Review:
'Rebellion Festival 2026 Day Three'
'At The Winter Gardens Blackpool'
- Album: 'With Penetration, Dave Formula & Noko, Die Toten'
- Label: 'Hosen, Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions, Ruts DC,'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '8.8.26.'- Catalogue No: 'Anderson From Crazyhead, Subhumans, 999 etc.'
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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 Jennie and Darren Russell-Smith for the immense job of promoting and putting together this brilliant 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. Apologies for all the guesswork on song titles. This year Rebellion was celebrating both its own 30th birthday and the 50th Birthday of the Punk explosion of 1976 and they did so in style with extra events in the Run Up to the Festival proper that meant by the time we got to Blackpool on the Thursday we had already missed Adam & The Ants, Neville Staple and Spike from The Quireboys and many others.
This Review features Penetration, Dave Formula & Noko, Die Toten Hosen, Spunk Volcano And The Eruptions, Ruts DC, Anderson From Crazyhead And The Headonists, Subhumans, Gimp Fist, 999, Los Fastidios.
We started Saturday with our annual go on the big wheel on the pier before having a good breakfast and getting into the Empress Ballroom in time for Los Fastidious traditional early afternoon ram raid that opened with Back To Blackpool the bands hymn to the joys of playing at Rebellion with Enrico and Elisa's twin vocals starting to work the room, Two Tone Town made clear the bands enduring message of being Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist, and Anti-Sexist while having loads of fun playing upbeat ska punk, Make Music Not War is a simple message that I wish our so called leaders could get on board with. They asked us all why we didn't eat Cats And Dogs, well I'm a vegetarian and don't eat animals, but always a valid question. Skabilly Boogie was super bouncy and the Ballroom floor was certainly bouncing with them when they boarded the Last Train To Skanking Town, the energy they generate was infectious pleading with us Everybody Take A Stand against war fascism, hatred and homophobia among many other ills they are fighting. They finished with a huge singalong to Antifa Hooligans to leave the ballroom cheering and smiling.
Next on in the ballroom were 999 who were in the mood to celebrate 50 years of Punk and 30 years of Rebellion with a super tight set that opened with send Black Flowers To The Bride being belted out by Nick Cash who was ready to turn us Inside Out while Arturo Bassick grinned away on bass. Nick made plain that everybody who shows up to see 999 should know that they are part of the Crew on Felling Alright With The Crew that was a whirlwind, powered by Stoo Meadows powerhouse drumming. Guy Days really let rip on Shoot while managing to keep his jacket buttoned up all set. Nick again got us all to feel the togetherness they want in punk community on Boys In The Gang before once again they chased after the Biggest Prize In Sport. The energy they had on Let's Face It kept them at a high-octane pace even with having No Pity and celebrating surviving this long, despite all the early naysayers who thought punk wouldn't last 6 months. Nick put his guitar down for Emergency to help him move all over the stage and encourage everyone to join in with them. Nasty Nasty was an intense blur before they closed with a raucous sing along to Homicide one of the bands enduring anthems. The Ballroom went nuts, despite the stage manager saying they were out of time, they squeezed in an encore of I'm Alive and this set was certainly lively and got a great reaction.
Next in the ballroom were Gimp Fist who sadly demonstrated how to get a horrible sound, by not really communicating with the sound man during the bands rather perfunctory line-check, the result being you could barely hear the vocals for the first two to three songs and Jonny's guitar was so low in the mx it was hard to discern it from Chris' bass, so that the first song that was almost recognizable was This Is Our Time but even then it sounded ragged, A Country Divided was just about clear enough for everyone to sing along, before the messy sound seemed to cloud most of the set even Heart Full Of Pride struggled to rise above the atrocious mix, before they closed with Here I Stand playing to a room full of fans struggling to work out what you're playing.
