Review:
'Rebellion Festival 2023 Day Two'
'At The Winter Gardens Blackpool'
- Album: 'ft Desperate measures, Anti-Nowhere League,'
- Label: 'Neville Staple, Dirtbox Disco, Hagar The Womb'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '4.8.23.'- Catalogue No: 'Subhumans, Reistance 77, Mick Rossi, Fire Exit'
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Our Rating:
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I would like to thank everyone involved in putting on the best festival imaginable, from all the bands, the onstage and backstage crew, all the staff at the Winter Gardens and obviously to Jennie and Darren Russell-Smith for the immense job of promoting and putting together this magical festival. I would also like to apologize to any musicians I spoke to over the weekend whose bands I didn't get to see, as usual far too much happening and a few mega band clashes. Sorry for any song title guess work.
On Day 2 we saw The Cundeez, Zero Tolerance, Los Fastidious, Knock Off, Fire Exit, Mick Rossi's Gun Street, Resistance 77, Subhumans, Hagar The Womb, Dirt Box Disco, Neville Staple From The Specials, Anti-Nowhere League, Desperate Measures
We began day two with our traditional go on the Big Wheel on the Central pier and a walk around town before getting into the Winter Gardens in time to see The Cundeez on the Almost Acoustic stage, that this year was in the glorious Spanish Hall. The 5-piece band from Dundee opened this stripped back set with a dub punk take on Do The Teckle, as usual they had great bonhomie even when spewing bile on Mr Politicain that left us in no doubt what they think of our so called leaders. They got everyone going with Up For The Craic that is something they always seem to be, They had their usual go at anyone who thinks they can rule to world by becoming a Keyboard Gangster, before urging everyone to get there Taps Aff and dance a jig with them on Rooter.
It was then down into the Casbah for Zero Tolerance the angry as hell skinhead punk 4 piece who opened with the bands rallying call of One Rule For Them, One Rule For Us and then went all playground chant on My God's Bigger Than Your God that pointed at the stupidity of religious wars. The Police Fuck Off was succinct Oi and Kitto let us know exactly who Working Class Tories was aimed at. They went speed punk on Barbecue Song that was over in about 40 seconds, they closed with the charming and elegant Champagne Charlie Wankers that left everyone smiling.
We went back up to the Spanish Hall for Los Fastidious acoustic set and the hall was packed as they opened with a nice gentle Let's Do It as these Italian Ska Punk legends got going and made us all sing Oi Oi Oi with them, Joy Joy Joy was intended to show us all how happy we should be, well this was loads of fun as they got the room singing along to Stay Yourself a crucial message. Enrico then dedicated I Don't Want To Say Goodbye to everyone we have lost since last seeing Los Fastidious or being at Rebellion. They then did a very cute version of Yazoo's Only You with Eliza and Enrico really bringing the passion out of the song. Rasta In Blue was as pointed as it needed to be, as they unleashed the classic bootboy anthem Antifa Hooligans and Enrico grabbed his football scarf. They closed with one last great sing along to You Want To Know This Is the End they left to huge cheers.
We nipped back down to the Casbah to see Knock Off who started off there set of southern Oi! By telling us I Fucked It Up repeatedly and then tried to piss all the northerners off by singing London and made sure everyone knew how Northern phobic they were with Take Me Home that had a good portion of the crowd singing along with them, but as usual the bands rallying call of Football Beer Punk Rock was the song that got the best reaction, as well as everyone singing along with them. Loads of cheeky banter between songs as they tried to Tear it Down by sticking Fingers where they were not wanted, making sure we all knew We Are Proud before as usual they closed by rampaging through Jack The Ripper like they were in a hurry to commit another double murder.
We stayed in The Casbah for Scottish party punks Fire Exit who opened singing about 10 years before unleashing the classic We're Going Crazy as they encouraged everyone to have as much fun as they were, as Gerry Attrick raised his goblet of wine as he claimed he Put His Trust In You, as they asked us to Change almost at the same time they claimed We're Gonna Drink All Weekend Long, which was true of most of the audience, who of course were happy to join in. While they paid tribute to all the fallen, they made it very clear that I'm Alive and we should all have a good time.
At some point in the set they also brought out a Guitar they were giving away to someone in the audience, they found a young kid to give the guitar too, so as to encourage the next generation to form bands and have a good time.
They got nostalgic on Torn Down Hotel that could have been about the corner of St Chads Road where they had indeed torn down the hotel that was they're last year. They introduced a new song What A Life that goes with Gerry's autobiography that came out recently, as they got us all bouncing along to United In Punk, before they got political on Religion Is the Cause Of All Wars that was rightfully caustic. Then it was back to the good times for We Don't Care and their obligatory cover of Bobby Helms classic Fraulein that was a rave up sing along before they closed with First Time the song Honest John Plain write back when he was in The Boys.
We'd reached the supper club hour so got our mash and took a seat in the Opera House to see the rest of Mick Rossi's Gun Street who were sounding good on Watching The World before they did their best to get close to the tune on I'm Waiting For the Man but it was in no way the best version we heard over the weekend. Mick then introduced festival organizer Jennie Russell-Smith as guest vocalist on a soulfully glam version of Telegram Sam. Dancing With A Dead Man seemed full of regret. Mick then introduced the first song he ever wrote for Slaughter And The Dogs the still magnificent Boston Babies that had loads of people singing along with them, they then played The Temptations Get Ready in a similar style to Bruce Foxtons version, Mick then gave thanks that he was able to play at Rebellion with Walter Lure as they closed with a rambunctious Born To Lose.
