues, you could say) a warming influence, somewhere between Gomez and The Charlatans for these ears, with plenty of recordings out there via Bandcamp to discover more about a locally-based pairing making music since 2007 (which is far longer than it sounds in my head).

Then came the headliners, the original five-piece joined by pedal steel player Gary Thistlethwaite, on board since the Long Road LP. And if that name sounds far too Lancastrian to convey a country feel, think again – you clearly never visited Morecambe’s Frontierland.

Gary nested in neatly alongside the Nelson bros – Simon and Matt – while Jim, down to four strings, headed to my right to keep keyboard wizard Barney Williams company, the latter getting us up and running after the band walked on to Indian Vibes’ evocative ‘Mathar’, sitar giving rise to a gloriously reworked Farfisa organic intro on ‘Apple Green’, the years falling away like ripe fruit from the tree accordingly, our former Colne highland babies carrying on from where they left off –  I’m reliably informed – on a late summer raid across the Yorkshire border at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Centre.

Throughout, Nian Brindle kept things tight from the rear, adding that ol’ time last century influence, taking us back to Britpop days of yore. And it’s an odd thing to say when their frontman looked so youthful when we first clapped eyes on him as the ‘80s breezed into the ‘90s, but the band seem younger than in the publicity shots that came my way when I finally caught up with them again in 2015. Come to think of it, Matt must have a rare Lowry portrait tucked away in his attic.

An opening Slinky salvo continued with the glorious Byrds meets The La’s ‘Something Cheap’ and ‘Sally Ann’ before we stepped two years on to 1993’s Valve for the dynamic ‘Cool Breeze’, something of a resolute statement here as Matt revealed, ‘This is my time’, the band renewing their vows before a loving audience, the old dance moves from The Sugarhouse coming back to all and sundry around me, the main set having followed a few DJ-spun blasts from the past that set the scene, from The La’s to the Mary Chain, the Roses and beyond. And the headliners were certainly having the time of their life, returning to the starting theme for an extremely baggy yet similarly guitar-drenched ‘Nationality’.

‘Don’t Go Crying was next, the heart-wrenching first of two prime cuts from Long Road, the title track following, Gary T in his element on both, another three-part debut LP showing following with the wondrous ‘Here I Stand’, the very of its time organ-driven ‘Seems to Me’ and building LP finale ‘Real’, the latter segued into the more frenetic ‘Here I Stand’ B-side, ‘Jack Lemmon’ before they briefly slipped away.

If there was a little disappointment from the football results, the glass of Claret half empty, there was certainly no late cave-in here for the visiting Burnley fans in the band and the crowd. When they returned, Matt seemed to seek forgiveness for indulging us in a little Harvest homage, but there really was no need to apologise, Neil Young’s ‘Out on the Weekend’ wonderfully dealt with and neatly conveyed, as much of the Nelson DNA, I’d guess, as Teenage Fanclub would be to ‘F.I.L.A.’ from Stockholm, another recent number proving without doubt this is still a band that can pen a cracking song. And there was still time for the band to go back to their roots, so to speak, with the mighty ‘Roses’ from the Coming from the Mill EP, the splendid Lowry-esque figure on the backdrop overseeing all, the set then climaxing, somewhat inevitably, with the indie pop exclamation mark of ’Which Way Should I Jump?’, this particular love crowd enjoying every (single) moment.

‘Weather is in disarray, like all the things I’ve seen today.

Come on, take me away!’

In short, we’re talking a night of nostalgia with added kick that further proves this band’s return was anything but misguided. All that’s followed their second coming suggests they have much more in the tank, the newer songs proving they were never one-album wonders. I also get the impression that they have plenty of pencilled-in plans for 2024, and that’s quite some prospect on this showing.

All photographs copyright of Michael Porter, with links to his fine work via his website, Facebook, and Instagram.

For this website’s May 2015 feature/interview with Matt Nelson, head here. And for the WriteWyattUK verdict on Long Road back then, head here.

For all the latest from the Milltown Brothers, keep in touch with the band via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And for more about Greenheart, their releases so far, and forthcoming live shows, head here.