In stark contrast to Gimp Fist Subhumans made sure everything was right before they started playing, sounding great as they opened with Apathy with the whole room singing along to every clear word Dick sang. Evolution made Dicks feelings on Animal rights clear with Bruce's guitar sounding brutal. Reality has been in short supply recently as Dick pointed out. The problem it seems is Human Error and the mess we are making, Dick told us all we are all part of the 99% who want to make the world a better place where everyone has a home and food to eat, Trotsky's drumming on I'm Gonna Die seemed even more powerful than the rest of the set, Dick told us to beware of the Punk Machine waving contracts and promising riches that are unlikely to happen. Dicks self-doubt got the better of him on the intro to Internal Riot and the internal conversation it depicts at a furious pace, driven along by Phil Bryant's tough as nails bassline, in time for us to all go to Subvert City that ended with a great chant along Subvert Subvert. Minority is still bitter and twisted before Dick imparted the sad news Mickey Mouse Is Dead, No how can that be, what ever will we do, well maybe use some Peroxide not that Dick would recommend that. They closed with Religious Wars and left the stage to the usual huge ovation.
We then went over to the Opera House and took a seat upstairs to enjoy the rest of Anderson From Crazyhead & The Headonists set of well-chosen covers, I think he was singing Leaving Home when we arrived it had a great Psychobilly punk edge, Crazyhead's I Don't Want That Kind Of Love sounded cool and louche and the band were having fun, Anderson tried to convince us he was sexier than Cher on his version of Bang Bang, They reworked X-Ray Spex Lets Submerge into a rumbling beast of a tune. I loved the song that he introduced as What Makes You Think Your So Special To Me it was just bitter and twisted enough. They then did a raw and emotional version of Sinking Feeling the The The classic, before closing with a song I can't read in my notes, they were well worth seeing.
We stayed put for Ruts DC's annual Acoustic set that opened with Something In My Head sounding cool, Segs welcomed us all before they went into Too Much that had some subtle twists from Leigh Heggarty. Dangerous Minds was a great showcase for Dave Ruffy's soft shoe shuffle drums and Segs brilliant wordplay. This Music Must Destroy is still a crucial message play guitar don’t fight wars. Segs was soon missing the Soft City Lights again while he traded licks with Leigh. Love In Vain was dedicated to Paul Fox and Malcolm Owen and had a mighty skank to it. They were soon Staring At The Rude Boys with the entire Opera House joining in. After nearly 50 years together Segs and Ruffy are indeed Bound In Blood this was a sprightly run through it, before Segs was requesting Something To Kill The Pain that might have been something other than another brilliant bit of dub punk, they were running out of time, so took an audience vote on the final song and Babylon's Burning won out to most of our delight, this had a cool breakdown and intros along with the shout along chorus to make sure they left the stage to huge cheers.
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We then zipped over to the Casbah for the rest of Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions possibly last ever Rebellion performance, the first song we heard was I Can't Help Thinking About You with Spunk's trademark cheeky vocals from under his balaclava. Spunk then made clear what he thought of dossers on Job Opportunities and all the things he could have become, rather than a masked singer. He then asked if we had any Teenage Teenagers in the Casbah, a few shouted back before the heavy riffing got going. Spunk told us we all better sing along to DNA Failure and of course we did to the chorus of "can't get a job coz you're such a fucking knob" while wondering whatever happened to Jeremy Kyle. Spunk then asked who remembered Wrestling on World Of Sport to let us know it was time for Giant Haystacks to body slam us and get us in a full nelson. They then got even more nostalgic on Platform 3 before Spunk thanked us all for showing up and to Darren for insisting that he wrote more tunes and appeared at Rebellion on the strength of the bands demo tape, before they closed with a great party on down riot through XR3i, leaving the Casbah happy and wanting more Spunk!! (Not the band that played earlier in the day.)