It was back down The Casbah for Resistance 77 who were already tearing the place up on No Escape when we arrived, as they got ready to get us all punching the air on the salient Punks Not Dead, But I'm Not Far Off that was dedicated to the bands Guitarist who is recovering from prostate cancer and looked a touch fragile but extremely happy to up on stage. They made sure we all knew to keep going out and having a great time on the anthemic Long Time Dead, As always, they questioned how they had been accused over the years of being right wing, Left wing, good and bad on True Punk And Oi Will Never Die before closing with the often misunderstood Spirit Of St George.
It was then time to queue up to get into the Ballroom to get in for The Subhumans as Dick Lucas played his first of two shows this Friday, as Culture Shock played in the Casbah later when we were watching the Anti-Nowhere League. They opened with the classic All Gone Dead and Dick was soon ranting about big business on Businessman, he was frantically stalking the stage on Rats as they got everyone going for Animal. As usual Dick told us not to buy into the mainstream beauty ideals before Too Fat Too Thin. The modern media depiction of normal activists as being dangers was well nailed on He's A Terrorist.
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Angst and bile is always loads of Fun when Dick is ranting before singing Fade Away or having a go at the 1% before they sing 99% and encourage us all to get together and bring the change we all want. He wasn't about to Waste breath on the wrong people as they tried to create a more equitable Society, as we should all gang together for the hardcore Minority. The bands fun side always come out on the sardonic Mickey Mouse, while the bass underlined Til' The Pigs Come Round the bands squat punk anthem to partying all day long. The Day the Country Died was as epic as ever before they closed with a monumental version of Religious Wars.
We wandered over to the Pavilion for Hagar The Womb who put in one of the braver appearances, as Mitch had broken his back in a Bike accident earlier in the week, but still showed up to play sitting down rather than bouncing around like normal. They opened with Karen Showing Off making sure we all knew she wasn't A Goldigger, Karen and Ruth had some good banter about what it was like to feel invisible as an older woman, before they bounced thorough Visible Woman, as always they still want to make sure they are hated by the Daily Mail, the bouncy good fun shined though Bullshit Baby with some slinky guitar from Steph lit up the classic Song Of Deep Hate. The intro to Boob Tube was hilarious, as were the lyrics to the song, before they closed with Mekons Rider all about nicking another bands rider the bad girls that they are.
We kept the upbeat fun going as we went into the Casbah for Dirtbox Disco who are these days fronted by Spunk Volcano who opened proceedings by insisting I Just Wanna be A Girl and they were off, with everyone singing along to classics including Come On Now, Unstoppable and the immortal Standing In A Queue, as they tried to get more people crowd surfing before getting all moralistic on My Girlfriend's Best friend's Sister Fancies Me. They had almost everyone joining in on We Are Dirtbox. I Don't Wanna Go Out With you is succinct, the highlight of the set with the new song You Know You Love It, Up The Dirtbox that had a brilliantly funny call and response before they closed with a monumental version of My Life Is Shit.
We got our breath back in time to get into the ballroom for Neville Staple From The Specials who had the place going wild for Gangsters as everyone skanked along to Pressure Drop, the horns nailed Concrete Jungle and we took a rather early evening jaunt into a Nightclub. The biggest roar went up at the start of A Message to You Rudy and quite rightly so, Sugary Staple was front and centre for Rude Girl Ska, almost everyone sang Monkey Man with Neville who had a huge grin on his face, before they went into Do The Dog. Another huge cheer went up for Ghost Town although it now once again feels prophetic for our times sadly. They then took a punt that went wrong on Longshot Kick De Bucket before insisting we all did the Skinhead Moonstomp with them. As time was short they played Wait Till The End and found they had time to squeeze in a few rounds of the Guns Of Navarone to close another great set.
We stayed in the ballroom for The Anti-Nowhere League who were sporting a new drummer in the form of the exiled Jamie Oliver, as they opened with For You it was clear Animal was here to have fun with us, even as he told us all I Hate People and he Can't Stand Fucking Fools either as the guitars raged through Runaway before they got properly belligerent on So What, they had the crowd singing along with them on Streets Of London the band's first single, as they showed there more sensitive side on Woman I Love You before giving praise to the god that is Charlie Harper, with no mention of why Jamie got thrown out of Charlies band, as they raced through I Wanna Be Like Charlie Harper. They got into the festival spirit with Fucked Up and Wasted and God Bless Alcohol as they closed with good times sing along to We Are The League.
We staggered over to the Pavilion to catch Desperate Measures, to let Eugene Butcher tell us that's Enough Of You as he went into The Ritual that included magnificent guitar abuse from Gaff as James Sherry's pinpoint drums brought some bitter regret to Lost Angel.
Back To the Rat was full of memories of times past and the losses we've all felt were covered in Flowers At Your Door that was about as slow as they got. Incredibly Eugene seemed like he was sober, as he introduced one of the bands earliest songs World War 3 that he wrote back in Christchurch. They then played new song Seven Sisters live for the first time all about the road from Holloway to Tottenham that used to have two key punk venues on it, in the Rainbow and the Sir George Robey, although I don't think they get mentioned in the lyrics. They closed with the dystopian horror story of 1984 that let Gaff blast one more supreme guitar solo at us that was a prefect end to an immense day's music so we staggered off in search of donuts only to find chips instead.
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author: simonovitch
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