Concert Photos: An Intimate Night With The Tattletale Saints & Milly Tabak

The Tattletale Saints gave an intimate performance to a small but responsive crowd at the Tuning Fork in Auckland along with Milly Tabak from The Miltones. 

Radio 13 co-founder and photographer Reuben Raj caught some highlights from the show in the photo gallery further below. 

Milly started off her solo set armed with a guitar and harmonica while fashionably dressed in her signature bohemian style.  She shared personal stories about her family, earlier struggles and an obsessive nature that all jointly became the catalyst for many of her songs.

Along with popular Miltones songs Bye Bye and Dancing With The Dead, Milly also shared a few new songs like Nancy Wake and 1959. Her acoustic rendition of Mother's Ruin, dedicated to her mother who was in the audience, was particularly moving.   

Cy Winstanley and Vanessa McGowan from the Tattletale Saints are both New Zealanders who presently live in Nashville. It was my first time to watch the duo perform and I was immediately drawn to Cy's soothing voice and clever lyrics. His wide grin and easy nature on stage immediately won the crowd over. 

Vanessa looked stunning in a black dress and her towering upright bass... earlier audio distortions from her monitor were quickly resolved and the deep and rich tones of her bass pleasingly complimented Cy's guitar melodies and intricate solos. It is no wonder why she shared the stage with the legendary Willie Nelson not so long ago. 

The wholesome vocal harmonies of Cy and Vanessa together instantly conjured up an image of a Country & Western bar on a quiet night in Texas. With just a few more nights to Christmas, the Tattletale Saints sang directly to one's heart inside the cosy and serene setting of the Tuning Fork, along with a sentiment that life can be good... if we give it a chance. 

Milly Tabak's solo set list:

• Bye Bye
• Hey Sister
• Mother's Ruin
• Nancy Wake
• 1959
• Darling
• Dancing With The Dead

 Tattletale Saints' set list:

• Sonoma County Wine
• I Did This To Myself
• Kathleen
• Honest Work
• Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys
• One More Trick In The Box
• Dancing Queen
• Complicated Ma
• Bobby Where Did You Learn to Dance
• Little Richard
• Big Moon
• How Red Is The Blood
• Lost Like A Ball
• Here At Last
• Big City Women

Encore

• One And The Same
• Can I Go Home With You Sweetheart