It was back to the Empress in time for Die Toten Hosen to take the roof of the place, with a super tight set that opened with Strom, the 6 piece had a great glam goth punk sound, Die Show Muss Weitergehen was perfect for the punk must never die attitude they have always had, Wir Waren Nie Weg had spectacular guitar and edgy drums. Campino told us that Auswartsspiel was about Away Games but not the football kind, they were his favorite kind of games, the rotter, Campino told us that like most punks he soon got into reggae, before the bands heavy punk reimagining of Dillinger's immortal Cokane in My Brain, Niemals Einer Meinung was crunchy and energetic, before Campino explained how they were going to tell us the story of Bonny & Clyde while not sounding at all like the classic film theme. They made totally clear why they were singing the Clash's I'm So Bored With the U.S.A. and it wasn't for punks 50th birthday. It was an angry speedy attack on it. They were searching for the Perfect Criminal and may have had one or two in mind, Liebeslied showed they were still ready for the Last Fight it was punchy and bass heavy. Campino told us they went to Rio to hang out with Ronny Biggs so they could cover the Sex Pistols with him, but Ronny had other ideas and Carnival in Rio (Punk Was) the result, this had the brash Pistols style sound and great twisted lyrics. Campino then introduced one of their Punk heroes Mark Standley from V2, while telling us how they heard Man In The Box on the John Peel show on BFBS and loved it, Marks guitar frazzled and it sounded great. The bands mosh pit anthem Pushed Again really got the pit going, Wunsch DIR Was had loads of tension and angst before they closed with a rousing Hier kommt Alex that most of the audience sang along with, this was one of the best sets of the festival.
Who could follow that well Dave Formula And Noko Sing Songs From Under The Floorboards amazingly topped it with a stunning reworking of Magazines back catalogue, opening with Back To Nature slowly evolving from Dave Formulas banks of Keyboards and synths and the deep David Sylvian style vocals of Peter Petersen, who was dressed like Frank Sinatra circa Songs For Swinging Lovers, Motorcade was majestic and slightly magical with some incredible guitar from Noko, great to hear it sung partly in French. Song From Under The Floorboards sounded almost perfect with some great musical twists from Dave Formula and Noko who looked like he was in heaven. The Light Pours Out Of Me was part crooned in French and had me grinning like mad, at how great it sounded in that magnificent room. Real Life was dedicated to Howard Devoto and was played with subtle restraint, while Peter by now was really dancing all around the stage having a great time, Definitive Gaze just upped the intensity a bit more and was a real peak, before they closed with a massed singalong to Shot By Both Sides a perfect end to what for me was the best set of the festival.
I almost felt sorry for Penetration having to follow that, but them's the breaks at festivals, they opened with Nostalgia that Pauline dedicated to the memory of Pete Shelley and sounded damn good, Movements saw Pauline starting to have issues with the scarf in her hair while moving around the Opera House stage, Lovers Of Outrage had Robert Blamire really giving his all on this huge tune, Makes No Sense makes some good points about gentrification. Pauline played acoustic guitar on a slow subtle Just Drifting which is how she likes to live, while apologizing for keeping us all up late. Free Money was a bit slower than usual, with that great build to the chorus. Come Into the Open is still a pointed message well delivered with the bands dynamics working perfectly in the Opera House. How many Danger Signs do we need before we really change things, Pauline sounded properly angry singing it, of course everyone sang along to Don't Dictate a song that only seems to grow in magnitude in our current times, They had a good fuzzy psychedelic vibe for The Beat Goes On and the indomitable spirit within, that pushes them on to Shout Above The Noise and they know how much noise we are all fighting against. They closed with Calm Before The Storm with Pauline leaving the stage first before they all walked off one at a time, the band vamped until it was a drum solo ending. They were quickly back for an encore of Future Daze that no longer sounds so futuristic, no matter how much we want plenty more of them, Pauline then introduced the band and thanked everyone for having the energy to stay till the end, before they finished the night with Life's A Gamble and no matter how good a set this was, after Dave Formula and Noko and Die Toten Hosen it felt like a bit of a comedown, so we went off in search of doughnuts and some rest.
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author: simonovitch
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